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Yet another Lancaster, a B.II


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Good to have other lancs to build alongside, yours is looking great Roland! I'm really really battling the old decals on my build, don't think I'm ever going to be happy with it but too far committed now to use new ones, update coming soon... Good luck with the preshade, looking forward to more progress!

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As the Squadron in question might be on the verge of taking over their newly refurbished building, here is a bit of the back story to this build:

 

On March 24/25 1944, the same date that 625 Squadron lost three crews on the last Berlin raid and The Great Escape took place, Lancaster II, DS664, A4-K, piloted by Flt Sgt Jack Newman departed from their home base, RAF Witchford, for a raid deep into Germany - Berlin.  This was probably one of the last raids on which the Squadron used B. Mk IIs before re-equipping with the higher-flying, Merlin-powered B Mk I/III.  On the return leg from Berlin they were attacked by a Ju 88.

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I don't know. I kinda like the way she looks right now, with the brown and the cross-hatched yellow. Actually, she's coming along very nicely (I wish mine were, but I've got two Shackletons keeping me busy now - I suppose I could work on my B.II at the same time, but I think it would be too much for my tiny little mind to handle).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
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  • 4 weeks later...

Welcome back viewers. Happy New Year to you all. Very poor progress from me for the last 3 weeks 😕 but hopefully more capacity again.

 

Not much achieved over Christmas, but I did manage to get on with some masking; Lancaster transparencies are a real pain 🤯 but some progress 

 

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I was just about to start masking for the coat of green, when I realised a major schoolboy error. I should have painted the green first as the masks I have are for the green bits of the camouflage 🤦🏻
 

So on with the green!!

 

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I’m using Vallejo Model Air, which is great to spray with, but the colour seems a little dark to me. However, some thin thinned coats and I quite like the finish - so far!  Hopefully I can protect it as I mask and respray the brown!!

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Right, I’m back. Work has been manic and so have the weekends.  As a relative newcomer to pre-cut paint masks I thought I’d give them a go. Unfortunately, a lack of planning has meant a couple of re-paints and once I got the masks on, some of them lifted during spraying leading to some over spray that couldn’t be ignored, as can be seen below 
 

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So now I’m back to ‘blutack’ tubes and maskol, my usual method of doing camouflage. At least I’ve got the transparencies on this time as well, so that should ease things along. 
 

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Next steps complete. Having peeled all the maskol off it’s tome to redo the dark earth. Here we are using the alternative ‘blutack’ tubes and masking tape. Not sure if it’s quicker than the maskol but it’s just as effective

 

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Finally, I think I’m happy with the top surfaces.
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My apologies for the delay, don’t you just hate it when work gets in the way of the modelling? Another busy couple of weeks and not much let up this week either 🙁 

 

Still we have progress 🙂 She now sits on her wheels, the painting is pretty much complete, just some weathering, final aerials and pitot tubes you be added, then on to the decalling 🤞

 

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7 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Do you have an idea of what you will use to paint the exhaust collector rings?

 

Chris

Not sure yet Chris, but I was thinking of using this picture found on t’internet as a template. It’s from the right squadron, so that’s a start. 
 

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Annoyingly, I’ve just noticed that this picture shows an unpainted all steel undercarriage! Makes me wonder if it’s a recoloured picture rather than an original.

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That's colourised. Look at the black sides, and the rubber on the stbd wheel.

 

But.

Since it's the annular collector ring style also used on Mercury, it may help to look at more recent pictures of the Lysander & Blenheim to get a good idea. 

Edited by alt-92
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I met one of the very few BII veterans last year. He had flown both Hercules and Merlin versions before being shot down in '44 (I think). The BII was apparently a hot-rod at lower level, but the power fell off with altitude (supercharger gearing ratios) and hence it was never really popular, certainly not with this chap. He also survived 'The Long Walk', a lovely bloke who remained very quiet about his experiences.

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Most, if not all B.II's had the collector ring painted over with a quite matte black paint. These were hand painted by the ground crew. This was done to hide the glow of the hot ring.

 

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Chris

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So you may remember that the subject of this build DS664 A4-K, was on its way back from Berlin when it was attacked by a Ju 88.  Cannon shells shattered the rear turret, driving perspex into the right leg of the rear gunner. He returned fire as a blast of flames scorched his hands and melted his oxygen mask to his face. The Skipper gave the order to bale out. The rear gunner momentarily opened his turret doors, but the heat was intense and he glimpsed his burning parachute. Confronted with two options, jump or being roasted alive, he turned his turret on the beam and rolled out backwards.

 

A little more progress and I’ve got a coat of Klear on ahead of the decals. I’ll let that set hard over the weekend before starting the decalling 

 

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On 2/29/2020 at 7:09 AM, Alpha Delta 210 said:

Looking good Roland. I love the decalling stage, as that's when the build really comes to life!

Not a huge amount of progress to report, but in a change from my usual technique I’ve decided to start the decalling with all the fiddly little decals.  I usually start with the big colourful bits and run out of steam with the small ones, so this time it’s get the slow and tedious ones done first, in the hope I have something to aim for to keep the mojo going.  
 

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Finally getting there; time for a bit more of the back story: you may remember that our aircraft’s rear gunner had seen his parachute ablaze in the fuselage so when ordered to bail out he had chosen to abandon his rear turret by falling out backwards. Three hours later he regained consciousness after surviving a free fall of some three and a half miles! His impact had been cushioned by fir branches and a deep snow drift. Initially the Germans did not believe his account. His injuries included a twisted right knee, splinters in his thigh, a badly bruised back, a deep head wound and first degree burns of face and hands. 
 

Now the progress, most of the decals are now in place, but I nearly suffered a disaster.  Having bought some Xtradecal decals for the relevant sqn, I managed to completely trash 2 letter Ks, fortunately there are 4 on the sheet!!  Then managed to crease the fuselage roundels (God they stick well on the first go), but managed to recover them OK with uncharacteristic care. So here we are, just the registration decals left (and I ran out of patience tonight).

 

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Then the props, bomb bay and undercarriage doors, exhausts and aerials to go on, followed by some weathering and a final matt varnish.  I think the end may be in sight!

 

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