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1/48 Lancaster Admiral Prune W4118


woody37

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The workbench has had a few things grace it over the last few months, but modellers block has got in the way. This has been on there for about a month now and I made some progress on it today. I've started with the wings using the Belcher engines and there will be interior etch going in to spruce up the cockpit and turrets. I wanted to do an early Lanc so decided to do Admiral Prune, Guy Gibsons W4118. I couldn't find any decals so will be using generic decals and made my own nose art using an image I found on the webpage below as a starting point so the credit needs to go to them:

 

Admiral Prune – Bomber Command Museum of Canada

 

From there, I built it up in MS Powerpoint, the only software I know my way around with ease, probably not the most conventional route, but in small scale, it will be fine...I hope!

 

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And the real machine here...

 

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The Tamiya Lanc has raised panel lines so they are getting rescribed. There is other raised detail on the wings such as the tape over the wing spar joins. This is far too thick for scale accuracy but I'm leaving them as they are. 3 of the 4 Bencher engines are glued on now and one wing is pretty much finished with the other wing in progress. There's a bit of extra detail in the gear bays too such as oil tank and longitudinal stringers.

 

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The starboard wing in progress. It's been rescribed but yet to have rivets added

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Cheers

Neil

 

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1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Lovely project, great start too, I wish my scribing was that neat. Great work. 

Is there much of a difference between the kit engines and the Belcher bits engines?

Chris

Thanks Chris, the intakes look to be the best area of improvement and surface detailing but I've not assembled one of the kit ones so couldn't answer comprehensively. The carb intakes on the outer engines are quite a bit smaller than the inners and the prop faces aren't completely round so whilst there may be some improvements, there's also a few compromises.  For scribing,  I'm using 3mm blue masking tape to cut against that's used for car paintwork. It stretches will and is thick reducing the risk of the blade wondering.

 

Cheers

 

1 hour ago, Alan P said:

Good project, in your hands I'm sure it'll be another definitive build! 

 

Very neat rescribing job so far 👍

 

Hopefully it will be enjoyable build, it is so far :)

 

2 hours ago, elger said:

Following with great interest, as usual!

Thanks Elger :)

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2 minutes ago, woody37 said:

Thanks Chris, the intakes look to be the best area of improvement and surface detailing but I've not assembled one of the kit ones so couldn't answer comprehensively. The carb intakes on the outer engines are quite a bit smaller than the inners and the prop faces aren't completely round so whilst there may be some improvements, there's also a few compromises.  For scribing,  I'm using 3mm blue masking tape to cut against that's used for car paintwork. It stretches will and is thick reducing the risk of the blade wondering.

Thanks Neil for the info.  The intake improvement sounds good and is a prominent area of the character of the aircraft so may try and get some.  Just looked on Belcher bits site but it would not work for me and do checked Relish models and they were out of stock, so will keep looking.   

Ah yes fineline tape   got some of that too and will have to use.  I have used it to make masks for pinstriping on my cars and my mates camper too, love the stuff.   Thanks 

Chris

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12 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Thanks Neil for the info.  The intake improvement sounds good and is a prominent area of the character of the aircraft so may try and get some.  Just looked on Belcher bits site but it would not work for me and do checked Relish models and they were out of stock, so will keep looking.   

Ah yes fineline tape   got some of that too and will have to use.  I have used it to make masks for pinstriping on my cars and my mates camper too, love the stuff.   Thanks 

Chris

I got these off Ebay a year or so ago. I did get a set off @general melchett a few years ago, but the dog found them and chewed them up! Do Hannants stock Belcher bits?

 

I think I can salvage two engines from the chewed pack and have a Beaufighter without engines as they were used for the Halifax so a Mk.II could be an option, just figured that out!

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1 hour ago, woody37 said:

I got these off Ebay a year or so ago. I did get a set off @general melchett a few years ago, but the dog found them and chewed them up! Do Hannants stock Belcher bits?

 

I think I can salvage two engines from the chewed pack and have a Beaufighter without engines as they were used for the Halifax so a Mk.II could be an option, just figured that out!

Thanks Neil.  I could not see them under Hannants unfortunately.   Will just have to keep an eye out for them .   Not a problem as build will be way off yet.

Beaufighter MkII sounds good too, will look forward to that too

Thanks and good luck with the build.

Chris

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Today I got the wings finished although still need to fit the bulkhead detail in the gear bay on the second wing. The next job is to rescribe the fuselage exterior.

 

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Quite a pleasant build so far :)

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3 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Lovely scribing and rivet details.  They look fab. Great work Neil.

Chris

Cheers mate.

 

Done a bit more this evening. One fuselage half scribed and part way through the other.

 

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I've decided to have the rear door open so will need to put some gubbins inside...

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The big bits together, looking more like a Lanc :)

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Nice choice Neil, and great work on the re scribing. Have you primed the parts or are you doing something in Photoshop or other to get the uniform grey?

I like your method of working.

 

Colin

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14 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Nice choice Neil, and great work on the re scribing. Have you primed the parts or are you doing something in Photoshop or other to get the uniform grey?

I like your method of working.

 

Colin

Hi Colin,

 

I've run a coat of primer over them to check for imperfections. Much easier to sort them out at this stage.

 

Thanks

Neil

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7 hours ago, Graham said:

Will you be moving the W/OP's window? The Belcher bits engines do improve the look and if going by your previous builds this will be another cracker.

Thanks Graham,

 

Good question on the OP window. Probably not. The more you look at the Tamiya kit, the more you realise that there are lots of things wrong, but it looks like a Lanc. The nose turret guns are too wide apart too, but I'm trying to keep this a largely simple build apart from the engines and etch extras. The temptation to correct everything can sometimes lead to builds becoming a chore and I want to avoid it going that way. 

 

Thanks

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23 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Don't blame you Neil, I didn't realise about the guns, may have to take the same approach and live with it.

Good news is that I have purchased a Belcher bits engine set.

 

Chris

 

Great news, I don't think you'll be disappointed. The only obvious fault is the difference in size between the carb intakes on the inner and outer engines. 

 

22 hours ago, Graham said:

Totally agree with you Neil I've been building one for about 5 years, build a bit and then back in its box it goes.

I've got a few builds like that at the moment which is why I'm trying to keep this one fairly basic. So far, the approach is working as I'm enjoying it. I started on the front turret and cockpit area last night. 

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2 hours ago, woody37 said:

 

Great news, I don't think you'll be disappointed. The only obvious fault is the difference in size between the carb intakes on the inner and outer engines. 

 

I'm not sure about this feature either, although the Lancaster at Canadian Warplane Heritage has two different sized carb intakes. I have never found out why. It may have been a Lanc Mk X thing.  Anybody have any more info, let me know. Mike Belcher

 

 

Edited by belcherbits
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This is going to be another great build to follow - it’s already looking rather splendid with the new engines. 
 

Great scribing on show, too!

 

Tom

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On 2/9/2021 at 7:38 PM, belcherbits said:

 

 

Thanks for explaining that Mike, I've never noticed that before. I wonder if it's anything to do with the later ones being related to the larger radiators for hot temp operations?

 

On 2/9/2021 at 7:48 PM, tomprobert said:

This is going to be another great build to follow - it’s already looking rather splendid with the new engines. 
 

Great scribing on show, too!

 

Tom

Thanks Tom, I've built a Manchester and Lincoln from the Tamiya kit but haven't built a Lanc from it since I was a kid!

 

On 2/9/2021 at 8:45 PM, SafetyDad said:

+1 

 

Great work so far there Neil!

 

I have two of these in the pile so looking for any tips in the building dept.

 

SD

 

The wings and engines were straight forwards enough and the fuselage doesn't go together too badly.

 

Huge thanks for the decals too Padraic, really appreciate them :) 

 

 

On 2/9/2021 at 10:23 PM, rob85 said:

You have to love the lines of a Lancaster, the shape of the wings with those merlin’s on especially.

 

great progress so far, very neat!

 

Rob

 

It's a rather sexy beast, although a Mk.Ia Manchester with twin tail configuration is quite a looker too and I'm torn between the two for aesthetics!

 

There hasn't been much progress but I have started to detail the inside. I forgot how much etch causes the swear box to fill up so I've been using some but not all that's included in the interior set.

 

Because the rear entrance door will be open, I'm adding some detail in there for the nosey blighters to peer in! Still lots more to go inside yet but the interior will be painted before adding the coloured etch that comes with the Eduard set.

 

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Cheers

Neil

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