Avro Manchester***FINISHED***

[PeterB]

Actually I was wrong about the paint. My Mr Hobby H72 Acrylic Dark Earth is going on the grey primer much better than on the old Lanc in Humbrol enamels.

I am painting freehand using a 2cm wide but thin flat brush and it almost did it in one coat. This is after 2 thin coats but the Lanc will need at least 3 maybe 4. I should get the first coat of green on the Manchester tonight at this rate. I will probably use a smaller brush round the radio operators windows and a few other places I think. Once the green is finished, I will leave it a few hours to cure then perhaps put a gloss varnish coat on - might make it less prone to peeling when I put masking tape on for the black. Because of the fairly low demarcation line the turret frames will be brown too, not black as on most Lancs. I suppose I better start preparing the undercarriage and props at this rate.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited May 11, 2020 by PeterB

[Rabbit Leader]

All coming along very nicely Pete. Gunze’s DE is my favourite blend of this colour as well. Looking forward to the next DG update. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[woody37]

Looking great. You’ve just reminded me I need to order some more dark earth. Incidentally, I’ve noticed that Tamiya brown/JGSDF XF72 is a very close match to the mr hobby dark earth h72, so much so I’ve used it for sticky out bits like aerials as it is already matt so doesn’t need varnish (I usually attach these after the paintwork is complete)

[zebra]

Nice work Pete. But I've got so used to Lancs that the Manc looks really strange with two engines missing!

[DaveyGair]

Superb work so far. 

In a moment of madness I obtained one of these off the 'bay for a good price complete with a copy of the Warpaint book, which I already have! It'll go back on for sale, get a few quid back.

I was going to try a conversion of a Revell Lanc I got recently to a 1a, so will use the kit as reference for the wings and engines and your build thread how to do it properly!

 

 

Davey.

 

 

[PeterB]

Still quite a bit of touching up to do but so far so good.

The Lanc is running one coat behind at the moment but coming along. A combination of the lighting and a white background makes it look a bit darker than it really is, which brings me on to the subject of paint raised earlier by a couple of you.

 

After 60 years of using enamels I though I would give acrylics a shot. Quite a while back I had tried the really old Humbrol acrylics but was not impressed with their covering power, but about 2 years ago I tried experimenting with Tamiya acrylics and was quite pleased with the result.

 

When I decided to build a batch of RAF Battle of Britain fighters – 3 Hurricanes, 3 Spitfire and a Defiant – I visited my local branch of Antics with a view to getting some Tamiya Dark Earth, Dark Green and Sky but they were out of stock of at least one of them and at that time they were not stocking Humbrol amazingly - they are now! Speaking to one of the staff he suggested I might like to try the Mr Hobby range and showed me a pic on his phone of a Lanc he had painted in them. It looked OK so I bought some, and that is what I am using on the Manchester. Compared with the Xtracolour enamels they are perhaps a little lighter, particularly the green, though it does depend on the lighting, but I find they both brush and spray pretty well, particularly using their “self levelling thinners” when spraying. OK, the colours may not be to everybody's taste, but after a coat of gloss varnish for the decals, and a finishing coat of matt, they will be close enough to the RAF Museum paint chips I have to satisfy me. For the record and not including paint for my model railway rolling stock, I now have a mix of Tamiya, Humbrol, Mr Hobby and Xtracrylic, together with numerous makes of enamel, and including the old enamels I have far too much paint - at least 300+ jars/tins/whatever! Time I rationalised the stock a bit, but not at the moment as it is currently not always easy to get replacements. Fortunately I knew I was going to be building a Hampden, a Whitley, 2 Wellingtons, at least one Halifax, a Stirling  and this Manchester before too long so I stocked up on Dark Green, Dark Earth and Black. I may have got something right for once!

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Pete

Edited May 12, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

A quiet today. I have done the touching up and decided to put the windows in now rather than at the end as I originally intended - there are plus and minus points to this. On the plus side I can get in easier without the tail, props and u/c on, and if I make a mess I can touch up the paint now before I start varnishing the kit. On the minus I should really mask them, but I am only putting the small "slot like" windows in and if they look opaque after the finishing matt coat I can carefully touch them up with a little gloss varnish which should restore their clarity - I hope.

 

As I mentioned at the start the kit comes with a set of clear resin square and rectangular windows which are supposed to be "adjusted to shape" and glued in from the outside before the fuselage is joined up. Frankly that sounded like a lot of work given that I had to cut and file out the windows so they are all odd sizes and shapes, so I have used Krystal Kleer. The kit does not for some reason provide the round windows for the top escape hatches or the one under the nose and tells you to use Clearfix. Well Clearfix is fine and probably better for the larger windows than Krystal Kleer, but it is messy to use and is a remarkably good stripper of acrylic paint I have found - it does not attack enamels so I give the surrounding area a coat of non-acrylic clear varnish before uing it now!

 

If all goes to plan I will give the upper surfaces a coat of clear varnish when the windows are dry and leave it overnight -might stop the paint peeling when I do the masking tomorrow for the black fuselage. Pics in a day or two I hope.

 

Pete

[Greg Law]

That's looking very good Pete.  

[PeterB]

A fair bit of touching up to do but the black is on.

The Krystal Kleer was not too bad on the small windows - sunk in a little and not entirely clear but I can live with that - not good on the larger ones so they will be Clearfixed.. Next step decals I guess.The Lanc is not too far behind. I was considering putting a final coat of Nato Black on to tone the undersides down - however I either did not buy any or have misplaced it (not the first time I have lost paint - there is a tin of Colourcoats Mitsubishi Zero cowling blue/black somewhere unless it got thrown out by mistake). Must make a serious effort to tidy up my paint sometime this decade.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited May 14, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Bit of a hiatus at the moment as I have been roped into gardening in between touching up both the Manchester and Lancaster, but nearly ready to start putting decs on - need to hurry a bit with only 2 weeks left! I will make a start on preparing the undercarriage and props on Monday as well with luck, providing queueing at the Chemist for my prescription does not take too long. Understandable but a ruddy pain.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

I have made a start on fettling the undercarriage. This is what comes with the kit-

The main legs themselves are fairly thick, but they are short and as you can see glue into locating holes in the back of the engine nacelle. Part 47, the upper brace or whatever is paper thin and was well bent but I used 90^oC water and straightened them. As to the rear legs I will replace the long ones -part 49 -with brass and fit the "collar" from plastic tube with a sliver of card to form the triangular locating lug for parts 48. The whole thing is not going to be very strong but plenty of CA coupled with the brass should help. They could be a bit of a pain to adjust and fit but I can but try. Unfortunately the wheel doors stand some distance from the legs in real life so I can't cheat and use them to support the legs. Pictures show the main legs angling backwards so I may have to fabricate a wedge from card to support them in that position.

 

I have manged to get the bomb doors back on the Lanc with some difficulty. I had originally built them open to show the bombs, but decided to have them closed this time - had to remove the bombs of course as they get in the way. The missing prop spinner has also gone back on. As with the Manchester the tail wheel will be about the last thing to go on along with a replacement pitot tube. The original for the Lanc is lost and there is not one provided with the Manchester although some at least seem to have had one. I have a couple of spares on a sheet of White Ensign etch, but they are very 2 dimensional so I may bulk up the "mast" with thin card.

 

So a touch more paint and then it will be decal time.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Since writing the above I have had another look at my Profile on the Manchester and it seems this plane did not have the pitot tube mounted under the nose. However it did have the rectangular glazed window under the bomb aimer's position, the text saying that these were added shortly after the Manchester entered service.

Edited May 18, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Well, that was a rather frustrating few hours. I put the underside decals on both the Manchester and Lancaster. The ones on the Manchester were a combination of Frog and home made and worked reasonably well, but the Lanc ones came from the one I bought 40 years ago as part of the BBMF set, the kit from which I used in my Lincoln. They are the type that when you saok them they give off a white scum from the adhesive presumably, and in spite of my best efforts they silvered badly. I could have touched them up to get round that, but all the red lines except on the tail were so faint they were invisible, so I have painted over them. If I have time I will make some replacements. This does not bode well for the black lines on the upper wing!

 

On the plus side I sorted out the tail feathers.

Comet provide "dimples" near the top of both the fin and rudder which they would have you drill out and insert a loop of wire. However, having seen the build by @Ol' Scrapiron I realised they were wrong, and like him I have just added wire on the rudder. with "weights" made from a blob of very old and thick Krystal Kleer. Not perfect by any means but better than Planet's idea. I also repaired the front lower tip of the middle fin, which broke off when I was sawing it off the pour block. They are now ready to go on once the rest of the decs are on and I have added the undercarriage.

 

Unfortunately my wife has been wanting to paint the window frame in my study for several weeks now, and I cannot put her off any longer, so I might not get much done for a day or so other than putting the decs on. Oh well, there is still a chance I will finish it!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

All the decs are now on the Manchester except the fin flashes - the Lancaster is a little way behind as the Airfix decals are a pain! The wing walkway lines on the Manchester are doctored ones from a Frog Lancaster sheet I had, and they went on very well.

Whilst researching this plane I came across a build where the modeller rejected the Planet code decs as being too dark. According to the relevant order AMO A 154/39 of I think April 1939, code letters should have been 48” high with a 6” stroke whenever possible, and in “grey paint”, which is specified as stores ref 33B/157. Nick Millman and others say this is definitely “Sea Grey, Medium” but as any of you who have built Spitfires and Hurricanes for the early war period will know, decal manufacturers and illustrations in books such as the Osprey range show a wide variation in the shade of grey, ranging from dark to almost white which leaves 3 possibilities –

Some of them are wrong or

The ground crew used whatever came to hand, or

The paint manufacturers produced inconsistent mixes.

Take your pick! I seem to remember Airfix providing white codes for their Stirling I and Comet have done the same for the alternative Manchester I with the dorsal turret. Of course a lot depends on the background colour as well – on a light background they tend to look darker than on a dark one. Anyway these looked quite dark on the light blue backing sheet but as you can see they are actually quite light on the kit - possibly even a little too light but they will do.

 

In between putting the decs on I have cut out and trimmed the various vacformed clear parts. They are a lot thicker than some AM ones such as Falcon, which means they are probably less prone to damage but a bit of a sod to file down. I dipped them in Pledge before working on them but by the time I had finished they were a bit cloudy so I will put some normal varnish on to see if that helps. As warned, the front of the cockpit is not a very good shape but it will have to do.

 

My study is still in a bit of a state at the moment but I will make a start on the undercarriage on Friday - I think I will cheat and fit the main legs as per the instructions rather than trying to angle them back a bit as in the real thing as that would throw out the lengths of the various other struts etc. 

 

Getting there slowly.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by PeterB

[CliffB]

Good luck with the final push Pete.

 

Cheers

[Rabbit Leader]

That really looks the part all painted up and decals on. Looking forward to seeing her finished. 
Cheers.. Dave

[PeterB]

I have made a start on the undercarriage.

There may be something wrong with what I will call the upper bracing struts - the silver ones. The instructions show them raked back quite a bit more but if that is correct then either the mounting point is too low on the leg or the whole thing is too short. Looking at pics of the real thing is ambiguous - the bottom mounting looks about right but the angle seems to vary, perhaps depending on the load. I have seen one or two pics where the instructions seem to be right so the strut probably is too short, but I have also seen ones which are quite close to how it has ended up so anyway, it will just have to do - the 2nd mould Airfix Lanc does not even have them! Incidentally the main legs are raked back a little after all, unlike in the instructions, but probably not as much as they should be. For the record I don't know how accurate the wheels are but they are about 2mm less diameter than those on my Airfix Lanc. The tail wheel may be right but unlike the one on the Lanc it is not a grooved "anti shimmy" one - perhaps that was a later variation?

 

In fairness to Comet the u/c can stand the weight of the kit, but I will still go ahead with my brass rod as it looks pretty easy to break it off by accident, knowing how clumsy I am getting these days. Tomorrow I will see if I can get the rest of the struts on, but I must finish off 2 kits for the "In the Navy" GB as they still need a final coat of varnish. With 9 days to go, barring unforseen circumstances I think I should get it just about finished but that is probably tempting fate!

 

One final point - I learned something interesting today. When I first started using an airbrush many years ago I was using enamel paints and Microscale varnish. I mentioned the problem with Humbrol Clearfix stripping acrylic paint and said I put some old fashioned varnish on the protect the paint. Having run out of my ancient Humbrol varnish I tried some equally ancient MS matt and guess what - it also dissolves acrylic paint! Anyway, in spite of that minor problem I have "Clearfixed" the round windows in the upper escape hatches, and if that works I will do the various square windows as well and I have made a start on the props. Maybe it is me getting lazy in my old age but I must admit I am not a great fan of props where you have to glue the individual blades on. Not too bad perhaps when a jig is provided, unlike here, but at least it is only 2 x 3 blades.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by PeterB

[Rabbit Leader]

Glad you've recovered from your dissolving paint drama Pete, seems like no one gets away with minor slip ups in their builds which is something I can relate too first hand. Now you did mention something about smaller diameter wheels, well my recent research would suggest that this is correct. A short while back I was stupidly considering making my Matchbox Lanc into a Manchester Mk.III (first Lancaster prototype) and did read about this aircraft being fitted with the smaller diameter Manchester wheels. So to me anyway, it's all good. Nice progress too! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[PeterB]

Hi Dave,

 

Thanks for that. Nothing "stupid" about making a Manchester III aka Lancaster prototype to my mind - the more the merrier as the saying goes! As you say, this form of "public self flagellation" called a "GB" does show our individual flaws but so what - that's part of the fun. We Yorkshiremen have a reputation for being stubborn and I have no intention of letting this ruddy thing beat me. It may not be perfect but then none of my builds are, and it may not be finished by the deadline, but it will be finished one way or another!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

Whilst I am working on the undercarriage I have assembled the props and started painting them together with the vertical endplates and the wheel bay doors.

The black blob in the foreground is the ventral turret. Comet have moulded the frame lines for the front and side windows but not the rear ones. Painting the "glazing" is not going to be easy, but I will have a try! I don't suppose it would normally be in the lowered position when the plane is on the ground except presumably for maintenance, but as it is likely to be the only plane I build that has a ventral turret I will probably show it down. I have not as yet decided whether I will have the footwells and seat fairing extended or not.

 

So - back to the undercarriage.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

Quite a productive couple of days.

Still some touching up to do before I add the wheel doors, but the main u/c is done and should be a lot stronger with the brass long lower struts (on top in the pic of course). With luck I should get the doors on and perhaps the cover for the landing lights and the bomb aimer's blister fitted on Sunday. Then I will turn it over and put the tail feathers on, at which point it is on the home stretch.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

As ever a bit more touching up to do but it is standing on its own legs.

No tail wheel yet of course but the wheel doors, landing light glazing and nose blister are on. As you may know the Manchester had a wingspan of 90ft 1 inch and the kit measures out at around 89 ft 10 inches so within a reasonable margin of error. The Lancaster had a span of 102 ft which is a scale difference of only  2 inches/5cm, and this is what it looks like!

Now that's what I call a proper "Mistel"! Not a lot of difference in 1/72, certainly less than I had imagined, but then I have just built a Lincoln with a 120ft span - 3 inches/7.6 cm greater than the Lanc so maybe that is confusing me a little - does not take much these days! The tailplane is clearly shorter as it should be, but I suspect it may turn out to be a little wider than a scale 28 ft - we will see once the endplates are on, hopefully tomorrow.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited May 24, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Now it does look like a Manchester at last.

As accurately as I can measure the span of the tail scales out to about 28ft 6" so pretty close - the early ones were 28ft and the later ones 33ft. Pictures confirm that, like the Lancaster, the Manchester had fin flashes on both sides of the endplates, but Planet have only provided 2 so I will have to raid the decal stock.

 

I mentioned earlier that I repaired the bit I broke off the centre tail - well it broke off again, hence the filler. The props and rear turret are done, and I am working on the front and lower ones. Now I need to sort out the canopy which looks to need reshaping a little at the rear so that it matches up with the astrodome, and finish off the tail wheel. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited May 25, 2020 by PeterB

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Shes looking great sir. 

[PeterB]

As ever, the macro lens is not kind, but here are the turrets.

On the left is the Airfix Lancaster front turret, and on the right is the Airfix Stirling rear turret. In the middle is Comet's Manchester ventral turret viewed from the right hand side. I ended up using a mixture of silver, white, aircraft grey green and Japanese Navy cockpit metallic blue/green primer to try and represent the various windows, with the interior grey/green showing through - not brilliant but the best I could do! Sorry, the autofocus left it a bit blurred, but then I have problems holding the camera still on macro shots - getting old and shaky! You can see one of the small rear windows on the left, the side window in the middle, and part of the 3 long vertical narrow front windows on the right. The gunner sits in the rear of the turret with the guns mounted slightly above him projecting out on either side in the cut-out where the side windows are. When the turret is raised they are pointed straight down and would stick out of the bottom of the fuselage - see earlier drawing a coiuple of pages back for comparison. Comet have missed out the tubular struts that ran vertically down from the retracting rams so I will add them from stretched sprue - or maybe not! They are shown in my book of turrets but the pics of what I suspect is the prototype given the light colour of the undersides (yellow?) do not seem to show them so I may not bother. Not sure there will actually be enough ground clearance to have the footwells etc down.

 

For the record the turret is just under 1cm high so I am quite pleased with the framing, given the arthritis in my hands. Not quite past it yet it seems. The gun barrels are too fragile to go on now so I will add them right at the end of the build, which might not be too long now.The ruddy Lancaster is nearly finished too so I am getting there.

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Pete

Edited May 25, 2020 by PeterB

[Ventora3300]

This is looking really great, Pete, and I'm conscious that the rest of us only get to see the end results - a bit like an iceberg with all the unseen work going on by you to produce the visible bit. You must be near the end now if the turrets are in progress! This has been a fantastic build to watch and the end result is going to be a cracker - looking forward to that. This is definitely an aircraft that should be included in 'mainstream' kits. All the best. Mike.