Suddensky Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 (edited) Hi Folks, Well look what I got for my birthday!!! I thought about doing a sprue shot and then realised I didn't have the space, which doesn't bode well for when I've finished this and need to put it somewhere. Anyway, on with the obligatory box top shot accompanied by the ever-faithful Frankie... It is, of course, big. I've got the B-17 mounted on the wall, but there's not fixings for that in this kit so it'll have to stand somewhere, but that's a problem I'm happy to kick down the road for the moment. I was also treated to the Eduard 'mid-level' set, with etch for the cockpit, seatbelts and radiators, plus the pre-cut masks, and on top of that Susan even provided me with the Master barrels... what a girl!! Apart from that, it'll be pretty much OOB, with kit markings, although having said that, I'll be getting (or making) some masks for the national insignia and squadron codes, just a bit too big for shiny decals. As with the Fortress it seems to be nicely broken down into a large number of individual mini-kits, starting in the cockpit and working backwards. I am, needless to say, very much looking forward to this... Unfortunately, I didn't get off to the best of starts, managing to break pretty much the first thing I touched, the frame for the armour plating on the pilot's seat, which then had to be mended, which was annoying. The seat builds up pretty nicely, there's some etch to add and weathering to do, but I drilled out the lightening holes and it's nice to get something solid started: Broke out the etch and started on the 1940s tech: That's about it for now, I can feel some wiring, hydraulic lines, and some of the more visible gubbins nagging at me, but that's still 'pretty much' OOB right? Anyway, thanks for looking, and hopefully there'll be more soon. Peter Edited June 9, 2020 by Suddensky 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 21 minutes ago, Suddensky said: It maybe just the lighting, but that green look like US interior green, not RAF Grey Green see here this maybe a bit washed out, note the green seat leathercloth more on the green here this is well worth a look, a 360 panorama of a Lancaster cockpit https://www.pan3sixty.co.uk/portfolio/avro-lancaster-panorama-kb889-at-duxford/ HTH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 Hi Troy, Thanks, yes, it's the flash that's made it so green and stark, it's a lot duller and more grey under natural light (Vallejo Modelair interior green), and the weathering will tone it down further. I'll have play with some other options though, I've got the Tamiya and Xtracrylix versions to compare with, but at some time in the distant past I must have preferred this one for some reason and just stuck with it! Might be time for a re-think! Thanks, Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 Work continues at its usual glacial pace... Got the seat more or less finished, might dull down the Eduard belts a bit though. Did a quick dry fit of the Nav and W/O stations, it's actually a pretty fragile structure. And with a bit of weathering and a bit more attention, not really much to see here, but I added some metal strips over what I think are fuses(?) on the wireless panel, and wires from the morse key going down under the table. And added some bits and bobs to the navigator's table. A map holder from plasticard, maps from baking paper stuck together with PVA (Glue'n'Glaze in this case) and some nav tools from the etch spares box, pretty sure they're meant to be switches and a compass, but I think they look close enough to a ruler, slide rule, etc. Also added a pencil as someone noted it was missing from my B-17 build! Looked at the H2S and put in some of the more prominent wiring, it ends up under the desk, but I don't think I need to plug it in anywhere. Had a bit of an incident with drybrushing the right hand box, but I think I'll leave it in the name of expediency and moving on. And here's the section pretty much finished... Next stop, the control column, the seat surrounds and equipment, and the instrument panel. Stay tuned and thanks for looking, Peter 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLC1966 Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Good work chap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancunian airman Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Well I'm looking forward to seeing more . . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 I think Troy may be right - you're using American Interior Green which was yellow zinc chromate tinted with black and looked like this: British Interior Grey-Green was a much paler grey-green without the strong yellowish component: Looking back to 20 years ago - all my models were the other way around. It was Humbrol 78 inside everything back then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isaneng Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Suddensky, It certainly looks a lot darker than our BBMF Lanc, the second example Jamie shows above is a far better match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said: Looking back to 20 years ago - all my models were the other way around. It was Humbrol 78 inside everything back then Still is now for me 😄 This is going to look amazing. Surely it will finish up bigger than the dog. Will follow with interest! Edited July 2, 2020 by TonyOD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaotic Mike Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Looking good. I am considering retrofitting my finished version with a couple of Eduard Brassin Merlins... They make a pair for the Tamiya Mosquito and look a lot better than the kit's rather weedy efforts. My go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Truly awesome progress thus far. This is going to be fun to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 That is looking great, wish I had the space for one. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 That is a great looking interior. Lovely work. Also liking the use of the PE as navigation equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancunian airman Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Its been a while since anything was reported, any updates please ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 Well that was a bit of a pause, hopefully some sort of normal service has been resumed now. Initially I wanted to add some wiring and plumbing to the fuselage walls in the forward compartments, but couldn't really find any decent references online, and massively stalled in my progress. That was compounded by myself and my wife both working from home for extended periods and needing my study to be a decent work area (ie cleaned down of modelling stuff), so I kind of put it all away for a bit. Anyway, hopefully back in the zone now, so on with the progress report. Finished up the front cabin with the IP and pilot's sidewall, courtesy of Eduard, I've never been able to get the levers and protruding bits done very well on these sets! One of the FE's panels: And the back side of the main spar, should it have a black non-slip coating on the top of it? Starboard fuselage wall, with the bomb selector panel and more FE stuff: And the port side: And the bombsight: You can see why I'd like to add some wiring and plumbing, the FE area is covered in pipework and the bombsight and bomb aimers station is really visible through all that plexiglass. If anyone could point me in the direction of any good online references I'd be very grateful! Then on with the defensive armament, three turrets to do, starting with the nose: Mid-upper: And tail-end Charlie: I found the turret construction really fiddly and a bit frustrating, having to sandwich several bits between the two outer supports all at the same time. I think they could benefit from a bit more detailing too, but again I'm struggling with references. Then it was on with the tail assembly, the surface detail really is fantastic. The plan is to paint the upper surface camo, then build it, mask the camo and add the black and the fiddly bits such as the actuators. And the middle section and rear ammo boxes ready for paint: So this is where we are for now: Next steps are to mask off the glassware for the turrets, paint the insides of the main fuselage halves, and then add all those little windows... so many little windows. Thanks for looking, and hopefully progress will be a bit swifter now. Thanks, Peter 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispisme Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 That’s sooooo freakin awesome!! I have this kit...in the box where it maintains all its future artistic potential, once I start working on it, the potential work of art is gone and it’s just another model. I’ll live my dreams through your build now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaotic Mike Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Looking good. Watch out for the stabilisers... They were moulded incorrectly on my version, with one side made of 2 upper sections, and the other made of 2 lower sections. If you are fussed, I explain the fix in my build log posted earlier. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancunian airman Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 Overall some good progress there, its certainly moving along so heres hoping you can keep it up . . . Thats a nice black on the turrets, which black did you use please ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted January 8, 2021 Author Share Posted January 8, 2021 OK, so that was a bit of a hiatus, but I should be pretty much back to it now. On 12/2/2020 at 7:40 PM, Mancunian airman said: Overall some good progress there, its certainly moving along so heres hoping you can keep it up . . . Thats a nice black on the turrets, which black did you use please ?? Thanks, it just Vallejo Modelair black with just a really really tiny amount of light grey to take the edge off. On 11/13/2020 at 9:46 AM, Chaotic Mike said: Looking good. Watch out for the stabilisers... They were moulded incorrectly on my version, with one side made of 2 upper sections, and the other made of 2 lower sections. If you are fussed, I explain the fix in my build log posted earlier. Mike Wow, that's a biggy! Have checked and mine seem ok, but good to know for the future just in case I accidentally decide to add a dambuster to the collection. Decided to push on with getting the fuselage zipped up, so did the rear floor section: Was briefly tempted to add a comedy loo roll holder and a magazine for the Elsan, but kind of forgot about it... probably for the best. Added some wiring and gubbins to the nose section with wire and etch from the spares box: And painted things: And some bits on the other side: I did tidy it up a bit after taking the pics, honest. Four Merlins ready to go... They'll all be sealed up, but felt I ought to paint them at the very least: Used the Eduard grill set on the radiators, well worth it I think. Had a go at the exhausts with a base of black, then drybrushing with Vallejo burnt iron, rust, and finally some light grey. The engines are finished with washes of dark grey then green, to try to make the aluminium bits look oily. And got the rear mounting sections started, even though it'll all be sealed in: Hopefully should have a pretty good run at things over the next few days, so there should be another update soon. In the meantime I think I'd batter order a lot of black paint... Thanks for looking, Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadeo911 Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Moving along nicely. She's going to be a big beautiful girl. The IP and FE panels look great. Nice addition with the wiring added in the nose. Did you ever find references for that? I have looked and come up dry. Take care, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mancunian airman Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Thats some real progress there Pete . . . Your doing a fine job and I'm sure its not to far away from the final external painting, Keep it up Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 4 hours ago, Dadeo911 said: Moving along nicely. She's going to be a big beautiful girl. The IP and FE panels look great. Nice addition with the wiring added in the nose. Did you ever find references for that? I have looked and come up dry. Take care, Chris Thanks, yes I did find a good online reference in the end, a full interior panorama of all the main areas at https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/lancaster/ it's a later version, but the basics are pretty much the same. 45 minutes ago, Mancunian airman said: Thats some real progress there Pete . . . Your doing a fine job and I'm sure its not to far away from the final external painting, Keep it up Ian Thanks, Ian, yes, it's surprised me how close I am to paint now, it's sort of crept up on me! In terms of main assemblies it's pretty much just the engine nacelles and undercarriage to go, but there's an awful lot of faffing about with other things as well. I made a dog's breakfast of the main fuselage join, so that'll take some sorting, and the masking alone will take hours! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadeo911 Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 9 hours ago, Suddensky said: The masking alone will take hours! Not to mention a whack load of tape. 🙂 Thank you for the link to the reference you found. I'm hoping to someday get my own copy of this beauty for my stash to ooh and awe over. 🙂 Have a great weekend, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 Managed to get a good few hours in recently, so I feel I've made quite a bit of progress, although looking at the pics, it doesn't seem to be that much! Assembled the tail control surfaces and committed to paint: The sub-assemblies keep on coming ... And the main wheels are enormous; Vallejo black for the hubs, Tamiya rubber black for the tyres: Forgot to take a pic after the weathering, which I really enjoy; the wheels are put in a tub with a few chunks of various shades of pastel and a bit of pencil lead and given a vigorous shake, followed by a light random wipe and a coat of clear matt to seal it all. I like the multi-shaded finish, and here we are with the subs coming together to finish the inboard nacelles: Got the wings together: And carried on working on the fuselage seam, I think it'll be ok in the end: I'm going for the fully modular approach, with the wings and fuselage being painted and decaled separately and then joined and touched up as required. The scheme fortunately lends itself to this approach, with the camo on the wings mating with black on the fuselage, negating the need to pattern match. Hopefully tomorrow will be a black day... black on the wings and black on the fuselage, although I've still not fully decided on having the bomb bay doors open or closed. Having said that, I've a suspicion that'll be the least of my worries once I've stuck the wings on, as I really do have no idea at all where I'm going to put the thing when I've finished. It's big. Maybe I should have thought about that before I started. Anyway, thanks for looking and hopefully there will be more soon. Thanks, Peter 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Looking great. Interesting weathering technique, that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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