S
Stevekir
Guest
At last! My 1/72 Revell (04295) Lancaster, the Dambusters version. It is my third model as an adult (the others were 1/72 and 1/48 Spitfires). The kit went together well out of the box except for the use of Aries resin wheels. Minute flash, but there was one fault: there was a big step in the underside of the fuselage just aft of the bomb bay which should not have been there and required a lot of sanding to remove. The only filling needed was for the fuselage seams and that was very little. I keep the wings unglued to allow removal for storage and transporting. The drawing showing decal placement was poorly printed and difficult to read. The decals went on easily, even the very narrow and long ones. I did not include flame dampers on the engine exhaust: it is not clear whether the Dambusters Lancs had them, and the row of six ports looks nice.
Paint (all acrylic) was Vallejo Primer, Xtracryllic RAF Dark Green and RAF Dark Earth. The underside was an “off black” (a little grey added to black) to get close to RAF “night”. All paint airbrushed. The fuzzy edge of the camouflage was achieved by sausages of White Tack using my method described on Sept 7, 2013 at:
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/white-tac-masking-erm-help.19821/#post-174465
The turrets and canopy were masked with Eduard masks, and that is the area that is disappointing. The canopy is a mess. This might be partly due to the very narrow raised framework bars which provide such a narrow width of paint and I think masking and painting would be difficult to get a really good result, but others might have more skills. I cleaned off the three turrets and used very thin strips of painted adhesive tape (“Magic Tape”, the cousin of Sellotape). It did a much better job and I am pleased with it. I will need to do the same with the canopy some day.
I have given some closeups. Of course, a photo is very unforgiving, partly I think because many images show the model closer to the eye than when on a table.
Can I please have critical comments and suggestions.
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This is the standard rear three-quarter whole view. The AJ*F, ED918, refers to the Third Wave that left at midnight, 16/17 May 1943, piloted by F/Sgt. K W Brown, CGM, RCAF, given the award for that specific target, later Squadron Leader. He died in 2002. 7 crew members total:
View attachment 77435
Front port oblique view:
View attachment 77437
Canopy, front turret and bomb aimer’s window. The canopy is a mess. The framework of the turret and bomb aimers window has tape applied:
View attachment 77439
Rear Turret. It also has tape applied to the framework:
View attachment 77441
The “Upkeep” Bomb, showing the drive for giving the backspin, shown during a trial flight. The mud on the wheels (made from icing sugar and burnt umber gouache paint) is probably not very authentic because Lancasters might have seldom passed over muddy ground. Still, it looks good. (And yes, I now realise that the wheels would not have remained in the parked position nor have shown flats in flight!):
View attachment 77443
The Undercarriage:
View attachment 77444
Paint (all acrylic) was Vallejo Primer, Xtracryllic RAF Dark Green and RAF Dark Earth. The underside was an “off black” (a little grey added to black) to get close to RAF “night”. All paint airbrushed. The fuzzy edge of the camouflage was achieved by sausages of White Tack using my method described on Sept 7, 2013 at:
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/white-tac-masking-erm-help.19821/#post-174465
The turrets and canopy were masked with Eduard masks, and that is the area that is disappointing. The canopy is a mess. This might be partly due to the very narrow raised framework bars which provide such a narrow width of paint and I think masking and painting would be difficult to get a really good result, but others might have more skills. I cleaned off the three turrets and used very thin strips of painted adhesive tape (“Magic Tape”, the cousin of Sellotape). It did a much better job and I am pleased with it. I will need to do the same with the canopy some day.
I have given some closeups. Of course, a photo is very unforgiving, partly I think because many images show the model closer to the eye than when on a table.
Can I please have critical comments and suggestions.
———————————————————————
This is the standard rear three-quarter whole view. The AJ*F, ED918, refers to the Third Wave that left at midnight, 16/17 May 1943, piloted by F/Sgt. K W Brown, CGM, RCAF, given the award for that specific target, later Squadron Leader. He died in 2002. 7 crew members total:
View attachment 77435
Front port oblique view:
View attachment 77437
Canopy, front turret and bomb aimer’s window. The canopy is a mess. The framework of the turret and bomb aimers window has tape applied:
View attachment 77439
Rear Turret. It also has tape applied to the framework:
View attachment 77441
The “Upkeep” Bomb, showing the drive for giving the backspin, shown during a trial flight. The mud on the wheels (made from icing sugar and burnt umber gouache paint) is probably not very authentic because Lancasters might have seldom passed over muddy ground. Still, it looks good. (And yes, I now realise that the wheels would not have remained in the parked position nor have shown flats in flight!):
View attachment 77443
The Undercarriage:
View attachment 77444
