Lancaster Engine Exhaust streaks

[Guest]

I am about to add these (1/72), fairly lightly as in a newish plane with some service. (I have read that the outboard exhausts of the outboard engines do not produce streaks.) I have seen many photos of the original and models. The sort of effect that I aim for is that light grey streak produced by the lead in the fuel, with possibly narrow brown streaks. Acrylic paints.

My idea is to use an airbrush at low pressure aimed at right angles to the wing surface at the leading edge and as it is moved to the trailing edge, change the angle so that it is shallowly slanted along the surface. The idea here is to make the streak less obvious and feathery at the wing trailing edge.

Or would it be better to brush a streak and then immediately use a finger to smooth it out?

Any ideas? Thanks.

[colin m]

Another option is pastels. This way if you get it wrong, wash it off with water and start again.

[stona]

I airbrush mine. All eight exhaust systems produced streaking but a function of the airflow caused the outer set on the outer engine to pass largely under the wing. If you look at pictures you can see that some deposits from all the exhausts did pass under the wing. It tended to appear quite light on the 'black' under surface colour.

These are quite extreme examples.





Here's something many modellers miss. The propellers on parked aircraft were usually 'dressed'. That is they were positioned with the bottom blade pointing vertically downwards. This was to allow any water to run straight through the hub and not accumulate.

Take a look at photographs and you will find that many parked Lancasters have had their propellers dressed in this way.



There were always exceptions, but I read an account by one ex RAF mechanic who reckoned it was slovenly not to dress the propellers

Cheers

Steve

[papa 695]

Steve ( Stevekir ) If you are going to airbrush them use a very thin mixture that way you can slowly build up the staining effect you want

[rickoshea52]

I airbrush mine. All eight exhaust systems produced streaking but a function of the airflow caused the outer set on the outer engine to pass largely under the wing. If you look at pictures you can see that some deposits from all the exhausts did pass under the wing. It tended to appear quite light on the 'black' under surface colour.These are quite extreme examples.





Here's something many modellers miss. The propellers on parked aircraft were usually 'dressed'. That is they were positioned with the bottom blade pointing vertically downwards. This was to allow any water to run straight through the hub and not accumulate.

Take a look at photographs and you will find that many parked Lancasters have had their propellers dressed in this way.



There were always exceptions, but I read an account by one ex RAF mechanic who reckoned it was slovenly not to dress the propellers

Cheers

Steve

Even today it is the done thing to park helicopter rotor blades in a particular position. On Pumas the main rotor blades are parked roughly 2, 5, 8 and 11 o'clock when outside. On Seakings a blade is parked over the pilot's head to 1 o'clock position. RAF SAR Seakings are rarely parked with the blades folded. Pumas have no blade fold function.

I don't know of any reason why it is done this way other than uniformity.

[Guest]

I airbrush mine. All eight exhaust systems produced streaking but a function of the airflow caused the outer set on the outer engine to pass largely under the wing. If you look at pictures you can see that some deposits from all the exhausts did pass under the wing. It tended to appear quite light on the 'black' under surface colour.These are quite extreme examples.

Here's something many modellers miss. The propellers on parked aircraft were usually 'dressed'. That is they were positioned with the bottom blade pointing vertically downwards. This was to allow any water to run straight through the hub and not accumulate.

Take a look at photographs and you will find that many parked Lancasters have had their propellers dressed in this way.

There were always exceptions, but I read an account by one ex RAF mechanic who reckoned it was slovenly not to dress the propellers

Cheers

Steve

Very interesting. Given my scenario (a new Lanc with only a few sorties) I will put a little grey on the sides of the nacelles as well as on the upper side of the wings.

On dressing the propellers, I had concluded that dressing was done for neatness only, when the top brass might be around! I have found that my propeller/spinner assemblies are a force fit on the nacelles (no glue needed) so I can dress them for formal model pics, then change them in other situations (if I ever get round to a diararma).

On your last image, that doesn't look like a Tallboy bomb. What bomb is it please? Presumably, such a huge bomb was only feasible after the RAF had improved their bomb-aiming accuracy.

[eddiesolo]

The last picture looks like a 'Blockbuster' or 'cookie' 12,000 lb. A tall boy is more bomb shaped with conical nose and tear drop body.

Si

[stona]

The 'bomb' is an 12000lb High Capacity Bomb, commonly called a 'Blockbuster' or 'Cookie'. It is essentially three 4,000lb bombs joined together with a tail fin. The 4000lb version was more commonly used, though there was a 8,000lb version, also referred to as a 'Blockbuster'.. It is a thin cased blast bomb used on area raids. The theory was that the cookies would blow in windows and roofs allowing the rest of the load, which was usually mostly incendiaries, to fall into the buildings. This would hopefully cause the sort of fire storm so effective in Hamburg. Some high explosive bombs were also dropped on area raids. These were to hopefully rupture gas and water mains. Some had delay fuses to impede fire fighting and rescue efforts.

68,000 of the 4,000 lb cookies were dropped during the war compared with about 1,000 of the 8,000 lb and 200 of the 12,000 lb 'Blockbuster' versions. The latter was used exclusively by 617 Squadron for precision raids and required substantial modification of the bomb bay.

10 of these 12,000 pound high capacity bombs were dropped on the Gnome-Rhone engine factory near Limoges, by 617 Squadron, on 9th February 1944, reducing it to ruins.

The first picture shows a load comprised of a 4000lb cookie and twelve Small Bomb Containers (SBCs) containing the incendiary bombs. An SBC could carry 236 x 4lb incendiary bombs (No.15), one in ten of which would be an explosive incendiary (No. 15X) or 24 x 30lb incendiary bombs.

The SBC is really just a frame. In the case of the 4lb bombs, they were fitted in a tin plate box, the handles of which served to lock it into the SBC. Over the target the whole lot was dropped.

Here the boxes of 4 pounders are loaded into the SBC which is in a sort of cradle which will enable it to be rolled over and the carrier to be attached to the top.



The bombs were armed by a plunger held in by the one next to it in the box and were not loaded individually, though presumably someone had to do it at the point of production.

The 30lb bombs were loaded individually.

It's not a nice thing, war.

Here's a link to typical Lancaster bomb loads.

http://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_bomb_loads.htm

Cheers

Steve

Edit: That first picture might be an 8000lb cookie now I look at it again ......No, it's a 4000lb MkIII

[Guest]

With my short intro. into weathering I have found the Tamiya Weathering Master the best so far.

It seems to be a paste type acrylic & difficult to mount on the brush purposefully. The to brush in sweeps to build up to the depth wished. Tamiya do these in pallets with three to a plallet. About 15 colours in all. If it does not look to good (you have made a muck of it) then acrylic thinners will get it off.

Also,as Colin has written, used pastels which give a very nice effect. Pastel need to be the chalk type not the crayon type mixture.

Laurie

[flyjoe180]

With regards to propeller dressing it is used as Steve said, to deny water accumulation in the propeller hub which can over time contribute damage to seals, and wiring if propeller heat systems are fitted. It also prevents serious injury for personnel walking about. It is beter to bump into a vertically positioned down blade than one pointing outwards. We set our four-bladed propellers with a 'V' at the top for this reason.

With regards to the helicopter blade example, I presume the blades are tpositioned so the captain can see them prior to start. They can then verify that the blade is clear of ropes/straps etc prior to burning the dinosaurs.

[The Migrant]

I airbrushed the staining on my Revell Lanc, being careful to keep them asymmetric. There are some pics of the model and a discussion about the exhaust staining in this thread.

[Guest]

I airbrushed the staining on my Revell Lanc, being careful to keep them asymmetric. There are some pics of the model and a discussion about the exhaust staining in this thread.

Thanks for the posting of your Lanc. Superb, including the photography. Sharp, clear and with good lighting.

At first I decided not to do any weathering, but now I want to do some but nothing heavy. The problem is that the model has been finished varnished with Vallejo Satin Varnish, whereas gloss would have allowed mistakes with water-based washes to be washed off. So I will need to experiment on another piece of similarly painted and varnished plastic.

[The Migrant]

Thanks Steve. Colin's suggestion of pastels is an excellent one, you can build it up slowly until you're happy with it, but wipe it off if you're not.

[Guest]

Our pathetically tiny air museum here has a Lancaster under restoration.

I should go get some close ups of it sometime...

[The Migrant]

Our pathetically tiny air museum here has a Lancaster under restoration.I should go get some close ups of it sometime...

Or just drive an hour south to Nanton and photograph theirs..