Popular Post elger Posted April 13, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) Here are the photos of my Airfix 1/72 Lancaster that I just finished. The build thread is here: Lancaster W4308 UV-C made a crash landing just outside the village where I grew up in January 1943. The wreck was stored for a while on a little parking lot just behind the house that I grew up in. The pilot, Squadron Leader Osborn, tells the story: "This was our sixth trip flying Lancasters. The target was Dusseldorf on the western edge of the Ruhr industrial area of Germany. I was on my second tour of operations with a total of forty-seven trips completed over a couple of years. Our normal plane, ‘J Johnny’ was declared unserviceable and we were allotted ‘C Charlie’ (Lancaster W 4308) normally flown by another crew that happened not to be flying that week. We were told that the target-area would be completely covered with cloud, but that our attack was to be guided with great accuracy by a new guidance system just being introduced into Bomber Command, called by the code-name of ‘Oboe’. As a veteran I had never heard the likes of such a method before. Like many others, I felt sceptical about the soundness of the theory. As the wintry afternoon in Breighton, South Yorkshire, where we were based, faded into night, we took off and slowly climbed up and up, flying round and round over base, to reach the required height before setting course for Mablethorpe. We were briefed that a cone of three searchlights would be switched on for a short period but we failed to see the lights. I think that our first mistake of the night occurred right here, and that we set course from base too late to reach that cone of light before they went out. We pressed on, hoping to catch up with our schedule by the time we should reach the target — we failed to see any marker- flares there, but nevertheless received the sort of welcome from the flak below that clearly indicated that we were somewhere over the Ruhr area. With no aiming point visible because of thick cloud below, we dropped our bombs on ETA (it was a standing order by this time of the war that no bombs were to be brought back from Germany.) We set course for home, and I remember that a bit later, around 9.00 pm and probably flying at about 12, 000 feet, we thought that we had crossed the Dutch coast at Noordwijk on the official track as prescribed, and so we thought that we were over the North Sea. I recall that I had even begun to think of bacon and eggs, when Longworth (our Navigator) told me that a signal had just come in from Group ordering us to divert to Bradwell Bay (an aerodrome in South Essex) due to our base being now fog-bound. The Navigator had not even given me a new course to steer when suddenly we were raked by cannon-fire from below. There were flashes and bangs in the cockpit; an almighty thump on my left upper arm and my hand disappeared from the wheel but I felt no pain; a deafening roaring noise filled the cockpit (the roar of the slip-stream in the gaping holes along the belly of our plane I believed it to be); the main petrol-tank between the two starboard engines was ablaze, and a sheet of flames streamed back towards the tail-plane. I tried to will my seemingly non-existent hand to get back up on the wheel once more, but nothing would come — I could feel my fingers touching some piece of equipment down beside my seat. I knew that I had been wounded — not for the first time for me, as I had been hit once before when a Dornier intruder had bombed our dispersal area at Newmarket Heath back in 1941 and my left foot had been hit by a bomb splinter. I tried to speak on the intercom but it was dead. I presumed that the shot that had hit my arm had also shot away the intercom plug down beside me, cutting me off from the rest of the crew. I must have been badly shocked by the suddenness of it all, as it was some moments before I realised that I had not even taken evasive action. However my mind had been racing: we were out over the mid-winter North Sea, we were diverted to some strange airfield perhaps an hour’s flying time away, we were on fire in the main starboard petrol tank, I was badly wounded, my intercom was gone, and there were was goodness knows what other damage elsewhere to the plane. I could not tell anyone what I thought it best for me to do, but I just knew that I had better get on and do it quickly. Just to show that I was correct in this at the very moment that I decided to turn back and crash-land in Holland, our not-so-friendly companion below gave us a hurry-up with a second burst from his guns. I didn’t know what damage this further shooting did, nor do I have any idea just how long it was between the first and the second attacks. All realisation of how much time was passing just seems to have escaped me — but I now estimate that our attacker would have needed far less than one minute to realise that he had the opportunity for another shot at us, for him then to regain a favourable position for this second attack, and so to do his stuff once again. At the very instant that we were attacked again, I had banked and dived away to the left, intending that we should fly back towards the east, in from the North Sea and so back over land once again. After turning for what seemed to be only a moment, I straightened out and let the faithful old Lanc dive herself quickly down — she flew easily, even with only one hand. I was flying by instinct now, by the seat of my pants and not on instruments, so I had no knowledge of how fast we were diving nor in what direction we were flying when I finally levelled off — generally eastwards was my intention. A short while after I levelled off I became aware of the ground looming up close below us. I let go of the control-column for a moment, clasping it between my knees, and cut the engine throttles. We skimmed along low over the ground, wheels still up of course, but with no flaps down as I already had enough to do without trying to lower these with my one hand as well. I had no idea if anything might be rearing up in front of us, but was busy watching the blades of grass as they flashed past my side-window, lit up by the fire in our starboard wing. A few moments later we slithered to a halt like a piece of wet fish landing on the slab in the fish-shop. We pilots had a saying among us that any landing that you could walk away from had to be a ‘good landing’ — in this case, ours was a very ‘good landing’, one that we really did have to walk away from! I thought that the best thing that I could do to save my crew was not to attempt to fly back to England, but to try to crash land somewhere just behind us — in the Netherlands, flat open country as I imagined it to be. I managed to do just this (and landed my plane close to a village called Warns), with a farm house only a few hundred metres off to the side of our blazing wreck. Five of our crew of seven got out of the plane, with our mid-upper gunner and myself being wounded, and two others not being found amongst us survivors — the front gunner had dropped out using his parachute but was unfortunately he was too low to the ground to survive this drop, whilst the rear gunner was dead in his turret. In a few moments we were joined by a middle-aged man, together with his son and daughter — dairy farmers I believed them to be. They took us into their house, making us as comfortable as possible, even giving us a glass of wine, while someone got in touch with the local doctor who came to bind up the wounds of us two. A little later , our three fit survivors said that they thought that they ought to try to escape, and I of course agreed. They had only just got to the back door, being shown the way by the son of the family, when a party of seven Germans stormed into the house, and we were all taken prisoner. A little later an ambulance came, and took us two wounded and the doctor to Leeuwarden, a city in the north of Friesland, and to the big hospital there where the Germans had commandeered one wing of the hospital for their own use. The Dutch doctor stopped the ambulance once while we were on the journey so that he could make sure that we two were OK. While we were in hospital, for about three months, we were visited by the hospital plumber who had come to clear a blockage in the wash-basin close to my head. While he worked he spoke softly to me in German, telling me about the fall of Stalingrad (where the Germans had just lost about two hundred thousand men as prisoners). The plumber also asked us for our names so that he could send these back to England, by some secret radio I presume — I do not know how this happened, but my parents learned that I was a prisoner of war, wounded, only about three weeks after I went missing — this news had come via the Red Cross, but it could first have been told to the Red Cross by this plumber. The dairy farmers on whose farm we had landed were called the De Boers, and their son was called Meindert, and the young daughter was Maria. Meindert was very upset that our three would-be escapers had not succeeded, and later in the war he took onto his separate farm five airmen from a Halifax that had crashed nearby, and sheltered them from October 1944 until the war ended in May 1945. Maria too was worried about us two wounded, and one day she persuaded a friend to come with her to Leeuwarden to enquire at the hospital about us — they were immediately seized by the German SD (Sicherheitdienst or security police) and were given a hard time for several hours before being released. The Germans ordered the inhabitants of the village of Warns to dismantle the wreck of our plane and to dump the remains on some open ground close to the village church — they guarded the plane while it was out in the fields, but never while the pieces lay by the church. The villages of course helped themselves to this and that, with farmer De Boer keeping the aircraft ladder for use in his barn, while the rear entry door of the Lancaster became the door to his pig sty. Mrs De Vries Jagersma took a fire extinguisher to the local blacksmith, who removed the spray fittings and gave her a simple screw top to the flask below. She use this flask as the hot-water bottle for the cot of her first baby shortly to be born, and subsequently for the nine other babies that followed in due course." The cockpit was detailed with parts from Eduard, spare bits, and some scratchbuilt items: I based the colours of the landing gear of the photos of G-George, a contemporary of C-Charlie. I added fuel tanks to the wings: Turrets with resin barrels and other improved details: Flaps from Eduard: It took weeks to rivet the whole thing with Archer rivet decals: Getting ready for final assembly. The bomb bay doors fit terribly and almost ruined the entire model! And finished! Apart from the Archer rivet decals, I'd also like to mention that I painted the model mostly with Mig Ammo water-based acrylics. This paint gets a bad rep in certain circles but I'm really beginning to like them. Not only do they not make your house smell like a chemical factory (even with a spray booth), the paint doesn't eat itself when you cover one layer with another slightly too thickly. Having said this, they are a little bit trickier to spray than Tamiya, Gunze, or especially MRP. They are a lot more fickle and I'm beginning to think that advice on how to use them best depends a lot on the local climate (temperature, humidity etc). One thing that I will share though - and this works for me here in The Netherlands - is to thin Mig paints with Hataka thinner. In my experience it makes this paint spray much, much better than with any other thinner (especially their own brand). I didn't get along with Hataka paints, but thinning Mig paints with Hataka's thinner works like magic: the Mig paints go on almost as smoothly as Tamiya or Gunze. I also don't like Mig's pre made RAF colours so I mixed my own: Dark Earth is 3 parts 0021 Russian Tan and 1 part 232 RLM70; Dark Green is a 50-50 mix of 915 ("Dark Green") and 253 RLM74 and the night black is a 50-50 mix of 0032 Satin Black and 227 Sea Blue. Anyway, more photos! The mk.I compared to the mk.II I built in 2004 - painted with Tamiya acrylics. Thanks for looking - and as always comments & feedback is very welcome Edited April 13, 2020 by elger added photos and info 89 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan-o Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 That is a stunner 👌 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isak Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Congrats, it looks fantastic. Very realistic. Isak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Beautiful work. Any model that can survive very close up pictures without flaws of some sort showing is something special. This build is right up there. Congratulations. Tony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickydicky210 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Amazing Lanc, that is a winner in any competition 🥇👏👏👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 A stunner and show stopper. Very authentic with all the tiny rivets. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Fabulous build and finish, truly amazing work! Wulfman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 That is absolutely stunning work, I'm sorry I missed the WIP. I really like your custom paint mixes, no particular wisdom informing it, they just look right. Your last pic is I think the holy grail for many modellers, an image that looks a dead ringer for the real thing. That's a tribute to both fine modelling and skilled photography. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josip Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Those raised rivets! I actually miss them on modern kits. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanC Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 I remember when 'covered in rivets' was regarded as a term of abuse. How times change. That's quite superb. One of the best Lancaster models I've seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Brilliant history behind the build, reminding us of the human part of our chosen builds, most of which sadly has been lost over time. The finished build is an absolute joy, congratulations Cheers Pat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbay133 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 One word. Awesome! Cheers Graeme 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davilovick Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Wow! Superb One question... Where did you found the references/blueprints for rivets? Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elger Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 6 minutes ago, Davilovick said: Wow! Superb One question... Where did you found the references/blueprints for rivets? Thanks! thanks! my source was discussed here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
426 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 If a warplane could ever be described as such, but what a gorgeous thing. With the added history this is a fine tribute to the crew and the courageous people of the Netherlands. Bravo,sir! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Totally and utterly superb! Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutcastJoel Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Brilliant story, thank you for sharing. The model is just stunning. To acheive that in 1/48 would have been impressive, in 1/72 mind blowing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Joyce Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Simply outstanding build overall, Elger. Thanks for the very interesting story too, which makes builds like yours even more meaningful. Cheers, Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Lovley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve27752 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 What a superb Lancaster and build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davilovick Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 1 hour ago, elger said: thanks! my source was discussed here: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevfire2 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 That just looks so "right". Magnificent! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Absolutely magnificent, stunning to look at. Well done buddy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 What a pleasure to see. I admire your patience and skill to pull that off. Great to read the account as well, RIP front & rear gunners but a great tribute to them 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Great build & fascinating story. Well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now