Now that the desk is clear it's time to move ahead with my most ambitious project yet : Tamiya's impressive Avro Lancaster in 48th scale. It'll be half of an entry into the Duel II campaign.

It's an old kit with the sprues telling us the molds are from 1975 so we'll see how well it goes together!

My box is the later revision with the corrected engine nacelles, choice of prop and tyre types, bomb aimer's blister and pre-painted canopies. We shall see what happens as we go along with these interesting options.



As you can see i've got the Eduard Zoom set for the instrument panels but i suspect i'll get lost in a tangle of scratchbuilt detail of my own. This will be a huge learning curve for me and advice and feedback will be gratefully received.

Here's some of my reference material so far which includes an amazing cutaway poster, an old library book my partner picked up in a charity shop and a nice bit of reading material in the shape of Tony Iveson's Lancaster: the biograpghy.



I'm rather tempted to depict Tony's Lanc itself - ME554 AJ-F and may have to look into some custom decals or paint masks. If i go down this route i may have to alter the bomb bay doors to the bulged variety too in order to depict the Tallboy carrying bombers of 617 Sqdn.

Let the madness commence!

Looks interesting, Peter. I will tag along and see how things progresses.

I have never tre prepainted cockpits before. A nice touch.

Hello Paul,

another real big plane! I guess You have lots of big shelves for Your models. I will follow Your build with interest.

Happy Modeling!

Oliver

I'll follow with interest too!

Hello Paul, best of luck with the Lancaster build,I will be following with much interest. Do you have to rescribe the panel lines on this one?? I look forward to your next update. Best regards...Dale

I've wanted this model for 40 years. See several built and always enjoyed it. Paul, I look forward to your magic with this model.

I volunteer at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum - home of airworthy Lancaster V-RA, let me know if you need any specific photos and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks all for some much needed encouragement!

Frederick, I suspect I too might have longed after this kit for many years and never had the nerve to buy it but I was extremely lucky to receive it for my last birthday.

Matt, that is a generous offer and i'll certainly take you up on that, thank you.

Paul:

There are some great build blogs online of this kit. I think the most daunting part of it may be re-positioning the first side window aft of the cockpit, which Tamiya got wrong. Belcher Bits offers revised Merlin engine cowlings, and there is also (or was) a Paragon clear front nose that is deeper than the kit's. I'm also aware of thin chord props for the A/C that Paragon put out. So there are "check your subject" research tasks at the outset.

Which A/C are you modeling for this?

Hi Brian,
I may have to double check the sprues but I believe the revisions in this kit fix a lot of issues.
There are updated cowlings although maybe not as good as Belcher's. I don't know how well they address the shape problem that is well known.
The needle blade props and the deeper bomb aimers blister are also present in this revision.

I was reading a blog and noticed the window issue so I'll look at that early on I think.

As far as subject, I'm almost certain i'll depict 617 Sqdn Ldr Tony Iveson's bird - ME554. My research has already turned up that it came to him third hand from some of the earlier Dambusters. Coded AJ-F 'fox' it later became KC-F when it received modification to carry Tallboys.
One problem immediately obvious is that I can't get a good nose art reference. I've only seen one image and it's not at all clear although I know it was an image of Reilly Fowl, a cartoon character of the time.

Hmm, the revised engine nacelles are a bit better than the originals in that they have option of showing the exhausts without the flame damper coverings but there are a couple of glaring issues.
Most noticeably the intake and outlet from the radiator. (excuse my lack of engine knowledge. I like to take something away from each build and maybe learning about the Merlin is a worthy goal. I'll post illustrations when i have more time too as pictures tell a... well you know)

I think i can live with the kit engines although from what i've read they are incredibly fiddly to put together and attach to the wing. Fun times ahead !!!

I was curious about the cartoon character, and unearthed this about the strip "Just Jake."

"A satire of dramatic films and other comic strips, Just Jake depicted events at the village of Much Cackling in the county of Gertshire. The prime character, Captain A.R.P. Reilly-Ffoull, squire of Arntwee Hall, was parody of early movie villains. He was aided by his servant/butler Eric and the local serf, Titus Tallow. Jake, the original hero of the title, seldom appeared after the first year."

I also found this artwork from A DIFFERENT LANCASTER of the character "Reilly-Ffoull" done for the online game "War Thunder."





Maybe it will be of some help with the sources that you do have.

Thanks Brian, i'd come across this example in my searches through nose art archives. It's certainly a great place to start if i end up trying to make up a custom decal.



This is the only picture i've found to date of ME554's nose. Sadly it is a better reference for the van carrying refreshments ! (which in itself is a valuable bit of historical interest)


Helped by an small anecdote at the end of Iveson's book, you can make out the captain on the right and Eric holding a bomb on the left (asking 'Now?') as suggested by his stripy shirt as shown in this strip. (don't ask me what the context is!!!!)


I'm unsure what it is between the characters. Looks more like text to me but could be mission markings.

Hey, thanks for posting the pic of the real thing. Yes, you have quite a challenge here reconstructing the nose art. "Now" above Eric is as good a guess as any. At for the middle, looks like script in red on top followed by three rows of bombs.

I would approach the nose art like an antiquarian trying to make educated guesses about the missing parts of a Roman mosaic. Past a certain point, who's going to say your interpretation is wrong?

I also like the ground vehicle. In my B-17 build, I find myself increasingly attracted to the ground support vehicles as separate historic objects too.

Someone at the door? Oh, it's the postman!
Quickboost's replacement gun barrels and some Health-and-Safety approved seatbelts arrived today. I'm planning at least a couple of scratched improvements but these are the kind of details I have no hope in making myself.

The museum recently flew their Lanc painted as X-terminator. Usually it is painted as V-RA, which is the Lancaster in which Andrew Mynarksi earned his Victoria Cross [Posthumously] when trying to save his friend - the tail gunner - who was trapped in the burning plane as it was going down. He wasn't able to free him, but his parachute pack caught on fire and he fell to his death. The tail gunner was actually ejected from the aircraft before or upon impact and survived to tell the tale, otherwise we would never know of Mynarski's selfless bravery.


When Vera was painted as X-terminaor, the other side remained painted as VRA




"KB726 – VR-A, which flew with RCAF No. 419 (Moose) Squadron. Andrew Mynarski won the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry, on June 13, 1944, when his Lancaster was shot down in flames, by a German night fighter. As the bomber fell, he attempted to free the tail gunner trapped in the rear turret of the blazing and out of control aircraft. The tail gunner miraculously survived the crash and lived to tell the story, but sadly Andrew Mynarski died from his severe burns."

OK, time to break out the plastic and get this build rollin'

That's some really impressive scratch building for the trim wheels. Looking forward to following your build.

Let the good times roll.

Joel

Here's a great painting by Gerald Coulson of 'operation catechism', the third attempt at the sinking of the Tirpitz by the RAF's 617 and 9 squadrons. As Iveson states in his book, it's a happy accident that the aircraft depicted is ME554. This is a nice reference showing the B1 modified lanc. Mid-upper turret removed for weight saving to help get the massive Tallboy bomb off the ground!

Lots of prep-work going on and many plans floating around in my head right now.

@Dale : Scribing? Sorry i took a while to answer your question. I'm in two minds about this. I'm toying with the idea of bevelling the edges of each panel on the fuselage to give it that distinctive riveted sheet metal look. So scribing, careful sanding and re-riveting in the grooves. Whaddya all think?

Also grand plans for interior details and how to show them off.... more on that if i'm brave enough.

Definitely going to scratchbuild the flaps in the lowered position so gonna have a few sub assemblies going on at the same time i think. Each wing and the fuselage itself are going to be big jobs!
Anyway, on with the show.

Great research! Will follow the no-turret work with great interest.

Update time, i've left the cabin and fuselage for the time being. There are plenty of good references for the wings online so this is a good area to knock out quickly. At least thats the plan, this scratchbuilding lark is fiddly and time consuming!

Paul,
That one scratch built flap really turned out quite nice. Looking forward to your next update.

Joel

Thanks Joel, I think figuring out how to make something is the most fun bit, the repetition to make a total of eight similar sections is not something I relish but I should be able to knock out most if not all this week when I'm on holiday.