Lancaster Turrets

[fishplanebeer]

I'm starting to build the current/new mould Airfix Lancaster as a very early example without the upper turret coaming, flat black and standard camo etc. etc. with the aim of it being the first Lanc lost on active service, KM+C of 44 Squadron.

 

From pics I have the turrent internals appear to be painted in interior green at this point, subsequently being painted black at some point, presumably to blend in with the overall black appearance of the airframe. However I'm unsure as to the correct colour for the external framings as I've seen for example the front turret in what appears to be camo brown, also in black and others where the lower parts are black and he upper parts in camo colour.

 

As such can anyone shed any light on this please in terms of the typical/correct external frame colours for all the 3 turrets at this early stage of the Lanc's service and also to what degree the camo colour extended around the back section of the front and rear turrets if at all.

 

Regards

Colin.

[fishplanebeer]

Looks like I've drawn a bit of a blank with this so I'll have to peruse all the relevant pics of early Lancs I can find to come up with what I believe was the correct application and then hope for the best.

 

Re' the internals of the turrets I've read on a recent thread that early Lancs were interior green inside with the possible exception of the bomb aimers position which was apparently painted black, the exception being very early examples that started life as Manchesters where green was also applied. As such I think I'm safe in assuming that the obviously light colour seen on the turret internals of early examples would also be interior green and not light grey or even bare metal as some others have suggested in the past.

 

My only other question is whether interior green was/is the correct colour for the rear upper section of the cockpit fuselage underneath the canopy as I've seen models where it is painted in camo dark green as well?

 

Regards

Colin.

[e8n2]

Not totally sure on the early ones, but generally RAF aircraft had the parts of the fuselage visible underneath the canopy painted the same color as the surrounding camoflauge paint.   So if the area around the aft end of the canopy is painted Dark Green, then so should the area visible underneath the canopy.

Later,

Dave

[Mark Postlethwaite]

The light coloured turret internal frames seen on early Lancasters were aluminium, not interior green.  Hope that helps!

 

Mark P

[dov]

Hallo

As I notice, you want to build a British bomber from WW2. The Lancy. Yes, I am also a modeler and started to ask all this questions about 30 to 25 years ago.

If you build any turret, no matter which bomber, you have to understand that any turret is a very complex machine by itself. Details inside a turret are so many, that every attempt as a modeler will be a rudiment.

The colors in the RAF: Black flat and interior green. The brand-new Lancy had a pattern, and British production photos show both colors.

I assume that most areas inside which are visible from outside may have been black. This is what I saw on Lancy’s from the museums. All colors inside and outside of the turret are flat. No gloss at all!

 

 

 

 

Happy modeling

[dogsbody]

Under the rear cockpit canopy, Dark Green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[wmcgill]

For your early KM-C you should ignore museum examples.

 

http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/productdetail?productid=3193&cat=2