Jump to content

HK Models Avro Lancaster 1/48


Colin W

Recommended Posts

Who else stated this hobby as a young lad with a hope that one day they could build the fantastic 1/48 Tamiya Lancaster? At the time it was dream money and no one could ever afford one. As the years passed the relative price became affordable but it was an old and dated kit although some still cropped up at model shows finished to a superb standard. I would look at them and say 'one day'.

Then along came HK models with a new rendition for only £100! A look in the box revealed a stunning kit so it was added quickly to the stash. Initial indications are that it is a superb kit with a great interior excellent detail and scope for more work inside. There must be many out there but I have not seen one built so this will be the first.

My plan was to build the Lancaster in the Museum Of Transport And Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland, New Zealand. This is the only Lancaster I have been inside and it fits with my NZ theme. Looking at the kit parts I believe the model is actually based on the MOTAT Lancaster as the interior is very similar. The kit includes a bed and additional radio gear which were unlikley to be installed in the operational european bomber version but are visible on the pictures I took in MOTAT. Another clue is that the HK Models kit has a yellow hand rail along the steps from the flight engineers position into the bomb aimers station. This is unlikely to be present in this format on an operational bomber but is present inside the MOTAT Lancaster.

After the war Lancasters were used by the French in the pacific as maritime patrol aircraft. When declared obsolete, 3 survived into preservation. These 3 Lancasters are now in MOTAT (Auckland NZ), Western Air Museum (Perth Australia) and one is with the Lincoln Aviation Herritage Center in the UK See edit).  The additional radio gear and bed found in the kit would be more appropriate for these French Maritime patrol aircraft!

So with the right parts in the kit I will be building the MOTAT Lancaster as it is big and certainly British.

 

IMG_20220220_155800668

 

Colin

Edited by Colin W
Location of 3rd Lanc updated
  • Like 16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Colin W said:

After the war Lancasters were used by the French in the pacific as maritime patrol aircraft. When declared obsolete, 3 survived into preservation. These 3 Lancasters are now in MOTAT (Auckland NZ), Western Air Museum (Perth Australia) and one is still flying with the BBMF in the UK

Don't think the BBMF's PA474 ever flew with the French? I think NX611 did though

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Colin W said:

Another clue is that the HK Models kit has a yellow hand rail along the steps from the flight engineers position into the bomb aimers station. This is unlikely to be present in this format on an operational bomber but is present inside the MOTAT Lancaster.

This got discussed here, I think the conclusion was that it was a wartime feature,  I'd have to go digging, but IIRC, a photo in one of the  Lancaster At War books shows a wartime cockpit with a light coloured hand rail.  

Worth mentioning that the Lancaster At War books, there are 5, can often be bought used cheap, around £3 on the usual used bookseller's, and are still great reads and references.

Cheers

T

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks for the updated info. I knew one of the UK Lancasters came from the French but obvoiusly not the BBMF one. Original post corrected.

 

17 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

conclusion was that it was a wartime feature

Interesting if the hand rail was a war time feature. What about the bed?

Answering my own question, having viewed a few videos it seems the 'sick bed' was standard.

 

Colin

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Progress over the weekend on the interior. Due to the fine parts and the uniform colours I decided to build most of the interior and then paint the black and green once mainly complete.

Here is the main interior with most assemble completed. Everythung fits together well and the detail is very good. I'm wondering how much additional detail to add as most will be lost when the fuselage is closed.

 

IMG_20220305_165648473

 

Parts in the foreground are ready for painting.

 

Base coat of black applied. This is Mr Colour 40 German Grey which I think makes a good scale black.

 

IMG_20220305_212243462

 

Very impressed so far.

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/5/2022 at 11:49 AM, Colin W said:

Many thanks for the updated info. I knew one of the UK Lancasters came from the French but obvoiusly not the BBMF one. Original post corrected.

 

Interesting if the hand rail was a war time feature. What about the bed?

Answering my own question, having viewed a few videos it seems the 'sick bed' was standard.

 

Colin

I think the oxygen bottle "crate" lives under the bed.  There are cutaway drawings showing this, so treat as standard.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've been chipping away at the Lancaster for the lat few weeks and am at the point of joining the fuselage halves. Here are the last pics of the detail before its lost inside

Here is the nose section. Except the seat belts, all of this is in the kit!

 

IMG_20220319_214027930

 

Slightly different view.

IMG_20220319_214003163

 

Overall view of the total fuselage. Additions to the kit now include the drive unit for the under fuselage radar and the long silver races for the amunition feed to the rear turret. The ammo box's are above the rear of the bomb bay to reduce the weight in the rear fuselage with the shells running down the steel races to the feed mechanism. The NZ Lancaster has twin Brownings in the tail, 4 races would be required for the 4 gun turret.

There should be 2 bulkheads at the rear of the bomb bay and by the mai spar but these will not be seen so I didnt bother to make them. I dd mask the windows on the inside and paint the clear plastic running between them as this stands out very clear against the matt green and black interior.

 

IMG_20220319_213932131

 

Fusalage closing and wings next I believe.

  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All

Some more progress on the Lancaster. This really is a superb kit and need time taken to get the best out of it. I have been working on the gun turrets for 2 weeks for 3 turrets and almost ready.

 

IMG_20220321_145414505

 

IMG_20220330_205655772

 

These were very hard to comlete as the level of detail is superb and the instructions are mediocre. Got there in the end though!

The tops should have lightening holes which I will try once the glue is dry.

 

 

 

  • Like 17
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A very late update but some work continuing. I dont want to detail 4 engines but 1 or 2 will be OK. I managed to assemble an outer nacelle without the engine and prepare the inner nacelle. The fit is excellent and the engines are very good in themselves.

 

IMG_20220330_205614824

 

Meanwhile I have assembled one of the wings

 

IMG_20220330_215933773

 

 

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

These emgine nacelles are like 1/72 kits in their own right.

22 parts for the outers and 24 for the inner plus 4 for each prop. fit is excellent with just a few wipes of a 400 grit pad needed here and there. 

 

IMG_20220409_121102601

 

Here is the total project so far.

 

IMG_20220409_121045640

 

Certainly is Big and British!

  • Like 16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bit more progress. Wings finished and flapps added in the deployed position. They were a bit fiddly but look quite substantial.

 

 

IMG_20220424_195326665

 

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

All this glorious weather in the UK has impacted on modelling time but I'm not hurrying this as its such a great kit.

Most of the fuselage is now done and hopefully the final finish added to the lower wings complete with undercarriage.

IMG_20220512_120211632

 

IMG_20220512_120217786

 

Still moving forwards.

 

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...