1/72 Lancaster PA474 plus some extras.

[Head in the clouds.]

Hi folks.

 

This is the first model finished of my double Cranfield collage of Aeronautics WIP which can be found here ;

We are all familiar with Avro Lancaster PA474 as she is now, pleasing millions at airshows around the UK and occasionally Europe but before this celebrity life style she did more mundane work. Built as a B1(FE) for the war in the Far East it never reached that theatre of war due to the defeat of Japan but instead was modified foe aerial survey work in Africa with 82Sq mapping much of that continent. After her work was done there she was down for modification for Flight Refuelling to a pilotless drone but this never happened, instead being assigned to the Cranfield Collage of Aeronautics for scientific work.

Once here she was heavily modified to investigate laminar flow and to this end had 3 different aerofoils fitted atop the fuselage midway between the cockpit and tail, this being the most visible change but much also changed inside. A 60hp Budworth turbine was fitted in the rear fuselage which was used to create the boundery layer on the aerofoil and a myriad of test equipment was also fitted to monitor and record results. Other mods were carried over from her 82Sq days, the faired over front and rear turret positions and the modified cockpit canopy to reduce heat in that area for the crew being the most obvious. She also carried over her markings from 82Sq.

The first of the aerofoils fitted was a wooden affair that was to test the basic theory's and aerodynamics of the instalation, the second and third aerofoils were more complicated affairs based on the Folland Midge wing section with a complicated array of test equipment fitted to each, again to monitor and record and these were the ones that had the Budworth turbine plumbed in.

PA474 was finally retired in 1964 having flown from Cranfield for the best part of a decade and some say this last posting was the good fortune that was needed to save her for the role she now fulfills, if she had been converted to a pilotless drone it is fair to say that she would not return from that outing in good order.

 

What of the build?

The base kit was the Airfix B1/III(FE) which is a good kit with only rather deep and heavy panel lines letting it down, it goes together well with no major issues. In it's 'out of the box' form the kit does not represent a post war Lancaster, for this I purchased the Blackbird Post War Lancaster set which includes Ram air scoop, later style rudders and Lincoln style wheels for which PA474 was fitted.

To get this kit to the stage at which it represents PA474 while serving at Cranfield the following was altered/added or modified;

Cockpit glazing altered to represent plated over section for crew protection.

Filling in of fuselage windows bar 4 at the front.

Blanking of front and rear turret using putty as I could find no aftermarket items.

Fitting of late style rudders.

Fitting of Lincoln style wheels.

Fitting of ram air scoop, slightly modified.

Addition of two runners either side of rear fuselage, redundant from initial tests of first aerofoil.

Filling in of mid upper turret position.

Addition of Eduard Flap set.

Scratch build of aerofoil.

Move windscreen wash jets.

Open out radiator openings.

Remove cable cutters from wing leading edge.

Camera pods to outside of wings.

Modify crew escape hatch.

 

The biggest of these jobs was the making of the aerofoil and the opening up of the radiator inlets.  The aerofoil was made from a Airfix Folland Gnat wing which is pretty much what was fitted to PA474 but the test equipment fitted to the wing was challenging to it's small size so some items have a little scale creep.

The biggest job however was the opening up of the radiator inlets, it took a lot of soul searching as to whether or not to do this as I did not want to ruin the kit by buggering up the kit inlets. To this end I ordered a aftermarket set but these  were so far off that fitting them would involve so much work just to get them to fit the kit before altering them so i binned that idea. In at the deep end then, alter the kit item. This involved a lot of cut and slashing along with some filling but it worked out well in the end but it did take some time to do.

The reason the inlets were bigger is because cooling on the Lancaster at higher weights was always marginal which was not too much of an issue in Europe but in the Far East would cause problems in the hot and humid conditions, so to this end Rolls Royce modified the radiator system which required more air flow, ergo a bigger inlet requirement. I am pleased with the results as it gives me a true B1/III(FE).

Paint wise I used various shades of Alclad while other minor painting was done with Tamiya finest. By the time PA474 finished her work at Cranfield she was 20 years old, so few Lancasters saw this longevity and as such she was starting to look tired and her shine was certainly on the wane, I have fried to capture this. Although tired she was kept clean while at Cranfield as dirt build up would give corrupted readings during experiments.

Decal wise I used Xtradecals Post War Lancaster sheet as foundation but little was used from this. The large 'M' on the fuselage was made up from four sections of decal and the other markings were mixed. matched and cut from various other sheets. All I need is an 82Sq crest to finish her off.

Hope you like her.

Any comments welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Skymonster]

Beautiful build… I just wish PA474:still looked like this now, rather than carrying the oh-so-boring camouflage colours 

[bigbadbadge]

What a cracking model, great work on this and the finish looks superb .  Very interesting backround. 

Chris

[tomprobert]

That’s a fantastic result of a rarely seen fit for a Lanc - beautifully done. 
 

Tom

[HOUSTON]

I like the history and background to your build.

Thank you for that.

 

I followed your build and thought it was simply IMPRESSIVE  as is this finished Lancaster.

It is GORGEOUS   .. BEAUTIFUL  done.

 

Your photographs  are neat and clear. 

Thank you for sharing your build with us.

Superb workmanship!

Kudos.

[Head in the clouds.]

44 minutes ago, Skymonster said:

Beautiful build

Thank you @Skymonster

 

38 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

What a cracking model, great work on this and the finish looks superb .  Very interesting backround. 

Cheers Chris, appreciate that.

 

28 minutes ago, tomprobert said:

That’s a fantastic result of a rarely seen fit for a Lanc - beautifully done. 

Thanks @tomprobert I do like the 'left of centre' subjects.

 

4 minutes ago, HOUSTON said:

I followed your build and thought it was simply IMPRESSIVE  as is this finished Lancaster.

It is GORGEOUS   .. BEAUTIFUL  done.

Very kind words @HOUSTON she is not perfect, non of my builds are but I try my best to do things differently.

[Maginot]

Very interesting test-bed variation of a well-loved airframe. 

[kapam]

Excellent!

I can see a lot of work went into that, but you pulled it off brilliantly.

[Alpha Delta 210]

Stunning build and research. She looks so different dressed up in this way. Thanks for the history.

 

I must confess that I prefer to see her in the "tribute" schemes that she now wears.

[Bertie McBoatface]

It’s good to see an interesting lanc. You certainly did a ton of work on it and it’s all paid off. Beautiful. Where’s the Annie?

[petetasker]

Superb just superb

[invidia]

Fantastic looking model.

[F-32]

That looks brilliant!

[BleedingBlue]

Wow, you put a lot of effort into the conversion.  I think the result is excellent and I really enjoyed reading about the aircraft history.

[keith in the uk]

Wow , that s a great result on a seldom seen version of PA474 in model form . Well done that man . 

[Graham T]

Really nice!

[Andy Dyck]

Never heard about! Never saw this! It’s really amazing! A perfect job! My congratulations! 
 

Cheers

Andy 

[TEXANTOMCAT]

Superb!

[Bell209]

On 2/7/2022 at 7:21 AM, Skymonster said:

I just wish PA474:still looked like this now, rather than carrying the oh-so-boring camouflage colours

I must disagree! This build is brilliant and a refreshing change from the usual but I'm glad PA474 represents a wartime Lancaster scheme.

[Head in the clouds.]

 

On 2/7/2022 at 7:44 AM, Bertie Psmith said:

Where’s the Annie?

Coming up on the port side at 100Knots, slowly! Now the Lancaster is done Annie should progress a little faster now....not a lot, just a little..😄

 

Thank you @petetasker, @invidia, @F-32, @BleedingBlue, @keith in the uk, @Graham T, @Andy Dyck , @TEXANTOMCAT and @Bell209 for your kind words, they are the icing on the cake of any build I do.

[mil 24]

hi

a very nice built of a lanc it look brillant in the silver

 

your dave

[Head in the clouds.]

7 minutes ago, mil 24 said:

a very nice built of a lanc it look brillant in the silver

 

Thank you @mil 24, something different from your normal fare.