Best Lanc?

[isaneng]

Gents, Ladies, your thoughts would be well received. 

 

I need a 1/72 Lanc, a BI or BIII. I'm pretty sure you guys won't laugh, when I tell you the last one I built was  G George, coming home with #1 on fire, thanks to Roy Cross. I admit to having one of those upstairs (it's not a stash, by you guys standards, it's far too small to be a stash..). And the Halifax. And the Stirling...  You get the idea...

 

Anyhow, I need a modern kit, who's extra details will distract from the mistakes. So, your recommendations? Is the Revell the winner? 

 

Thanks guys, Rick.

[Heraldcoupe]

Revell builds quite nicely, but has a few issues if accuracy concerns you. Off the top of my head, dihedral is excessive and aileron hinge line is in the wrong place, as is one of the upper fuselage hatches. Wheels are awful, but those are easy enough to swap out. But it's cheap and lloks good if you're not too obsessive.
Hasegawa is nice, but that too has one or two issues which I find more offensive because of the high price. Canopy is very wrong for starters.

The new Airfix kits are the winners on detail. I have several, but haven't got as far as building one - I understand the fit can be a bit tight. Downside to many modellers is the panel detail which is a bit heavier than that of the other options. 

 

Cheers
Bill.

[isaneng]

Ok, I'd forgotten about Hasegawa, thx for that! 

New Airfix eh, ok, thank you!!

[Seawinder]

Is the old Matchbox worthy of consideration? I did one years and years ago and remember enjoying it.

[brewerjerry]

Hi

    I like the matchbox one

 

     also the 1:72 frog one, bit harder to find now

 

   i don't know any of the accuracy issues of either as not my field of research 

    cheers

       jerry

[Rabbit Leader]

5 hours ago, Seawinder said:

Is the old Matchbox worthy of consideration? I did one years and years ago and remember enjoying it.

The Matchbox kit is adequate, however suffers from your typical basic type of model design synonymous with this classic manufacturer - heavily recessed wing panel lines and overthink transparencies. Unless you already have one stashed, the asking price for many Matchbox kits far exceeds their value and this is coming from a Matchbox kit lover and co-host of the very popular Matchbox Group Build. 
 

The 1980 Airfix release is still considered a very good option and many modellers still prefer this over the many later kit developments. The Revell kit lacks outer wing dihedral and the most popular fix is to score and cut the wings in half and reposition them at the right angle. The Hasegawa’s canopy has the upper hatch in the wrong position, however can be easily fixed by carefully rubbing this back, re-polishing the clarity and painting this hatch in the correct position. For some reason, the outer engine nacelles of the Hasegawa kit are also canted inwards once attached and is really noticeable unless corrected. The fix is fairly simple, just sand the outboard edges where the nacelle meets the wing attachment slot until they align themselves correctly. There is also the mid 70’s Frog release which can also be built up nicely, however may be harder to find. 
 

The new Airfix kit seems to tick many boxes and I’m sure that with carefully construction will turn out very nicely indeed. 
 
Cheers.. Dave 

[isaneng]

Thanks chaps, all appreciated. If I buy the modern Airfix, that will give me G George,  the 1980 release with the cookie AND the new one.

 

 

 

Brilliant!

[fishplanebeer]

By far and away the best option is the Airfix kit, all you need to do if you are picky is to replace the gun barrels with resin replacements and hey presto you have the best 72nd scale Lanc out there (until Arma, Eduard or SH decide to do one of course).

 

Regards

Colin.

[72modeler]

Brett Green did a comparison build of the Airfix, Hasegawa, and Revell new-tool Lanc kits that might be useful. I do not totally  agree with all of Brett;'s comments, nor am I an authority on the Lancaster or the 1/72 kits, but you can read his observations and draw your own conclusions; I think overall the article is a pretty good overview of the pluses and minuses of the three kits. (That being said, I am not getting rid of  the two revised Airfix Lanc kits from the 70's I have in the stash!) BTW, I do have the three kits used in his comparison article.

Mike

 

https://www.hyperscale.com/lancaster_guide.pdf

[isaneng]

Thx 72modeler, appreciated. 

[modelldoc]

I had build the old and the new Airfix Lancaster.

Both are better than the old and new Revell kit.

(F.e. The Revell Dambuster havn't the searchlight in the nose.)

 

Have look for the new Airfix (it's the Mk II):

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/16603003083/in/photolist-V6njJG-scEYwU-ri9JnR-r5SAzH-qJT3EW-qsoPAj-qJXkqp-qso5c3-gDBxAi-98cKjF

 

and here is a conversion of the old Airfix into a Mk VI:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/34847651564/in/photolist-V6njJG-ri9JnR-scEYwU-r5SAzH-qJXkqp-qJT3EW-qsoPAj-qso5c3-gDBxAi-98cKjF

 

modelldoc

[woody37]

Overall, the new Airfix kit is the best, although I prefer the more subtle panel lines in the Hasegawa kit. This is the airfix kit done in 2020 making the most of being furloughed!

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235070720-airfix-lancaster-r5570-207-sqn/