1/72 Airfix Avro Lancaster Biplane and Avro Anson Little Brother

[Head in the clouds.]

As promised it is time to visit 'Faithful Annie'

 

Much of what I have done revolves around research and trying to pin down some more info on this particular airframe, with over 11000 being manufactured I don't think I will be able to find out much about MG588 (alias G-AIPC ) but I have found this;

 

She was built as part of an order of for 800 airframes to be built by AV Roe Ltd at it's Yeadon factory in Yorkshire and delivered between Aug 1942 and Jan 1944. Being built as a batch of 48 in the middle of this order it is fair to conclude that MG588 is a later standard Mk1, this having the less streamlined canopy, smaller ailerons/larger flaps rounded horizontal tail surfaces. What I still cannot find is any unit that MG588 served with, in particular the last operator.

 

While throwing my online activity around the web I cam across this charming poem written by someone serving in Canada;

 

Oh, the Crane may fly much faster,
Inside she may be neat,
But to me the draughty Anson
Is very hard to beat.

 

Her plywood may be warping,
Her window glass may crack,
But when you start out in an Anson
You know that you’ll come back.

 

She may be a flying greenhouse,
With her windows all around,
But in that draughty Anson
You’re as safe as on the ground.

 

She may creak and she may shudder,
As she comes out of a dive,
But if her pilot knows his stuff
She’ll bring him back alive.

 

Her landing gear is sturdy,
It will stand for quite a drop,
If you doubt it, watch your students
Bring her in, and let her flop.

 

Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five,
She doesn’t care a jot,
All in all, our Anson
Will stand for quite a lot.

 

The wind may make her weather-cock-
That’s nothing to these craft,
For when you fly an Anson
You never mind a draft.

 

You can keep your Moth and Battle,
Your Harvard and your Crane,
Give me the good old Anson
In which our pilots train.

 

When she comes in with a panel,
All split from front to rear,
And the rigger starts to fix it-
They don’t need a lot of gear.

 

A chisel and some plywood,
Some brads and a pot of glue,
Quite a bit of elbow grease
And very soon they’re through.

 

They wheel her back out to the line,
Her Cheetahs start to cough-
Our Anson knows they’re lads to train
And she’s eager to be off.

 

The Crane referred to is not the feathered variety but the Cessna Crane, or AT Bobcat, a plane similar to the 'Annie '. It also give s a few clues for us modellers, the kit front canopy has a few imperfections, micro bubbles and cracks but according to verse 2 that seemed to happen  with some regularity so I may get away with using it ....😏.

 

On with the build and I been bending some metal of the PE variety, in particular the cabin fittings, seats, nav station etc, soldering everything together where needed, the seats have been fixed to the truncated kit items from an earlier post.

To give an idea of how small some of this PE are;

 

A protractor, dividers, rule and something else that look familiar but it's name escapes me.

 

 

Moving forward to cockpit the Flightpath set gives you a comprehensive control panel with no fewer than 14 parts, 12 of which are pictured her to improve the very bland lump of kit plastic which is used as a foundation for the PE;

 

 

The middle empty square of the larger section has yet to be painted white before the black plastic dial section is glued on.

 

Leaving the paint to dry for 30 minutes I moved on to the next job which would take the best part of several hours so at least I know the paint will be dry..that of correcting to wrong trousers wings. Airfix would have us believe that they are fabric covered but in fact they are metal skinned, well, the one I am building is so all that plastic has to be taken off;

 

After the plastic was removed I then spent an hour riveting the wing, the only reference I have for this is the Warpaints drawings which I am not going say are accurate because they are not, I shall explain further in the next post but I loosely followed a simple pattern from the plans, if nothing else it adds a little interest in an otherwise smooth surface. It also replaces some of the lost detail from scraping/sanding, minimal though it was;

 

The other set will be done in the next session.

 

Because....

 

I want a change of scenery, too these;

 

The engines cowlings on G-APIC are of the latter type which did away with the cylinder helmets so these need scraping/sanding away...🤪 I keep expecting a CA Vampire to drop from the heavens with all this plastic removal and sanding.....now I have empathy.😔.

 

So after another riveting session, no pun intended, we have this;

 

Now covered tip to toe in plastic shavings and dust I needed a distraction from holding a sanding pad so turned my attention the undercarriage which is a simple affair of glue and paint.......nope!

Something in the back of my head said, 'check your reference material' and I am glad I did. Looking at the earlier pic of G-AIPC I noticed the u/c was completely different, it is of tubular construction as per a standard u/c design and not the clunky square-ish cross section that comes in the kit;

 

It isn't that the kit is wrong, it is the time line of my subject that is wrong in relation to the kit, being a later design. Now, what to do with these?

 

I may be able to use the top and bottom section, it all depends on what I can find out about the actual shape and design of the newer unit. While talking all things research the time is fast approaching when I have to decide which version I will build as some work will need to be done in the cabin of one of them, The one above with the small aerofoil needs no work other than normal fitting out but the other with the larger black aerofoil needs spars fitting inside as these can be seen in pics.

 

To this end I need to work out where these spars fit as I may need to remove some of the PE units I am in the middle of forming so I have been drawing lines everywhere;

 

Now to go and see if any of those lines hit anything in the cabin, it is not the most accurate method but there is not that much spare room in the Annie so if it does hit any of my PE I can just leave it out, although I am making one big assumption; that the aerofoil is on the centre line of the fuselage.

 

More on PA474 next time.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Sometime in the last coupe of years, our very own The Baron built a very altered Airfix Anson.

Yards of research and pictures went into the build thread. Including info on the U/C.

The boxy look was caused by a plywood and canvas fairing IIRC. 

I can't remember which wing he ended up with but I think the flaps or ailerons got altered.

The access door is in the wrong place too (maybe). 

Well worth searching for.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235018081-catching-pictures-in-the-air/&do=findComment&comment=3087780

 

[Head in the clouds.]

55 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Sometime in the last coupe of years, our very own The Baron built a very altered Airfix Anson

Cheers Pete, will try to hunt it down.

I cant believe that they wrapped perfectly good metal in ply and canvas, only the Brits eh!

I am aware of the ailerons and flaps but not the access door, more research....👍

[Head in the clouds.]

Found it Pete, just look for any WIP with over 100 pages.....🤣

[Head in the clouds.]

Sorry for such a long gap since my last post, much has been happening in my world but modelling wise I shot myself in the foot as is my want simply because I broke one of my life rules. When I used to ride motorbikes more often than I do now I would on occasion turn around and go back home after only a few of miles, something was not sitting well with me, cannot explain it but that was what happened. I will never know if I was being over sensitive or paranoid because I was sitting at home with a cuppa ten minutes later. Well, I had a similar feeling a few weeks ago, ignored it and I made a stupid mistake.  More on that later.

 

I followed @Pete in Lincs advice and looked up @The Baron Avro Anson WIP, well that was a mistake (in a good way), I spent the next several nights reading what is a fantastic WIP and a fine statement of modelling so as a result my builds moved nowhere. It was not altogether a bad thing as it allowed more research on both builds but don't expect my Annie to look as good as 'The Barons' because I will not be going that deep but I will take some of what I learnt from his WIP and implement it into mine, hopefully he won't mind....😃. The Lancaster also benefited from some more research and an expensive outlay on a superb book in my quest for the holy grail, again more later.

 

While reading 'The Barons' WIP I noticed he was using an old official maintenance manual for some of his information and thought why? There is a perfectly good set of drawings in the Avro Anson Warpaint book....or so I thought. I offered up the Airfix Anson fuselage to the drawing in said publication and found it was inaccurate, not by a few mm but by about one third;

 

As can be seen something has gone horribly wrong at Guidelines Publications central. Note the scale at the bottom. Maybe it is 1/144 scale but the drawing looks too big to be that scale so what it comes in at is anybodies guess but 1/72 it aint. I am becoming more disenfranchised with this series of books, in particular the scale plans, they seem to have so many mistakes that they are almost useless and it makes one weary about using them for any kind of information retrieval.

 

With this in mind the Annie is on a go slow  until I find one one of those manuals the 'The Baron' was using.

 

The Lanc has moved on, both fuselage halves have been cemented but the fit is a little poor but should not represent any issues, a little filler should do it;

 

When PA474 was modified to Photo Reconnaissance in Africa much of the rear of the canopy was paneled over to reduce heat build up in the cockpit, this also included removing the astro dome so this will be filled. One thing I do need to check is whether the canopy was modified in such a way as to cover the astro dome location completely or as it is here, half and half.

 

With this done, which will be seen in the next pic it was time to build the wing wheel bays and spar assembly. At first glance this looks overly complicated but one you start and fit it together it all goes together well and is surprisingly strong, I did notice that a couple of times the frames did not sit correctly, popping out of there seats. If this is missed it will most certainly cause problems later when fitting the wing halves;

 

As can be seen I have been playing with the Milliput, both the Astro dome hole and the Mid Upper Turret hole being given a fill. Although Milliput is old it is still a superb filler and sands to a lovely smooth finish. While looking at this picture it is worth noting the heavy panel lines, I took the liberty of measuring them, they came in at I think about 0.30mm, which in full scale is 23mm, so I need to decide if I am going to do anything about it, not one of my favourite jobs. All I can say is that thank the Lord the real Lancs were built to tighter tolerances.

 

After I sanded down the Milliput the wing ribs were sprayed with Tamiya Rubber Black. From what I can gather the colour of the wheelbays can vary in a similar fashion to the cockpit area but with this being a late build Lancaster ostensibly for the Far East I opted for black;

 

What I cannot find at the moment is the colour of a tank, probably hydraulic, at the front of the wheelbay, I have seen them in a dull red but did this apply to the B1(FE), not sure, so it will be black unless I can find out otherwise.

 

Talking of red things, either side of the wheel bay is a fuel tank, painted red and apparently this can just be seen when looking up into the bay so I have made four flat plates that will be fixed to the outside of each outer rib just to make sure. The red has a little black mixed in to tone it down a little;

 

While I was sanding the Milliput for the mid upper turret and astro dome I noticed the two escape hatches. to me they looked a little soft in detail plus I had to make it look better after sanding which was going to be a pain;

 

By the time I had finished making good there would be nothing left of it so I decided to sand it off completely and make two new ones from brass. The only problem with that smart idea was that I did not have an appropriate punch set and the ones I have seen are £70-£80 which I did not want to pay just yet so an internet search on tool sites came up with this;

 

It covers the larger sizes as opposed to the small ones that the more expensive set cover but it was what I needed and for only £40. But will it work?

 

 

It sure does...

 

Trying to find pictures of the escape hatches is not easy, the only place to take such a close picture is from the astro dome or the mid upper but I did find one. This is KB726 (VERA) of the Canadian Warplane Heritage;

I can see no raised hatch so instead I will use the brass hatch as a template to scribe around so they are not a complete waste of time.

 

Before I fit the wings I think it prudent to sort out the front and rear turret blanks that are an obvious feature of PA474 during it's time in Africa. I have some artwork from a magazine on the various colour schemes worn by PA474 during her career and I was going to use this to get an idea of the shape of the blanks but I noticed that the front one was completely the wrong shape, being to pointed.

 

Before doing that though there is a two piece fuselage section that sits between the rear turret and rear fuselage, flaring out to accommodate the movement of the turret;

 

 

Having no turret this flare had to be removed, the two halves were not the best of fits but this was not too much of an issue as I had to cut a couple of mm off each side where it joins in the middle to allow it to sit below the line of the fuselage and thus be filled and sanded to conform with the airframe;

 

Like I said, a poor fit.

 

This hole needs to be blanked off to stop all the Milliput falling into the fuselage, the front too;

 

So it shall be;

 

You can also see the poor fitting plug now fixed and sanded back.

 

Front turret;

So as to give the Milliput some foothold I blanked off the cockpit and rear fuselage with Evergreen and made a simple form of reinforcement;

 

 

I now spent some time playing with the Milliput, mixing it and applying to the front and rear positions;

 

Unfortunately I did not mix it up as thoroughly as I thought and a section of the rear was still soft so it had to be removed and a new mix inserted;

 

I did think about building a plastic frame and sheeting it in thin Evergreen for this job but I felt it would be a complicated job with an outcome that was not guaranteed so decided on this method.

Milliput is easy to sand, just a dash of patience is needed and it comes out rather nicely;

 

 

 

 

The sanding is made a lot easier by leaving the wings off, allowing me to move the airframe freely and without hinderance.

 

That's it for now, in the next post I will confess to a school boy error as mentioned earlier and talk about those infamous engine radiator inlets, I have to face up to them at some point.

 

TTFN....😃

[Pete in Lincs]

Good to see you back at the bench. 

I'm glad you enjoyed the Baron's Anson build, and glad if it helped in any way.

[Head in the clouds.]

10 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

'm glad you enjoyed the Baron's Anson build, and glad if it helped in any way.

Very much so Pete, his modelling prowess is superb and his eye for detail finely tuned, as are many on this forum, I have and will take much from his WIP but there is no way I will be able to match his Anson, but then again I wouldn't want to, his build is different to mine and I have to lay down my own mark. 👍

[Head in the clouds.]

Next up was the wings and the Eduard PE flap embellishment set, all nice and looking like gold but fiddly, a good read of the instructions is essential as, me personally, sometimes find PE instructions a little on the vague side;

 

Plans studied and the parts that require removal have been highlighted with marker pen it was one last look at                                                                                                                 

 

 

That little triangular section is fragile now, it will be even more fragile when the black area is taken away.

 

Surgery complete, it is now time to bend so PE;

 

They do look very nice but once finished there was a slight over run on the top left corner, and boy, was it sharp;

 

After a couple of evenings they were formed, that sharp edge was removed and all there is to finish them is the bar through the ribs, 4 in total;

 

And here comes the schoolboy error;

 

Yes it is glued together, which means there is no way to fit it to the fuselage over the undercarriage bays. For anyone who has not built this kit one half is fitted first then the second half sits on top, simple really! Well it would be if my brain wasn't on another day off, luckily, and I don't know why, but I glanced at the instructions, probably for something else, and it hit me like a train.

I found many many new words for the fool that I was but I had to separate them and fast. Luckily, they did come apart to my great relief apart from one section on the wing tip;

 

I think I got off lightly there, another 10 or 15 minutes and I would have much more work to do, as it is it goes together OK and will only need some minor clean up......hopefully🤞

 

Now onto the Elephant in the room, the size of the radiator inlet for the RR Merlins. Like many people on this forum I have spent hours looking at pictures trying to figure out the size difference , when it occurred, why and in what way. The last point is what has thrown many of us as when you look at photographs, the changes are so subtle that you doubt there is even a difference at times but there is so if you don't mind I will explain what I have found and if it adds only one point of interest to what we already know it is step forward.

 

As I am building PA474, we all know she was built in 1945 and never saw action, being destined for the Far East to support American forces against Japan. She was built as a BI, with the further designation of (FE), for Far East. She was fitted with Merlin XX series engines as I believe all BI Lancaster were, the BIII had Merlin Packards which are pretty much identical to RR Merlins and had the same intake throat size.

 

Cooling for the Lancaster engines has always been marginal under certain conditions and this was known but in the early years of service such was the demand for Lancasters to take the fight to Germany that a re-design was not considered prudent, output had to be kept up. Anyway, in the European war zone is was manageable but a war in the Far East would show up the short falls to such an extent that a re-design was imperative with the much high temperatures, and by early 1944 air dominance over the western front was pretty much complete, losses lower than the horror missions of   1942 an1943 also helped. The re-design could now happen.

 

Early Lancaster B1 and BIII airframes had the Rolls Royce Merlin MA installation which had the radiator and oil cooler side by side acting as a single unit. The draw backs to this design were known so when the Lancaster was to fight in the Far East this was an obvious starting point for improvement. The oil cooler was moved behind the radiator and enlarged to a similar size as the radiator which now had room to grow by about 30%. Other smaller mods were made and this was called an MC Installation. It was this installation that was fitted to late production Lancasters destined for the Far East, PA474 being one. What I have been unable to ascertain is why if the radiator grew by so much did the inlet throat size have to grow, I can only speculate the bigger radiator needed a greater volume of airflow.

 

The difference can be seen here;

Copyright Wingnut Wings.

 

As can also been above are the subtle differences in the panel joins, early Lancasters had a very slight forward slant on the radiator inlet lip while the latter installation was vertical, this would confirm that the complicated re-design of the inlet throat has indeed happened.

 

The Airfix Lancaster(FE) kit seems to have been modeled on the earlier BI Lancaster MA installation with the shallower and more rounded inlet, while PA474 has the deeper and straighter inlet of the MC installation.

 

After all that waffle how does this help me? It doesn't. It means I have a shed load of work to do with regard to the inlets, if I get this wrong it could be costly but I do not want to leave them as is. So what to do.

 

We can see here how Airfix got it spot  for early Lancasters with the slight forward cant and smaller throat;

 

 

Also in this pic is the early radiator design, overall very accurate for an early B1.

 

So not only do I need to alter the throat size but also dream up a way of cobbling up a new radiator fascia!

One option is to remove the radiator from the rear, deepen the throat and fix new radiator fascia;

 

 

The pencil lines are definitive.

 

Option 2;

 

Use these?

 

Pavla set for the Hasegawa Lancaster kit. They certainly look deeper, with a much straighter bottom lip. A comparison;

 

 

Not sure what radiator style Pavla think Lancasters have but that is not it. They are a different shape but are they a different size? The width is the same and the depth is only 0.5mm difference, what I don't know is the size of the real thing on PA474 so I have no idea if 0.5mm is enough in the gentleman's scale.

 

After a little gentle whittling of both the Airfix nacelle and the Pavla inlet we can see them as they will look;

 

 

Is there a big enough difference to use the Pavla item? I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.

One big problem with the Pavla  item is that it is smaller in width which can be seen in the pic above this one. If I have to I can experiment on the after market item to see if I can improve it, that way I still have the kit item left.

 

Not sure which way to go on this one. ☹️

 

As the radiator is different at the front it is obviously different at the back so this has to be changed. Initially I removed any signs of the the old radiator style and made a new centre column then tried fitting 0.1mm wire to replace the cooling fins that I removed. This did not work too well as the wire was very thin and would not stay straight so I tried 0.2mm wire which worked better but still look wrong;

 

It all looks a bit messy for me so I think I will try and find some PE that will do the job.

Now I know why I have not seen this done before.....it's a right headache governor!!

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

[Thom216]

Some grooved styrene sheet would come in handy there. Just cut out the sections to be remodeled and back it in. 

[Head in the clouds.]

30 minutes ago, Thom216 said:

grooved styrene sheet

I did wonder if such an item was made, you have confirmed it does so I will put it on my shopping list.

 

Cheers @Thom216

[Pete in Lincs]

Nice update and I actually learned something about the Lancaster. I always thought the larger intake was the same as the York. Maybe it is?

Anyway, I'd go for the Pavla intake with a smear of filler (Milliput probably) each side. But hey, what do I know?

 

BTW, the Packard Merlin was re- engineered to use AF (American Fine) nuts, bolts, threads etc.

The British built Merlin (As far as I know) uses about three different British threads.

 

[Head in the clouds.]

5 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

The British built Merlin (As far as I know) uses about three different British threads.

Sounds about right Pete, no doubt an old school Whitworth thread snook in somewhere. It would make sense for them ( the Americans) to use AF, why ship 3 different types of nut and bolt across the pond.

 

You're correct Pete, the York had the later MC installation the same as the late Lancasters, it was the Lancastrian that had the inlet within the main inlet in a large(r) inlet for civil operations

[Tired&Emotional]

Does this help with the escape hatch?  Not quite flush with the upper surface.

 

[Head in the clouds.]

1 hour ago, Tired&Emotional said:

Does this help with the escape hatch?

Tosh....more work! Seriously that is a great shot and better than anything I could find, luckily I kept the brass items I made so I can fit them at my next session at the bench.

 

I have to ask, did you take that pic?

[Pete in Lincs]

I think I've seen that picture before. Is it Vera, the Canadian Heritage Lancaster?

[Head in the clouds.]

7 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

I think I've seen that picture before. Is it Vera, the Canadian Heritage Lancaster?

You may be right Pete, there is more of a probability of such a picture in VERA than PA474.

[Tired&Emotional]

On 6/13/2021 at 9:51 PM, Head in the clouds. said:

Tosh....more work! Seriously that is a great shot and better than anything I could find, luckily I kept the brass items I made so I can fit them at my next session at the bench.

 

I have to ask, did you take that pic?

Sorry, I meant to reply earlier, but it's been a bit hectic.  I took that picture, my first trip on the Lanc back in the day as I was lucky enough to be posted to BBMF for a few years.  That was the trip I learned why we do not fly with the hatches in

 

EDIT:  It's taken from the mid upper on PA474.  In VERA, the turret issat over position of the hatch instead.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Tired&Emotional

[Head in the clouds.]

5 hours ago, Tired&Emotional said:

Sorry, I meant to reply earlier,

No worries.

 

I have been lucky enough to have a taxi run in NX611, Just Jayne, great day out. While I was there I was speaking to the pilot about what the plans were once she was airworthy, they hope to take up paying passengers to help keep her flying, I hope to be one of them but that is for another day, there is much that can happen before then.

 

I wish now I had asked someone if they knew the actual measurement of the radiator inlet size but I had only just decided to get into modelling about then and as such had no idea where it would take me.

 

[RidgeRunner]

On 4/24/2021 at 9:43 PM, Head in the clouds. said:

 

This is PA474 at Cranfield doing research into Laminar flow;

 

She liked do good in those colours

On 4/24/2021 at 9:43 PM, Head in the clouds. said:

Well, it was never going to be a standard Lancaster was it.

That’s spirit  

[Bonkin]

I've just stubbled on this thread. Certainly an interesting build and your attention to the detail is inspiring!

 

Great work .

[T-21]

Found this paper good drawing of the wing section Page 30. Also details of wing colour  and angles in the script.   search https:reports.aerade.cranfield.ac.uk   search   arc-cp-0560.pdf.  I cannot seem to copy and paste the link unfortunately.

Edited June 17, 2021 by T-21

[Head in the clouds.]

7 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

She liked do good in those colours

She does look nice Martin with a splash of colour, as much as like the various wartime schemes she carries now I just wanted something to fit my remit and when I saw that picture in an article I just knew I had to build her. She was did not always carry the serial PA474, she did wear JA928/OL-W for a film, 'Operation Crossbow' I think, the one and only time.

 

6 hours ago, Bonkin said:

I've just stubbled on this thread. Certainly an interesting build and your attention to the detail is inspiring!

 

Thank yo very much@Bonkinit is a pity my attention span does not match my attention to detail, gluing the wing together against the run of the instructions was not the smartest isea I have come up with.

 

Nice to have you along.👍

5 hours ago, T-21 said:

Found this paper good drawing of the wing section Page 30.

That is a great find @T-21 and thanks for sharing it. Every snippet of info on test aircraft is most welcome as much less is written of them than the frontline types.

[Head in the clouds.]

After my last post @Tired&Emotional and @T-21 kindly supplied some super nuggets of information gold that will help this build along with much more certainty. One this that is less certain is how I will achieve the correct look for the engine inlet which is the biggest let down for this kit, I am surprised that Airfix did not do an extra little tree with these parts on or that there is no similar aftermarket item for this kit.

So the hard road it is...😲

 

Before I get to the mammoth task of tackling the inlets I had to do something about those rear radiator matrix that I started. Being less than happy with them I managed to find the grooved styrene sheet mentioned by @Thom216, I went for the smallest I could find but it was still too big, so to get round this I just scribbed another line down the middle of each groove section. After sanding off the rear of the old style radiator matrix it left me with a delicate frame onto which I would glue the re-grooved styrene . This is a test shot showing half re-scribbed and half as purchased;

 

It all looks a bit on the rough side but once cleaned up the four look like this;

 

A quick coat of paint, Rubber Black outer and diluted Silver for the matrix;

 

I have tried to give the radiator matrix a worn and slightly 'fly' splattered look to it, after all, PA474 was going on for 20 years old and not yet the pristine warbird we now know. The other thing is that not much of these will actually be seen. Only the front four to do now....🤪

 

It has been at the back of my mind that I may have to fix the radiator inlet assembly before sanding depending on which path I choose, kit or Pavla, therefore I may need to fit these as an assembly from the rear of the nacelle. To this end the nacelles was glued and a test fit carried out;

 

 

Sorry for the '10 pint' blurred clarity of the pics but not the easiest to photograph, anyway, it proves the theory that I can fit them from the rear, a little fettling and they will sit in nicely.

 

Now onto the inlets, not a job I have been looking forward to because any mistake is going to be hard to repair, the more I look at them the more complicated they look and the more my knees start to knock. I mentioned earlier in this build that I wish when I was at East Kirby having a jolly in NX611 'Just Jayne' I did not ask anyone for the dimensions of said inlets, well, if I have learnt one lesson in life that is not to make the same mistake twice. So I contacted East Kirby on Sunday night at 8pm and had a reply by 8.30pm with a further message on Monday with the measurements from Andrew Panton himself.

I cannot recommend a visit to this museum enough, having been 4 times myself and receiving such great service from Andrew on a Sunday night (Fathers Day)  speaks volumes of this museums approach to it's customers. Being a living memorial to Christopher Panton and the other 55000 crew of Bomber Command that did not return it is an ever evolving memorial and museum in Bomber County; where else could it ever be! If you are wondering I have no connection to the museum other than loving the place.

 

Anyway, moving onto those measurements, width-24.5"

                                                                       depth-15.5"

 

In new money we are looking at 8.6mm and 5.6mm respectively in 1/72 scale. As I said earlier though the inlet is not a simple square shape so these measurements are at the widest and deepest points.

 

By comparison the Airfix item comes in at; width - 7.5mm

                                                                    depth - 3.95mm

 

Pavla                                                             width - 7.3mm

                                                                      depth - 4.32mm

 

Interesting! The Pavla is narrower than the Airfix  but a little deeper, not a lot but it is there anyway. Both are way off what has been given by Andrew, over 1mm on the width and 1.3mm on the depth. I am only quoting what the vernier read, obviously I will not be working to 100th of a millimetre, not in styrene anyway.

Just for completeness, 1.3mm converted to 'Just Jayne' scale is over 93.5mm,  a substantial figure me thinks.

 

Well, that was easy.....oh yes, I now have to do the real work😅

 

If you can remember the comparison picture of the radiators and panel lines from the earlier post you may have noticed how the later radiator installation had a vertical panel line and inlet lip that followed that panel line, I have shown this on the pic below;

 

With the inlet lip following the same line I feel this was one way to increase the frontal area of the inlet, although that is just my opinion and not that of Avro, BAC, or BAESystems....🤪

 

The first job is to sand away the excess plastic so it follows the furthest line back and then offer up the two inlets to see which may be used. First up the kit item;

 

Pavla;

 

 

My first impressions here are that while the Pavla has the better starting shape and size I can see some small difficulties in trying to fill and blend those curves around the cowling near the spinner plate, the sides, although being smaller should not represent too much of a problem as they a on the side and fairly flat.

The kit item looks to fit better all round and will only need filling on the bottom edge making it much easier to sand back but more material needs to be removed in an awkward area.

Time for a cuppa and a long think.

 

This may be the last update for a little while, a family bereavement will take my time for a while and the wife has very kindly bought me another kit to build;

 

 

Not what I had in mind but this will be a years worth of brownie points stamped and done.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Thom216]

@Head in the clouds. Nice work and adjustment on the radiators! They look real good.

My condolences for the bereavement.

And that Honey-Do projects should net some mondo point!

[Head in the clouds.]

20 minutes ago, Thom216 said:

And that Honey-Do projects should net some mondo point!

 

Appreciate that, thank you.

 

I hope so, with that and the kitchen just finished I should be in clover for some time.

 

The hard bit is next on the inlets, getting the right shape and profiles without ruining any of them.