"How's that for a Slice of Fried Gold?" 1:72 Lancaster B.II

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

A switch of scale for my next build - the first of 2021, although it might get started (just) in 2020! I'm going to build Airfix' Avro Lancaster B.II, which as you are all no doubt aware was the variant which used the radial Bristol Hercules in place of the ubiquitous Merlin. The B.II was conceived as a backstop in case of production restrictions on the Merlin. This never eventuated, and the type was relatively short-lived due to inferior performance at normal operating altitudes. However, 300 or so were produced, and many ended up with RCAF squadrons until they were replaced by Halifaxes. Although the Merlin-engined Lancs (rightly) receive most attention, following my current favouring of lesser-known types I've decided to have a crack at this more unusual heavy. 

 

Here's the lovely boxart:

 

 

The sprue shots:

 

 

 

 

 

Including a B.II specific sprue for the Hercules power-eggs, bulged bomb bay doors and ventral turret components:

 

 

My parents kindly gifted me the kit for Christmas, so I felt little guilt in investing in a set of masks for the canopy, as well as some paint masks for the camo - otherwise this will be pretty much OOB:

 

 

I may, however have just invested in the Airfix 'Bomber Resupply Set' in order to complete the ordnance load. There may even be a diorama in the wings .

 

You may be wondering about the quote in the title of this thread. It comes from one of my favourite films "Shaun of the Dead", which is of course about zombies:

 

 

The reason for this is that I have decided to model the aircraft as EQ*Z "Z for Zombie" of 408 (Goose) Squadron RCAF, based at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire, July 1944. There are some great images of this aircraft, which I believe survived operations including bombing to support Operation Goodwood, which was the Allied operation to take Caen following D-Day. Here's the images I've dug up:

 

 

 

 

Noseart being applied:

 

 

And another shot of a B.II (not Z-Zombie), which gives some good cues for colours of the engines, exhausts, u/c etc.

 

 

All incredibly evocative images capturing life on a Bomber Command station. 

 

Anyway, that's all for now - I look forward to sharing the build as it progresses! Happy New Year to all,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Mancunian airman]

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

having been raised on Merlin engines, the Hercs dont quite sit as nice but she is still a beaut . . . .

[Dunny]

5 minutes ago, Mancunian airman said:

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

having been raised on Merlin engines, the Hercs dont quite sit as nice but she is still a beaut . . . .

Welcome aboard!

[Roland Pulfrew]

Good choice. I built one of these last year and was very pleased with the outcome. Have fun

[Homer]

Looking forward to your decision, wether to build a diorama, hope you do .Wishing you a happy new year aswell. 🥳

[Dunny]

7 minutes ago, Roland Pulfrew said:

Good choice. I built one of these last year and was very pleased with the outcome. Have fun

 

5 minutes ago, Homer said:

Looking forward to your decision, wether to build a diorama, hope you do .Wishing you a happy new year aswell. 🥳

Thanks gents! Happy New Year to you

[bigbadbadge]

Excellent choice Roger and some great images.  I have one in the stash too  it does look a nice kit.  I did drag the old Airfix Lancaster kit out of the deep stash to the not so deep stash the other day for a simple build sometime soon .

Good luck with the build fella and a safe and Happy New Year to you and yours too.

Chris

[TallBlondJohn]

Lancs are better looking with Hercules. I will now leave the country.

[Jeff G]

Following along on this one! Very excited to see how this goes.

[HOUSTON]

Dunny...

 

Oh this will be exciting to see and follow. 

Lancaster  are iconic to Britain (and other countries)and looking forward 

to your build ... 

 

[Dunny]

4 hours ago, Jeff G said:

Following along on this one! Very excited to see how this goes.

 

44 minutes ago, HOUSTON said:

Dunny...

 

Oh this will be exciting to see and follow. 

Lancaster  are iconic to Britain (and other countries)and looking forward 

to your build ... 

 

Welcome aboard gents!

[Dunny]

5 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Excellent choice Roger and some great images.  I have one in the stash too  it does look a nice kit.  I did drag the old Airfix Lancaster kit out of the deep stash to the not so deep stash the other day for a simple build sometime soon .

Good luck with the build fella and a safe and Happy New Year to you and yours too.

Chris

Just how deep is the deep stash Chris? 🤣

[bigbadbadge]

12 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Just how deep is the deep stash Chris? 🤣

I have have the not so deep stash , the deep stash and the deep deep stash!!! Oh and the Top secret hid from SWMBO stash too!!! Don't tell her.

[dogsbody]

As a Canadian with one of these kits in the stash, I'll be following this build closely.

 

A larger version of this photo:

 

 

Plus some more B.II photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Dunny]

33 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

As a Canadian with one of these kits in the stash, I'll be following this build closely.

 

A larger version of this photo:

 

 

Plus some more B.II photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

Chris,

 

Some great reference photos - thanks very much! I have relatives in Vancouver so will do my best efforts for Canada! Welcome aboard and Happy New Year,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

1 hour ago, dogsbody said:

As a Canadian with one of these kits in the stash, I'll be following this build closely.

 

A larger version of this photo:

 

 

Plus some more B.II photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

Chris,

 

You've also answered my first question thank you!

 

"Bristol Aero Engine Gear Casing Colour - WWII - Britmodeller.com" https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234943546-bristol-aero-engine-gear-casing-colour/

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year - I hope that you all got to spend time with loved ones at this very unusual time. We had planned to spend NYE with friends who live by the beach, but our youngest daughter was a little unwell, so we canned that plan. Of course she made a full recovery so we ended up having an impromptu open house at Chateau Dunny 🥳 (all within recommended health guidelines of course - there is currently very little restriction on gathering in South Australia as we have no active cases of COVID). It's therefore been a very sloooow day today - what better time to crack on with the Lanc? 

 

I spent a pleasant couple of hours yesterday priming and spraying NATO Black and interior green. Here's the upper wings:

 

 

I sprayed the interior green over black, and deliberately sprayed from an angle to emphasis the shadowing - not displeased with the effect. Here's the fuselage interior, following a light drybrushing with silver:

 

 

Here's the bomb bay roof, similarly treated:

 

 

Here's the Hercules engines following a drybrushing of the cylinders with gunmetal. I'll reserve judgment on whether to add ignition harnesses once I've seen one dry-fitted in a cowling - I suspect the effort will not be visible:

 

 

That was the extent of progress yesterday! Today I started off by sanding back the prominent ejector pin marks on the cockpit floor. I did look at potentially riveting the cockpit floor (inspired by @The Spadgent's awesome 1:48 Lancaster build from 2018 - beautiful work sir ), but given that I didn't have a riveting tool close to hand I chose to simply scribe some lines to provide some texture - this is before sanding back to achieve a consistent finish, and I think it should look ok once painted and under a wash - acceptable for 1:72, methinks.

 

 

Rather than starting conventionally with the cockpit, I was keen to see what I could do with the Hercules' cowlings, as they are such a distinctive feature of the B.II. I'm afraid I don't subscribe to this antique bronze treatment, but even Auntie are perpetuating the myth!

 

 

Thanks to @dogsbody's excellent reference photo's (cheers Chris!) you can see that the cowlings and exhaust were supplied from the factory painted black. The exhausts probably scorched their paint off on initial run-in tests:

 

 

I'm going to go for something more 'worn in', as in this shot of 'Fanny Ferkin', which coincidentally is the other scheme in this boxing:

 

 

The cowling inners had been sprayed yesterday in Nato Black. After I had been burned on previous builds by WCWWS (Wrong Cowling, Wrong Wing Syndrome), I prudently scratched identifying marks into the components:

 

 

There should be some 'oles 'ere, thought I:

 

 

As I'd  snapped my 0.3mm drill bit a while back, I tried using a pin instead - not too bad?

 

 

Once the cowlings were assembled a base coat of Nato Black:

 

 

And the exhausts:

 

 

I then mixed a little Medium Sea Grey into the black to provide some colour modulation - after on the left, before on the right (it's subtle but is discernible in real life!)

 

 

Following masking the fronts of the cowlings received a base coat of steel along with the exhausts:

 

 

The exhausts were then sprayed with highly thinned coats of red-brown and hellblau, to simulate heat discoloration. I'm not displeased with the final effect:

 

 

The cowlings then received a coat of hairspray, then a top coat of Nato Black. Following some work with an old toothbrush and a dab of water and then an oil wash, this is the finished result:

 

 

That's not far off the effect I was aiming for, so I'm pleased to be over that first hurdle! I also finished off the undercarriage components with a black oil wash:

 

 

That's the extent of progress for today!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

A quick update. I was admiring my handiwork on the cowlings, but something just didn't sit right. I looked back at the colour photo of 'Fanny Ferkin 2' and realised that I'd missed a section of cowling as highlighted below:

 

 

From what I can see the section as marked does not show the same degree of discolouration as the exhaust, so I'll re-mask the cowlings and spray the extra band, perhaps with some light discolouration, transitioning to the heavier heat treatment on the 'hedgehog' section of the exhaust. Will mask tonight and spray in the morning - no biggie!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Roger, hope you had a great evening on New Year's Eve,  how's the head this morning?

Great progress, I like the cowlings and the effects on the exhaust rings.  Lovely work on the interior too.  

I don't know if this will help with the variations in black, interior green mixed with the black makes some lovely variations in tone even upto a 50/50 mix. 

Great work so far

Happy New Year 

Chris 

 

[Dunny]

6 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger, hope you had a great evening on New Year's Eve,  how's the head this morning?

Great progress, I like the cowlings and the effects on the exhaust rings.  Lovely work on the interior too.  

I don't know if this will help with the variations in black, interior green mixed with the black makes some lovely variations in tone even upto a 50/50 mix. 

Great work so far

Happy New Year 

Chris 

 

Thanks Chris,

 

All good mate - hope you had a restrained and socially distanced NYE at Badge Towers? Excellent tip on the paint mix - I'll play with that on the main paint scheme (after mule test of course!) 

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[elger]

Love the look of those cowls!

[Dunny]

3 minutes ago, elger said:

Love the look of those cowls!

Thanks Elger - with luck they may look more accurate tomorrow!

[bigbadbadge]

18 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris,

 

All good mate - hope you had a restrained and socially distanced NYE at Badge Towers? Excellent tip on the paint mix - I'll play with that on the main paint scheme (after mule test of course!) 

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

No worries fella.  Our evening was very restrained,  we usually have friends around or visit others and it was weird this year, but nice playing family games with the Kids.

Looking forward to this progress fella. 

Chris

[2996 Victor]

Hi Roger,

A bit late but I'll follow along as well, if I may.

At the risk of causing a BM-wide sharp intake of breath, I had never previously heard of a Hercules-engined Lancaster. The pics above are really interesting, and as you say give a real insight into life on a wartime bomber station.

Your subject choice is great - I love the artwork - and you've made a great start on what looks like a mighty kit!

Looking forward to seeing your progress, and in the meantime, happy New Year to you and your family.

Cheers,

Mark

[dogsbody]

Looking great, Dunny.

 

As for adding ignition harness to a Hercules engine, I wouldn't, as the wiring came from the rear of the engine, not the front, as on American-built radials.

 

 

 

 

As for the exhaust collector ring, the B.II had the later style ( right side of drawing ). This cooled the outer surface of the ring and helped to reduce the glow, that could be seen by enemy nightfighters. That is also why they were over-painted with the black paint.

 

 

 

 

Chris