Airvell 1/72 Avro Mancaster B.I/B.III

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Jeff!

They've had a few more PSR rounds to remove a few lumps & bumps & get them "just right" but, as said, they're ready for re-scribing, now.

[Old Wombat]

OK, back on track!

Fuselage is ready to be glued together.

Here are the update photo's showing the fuselage as it is now, putting it together will have to wait for tomorrow later today (after work);

Overview;

I had to scrape off the paint & some of the plastic to get the windows in the long sections to sit through the holes sufficiently to look almost right (I may still have to bulk them out with ClearFix once construction & painting are done).

Starboard & port forward interior sides;



Pilot's, Flight Engineer's & Navigator/Radio Operator's crew area;






The decal on the pilot's instrument panels slipped without me noticing but, even if I had, like all the others, it had been liberally soaked in MicroSol to get it to lay down over the moulded lumps & bumps on the panel (I should have sanded them off & affixed the decals to the flat surfaces).
So many little faults! Luckily they'll (mostly) be hidden inside the fuselage when I close her up.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, now.

Thanks for looking!

[Buzzbomb]

Guy, for what will be finally visible, that is pretty spiffy

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, BT!

Fuselage is together & being held that way by rubber bands & tape for a while.

[Old Wombat]

Wings & tail planes glued on & drying.

Noticed that the starboard vertical tail isn't quite ... Vertical, that is. Will have to fix that.

May (also) have jumped the gun on this bit because I haven't, actually, done the re-scribing on the wing tips, yet, and I have to do some (relatively) minor PSR on the fuselage join.

[Old Wombat]

Oh, by the way, I realised that the vertical tail was as close to perfectly aligned to the horizontal tail plane as I was able to achieve, it was just that the starboard horizontal tail plane had drooped a couple of mm out of alignment.

All fixed now!

Now, I'm just fixing a couple of minor "slippages" in the bomb bay before I move onto the next stage - which I haven't decided on, yet. Decisions! Decisions!

[Old Wombat]

Cleaned up the fuselage seam lines last night (a product more of my ham-fistedness than any fault of the kit's).

Tonight I'm re-scribing panel lines on the engine nacelles &, as expected, I have some stuff-ups to fix (one day I'll learn how to keep my scribing tool on the straight-&-narrow ... Maybe. )

[Frank3k]

Good work so far! What's the yellow dot where the pilot's headrest goes?

Is that the Revell Lancaster from the 80's? Looks a lot better than I remember it.

[Old Wombat]

Good work so far! What's the yellow dot where the pilot's headrest goes?

Is that the Revell Lancaster from the 80's? Looks a lot better than I remember it.

Don't have a clue why there's a yellow dot there, Frank, but it's there on the real thing, looks like the perfect marker for a fighter to aim at to take out the pilot, to me.

Front:


& back:



And, yes, it's the Revell Lancaster. Only a little bit of flash, no fit issues (yet, although I think there may be some fairly minor ones with the nacelles) but the locating tabs are a little small &, with glue applied, they allowed a bit of slippage when I put the fuselage together.

However, all-in-all, I'm rather impressed with this kit. I hope my two Airfix Lanc's are just as good (or better).

[Frank3k]

I had the same thought! How thoughtful to make the pilot's head such an easy target!

This must be the newer version of the Revell kit  I don't remember my kit very fondly. Bad fit, beyond my abilities at the time or both.

[apophenia]

Good work so far! What's the yellow dot where the pilot's headrest goes?  ...

Don't have a clue why there's a yellow dot there, Frank, but it's there on the real thing ...

That yellow disc painted on the seat backs just indicated armour plating. You'd think that a discrete stencil would suffice to warn erks not to risk their toes by dropping armour on them. So, I'm not sure why a 10-inch circle was required ...

Still, don't want LAC Bloggins expecting to unbolt an 'aluminium' panel only to find he's just landed 75 lbs of armour plate on his Bromleys 

[raafif]

I think that yellow circle is painted in a chemical that changes colour when exposed to GAS.  Hurricanes had a similar panel on the port wing during the early days of the war.

[Old Wombat]

Re-scribing continues slowly.

This means: When I've had enough I walk away to do something else until I feel ready to have another go at it.

Saves further big(gish) stuff-ups.


By the way, I've noticed that I may have been Matchbox's "Phantom Trench Digger" in a previous incarnation.

[Dr. YoKai]

The interior alone is a thing of beauty. Interesting bit of info about the big yellow polka dot, too.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Doc!

It was, wasn't it.

[apophenia]

I think that yellow circle is painted in a chemical that changes colour when exposed to GAS.  Hurricanes had a similar panel on the port wing during the early days of the war.

raafif: Circular gas patches - on the few Lancs that had them - were exterior (on either side of the noses).

We now return you to scheduled Mancaster programming 

[Retired In Kalifornia II]

Airfix years ago flat told me they'd never 'tool' the Manchester, unbelieveable knowing it was the essential evolutionary ancestor of the Lancaster & Lincoln. I can't believe they'd forego doing so considering as I believe there's still modeling interest in marketing at least a 1/72 scale model of it. If that doesn't work out economically for Airfix then consider tooling a conversion kit for their current 1/72nd Lancaster one.

[The Big Gimper]

Once upon a time there was a 1/72 Conversion kit from Blackbird Models.



https://www.blackbirdmodels.co.uk/avro-manchester-conversion-72-1538-p.asp

Not sure if Glenn Ashley will be re-issuing it.

But agree a full kit would be nice to have.

[raafif]

Airfix years ago flat told me they'd never 'tool' the Manchester, unbelieveable knowing it was the essential evolutionary ancestor of the Lancaster & Lincoln. I can't believe they'd forego doing so considering as I believe there's still modeling interest in marketing at least a 1/72 scale model of it. If that doesn't work out economically for Airfix then consider tooling a conversion kit for their current 1/72nd Lancaster one.

Can't believe that Airfix won't do the Lincoln - RAF, RAAF etc saw combat !  Would be nice to have the whole set .... 1/72nd for me but ... maybe in 32nd scale for some ?

[Retired In Kalifornia II]

Once upon a time there was a 1/72 Conversion kit from Blackbird Models. Not sure if Glenn Ashley will be re-issuing it. But agree a full kit would be nice to have.

Also the Planet Models 1/72 Manchester Mk.1 PLT127 (2004) &  Mk.1a P130 (2010) resins, twice had both the former, one latter kits to build, gave them away - twice  

[Retired In Kalifornia II]

Airfix years ago flat told me they'd never 'tool' the Manchester, unbelieveable knowing it was the essential evolutionary ancestor of the Lancaster & Lincoln. I can't believe they'd forego doing so considering as I believe there's still modeling interest in marketing at least a 1/72 scale model of it. If that doesn't work out economically for Airfix then consider tooling a conversion kit for their current 1/72nd Lancaster one.

Can't believe that Airfix won't do the Lincoln - RAF, RAAF etc saw combat !  Would be nice to have the whole set .... 1/72nd for me but ... maybe in 32nd scale for some ?

...Not only that they were VERY RUDE telling me that Italeri wasn't that better doing business with, once asked them via e-mail to quote cost on getting replacement kit parts, buggers wanted near much as the kit was worth Airfix Of America 59-58 years ago was incredible sending whatever replacement parts I'd wanted FOR FREE, that's how much Airfix UK then prized the US "toy" market to get around insane tariffs on imported toys from Europe Congress passed in 1950s, not so much Japan! Japanese toy makers, including scale model ones, got sweetheart trade deals till c.1962 when Universal Powermaster Corporation (UPC) was created to import Marusan et.al. scale models, largely lifted c,1968-70 partially because the Post WWII Boy Baby Boom had peaked & scale modeling had become a discriminating hobby thanks in part to International Plastic Modelers' Society et.al. scale hobbiest organizations. In 1969 I'd "quit the hobby" but returned to it in 1978 then again in 2004 both times lucky enough to build the kits I'd wanted though XXX-times more expensive

[FAAMAN]

Awesome job as always compadre, keep up the excellence 
Funny, though, a Sabre powered Lancaster stripped down for speed would be interesting too 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, bro! Much appreciated!

[Old Wombat]

Just spent a decent 90 minutes spraying a whole bunch of parts & bits Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black (standing in for British Interior Black) before I start putting them together (bomb bay, wheel wells, gun turrets, etc.).

There will need to be some work done with various metallics before I get to the construction phase but the black is a good start ... & I feel like I'm making progress. (Which is always a good thing! )

[Old Wombat]

Well, I've managed to spray 3 different types of silver onto various small undercarriage & engine intake bits, now I need to fix up some of the black bits.