1/72 Scale Lancaster...Hasegawa

[Vaughan]

Looks good Steve and the post shading works well. Nice to see some larger images which aren't causing me any problems.

[Guest]

Excellent painting here, love the shading already applied.

Francesco

[stona]

Thanks chaps.

I plan ultimately to put the Lancaster into a little diorama. I've started building some of the airfield sets bits and pieces. I won't be using them all by a long chalk, but I do like the look of this access tower.



I'll definitely put this in with some erk fiddling about with an engine, propeller or something

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Can anyone confirm the position of the auxiliary (ground) power input socket to which an external power source would be connected to operate the aircraft's built in winches when bombing up?

I have a picture of a 'trolley acc' positioned by the port main wheel and seem to remember that the connection was made on a panel inside the wheel well at the front. My Haynes Lancaster manual seems to have gone AWOL, but I bet it would be in there if someone else has one.

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

Nice job on the camo. Is it your usual WEM paints.. Looks very nice indeed.

Good to see you build something with out wings as well lol

Ian M

[stona]

Nice job on the camo. Is it your usual WEM paints.. Looks very nice indeed.Good to see you build something with out wings as well lol

Ian M

They are WEM paints. A considerably lightened coat first followed by shading with the unlightened colours followed by an overspray with the moderately lightened colours just to tone it all down a bit.

Not just the tower Ian, I'm half way through a tractor and am eyeing up the bomb trolleys! I've got a bunch of figures in the freezer which I'll clean up and do some surgery on too.

Cheers

Steve

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Steve, lovely paint work.

[Guest]

…….

The nights in-between each raid with fear eating away your insides.

Laurie

I know a little about that. In 1972 I had symptoms which indicated the distinct possibility of kidney cancer. The fear set in. It was like nails driven into my skull. Even when in a meeting it returned every 5 minutes. In three weeks I was in hospital having an X-ray-and -dye scan. As I arrived I asked the ward doctor what proportion of people with my symptoms had cancer. He said "about 20%". That's way too high. The scan was OK. Of course my fear lasted only three weeks. To have it every day, for months, years, would fry my brain.

[flyjoe180]

Steve, I was going to reply earlier but lost my internet with no power. All the photos I see have a trolley which I presume is a ground power unit of some sort at the rear starboard side of the fuselage in front of the tail plane. Can't find any conclusive information but there is an interesting write up on bomb loading a Lancaster here http://www.airpages.ru/eng/uk/lan_01.shtml

[stona]

I found it Joe. It was inside the inner port wheel well as I remembered.......the old memory isn't completely shot yet!



Canadian built Lancasters had this standard British 'Ground Power Unit' socket in the same position, but also had another 'North American' style socket in the starboard nacelle.

If you have seen the film 'Night Bombers' there is some excellent footage of a Lancaster being bombed up and a trolley accumulator is visible by the port main wheel, which makes perfect sense now.

I've got an accumulator and plan to have my Lancaster being bombed up, hoisting some ordnance into the bomb bay using its built in hoists.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I've now applied the upper surface camouflage. This is 'raw', as it was when the masking was removed. The basic post shading is done.I will re-mask over the next day or so, once this is thoroughly dry, and apply the 'black' to the under surfaces.

Intrigued Steve. On my Lancaster & Wellington I applied the black under belly first. Is your choice just random or planned for some reason.

Laurie

[stona]

I always do the upper colours first as the 'black' of the underside will cover them a lot more easily than vice-versa. It's just the old principle of applying lighter colours first. That should always be supplanted by whatever works for you

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

I'll go into a bit more detail for painting the 'black'. This is just my method, there are many others which are no better or worse.

I don't pre-shade, I post-shade, so my technique is almost backwards. I start by spraying an overall colour of a lightened black, really quite grey. It actually looks even more grey than it is in this photo, but that's because I'm a crap photographer!



Once this is at least touch dry I will shade with darker versions of the 'black'. If I then consider the lightest colour to be too light I can tone it down and blend it by a light overspray of a darker mixture. It is much easier to darken than to lighten, and it is not necessary to apply heavy coats of paint, obscuring all the nice detail on the model.

Cheers

Steve

[flyjoe180]

This is looking good Steve. I'm also interested in seeing how you tackle the bomb hoists.

[stona]

I'm also interested in seeing how you tackle the bomb hoists.

So am I

I've built the bomb load which will be a typical area raid load. People do tend to cram the bomb bay with bombs (MC, GP or American HE) which was quite unusual, in fact the code word for such a load was 'Abnormal' which must be telling us something.

I'm going for the mixed 'Plum Duff/Cookie' load designed for the area bombing of heavily industrialised cities like those of the Ruhr.

From back to front this comprised 3 x SBCs containing incendiaries, a 4000lb cookie, 3 more SBCs and finally 3 x 1000lb HE bombs. They loaded from back to front so the first 3 SBCs will be loaded and the cookie will be in the process of hoisting. The rest of the load will be waiting on bomb trolleys.





That's the plan at the moment.........but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Cheers

Steve