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Lancaster B.1 'Special', 617 Sqn, 1945. Finished 09/08


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Hello all,

 

After building a Lancaster with 'Upkeep' and a Lancaster with 'Tallboy', there's one missing (I'm sure you can guess where this is going), so here it is- Lancaster B.1 Special of 617 Squadron fitted with the monster 22,000lb 'Grand Slam' bomb. On the 19th March 1945, PB996, YZ-C, was piloted by Flying Officer Phil Martin, DFC and bar, on an operation to destroy the Arnsberg Viaduct in Germany. Dropped from 12,000 feet, the bomb impacted the Western end of the viaduct, along with four Tallboys, causing it to collapse.

 

Kit:

 

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Extras:

 

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Will be using an AML paint mask (it's designed for Airfix kits but fits the Hasegawa kits too), Eduard canopy mask and interior etch. 

 

Marking options:

 

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The real thing in action, 19th March, 1945:

 

Lancaster_617_Sqn_RAF_dropping_Grand_Sla

 

From what I can gather, the only part of the kit that needs altered is the removal of 2 of the 4 rear .303 machine guns, as one of my references has stated that, amongst several other modifications for the carrying of the Grand Slam, the number of guns was reduced to 2 as a weight saving measure. Any other advice from those in the know would be most helpful!

 

Should get a start once I clear the Su-33 from the bench and make some progress on a Spitfire.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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1 hour ago, franky boy said:

Excellent choice!

 

A Lancaster was on my list of potential builds for this one I’ll be watching with interest.  
 

James

Thanks James!

20 minutes ago, Ruskin Air Services said:

Nice kit, shame hasegawa got the escape hatch in the canopy too far forward. Bit like revell with their dihedralless wings. 

A detail I can live with! Compared to the Airfix kit, the Hasegawa kit I build was a breeze.

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I was going to say good choice Dave, but unfortunately, it's wee bit too early and outside of the GB timelines, which are:

 

3.  Equipment and units in use in the month prior to VE Day is acceptable but they must be in the order of battle for VE Day (e.g. between 8/4/45 to 15/8/45).

 

4. Equipment and units in use for a month after VJ Day are acceptable but again they must be on the order of battle for VJ Day (e.g. 8/5/45 to 15/9/45).

 

The good news is 617 Sqn used Grand Slams on two raids within the timeline, one to Hamburg U-Boat pens on 9th April and one against coastal batteries on the Heligoland Bight on 19th April - see here.

 

Don't forget Rule 8 applies:

 

8.  The onus will be on the modeller to provide evidence that their subject is in keeping with the rules.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but they do apply to everyone in the GB.

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38 minutes ago, Wez said:

I was going to say good choice Dave, but unfortunately, it's wee bit too early and outside of the GB timelines, which are:

 

3.  Equipment and units in use in the month prior to VE Day is acceptable but they must be in the order of battle for VE Day (e.g. between 8/4/45 to 15/8/45).

 

4. Equipment and units in use for a month after VJ Day are acceptable but again they must be on the order of battle for VJ Day (e.g. 8/5/45 to 15/9/45).

 

The good news is 617 Sqn used Grand Slams on two raids within the timeline, one to Hamburg U-Boat pens on 9th April and one against coastal batteries on the Heligoland Bight on 19th April - see here.

 

Don't forget Rule 8 applies:

 

8.  The onus will be on the modeller to provide evidence that their subject is in keeping with the rules.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but they do apply to everyone in the GB.

My mistake, I've misread that! Thanks for pointing it out.

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10 hours ago, DaveJL said:

My mistake, I've misread that! Thanks for pointing it out.

Dave,

 

If this aircraft survived this and any of the subsequent raids and was used at either the Hamburg or Heligoland raids its eligible, otherwise a change of code and serial number for one of those that was should be a relatively simple substitution.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/28/2020 at 6:31 AM, Wez said:

Dave,

 

If this aircraft survived this and any of the subsequent raids and was used at either the Hamburg or Heligoland raids its eligible, otherwise a change of code and serial number for one of those that was should be a relatively simple substitution.

Thanks mate, but It was the above aircraft that I wanted to build. I'll just ask the mods to pop this over to a regular work in progress thread 🙂

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Made a brief start on this over the last couple of days. Interior sprayed and etch parts added. A bit of light weathering, nothing much as none of it is seen. I also added some scrap etch seat belts to the pilots seat and a paper map to the navigators table.

 

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Grand Slam was built up alongside the Tallboy, just for comparison...

 

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The Tallboy isn't exactly small but the Grand Slam is a monster. Amazes me still that the Lanc was able to loft this thing into the air. As with my earlier Tallboy toting Lancaster, I think I'll paint the Grand Slam with an aluminium rear section unless this is completely wrong!

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

More done on this one over the last couple of days. Main fuselage construction is complete, with the adapted bomb bay and front turret replacement the most notable features of the Grand Slam toting Lanc. The necessary windows have also been masked up - fairly sure this Lanc didn't have the rest of the fuselage windows in place :lol: (if you can remember the conversation on my Tallboy build!)

 

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A few areas needed a little bit of filler just to clean them up. The worst was the join at the very rear of the fuselage. Wings also built up:

 

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The trickiest part of the build, as I discovered with the Tallboy kit, is the engine nacelles. They are a bit rough in places:

 

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They shouldn't be too hard to clean up and in any case, the black paint will cover up any blemishes that I miss. Another feature of this kit is the larger Hamilton props and the dual brownings for the rear turret. Hasegawa don't show these in the instructions but they are included and appropriate for PB996:

 

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Some other news; I've heard back from the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, the BBMF Visitors Centre and the Petwood Hotel. All are planning on reopening this month so all being well I'll be able to visit them as I'd planned in September as discussed in depth here .Be great to see a couple of Lancasters up close.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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Found a good video on YouTube the Grand Slam and footage of it being dropped:

 

 

Going to ask the dreaded question - the colour. Main body would be the standard green for ordnance, but what about that tail? I had painted my Tallboy with a metallic silver, which when weathered and given a flat coat, dulled down nicely. I know there are no (to my knowledge) colourised wartime pictures of the Grand Slam fitted operationally. Pale green/sky seems to be another option. Any suggestions?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been doddling with this one, lost a bit of mojo which had me looking at the stash instead of building. Was close to selling up quite a few. But, once some sense returned, I made a triumphant return to the bench over the last few days. The main job was attaching the engines to the wings. The nacelles have a bit of a tricky fit with the leading edge, requiring some filler. Once that was cleaned up, the wings were attached as was the canopy and other clear parts. Masked up and now we're ready for primer:

 

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All sub assemblies have been painted and detailed where necessary.

 

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A spot of silver dry brushing to be done around the props to give a bit of a worn look and some weathering to be added to the tyres. The rear turret is also completed:

 

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And the pièce de résistance, the Grand Slam itself:

 

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Went for the green rear section this time as, from what I can see from my research, this appears to the consensus for the colour. The front band is somewhat wonky, still haven't fully got the hang of Tamiya curved tape for such small areas. I blame the ham fists. Anyway, turns out from some pictures I've seen, the green band wasn't always straight so I shall claim that mine is done like that on purpose 😇

 

Hoping to get the primer on tomorrow and some sort of painting started over the weekend.

 

Stay safe.

 

Dave

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A query for those in the know; Were the fuselage windows simply 'blanked' out or was the fuselage made without them entirely? Reason I ask is, after a coat of primer, the outlines of the windows are still visible and I'm not sure if they'll need to be filled over and sanded flush. Also, is the forward most slit window, just below the cockpit, (circled) absent on these later Lancs?

 

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Thanks in advance.

 

Dave

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Hi Dave

Here a link to my build along with the guidance on colours.

 

 

My particular aircraft had a replacement vertical stabiliser fitted at some point hence the colour differences. 

 

Really enjoying your build.

 

cheers Pat 

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Thanks chaps.

 

@JOCKNEY that's a great build from an older kit! I'm not a big fan of the current Airfix moulding, the thing fought me all the way. I was tempted to go brown/green/grey on this one and the instructions do call out for a black outer rudder for YZ-J but decided to go for YZ-C as there's a picture of it actually dropping a Grand Slam in 1945.

 

Regarding my window query, I'm fairly sure the front slit windows are absent. There's a good image on the below link (3rd picture down):

 

Link

 

Looks to be flush with no outline. I'm only assuming at this stage that the rest of the fuselage windows, or lack of, would be the same. Looks like I may have a little but of filler work to do. This picture also shows a good bit of weathering from the engines/exhausts which gives me good reference whenever I get to that stage.

 

Dave

 

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So I went ahead and sanded the windows as smooth as I could along with filling the forward slits. A pre-shade followed then I sprayed on several light coats of MRP-110 Dark Green:

 

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Once cured I set to the masking. I like using these AML masks; they're cheap, work well and don't give too hard an edge. A few areas needed some blu-tack and masking tape just to tidy them up:

 

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On went the Dark Earth (MRP-108). A couple of light coats then off came the masks:

 

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Plenty of masking to do before spraying the undersides.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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A bit more done over the last couple of days. The upper surfaces were all masked off, a somewhat tedious job that took a while. I then sprayed on a few coats of Tamiya Nato Black, before adding some post shading of Rubber Black and Flat Black. It's hard to make out in the below photos but it definitely breaks up the solid base colour. Once that had dried, I added a few coats of gloss. I've now taken to spraying Alclad Aqua gloss instead of brushing on Pledge.

 

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Hoping to get the decals on during the week.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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Decals on. Usual Hasegawa in that they're quite thick. Some Microset required. There's a bit of silvering too around the walkways but another coat of gloss should hopefully cure this.

 

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Will get a top coat of gloss on tomorrow all being well before starting on the panel washes.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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One assumes Sir,that you may have heard of this:

 

https://www.raafansw.org.au/docPDF/Gate_Guard_bomb_was_live1958_Vintage_news_151106.pdf

 

Whether it actually happened or remains a tall(boy) tale no one seems to really know,but that is the story.

 

There is(if one recalls correctly)an excellent account of actually flying a Grand Slam loaded B.1 Special on an op.

in the old Garbutt/Goulding book "Lancaster at War 2".

 

Very nice work Sir.

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3 hours ago, DaveWilko said:

One assumes Sir,that you may have heard of this:

 

https://www.raafansw.org.au/docPDF/Gate_Guard_bomb_was_live1958_Vintage_news_151106.pdf

 

Whether it actually happened or remains a tall(boy) tale no one seems to really know,but that is the story.

 

There is(if one recalls correctly)an excellent account of actually flying a Grand Slam loaded B.1 Special on an op.

in the old Garbutt/Goulding book "Lancaster at War 2".

 

Very nice work Sir.

Thanks mate. That is quite a story it it's true!!

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