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Avro Lancaster 1:48 Tamiya


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They were in this thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...=65671&st=0

I like the sound of the blue colour :) I was tempted to do something similar with my Tilly as my BoB diorama is representing 10th Sept 1940 when it was quite feasible that some RAF vehicles were still blue, but in the end I went with the green.

Here is another pic of my Standard:

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Edited by Kallisti
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The postman's been!

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Those barrels look bent to me. I hope they will respond to the warm water treatment. They are QuickBoost resin items. I won't be fixing them in place until the Lanc is firmly anchored to its base.

Turning to the Tamiya Tilly for a change, I find this in the box.

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Lovely little kit all on it's own. Vehicle aficionados would spend ages just on this. For me alas, it's just a prop. It's only important, in conjunction with the figures, in giving a sense of scale to the finished diorama. I'll do what I can with it though and with this class of moulding, that will be a joy.

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Slide moulding in action, exquisite detail all round and no bother with unnecessary construction. And it's guaranteed to be square, an advantage to my old eyes.

Twenty minutes took me this far...

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The guys at Tamiya don't believe in manufacturing tolerances - every part fits exactly. I've been building Airfix and Italeri lately so that's a real treat. I have been told so many times that the Sea Vixen "goes together perfectly" that I had begun to doubt my skills. Now I am reassured. The Airfix kit is a lash up compared to this. Even the 30 year old Tamiya Lanc far outclasses the best that Airfix can do right now. What if Tamiya had done the Vixen! Ho hum Airfix is still cheap, I suppose.

That filler on the roof is down to me. I'm not putting the spade on the roof. I'll also discard the spare wheel. In my experience as an RAF inventory holder, loose gear was always locked up when the wagon was for on-station use only. Park it outside the mess and while you are at dinner, some other inventory holder is nicking all your stuff ready for his inspection!

There was one little flaw in the kit - ejection pin marks, I presume, though they looked like locating holes for something? Easily filled and almost invisible in that location anyway.

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The end of the session took me to this point...

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...with the first coat on the tilt.

It's been a nice change from aeroplanes but I'll be back on the black stuff by the weekend.

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Just done a little painting to keep things on the boil. If I stop working a project, I sometimes find it hard to get going again.

This is the Tilly interior colour base coat. I'll weather the insides a lot - it's an armourer's wagon so it should be a bit of a sty, I reckon. (I was a 'Leckie; for those who know about these things.)

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And this is the tilt and the colours used on it. I'll spray the mickey mouse ears later in a couple of shades of V D grey.

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And finally, hinges for the drooped elevators. It will look better under paint (and maybe snow too!).

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Now for supper and an early night. TGIF!

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To Clashcityrocker, Mish, Deacon, Pedrovski, CPNGROATS, bruce3371, avro683, Pedrovsk, Murdo, Kallisti, The Modeller and all who have posted encouragement and praise here over the last few weeks.

Here's a great big collective thank you. I have been neglecting to acknowledge your helpful comments as they have come in, I trust you will forgive this lapse. In fact your responses have been very important to me. This is the most fun I've ever had with a model (Well, a plastic model anyway! lol.). First time I've had interest shown all the way. Of course, over the years my family and friends have showed an interest, but they were 'forcing it' if you know what I mean; it's hard to be really interested in someone else's hobby isn't it? I've even been in a local model club, but meeting once a month and bringing only finished kits was a different thing to this collective day by day building experience.

It's been great and has definitely raised my morale. I work in a city secondary school and by this time of the year, I'm usually pretty well exhausted emotionally. I'm quite sure that this light-hearted and supportive forum has helped trickle charged my emotional batteries. Modelling itself has always been a great escape for me; a break from this 1:1 scale world to a 1:48 scale one where things are simpler and safer. lol. Doing it with all of your affirmation as well continues to be most excellent therapy! So, thanks again, and thanks also to F111fan and Cliffb (sorry Cliff, I missed you out earlier!) for running the build and to whoever it is that's paying for and maintaining all of these IT facilities.

Right, that's enough of the emotional stuff for now. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Watch this space for the forthcoming challenge of ... dah dah daaaaah! ... THE EXPLODED SECTION! (I have very little idea how to do that part by the way! lol!)

Laters.

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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Adding my voice to the rowsing chorus of acclaim... but cannot think of anything smart or original to say... 'How about:

Outstanding concept and (so far) outstanding modelling.

Yep, think that covers it !

Ian

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Adding my voice to the rowsing chorus of acclaim... but cannot think of anything smart or original to say... 'How about:

Outstanding concept and (so far) outstanding modelling.

Yep, think that covers it !

Ian

Cheers Ian. The next couple of weeks will be the test of that "so far". lol.

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Don, great stuff so far. You've given me lots of ideas for a similar dio I have in mind for a Catalina

About the exploded section... Dr. jellyfingers did a B-17 with some parts being all shot up Linky to Shot up B-17 thread where you could perhaps nick some ideas for inspiration? His work on damaged sections was very good (and slightly insane)

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Don, great stuff so far. You've given me lots of ideas for a similar dio I have in mind for a Catalina

About the exploded section... Dr. jellyfingers did a B-17 with some parts being all shot up Linky to Shot up B-17 thread where you could perhaps nick some ideas for inspiration? His work on damaged sections was very good (and slightly insane)

Yeah, thanks for that. Jellyfingers I already saw. He's so "out of the box" and so very skilful with it. I'm tring to make rational structure which has been brought to the point of chaos by the explosion. Not rational and not quite chaos but somewhere in between. True chaos is incredibly hard to imagine, never mind model and the full 'rational' structure is too complex for me to duplicate. Gawd knows what's going to happen next! I am prepared to have three attempts though, and if I can't nail it by the third go, I'll retire, hurt. It's going to be the first time I use beercan engineering, first time I scratchbuild a full fuselage, and first time I do it in public too. Exciting stuff! This verges on performance art. OMG!

Maybe I should 'fess up to being fresh in from the pub and rather 'inspired' by several pints of real cider right now. Am I waxing philosophical, do you think? I'm pleased to say that I'm still sensible enough to stay away from craft knives and solvents until the morning. Next update tomororow teatime-ish.

Seeya gang!

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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Saturday's Day Shift.

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I found this picture in Lancaster at War. I'm reading about the life led by Bomber Command ground crews. Man alive! It was like being on TACEVAL for four years without a break. There were times when aircraft were sent out with unserviced and sometimes unserviceable guns because the armourers only had time in their 20 hour working days to throw the bombs on and off the cabs! The picture is of a crew hut by a dispersal. A real man shed, eh? This was fascinating to read and relevant too. In the light of my reading, maintaining the armament section Tilly would have been very low on the list of things to do. Accordingly, the vehicle I'm building must look like an old farm wagon if it's to be representative. So...

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The filthy insides will be filled with assorted plumber's junk and a ladder or two.

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And note the odd wheel!

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Of course there would have been no hubcaps, but I'll live with that little inaccuracy.

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The car has so many layers of paint that I've set it aside to dry for a day or two. So much for finishing it by tonight!

Back to the aeroplane then. My focus has now shifted to the rear fuselage. I'm detailing as far as the tail bulkhead with the door to the rear turret closed. I began with the bulkhead and the box over the tail spar. The Elsan will be just in front of this.

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It looks a mess now but just wait until it's painted up and detailed.

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Now I know the front and rear extent of the area to super-detail, it's on with some stringers...

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...and some of the interior components. The round thing is a housing over the lower gun position/H2S scanner aperture, neither of which was fitted to the Queen. That reminds me of a little bit of trivia: this Lancaster, while officially known as OF-A or A-Apple was always called Q-Queenie by the 97 Sqn lads, because it had been signed by Queen Elizabeth and bore her coat of arms. Must have been confusing for the new blokes!

By this point I was realising that the stringers would have to be run over the not yet existing exploded panels. No putting it off any more then - out with the tinsnips!

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This was great fun. The beer can alloy was cut to size and shape, then cooked over a gas ring to burn off the plastic coating and soften the metal. It's attached to the fuselage with thick superglue and seems fairly solid. I'll leave it for a few hours to fully cure before I take any further liberties with it....

...but I couldn't resist putting it together to see how it might look...

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...and I'm well chuffed so far...

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There's a lot more to do in this area before it's ready to be closed up. It's supposed to look like this remember.

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Oh, hang on a minute! I won't be closing this fuselage ever!

And finally...

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One last thing I thought might be worth handing on. Some years ago I began wiping my tinlet lids as soon as I take them off. It only takes a few seconds and gives me an opportunity to scrape off any dried paint around the mating edge. Result, this tin of paint has been in use for years and still seals. No more tinlets thrown out half full of solidified paint. With the price of paint these days it makes good sense to me yet it took me thirty years of modelling to think of it!

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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Looking good Don. The Tilly is looking suitably knackered.

Gary...

Thanks for the kind words Gary,

Alas, 'knackered' is a word that's very apposite right now. I've just realised that when I bent the fuselage, the very first session on this kit, I bent it too damned far. I've been putting the main undercarriage in place and even though I've only done one side, it's become horribly apparent that the damaged fuselage is a right mess-up. Or rather tail-up. Instead of resting on the ground, the tail-wheel will be ten feet in the air! Disaster! I don't know whether to take the blowtorch to it again or separate the tail entirely and build the thing in two pieces.

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Well, things are looking up a bit. I completed the second main u/c unit and dry fitted the wings and tailplanes to find out exactly how bad things were. Sure enough, the tailwheel was in the air but only by some four scale feet. It turned out that the problem wasn't with the bent port fuselage half, which is more or less correctly mangled, but the rear section of the stbd side. Although this extends into the bent area, I had not bent it to fit with the result that it was sticking out and down and raising the tail. I was in a rush to get it fixed and didn't take a picture for you (sorry!) before I lit up the candle and heat treated the offending half inch of plastic. I think I'll get away with it now, though there may be a bit more grinding to be done to make the damaged section finally 'lie flat' on the concrete. For now she looks like this.

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I woke up this morning having realised in my sleep that I'm going to have to start painting and applying markings to the outside next. The peeled back skin will have to be painted and weathered before being finally shaped since there will be such limited access afterwards. I can't build structure on to the skin and then bend it, as Pedrovski proved with his bomb-bay roof a few weeks ago. So this part is built from the outsides in! Paint it, shape it add interior detail. It's a weird way of working, believe me.

And it's metal. So priming the surface is another open question. And it's been blast damaged so much of the paint will have been shocked off the surface. And that's where the roundels and codes go - codes which I do not possess!! And, biggest issue of all - where's the mid-upper turret gone? Blown out or fallen in? I can't tell from the original photograph. Fallen in would be useful in filling the gaping hole with recognisable debris and blown out would decorate the rather empty hardstanding. What do you all think? Opinions and advice please!

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Hi Per

as it was a photo flash accident and the bomb load hasn't exploded I'd say the turret was melted and maybe inside the a/c If the bomb load had exploded you'd only be modelling a crater,

regards

Paul

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Hi Per

... If the bomb load had exploded you'd only be modelling a crater...

regards

Paul

That would be quite a diorama! Just a big smoking hole. (You're only supposed to blow the bloody Nazis up...)

Seriously, there's little sign of fire but lots of explosion evidence. Maybe the flash was too fast to ignite much of the aircraft? Putting the remains of the turret inside would mean that I'd not have to build it very accurately, which appeals to my lazy side.

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Of course, over the years my family and friends have showed an interest, but they were 'forcing it' if you know what I mean; it's hard to be really interested in someone else's hobby isn't it?

I know what you mean. The extent of my wife's interest in my hobby is; "Don't you go messing that model up, I spent a fortune on it for you" (referring to the Dragon Wagon she bought me this last Christmas!!)

Anyway, cracking work on the 'bent' Lanc, looks really effective so far :)

Edited by bruce3371
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I know what you mean. The extent of my wife's interest in my hobby is; "Don't you go messing that model up, I spent a fortune on it for you" (referring to the Dragon Wagon she bought me this last Christmas!!)

Anyway, cracking work on the 'bent' Lanc, looks really effective so far :)

Does she ask you to wash it when you've got it all dirty with weathering? lol.

Thanks for your interest and encouragement.

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Does she ask you to wash it when you've got it all dirty with weathering? lol.

Thanks for your interest and encouragement.

lol, funny you should say that, no she didn't, but she did say I could put shelves up for my models as long as I dust them regularly!!

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You are allowed shelves? Man, she's a keeper!

lol, only so many! After they're full, I've got to start a rotation system! Put so many on display, store the rest, and swap them about occasionally!

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lol, only so many! After they're full, I've got to start a rotation system! Put so many on display, store the rest, and swap them about occasionally!

Well, having seen some people's collections of dusty old crap, I have to agree with her there. I only have a few shelves in the bedroom here. Once the models have been up for about a year, I salvage them into the spares box or give them away (or sometimes blow them up!). I think of myself as a builder, not a collector.

"It's finding, not keeping, that's the measure"

Bryan Ferry 1972

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