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Lancastrian


Adam Poultney

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In no particular order and depending on particular airframe

Fuselage windows - various layouts depending on interior seating

2nd pilot/dual control cockpit

Cockpit overhead sunblinds / metal panels in canopy

Lincoln tail fins

Treaded mainwheel tyres on lincoln style vented hubs

Late style nacelles with larger squarer radiator intake

Larger late style carburettor intakes

Jet engines outboard, Merlins inboard

Note that the rear fuselage taper/fairing on a Lancastrian begins ahead of the tailplane, as opposed to a civilianised Lancaster, which just had a fairing replacing the rear turret.

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1 hour ago, dogsbody said:

Jets outboard? On which Lancastrian were these fitted?

Chris

RR Nenes - VH737 & VH742

RR Avons - VM732 & VL790

DH Ghosts - VM703 & VM729

AS Sapphire - VM733

 

Forgot to add Merlins outboard, 

Gryphons inboard - VM 704 & VM728

Merlin 600s inboard VM704

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3 minutes ago, gingerbob said:

Hmm, I'm suddenly tempted to do a 4-engine bomber with four different engines on it!

:coat:

although it's not different four engine types I'm planning to do a Vulcan with two engine types when the new tool comes out. XH557 was the Olympus 301 testbed and had 201s on one side and 301s on the other for a while

Edited by Adam Poultney
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27 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

RR Nenes - VH737 & VH742

RR Avons - VM732 & VL790

DH Ghosts - VM703 & VM729

AS Sapphire - VM733

 

Forgot to add Merlins outboard, 

Gryphons inboard - VM 704 & VM728

Merlin 600s inboard VM704

 

Ah! Engine test-beds, not actual passenger carriers.

 

 

 

Chris

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1 minute ago, Dave Swindell said:

Lancastrians weren't all civil, the RAF had quite a few (24sqn, 231 & 232sqns) and the Argentine Air Force had a couple as well.

 

Were any of those fitted with jet engines?

 

 

Chris

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All the ones noted above have military serials and carried RAF markings, but as far as I know they never operated with the RAF, the military serials & markings were more to indicate government ownership (Ministry of Supply) and avoid the airworthyness requirements for civil registration.

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7 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

I'm planning on building a Lancastrian from an old tool Airfix Lancaster (80s kit), other than the obvious nose and tail modifications I will need to make, what else will I need to change?

There's several Lancastrian builds in the linked GB, including mine, with the same donor as you're using.

Mine finished up as the Lancastrian prototype, after I'd converterted airline pilot crew figures.

Another thing that Dave didn't mention, engine exhausts rather than flame-dampers.

 

Airfix-Lancastrian1-FS.jpg

 

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23 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Another thing that Dave didn't mention, engine exhausts rather than flame-dampers.

Well spotted, though to be technically acurate it's only the absence of the flame dampers, as the exhausts are still present underneath them when fitted. 

Kit mod wise you're correct as IIRC the old tool Airfix kit is moulded with the shrouds on the nacelles and no exhaust stubs

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The Lancastrian production information I have is

 

Mark I civil, mark II military = 6 night/9 day passenger version, mark III civil, mark IV military = 13 passenger version
2 military mark I VH737, VH742 (August and October 1945)
21 civil mark I, including prototype (February to October 1945)
33 mark II (VL967-981, VM701-704, VM725-738) (October 1945 to March 1946)
18 civil mark III (6 from December 1945 to February 1946, then 11 August to December 1946, and 1 in March 1947)
8 mark IV TX283-290 (February to April 1946)

 

Civil mark I RAF serials allocated but not used, replaced by civil registrations, VB873 prototype, VD238, 241, 253, VF145-8, 152-6, 160-7, all VD/VF serials reported to have been originally ordered as PD serial Lancasters.

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Bomb doors: eliminated completely and the lower fuselage continuously skinned over? or some different arrangement of  opening belly doors? And if skinned over, what was the access to the underfloor fuel tanks / baggage stowage (which of these a given airframe has apparently depending on long range or short range fit, looking at the two AVRO drawings in post #4 above).

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The Qantas ones kept their bomb bay doors, somewhere in my collection I have pictures of 'EAS (the one that was modified to carry L-749 engines) with the bomb bay open. Qantas aircraft came from BOAC stocks, so I suspect that most, if not all, kept their bomb bays. The bomb bay was usually full of fuel tanks (see Dogsbody's post above) and it would seem sensible that the bays be kept open to give access.

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There are some conversions out there for 1/72, Combat Kits do the Nene conversion and is very nice, also consider M&E Models conversion, basic nose and fuselage tail mods  with decals for G ADLF. There are others of varying quality but I have these two and although I have not done any comparisons, look OK.

 

Hope this gives you more options and look forward to seeing the finished model.

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