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By G-George, Another One **Finished**


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Having finished the Hellcat, it’s time for my contribution to this group build.  Honest! I’d already decided on the RAAF’s Lancaster G-George, when I saw it was my lucky day with a master builder such as @Mancunian airman was also building the same kit and I could ride his coattails for mine.  It was, therefore, the least I could do when he asked about some details on the preserved G-George at the AWM to go take some photos.


The light in the ANZAC Hall is shockingly difficult to photograph in, but I’m quite happy with how they came out.  Here’s a selection of the details requested; I have more and will add to these if someone is looking for something specific.  These are also mostly raw, full sized and unprocessed, I can make them better when I get home to the PC if it will help anyone.

 

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A couple of notes and a question; the wheels are different, the port wheel hub outboard side is black, the starboard outboard side is metal.  Inboard both are the same.  The swastikas on the props are tiny in real life, a red splotch will likely have to suffice in this scale. Are those strengthening ribs over the outboard engines standard? 
 

Hope some of that helps, it’ll help me anyway :j

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by mark.au
Edited to tidy up the pics for quicker download.
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Nice photographs Mark and I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve still yet to visit our national war museum. There’s some interesting details shown here - I’ve never noticed those outboard engine vertical strips on any photos and the canopy framing is all painted Dark Earth even where it’s meets up with the Dark Green sections of the fuselage. 
 

Cheers and all the best building your ‘George’.. Dave 

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Mark,

Welcome to your build of a true warrior of the night skies.

 

Those photos are going to be a great help to You and me and any other builder of G-George :clap:

 

I know those strakes behind the outboard engines are NOT standard, I have only ever seen them on one other aircraft.

I had heard about the colour difference on the main wheels so it nice to know which is where.

Strange also that each turret is a different colour but I do believe that the museum carried out 'spot rubs' to determine actual colour demarcation etc and in particular the fuselage roundel that was found not to be in the correct place.

 

I think we ALL appreciate your efforts in visiting the museum, the lighting is appalling, it the same at the MOTAT museum, but I dare say its got something to do with light pollution and preservation of the exhibits.

 

I look forward to seeing your build Mark

Cheers

Ian

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Now the Hellcat is done and the article posted, it's time to start.  As is usual I cleaned the bench, wiped it down and put everything back in its place, ready to start a new project.  I also bought myself a new toy with which to paint George.

 

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Tomorrow I start to cut parts off sprues and gluing them together.  As this is a 1/72 model, an unfeasibly small scale to my 1/48 scale mind, I'm going to simply paint the interior black and move on to assembly of the airframe.  This may be sacrilegious to some but the parts are simply too small for me, particularly as virtually none of any detail I may achieve will be seen once everything's closed up.  I do think I'll open the bomb bay though.

 

My plan is to finish George as it is now in the museum under the assumption that aside from weathering, it's current appearance is reflective of how it looked when it returned form its last mission.  The article that'll accompany the model will be a tribute to the men of 460 Squadron that didn't come home.  Here's another shot from the other day at the AWM which shows the Australian (about half of the total) losses from the squadron.

 

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2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Aha here it is, looking forward to this, although not in the GB if there's no objections will try an pop in when I can Mark.

Chris 

 

Hi Chris, no objections at all 🙂

 

On 2/15/2021 at 9:00 AM, dogsbody said:

I've checked my photo of the CWH Lancaster V*RA, taken in the early 90's. No strakes by the outer engine.

 

Thanks for that Chris.  I've got a tonne of pics of V*RA as well; I lived in St. Catharines for over twenty years and was a frequent visitor to the CWHM, one of the best aviation museums in the world, IMO.  I've been in V*RA many times, but never took a flight, much to my regret now.

 

As for George, I've been making progress, in fact quite a lot of progress.  The wings and fuselage are more or less complete; I have still to add the glass prior to painting of course but some will be left off until later and some will be Micro Kristal Clear in stead of the kit parts as they were unusable in my opinion.  The tail is also complete and I'll be painting that soon as a test of the Hataka paints I've just bought to try out.  Word is they have good colour representation but can be a a little finicky to use.  We'll see shortly.

 

Construction has been quite straight forward,I've tried to be careful with the raised detail but some of it is lost.  I have an idea on how to replicate the raised rivets on the fuselage where I had to sacrifice them to achieve a clean seam; will try that out a bit later and report back.  I'll use some stretched sprue for the odd bit of raised panel line that's been lost.

 

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The paint is the seam-check, by the way.  I didn't put a yellow dot on the pilot's seat as there isn't one on the real George.  The entire cockpit is painted black as mentioned above.  I did however apply the two instrument decals though they, like the rest of the detail in there cannot be seen with the main canopy attached.

 

I couldn't resist a couple of slight enhancements in drilling out the exhaust covers...  This kind of small detail really enhances the finished look, at least to my eye.  I have an idea on how I might the little screens in front of the lateral intakes look a little better too.

 

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I spent the better part of yesterday evening's session on the strakes aft of the outboard engine.  First , I tried to find evidence that they were present on George when it was operational as opposed to some modification made later, or in the museum.  I found this photo which I believe shows the the strakes on the port wing as George left the UK on its trip to Australia.

 

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My first attempt was using stretched sprue to replicate the strakes.  I am not happy at all about how they turned out.  To be honest, I rushed them and they need to come off, I will try a different method.  I'm not too concerned with lost details on the wing as the replacement strakes will obscure surface detail in any event.

 

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The holes I drilled for the sprue were waaaayyyyy oversized too!  In 1:1 viewing scale, they don't look as bad as the pic above shows they really are....  macro photography really makes us lift our game!  I'm going to use sheet styrene for the next attempt, it'll be easier to keep the strakes straight and parallel but my not-steady-enough-hands will have a hard time placing them correctly without spreading glue everywhere.

 

That's it for now.  Cheers.

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On 12/02/2021 at 05:43, mark.au said:

Having finished the Hellcat, it’s time for my contribution to this group build.  Honest! I’d already decided on the RAAF’s Lancaster G-George, when I saw it was my lucky day with a master builder such as @Mancunian airman was also building the same kit and I could ride his coattails for mine.  It was, therefore, the least I could do when he asked about some details on the preserved G-George at the AWM to go take some photos.


The light in the ANZAC Hall is shockingly difficult to photograph in, but I’m quite happy with how they came out.  Here’s a selection of the details requested; I have more and will add to these if someone is looking for something specific.  These are also mostly raw, full sized and unprocessed, I can make them better when I get home to the PC if it will help anyone.

 

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Hope some of that helps, it’ll help me anyway :j

 

 

 

 

Keep going, Mark, this is another very interesting build of Lancaster G-George. I saw your pics and started to wonder about the bomb tally and the inclusion of 'The Saint' figure alongside those of the early missions. All explained here, an article from the 460 Squadron RAAF website that I've never seen before!  

 

https://460squadronraaf.com/planes/georgestory.html

 

'Alongside the bomb insignia to identify each bombing sortie flown by Flight Sergeant J.A. Saint Smith appeared a Leslie Charteris "Saint" insignia. During its sixteen months of operations, it was flown by 29 different pilots and some 200 different men, mostly Australians, during this Lancasters 664 flying hours with the Squadron'

 

(Also, if you read all the articles, it would appear that there was a German nightfighter with code 'G', but it doesn't say what aircraft type).

 

That's what I love about modelling, the questions and answers that are raised every time you pick up a kit to build! All the best with this one. Mike.

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Thanks for the encouragement and the link there @Ventora3300.

 

So I did keep going and this is attempt number 2.  I think it's much better, and once the glue has set firmly I'll give it a very light sand to even out the heights and bring them all down a little as well as trim the odd one that is a little longer than the others.  They are a bit high compared to the real thing, but I can live with that as representation rather than a replication

 

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Now I'd better get on with the other wing...

 

 

Edited by mark.au
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...and here's the result.

 

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I fear this is as good as I'm going to be able to get it.  It's not bad I think, still perhaps a little oversized maybe; it's a foible of close-up photos that they tend to exaggerate everything, good and bad.  The strakes - to my eye at least - look much better in life than in these photos.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to mask those clear parts that will be attached prior to painting and then begin to put some colour to this one.

 

Cheers;

Mark.

 

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A couple of firsts today; the maiden use of ,my new airbrush and also a first use of Hataka Red Line paints.  The results are as above and I'm quite pleased.  I painted the camouflage freehand, to see how well the airbrush and paints would work trying to hold a fine line and I think that both performed very well.  As you can see, I applied a a basic pre-shade and then simply painted away, trying to leave a a semblance of the underlying pre-shade as well as the lighter colour of the plastic to give the finish some depth and texture.

 

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I was somewhat successful with the replacement rivets on the fuselage but there's a few that are somewhat oversized!  I'm going to have to live with those.  Next I'll apply the black underside and then seal it all up prior to decals.  There's a few more stages left before arrival at the finish but this is a good start I think.

 

While this all sets up I'll work on the undercarriage, bombs and turrets.

 

Cheers;

M.

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After the best part of a week binge-watching "The Keepers" [hard to watch in places, but recommended, by the way] on Netflix I came back to George.  

 

To be honest, I'm not particularly enjoying 1/72 scale, nor the old-tool quality of the kit.  I'm not actually very accomplished in assembly and this kit has really tried my ordinary-level skills in putting it together.  I've even found the plastic hard to work with.  I prefer kits that don't need a lot of construction skills frankly as it's the painting, markings, weathering and back-story that's my passion.  With that said and bearing in mind this particular aircraft's story, here's an update.

 

I've completed the main paintwork using Tamiya Nato Black.  There was a little back and forth for some minor touch ups but overall that all went well.  Next I used Future/Pledge Shine for the gloss coat and set that aside for a day to properly set before tackling the decals.

 

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I usually find Airfix decals a pleasure to work with but these were a tad on the tricky side and I've had some minor silvering to deal with.  For that, I simply lightly score through the decal with a sharp blade and apply Micro Sol.  Rinse/repeat until all the silvering is gone.  I didn't want to mask and paint the walkway lines so used the kit decals which behaved reasonably well, too.  The slight lightening/discolouration you can see in the pic below where the walkway decals are placed is only where the decal is still setting and the Future/Pledge has clouded a bit.  It sets up clear again when fully dried.

 

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I guess one advantage of 1/72 scale is there's to many decals, particularly stencils to apply...

 

I still have the underside decals to apply, and then a sealing clear coat before weathering.  I've been working on the turrets and undercarriage in the mean time too, and expect that final assembly will be possible sometime mid week next week.  I intend, like I did with the VF-34 Hellcat, to fully complete each of the major components prior to final assembly.

 

There's some challenges; I've got to get the Kristal Clear to satisfactorily make the windows I've left for it, as well as finish the masking, assembly and installation of the turrets and cockpit canopy.  I have to paint and finish the fuselage windows in such a way as to convincingly represent them as unpainted as they were on George. I've got to assemble and paint the bombs, as well as the bomb bay doors and install them all.  Actually, I'm not sure it will be mid-week next week after all 🙂 !

 

Thanks for reading.

 

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An experiment.  I dislike masking at the best of times, but this canopy has had me in fits.  So, in the absence of a masking set I am going hand-painted, though the turrets are nicely masked and painted the old-fashioned way, with the airbrush.  

 

I've always used a toothpick dampened with thinner to clean up minor blemishes in my canopy framing so this time I've just go a bit more to do.  As seen below the canopy has only one coat, I'll add another before the cleanup.  Forgive the crappy photo please, you get the idea.

 

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Otherwise George is ready for his flat coat and then weathering.  I'm not going to use a wash as the raised surface detail does a very nice job of highlighting the various panels, etc.  

 

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4 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking good Mark, great to see this come together.  I use the cocktail stick method when I do my Canopies  with the brush.  

Cracking job.

Chris


Thanks Chris, I’m glad to hear that about the cocktail stick, I know I’m trying to take an easier route and that frequently doesn’t make for a better result.

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Progress continues apace, I'm almost ready to begin the final assembly.  The last major effort was the wing weathering in preparation for joining them to the fuselage, a task I completed this afternoon.

 

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I used these two images as my primary references for the exhaust staining, note that the B/W image is of George during one of its War Bond Tours in Australia.

 

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Other tasks that are now complete include the undercarriage, propellors, turrets and canopy, and bomb bay doors.  These will all be attached as par to the final assembly process, and then when that's done I will apply the final coat of what someone once called "Flat Future" which is my gloss coat of choice mixed with my flat coat of choice to render a smooth flat finish with a hint of sheen.  This last step to my eye creates the illusion of flat-matt painted metal as opposed to a flat-painted plastic model (as metal is smooth, whereas flat-painted plastic always looks like flat-painted plastic to me).

 

Aside from assembly, my last task of any consequence is to paint the fuselage windows to represent them as glass as George had his windows clear, not painted over.

 

I reckon that my next post might be the last one.

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This is a cracking build, you are doing a grand job with an older kit. I think masking the canopy was wise (says he who often will not and go down the paint and cocktail stick route himself!). The strakes look good too, it makes the wing look very different.

 

Cheers,

 

Ray

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9 hours ago, Ray S said:

This is a cracking build, you are doing a grand job with an older kit. I think masking the canopy was wise (says he who often will not and go down the paint and cocktail stick route himself!). The strakes look good too, it makes the wing look very different.

 

Cheers,

 

Ray


Thanks Ray, I appreciate the comments.  And with that said, George is actually finished.


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Final assembly was quick and painless.  I knew the major components all fit well from previous dry fitting so it was simply a matter of gluing everything up.

 

I’ll take some glamour shots in a few days and post to the finished gallery.

 

thanks for following.  Cheers.

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  • mark.au changed the title to By G-George, Another One **Finished**

Somehow this entire build got past me... It is one beautiful build, though!  You really captured the look of the exhaust on top and bottom very well.  The hint of preshading really works too.   Great job Mark!

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15 hours ago, opus999 said:

Somehow this entire build got past me... It is one beautiful build, though!  You really captured the look of the exhaust on top and bottom very well.  The hint of preshading really works too.   Great job Mark!


Thanks, though with the current titanic struggle you’re waging with your Mustang I’m not surprised this one escaped your notice! 😂

 

17 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

No wonder I love the Damn things thats a great looking airplane. :worthy:

 

Thanks, yes it’s a fine looking aircraft; I haven’t made a Lanc for neigh on 30 years I reckon but there will be more - so many stories to tell...

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