Dambusters Lancaster colour...

[spike7451]

Thanks to you all for your help in the other colour question,I have painted the lower half satin black & am itending to was with a mix of matts blacks & dark grays,now my other question is in regards to the upper finish.

On a lot of the other builds the colours are faded & weathered but on the 61spare Lancs used on the dams raid,was the colours new as in just painted,or were these Lancs modified from 'old stock' as it were?..

Cheers.

[maltadefender]

I'd keep weathering to a minimum as these were purpose-built for one job only. The majority of training was carried out on regular Lancs and, due to the secrecy of the project, the operational, modified Lancs had to be held back to the last minute and kept under guard before take-off.

[spike7451]

I'd keep weathering to a minimum as these were purpose-built for one job only. The majority of training was carried out on regular Lancs and, due to the secrecy of the project, the operational, modified Lancs had to be held back to the last minute and kept under guard before take-off.

Many thanks for your help maltadefender..So I'm going to give it a thin wash of slightly lightened coal black to enhance the panel lines underneath & a lightened green & brown up top with a subtle engine weathering.

[Edgar]

One thing to bear in mind is that, from October 1942, orders were issued that, as well as "Night" replacing "Special Night," the upper colours were to use smooth paints (like the fighters,) not matt.

Edgar

[spike7451]

Thanks Edgar...One thing,does anyone know of a source of diagrames for the upper & side camo as the paint charts given by Tamiya are,well,to be honest,cr@p!

[thx6667]

Spike I'll try and sort you something out this evening.

[spike7451]

Spike I'll try and sort you something out this evening.

Cheers Jonathan!

[spike7451]

Forgot to ask,were the windows down the side painted over in the fulalage colours?I've seen some photo's that suggest they were.

Ta,

Merv

[Graham]

Hi Merv I think they were unpainted so these pics seem to make out.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...%26tbs%3Disch:1

Graham.

[spike7451]

Cheers Graham!!! I did google but the's not much pics out there of this particular lanc type.

[stever219]

The Lancs for Operation Chastise were all new-build and came off the line as men and material to convert them became available. All were from the late EDxxx batch (the last was Henry Maudslay's ED937/G "Z-Zebra"). As such they had the small side windows and most images that I've seen show these as unpainted, although some appear a little ambiguous, depending on lighting conditions, type of film used, processing, etc., etc. By the time that they were lost or returned to Scampton some had accumulated rather less than ten flying hours, so any weathering, staining and such would still be minimal.

As for camouflage if you've any of the Airfix, Matchbox or new Revell Lancasters the instructions shiow the camouflage scheme accurately. Tee area where the dorsal turret was removed was repainted, but I think, and I'm sure someone else (Edgar?) can confirm that the area where the turret fairing was removed from was a different colour to the rest of the upper surfaces.

HTH,

Steve