AIRFIX 1:72 LANCASTER B.III DAMBUSTER

 

Reviewer: Pete Noyle  (peternoyle@kw.igs.net)
Kit Review submitted:  10 April 2003

Aircraft History:

Four engine heavy bomber of WW2 modified to carry the Upkeep mine - the ‘Bouncing Bomb.’

In 1936 the British Air Ministry issued Specification P13/36 for a twin engine bomber capable of carrying a 3,000 bomb load for 2,00 miles. A.V.Roe (amongst 6 others), responded with a design that was later to be called the Manchester and delivery to the RAF began in 1939. The aircraft was not a success and even before delivery Avro were already designing an up-graded version, adding two more engines and temporarily called the Mk 111. The model was so different from the Manchester that it needed a name all to itself and the name was – Lancaster.

So was born one of the most successful four engine bombers of the WW2 era. Lancaster L7527 was the first and by the end of hostilities thousands had been built in factories all over the UK and at Victory Aircraft in Canada.

The Lancaster was to receive yet another leap in improvement, this one to be called the Lincoln, although hostilities ended before the Lincoln could show its fullest potential.

The Lancaster stands with the Halifax and the B-17 as probably one of the most famous of World War 2 heavy bombers. For these notes I will deal with the ‘Dam Buster’ conversion only.

There are just two airworthy Lancasters still flying. PA 474 “City of Lincoln” forms part of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsbury, England. KB726 is at the Canadian Warplane Heritage at Hamilton, Ontario. Other aircraft do exist in complete forms and several can taxi but none can fly. Many hulks still exist, acting as gatekeepers at various airbases and airports around the world.

The Dam Busters Raid

Well before 1943 the Allies realised that the breaching of the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr valley, the heartland of Germany’s industrial output, was of paramount importance. The dams produced the hydro-electric power for the war effort as well as holding back essential irrigation and drinking water for the farms and towns in the valley. Destroying the dams would cause untold damage and divert essential services, both civilian and military, to the subsequent reconstruction. The problem was – how do you blow up a dam deep in enemy territory? Dropping bombs from a great height would do little, especially with the bomb-sight technology of the day (you would however kill quite a few fish) and torpedo netting spanning the held back waters precluded the use of that weapon. A dam can only be broken with a depth charge and the Royal Navy had pointed out that there was no sea in the area so that meant that they could not do much to help. So - the depth charge had to be airdropped.

Enter the British scientist Barnes Wallace. Wallace was one of the host of ‘boffins’ working behind the scenes to enhance, improve and invent better armaments. After careful research he came up with the “Bouncing Bomb” a cylinder of high explosive that would use the water behind the dam as a brake and at the dam face would sink to a predetermined depth and explode. It was called Upkeep. All well and good on paper, but to deliver the mines (there had to be several), extremely precise flying would be necessary. The aircraft had to fly at 232 mph at 60 ft above the water (60 ft altitude in a bomber of 102 ft wingspan). At a precise distance from the dam (476 yards) the bomb, spinning backwards at 500 rpm had to be released to skip across the water (jumping over the torpedo nets), hit the dam face then sink, hugging the dam wall, to 30 ft where it would explode.

The Lancaster was chosen for the job, of any of the Allies bombers at the time it alone had the range and carrying capacity. Twenty Lancasters were converted to handle the Bouncing Bomb.

A special squadron was formed, 617, led by a veteran of 157 operations, Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson DFC and Bar, DSO and Bar, VC. (The VC came later as a result of the Dam Buster’s raid). All the men who were to form 617 squadron were hand picked by Gibson and seemed to be a mini United Nations. Some from the UK, some from the US, some from New Zealand and some from other countries. Practices took place in the English Lake District and in the county of Kent, in daylight at first because low level flying at night was considered too dangerous and night times were simulated by covering the windshield with tinted plastic and the crew wearing amber goggles. Nearby to the airfield is a canal and power lines span the water. It became the (unauthorised) thing to do to fly under the wires. Low level flying at night had to be done eventually and this did little to endear them to the locals!

The first modified aircraft arrived at RAF Scampton (617’s home base) on the 18th April 1943. The machine had its bomb doors removed and large ‘V’ struts reached down to hold the Upkeep mine. Initially the rotation of the mine was achieved by using a Ford V8 engine but this proved to be too heavy and the excess power from hydraulics, now that there were no bomb doors, was used instead. Twenty aircraft were modified but on one practice run the water spray from the dropped mine blew the flaps off of one machine and it could not be repaired in time. The crews still did not know their actual targets until the final briefing on the 15th when they were told that they were to go to the Moehne, Eder and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr (the Sorpe, Ennepe and Lister dams were secondary targets). When the details of how low they would have to fly – and the distance – there was a sense of shock in the briefing room. Everyone fell silent – there were none of the customary jokes.

In the buses to the aircraft there was a strange silence – no one spoke, each deep in his own thoughts.

A spare aircraft was put into service to make up the numbers but that one failed as it was taxying out. At last all was ready and at 21:30 hours on the night of 16/17 May 1943, the first of the19 aircraft lumbered into the moonlit sky and Operation Chastise had begun.

Flying very low (40 ft) over the North Sea the first wave of nine aircraft crossed over Belgium and then flew 200 miles into Germany. Wave two flew east over the North Sea and approached the Ruhr from Holland. Wave three followed the route of wave one. Flying low in darkness for so long must have been exhausting, the individual navigators skill (there was strict radio silence and no lights could be allowed), brought all the aircraft to the targets within minutes of each other. The huge metal mine in the bomb bay made the magnetic compass uncertain and landmarks were almost invisible. They skimmed over high-tension cables but just in case wire cutters had been built into the wings. Two aircraft blew up in huge fireballs from the flak and one flew into power lines and crashed. On they went.

Over the Mohne dam Gibson went in first. Down, down in the blackness the aircraft went, two spotlights shining into the water. The navigator peered out of the right hand blister – down, down, hold it. When the circles of light became a figure 8 they were at 60 ft. Anti-aircraft fire lit up the night with tracer. The bomb aimer concentrated on his sights, a piece of wood like a Y with a dowel at the tip of each branch. When the dowels lined up with the towers at each end of the dam, the bomb was released (at 00:28 hours). Relieved of the weight the aircraft bucked into the air. The tail gunner counted the bounces – missed – the bomb exploded short of the target. The next Lanc (Flt Lt John Hopgood), came down and now the flack was intense. Two engines blew on the port side and the starboard wing caught fire. The bomb went over the parapet and moments later the Lancaster exploded as it climbed through 500 ft. Lanc number three and then four came down and the bombs worked but the dam still held. Lancaster five came down and this time Gibson and another Lanc flew either side of it. The gun turrets of all three chattered away and - success, the bomb struck. At 12:56 the dam crumbled. The crews of the surviving aircraft circled and watched in awe as 330 million tons of water gushed through the breach.

The second wave arrived at the Sorpe dam which was made of mounded earth. Now the Lancasters had to fly down the ridge of the dam at low altitude, a flight that was compounded in difficulty by the tower of a church right in the middle of the approach run. Bombs fell but the dam remained whole.

Gibson led the other Lancasters from the Mohne to the Eder dam, a much more challenging situation as the valley was covered in fog and was surrounded by 1,000 ft summits. Three mines were dropped, the last one by Plt. Off. Knight, and that dam also was breached.

Nine hours later the Lancs were back and the crews staggered out of their aircraft in high spirits only to be met with sombre stares and tears from the ground crews. The Crew Chief entered the debriefing room, also in tears. “What’s up Chiefy?” they asked and he told them. Altogether five Lancasters were shot down before they got to the targets, two were lost over the dams and one more was lost on the way back. A huge loss of life for a single mission.

32 of the aircrew were decorated for their valour and achievement. Also 1,294 Germans died that night.

Such is the determinatation and tenacity of the German people that by the end of the year the dams were repaired and manufacturing restored. The raid was a morale booster for the Allies and a huge blow to the Germans. Such is war.

Guy Gibson died on 19th September 1944 in a mysterious circumstance during Operation Market Garden when the Mosquito he was piloting crashed. Guy Penrose Gibson and his navigator James Warwick are buried side-by-side at Steenbergen, 44 km north of Antwerp, Netherlands. There is a Lancaster propeller nearby.

The above account is a compilation from several sources including the Lancaster book and a documentary film in the “Secrets of the Dead” series.

Anecdotes

I have always had a soft spot for the Lancaster, it was the first aircraft that I ever flew in. At the tender age of fifteen I was all for joining the RAF and to this end I joined the local Air Cadet squadron. That year (1954) the summer camp was to be at RAF St. Mawgan in Cornwall, the most southerly county of England and a well known holiday destination. On the first full day there we were all to fly and so we climbed into the back of an RAF covered lorry and set off on a trip around the airfield, dropping off two cadets here and there as we went. My buddy, Dave H, and I dropped off besides a Lanc. There are no passenger seats in a Lancaster so Dave and I spent the take-off sat on the floor with our backs to the main spar – no seat belts here either!

Out over the Cornish countryside we went and not long after take-off we were invited to occupy the bomb aimers couch in the nose. What a view! Heads stuck in this huge goldfish bowl, we could see for miles! The beaches with the holiday makers in their deck chairs, the waves crashing on the beach – fantastic, especially from less than 1,000 ft.

Soon we were heading out over the Bay of Biscay, passing over fishing boats and other small craft, until we came to an RAF rescue launch towing a wooden raft. We had to return to the depths of the fuselage then, the crew was on a bombing run.

Round and around we went, just above the waves until we were given the OK to go back up to the sharp end and watch our flight back to St. Mawgan. As we progressed a crew member came down into the bomb aimers place and looked through a little spy hole into the bomb bay. He said nothing, but a little later another crewman came down and did the same thing – looked through this little spy hole. We were just 15 year old kids and we thought that this is what you did in the RAF. We were wrong – a bomb had not released and was still in there, just hanging on. Nothing was said to us.

When a Lancaster lands and has taxied to the disbursal point the last thing done is to open the bomb doors before the hydraulic pressure supplied by the engines ebbs away. Boom!! The bomb fell out on to the concrete, peppering the underside of the aircraft and nearly nailing one of the crew.

Oops! Those were the days!


© Pete Noyle 2003

SELF inflicted agonies – we’ve all done them. In this review I’ve listed a few of mine under the heading ‘Aw Gawd.’

Kit Parts:

According to the ‘Lancaster book’ and Humbrol, Airfix first introduced the Lancaster kit in 1958 (kit # 05001) but by the 1970’s the molds were showing wear and needed replacing.

In 1979 Airfix introduced an all new B Mk1/111 kit (# 8002) with much improved rivet detail but still with some anomalies (Humbrol give the re-tool date as 1980).

The Dambuster version was released in 1993 (kit # 08004) using the 8002 molds with some modification and a new sprue for the bomb and bomb bay. Some anomalies were inherited like the absence of a ventral gun turret.

Kit # 08006 is the Lancaster B1 Special with the Grand Slam Bomb and was issued in 2001.

My model came as a “Premier Collection” (# 98004) which was issued in 1995. At 50 cm by 32 cm by 7 cm deep this is a big box! Shown as Skill Level 4, the sprues (made in France by Heller) contain parts for the Dam Buster aircraft with the ‘Bouncing Bomb’ on a separate sprue. Including are parts for a ‘regular’ B lll Lancaster (that will not be used), plus four tinlets of Humbrol paint, a brush and liquid glue – in fact all that you need to complete the model. In actuality you do need 6 other paint colors in small quantities.

The parts, 131 of them, come on five sprues of gray plastic and two sprues of clear. The parts are well defined with raised panel lines and very fine rivet detail. In my kit there was a little flash at one of the wing tips.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Instructions:

8 pages in 10 languages as follows – description of the Dam Buster raid and the aircraft; general information; line drawings showing construction in 17 steps; color schemes for two aircraft and decal locations. The decals provide for two aircraft, AJ-G flown by Wing Commander Guy Gibson or AJ-S flown by Flt Lt Kearns (RNZAF).

Construction:

I followed the instruction sheet provided in the kit and the following are notes about deviations and problems only.

The first job is to remove all clear parts from their sprue and soak them in Future overnight and then allow them to dry thoroughly. Parts for the mid-upper turret and the ventral radome are not used on this model.

Step 1 Front turret

Dump the guns! They just don’t look right and the seam line is too obvious. I cut the barrels off at the gunstocks and then turned two gun barrels and their muzzle blast dampers (cones) from 1/32 brass tube using an electric drill and some Swiss files. I fitted the barrels to the stocks using 0.015 wire as dowels and Super Glue. Using photographs in the ‘Lancaster book’ I made gun mount supports from 0.040 plastic plus gun support guides and shell delivery chutes from 0.010 plastic. The back of the turret is reinforced with tubing set at about 30 degrees to the turret base and I simulated this with stretched sprue. The turret parts were painted matt gray (the guns gunmetal gray) and installed in sequence so that the guns still moved up and down. Once assembled I did a trial fit into the fuselage and I found that there was some mold misalignment that made a step within the ‘bearing’ that fits into the fuselage hole. It needed a simple trimming with a file to correct the problem.

Aw Gawd - I used a figure from another kit and painted him represent a WW2 airman with his leather helmet, facemask and corregated tube, mae-west and RAF uniform. This turned out to be all in vain – he would not fit! This may have been for the best, it is probable that the front gunner would not be in the nose at take-off (the bomb aimer would be deep in the fuselage until they were near the target) and my model is depicted as just taxying out to go. All the crew figures were similarly painted.

Historical note - In the early stages of WW2 all RAF personnel went into battle wearing a collar and tie, imagine being in a Spitfire and trying to look over your shoulder for the enemy fighter wearing a collar and tie!

Step 2 Rear turret (FN20 model)

The kit guns for the rear turret are quite good, they only need the barrels drilled out a little. The gunner (Tail End Charlie) has a very white face. I made some internal strengtheners from 0.010 plastic and painted all the hardware matt grey with the guns and stocks gunmetal. The empty shell chutes were highlighted with silver to show scuff marks from the empty cartridge cases.

Historical note - Rear gunners of all the big bombers had very short lives – some say not much more than a couple of weeks. I know of one Tail End Charlie that did his full set of sorties and lived until he was well into his seventy’s. To keep the averages real it means that many TEC’s died on their first mission.

Ventral turret

Not provided in the kit. I asked Humbrol about this and their R&D Engineer said that at the time that the molds were designed they did not have sufficient information about this turret so they decided not to include it.

Historical note - The ventral gun turret was fitted to some of the Mk 1 Lancasters but later removed because they were thought to be ineffective in operation and the weight could be better applied to the bomb load. (I wonder if any one asked the crews? Removing the ventral turret left the underside of the aircraft completely undefended). The mid-upper turret can be fitted when the ventral turret is in place, but there is not enough room in the fuselage for the two gunners to move around effectively. The Revell kit box art for the Dambuster aircraft shows a twin gun ventral turret. The Bristol Herculese powered Lancasters had both turrets but the ventral turret had only one 0.303 machine gun.

Whatever – the Dam Buster aircraft had something that looked like a ventral turret made by Frazer Nash (this is shown in a picture of ED825/G in the Lancaster book and the three view drawing shows something that looks like a machine gun at that location), but this is not available with the kit, although its location is marked in the fuselage moulding. There is a detail kit from Paragon Designs as part of their bulged bomb door kits (72011) that provides a two gun ventral turret. Underneath the fuselage at the rear of the cut out where part 127 fits, there is a circular impression at the center-line where the ventral turret is to be installed. The location coincides with one of the location pips which rather precludes drilling out the fuselage to insert a ventral turret so a flush fitting part must be used. I decided that I would attach just one gun at that location to conform with the Lancaster Book illustration.

Scratch ventral turret I made a single gun barrel from 1/32 brass tube and drilled a hole in the turret circle to hold it at the correct angle.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Step 3 Pilot and seat

Poor Guy Gibson, I hacked his arms off! By doing so I was able to position one arm on the control yoke and one on the throttles. The chair back has a very curious yellow disc painted on it – the reason seems to be a mystery. I added mine using a cut out decal. I added the trim wheel to the seat.

Aw Gawd – The yellow disc is on the back of the seat as well as the front. I did not know this until after the canopy was fitted.

Step 4 Upkeep mine

There are five parts to the mine, three cylinder segments and two ends. Glue the cylinder segments to one end, and then add the other end disc. Wrap in elastic bands to keep it all true until the glue dries. The wooden slats of the model are not be representative of the actual mine, it was a plain cylinder. The mine was not painted green as the kit would suggest, it remained a dark steel color.

Historical Note - Tests had been done with the mine clad in wooden slats but they became detached when the bomb hit the water. Barnes Wallace noticed that the mine continued to bounce across the water even after the slats had been ripped off – conclusion – leave the slats off!

Step 5 Fuselage

Decide now how much detail you want to add to the interior. All the interior fittings were painted matt black in the aircraft as far back as the shading shown in the instructions. From that line rearwards the walls and equipment was painted interior green. The matt black hides most small detail when viewed through the canopy.

Fuselage sides, parts 50 and 58.

At the nose there are exhaust air cowls connected with the aircraft cabin heating and these should be hollowed out in a ‘D’ section using drills and a craft knife with a # 11 blade.

Historical note – Heating was supplied to the front of the aircraft only. The Tail End Charlie in his lonely turret wore an electrically heated body suite and heated boots.

Cockpit detail and other internal detail

The kit provides a pilot’s seat and a shelf for the flight engineer and two figures to occupy each station – nothing else. To make the cockpit more interesting the following can be added-

Left fuselage wall – Using the external rivets as indicators add ribs and stringers. At the pilots station there are several details that can be added as follows – Instrument panel floodlight; Magnetic compass; Automatic pilot controls (four items); VHF controller and selector switch. The other fittings disappear when the canopy is installed so are not worth detailing.

Behind the pilot is the navigators station and this can be represented by adding – Plotting table; Two tuners above the navigators head; Air mileage indicator; Compass repeater; Gee system and last but not least the navigator himself and a chair for him to sit in. I simulated the navigators instrument panel with a piece of 0.010 sheet painted matt black and the gauges scribed on with a blunted needle using a template made from thin but rigid clear plastic with various sizes of holes punched in it. Being see-through I could position the template quite accurately and get all the instruments to line up. I put a map on the table.

Historical note – The map used was a continuous ribbon that the navigator fed across his table as the flight proceeded. On the map would be marked all of the enemy air bases where night fighters were known to exist, all ground based anti-aircraft gun emplacements, radar stations and all the diverse ground identifiers such as streams, canals, church steeples and roads. The navigator guided the aircraft on a zigzag course through all this clutter and then did the reverse for the return journey. It is a testament to the navigator’s skill that all the surviving aircraft arrived at the target within minutes of each other.

To the rear of the navigator is the wireless operators station but this is so far into the fuselage that detailing is not worth while in 1/72 scale.

Pilots instrument panel – There are about 50 individual gauges, knobs and switches on the Lanc dashboard that in the model will occupy an arch 18 mm wide by 7 mm high. It is a busy place! Add to this quadrants for throttles, prop speed controls and engine cocks then it gets busier still. The decal supplied to represent this complexity is a black shape with some undefined white lines – not very good. Something needs to be done! I decided that I would represent the major gauges and levers only and as a start I drew out a scale plan of the area directly on to 0.010 plastic sheet, deciding on the largest circles that I could get into the space and still have it look authentic. With a sharp needle I pinpointed the center of each gauge and then drilled out a hole 0.031” dia. I wanted the gauge hole edges to be white so that they would show up when the canopy is in place. I painted the panel ‘aircraft interior black’ (Testors Acryl) and of course the paint went into the holes. (I tried the Humbrol matt black supplied with the kit but that paint is too glossy for an aircraft interior). Once dry I drilled out the holes to their finished diameter of 0.039”. Now I have my white edges to the holes. I then painted a patch of black onto a second piece of 0.010 sheet (using the kits matt black paint), making it slightly larger than the dashboard. Once dry I super glued the two pieces together and trimmed the assembly to the size of the kit panel. Using the Lancaster book as reference I scribed the gauge details so that the white of the plastic showed as needles and gauge numbers. The idea here is to allow light that comes in from the front of the model (through the bomb aimer’s position), to shine through the 0.010 plastic and enhance the ‘readability’ of the gauges. I then added the throttle quadrant and levers. The kit dash does not get used.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Right fuselage wall – I used a figure from another kit as the flight engineer because that figure had his hands on his knees, probably where the flight engineer would have his until the take-off when he would assist the pilot in handling the throttles. Once again, ribs and stringers can be added to the walls plus the flight engineers instrument panel. I used the same technique to detail this panel as I did with the navigator’s position.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Bomb aimers couch – I fashioned this from 0.040 sheet complete with chest cushion and installed it in the left fuselage side. There was no conventional bombsight on this aircraft but I did install various control boxes and gauges on the walls as well as ribs and stringers.

Historical note – The bomb aimer (bombardier in the USAF) reclined on a couch in the fuselage until the aircraft neared the target at which time he made his way to the front of the aircraft. From that point on the bomb aimer was virtually in control of the aircraft, the pilot following his instructions. Once the bombs were gone the pilot resumed command and the bomb aimer returned to his bunk.

Glazing

The teardrop blister (parts 52 and 60) in the main canopy are separate clear mouldings and have to be fitted at stage 5. This turned out to be a mistake for me, during all the trial fitting the parts fell off! I cut away the attaching flange with its locator pip and glued them to the canopy using Clear Parts Cement. The canopy needs trimming to make it fit anyway, so both parts can be filed at the same time.

Painting the main canopy. You can, if you like, mask the clear panes of Perspex in the traditional way and then paint the frames with Dark Earth. Or – you can do what I did, it is an experiment and its longevity has yet to be proven. Paint a suitable sized off-cut of Frisket film with Dark Earth. When dry use a new blade in your knife and cut strips to the various widths of the canopy framing. Lay strips over the moulded frames, cutting off the excess as you go. Spread this over several days to allow the film adhesive to anchor itself to the clear plastic. Slowly build up the framework and eventually – presto – a fully framed canopy. Time will tell if the Frisket film will lift off or not  (ADDENDUM supplied Aug 2004 - I now refer to the Avro Lancaster kit that I reviewed some time ago (about 18 months). I tried an experiment in using pre-painted Frisket masking film for the canopy glazing. After all this time the film has remained in place and has shown no sign of deterioration so I think that I can say that the method is a success.).

Nose side windows (parts 51 and 59) have the usual deep ‘frames’ for gluing which, being just inside the bomb aimer’s dome, look awful. I cut new pieces from 0.040 clear sheet and made them a tight fit in the window holes. To ensure a good fit I chamfered the window hole from the outside giving the small bits of ‘glass’ a substantial surface on which to rest without resorting to glue. Before finally fitting the windows I masked them with Frisket film.

Aw Gawd - Cutting these small pieces caused all sorts of difficulties – it was as though the parts were shape shifting! I kept getting them up-side-down, reversed, in fact I might even had them in a parallel world at one time!

Painting the bomb aimers window. The centre flat screen has an internal diameter of about a quarter of an inch. A three hole punch produces ¼” holes for binder pages so I punched out a disk and applied it to the part. I could not see any way that I would be able to make a mask for the outside of the circular frame so I hand painted the frame concentrating on the outside profile and not worrying about the inner profile because I had already masked that area. Once dry and the ¼” mask removed I had a pretty good round window frame. Just above this flat window there are two smaller optics which need aluminium frames. I used the same principle but with 0.033 disks punched out with the Waldron punch set.

Bomb bay for the Upkeep mine (part 127)

Trial fitting indicated that some filler would be necessary at the final close-up of the fuselage halves. At the forward end the contour does not match the contour of the fuselage and filler is necessary. The right side does not line up with the fuselage side and the rear contour needs a small amount of dressing and filling to produce a reasonable smooth surface.

Fuselage line-up precaution

During all the above detailing the two fuselage halves were constantly being trial fitted to make sure that the stuff that I put in would not interfere with final assembly. This activity showed that the sides were slightly warped. Final joining is not easy with so many small parts that need to be looked at as the sides come together, let alone the installation of the gun turrets. I decided that I needed all the help I could get so I made some internal ‘ribs’ consisting of 0.040 thick segments with a radius the same as the fuselage inner surface at their point of fitting. I glued these at about 2.5 cm apart, alternating the gluing to each side so that when the parts finally came together any sag in the top or bottom of the moulds would be evened out by the ‘ribs.’

I close the fuselage and then added the mechanism cover (part 128) and filled the obvious gaps. The scratch built ventral gun turret was added at this time.

Do not fit parts 139 light; 62 antenna; 67 vent; 69 canopy; 71 bomb aimers bubble; 138 exhaust; 63/64 tail wheel; 68 DF aerial; 125/137 Pitot heads and ventral turret guns, until after painting the fuselage.

Do not paint the area under the canopy as suggested in step 7 at this stage. This area will be covered at the next stage – Painting – Step One. The canopy can be fitted then.

Personal note here to all manufacturers of plastic kits – The pip and hole device normally used to align part halves is OK for smaller items but for longer spans the moulds do not always line up and large steps are left behind. These steps have to be sanded and any rivet detail destroyed. You, Mr/Ms Manufacturer spent a lot of time and money incorporating these rivets, why not review your methods of location? May I suggest a tongue and groove style of locating in addition to the pips and holes. T & G will locate correctly any long span of plastic and the pips and holes will continue to take care of other alignments.

Replacing rivets. I used a straight flexible piece of thin steel to guide a sharp needle held in a pin vice to make small dents into the plastic. By holding the needle at an angle a slight amount of plastic can be raised that once the paint has been applied, will look like rivets. This is a masochistic long drawn out exercise that will drive you to the edge of sanity (ask my wife)!

Step 17 Installing the Upkeep mine and load bearers.

The Upkeep mine and load bearers were painted at this time – that is, before they were added to the fuselage.

On the leading arm of the “V” shaped load bearers is a locating pip but there is no receiving hole in the fuselage. I cut the pip off and glued the load bearer/drive chain assembly to the fuselage. To give a better location I drilled a small hole through the load bearer and the fuselage and inserted a wire dowel.

Painting – Step One – Fuselage Assembly

I have always had satisfactory results brushing matt paints so I decided to brush paint my model instead of spray painting. I masked the upper surface down to the black line and then using a # 8 flat brush I applied the matt black paint, always adding new paint to the next surface over i.e. adjacent to the still liquid paint. All brush strokes followed the direction of airflow.

Once dry I removed the masking and masked up to the line where the camouflage pattern starts. I painted the upper surface all over Dark Green.

Aw Gawd - This seemed to be a big mistake. I did not apply the paint evenly using the brush and once the paint was dry it looked awful however a second coat evened things out and I became more pleased with the result.

Aw Gawd - Even with the improvement produced by the second coat, the choice of using Dark Green first was not a good one. I had not considered that the colour on top of each engine cowl is Dark Earth. When it came to painting the wings it meant that the top of each engine cowl now had four coats of paint, two from the erroneous green and two from the earth colour. The results were not that good.

Camouflage pattern. I used the copy machine in the local store to enlarge the drawing in the instructions. Due to the restrictions of the copier I had to make two enlargements, one at 200% and then another at 120% which resulted in an almost perfect match with the model size. I marked each area with an E for earth and a G for green as necessary and then cut out the shapes with scissors. I attached each G piece to frisket film and laid it on the model before I started the next one. Frisket film is transparent and it is not easy placing these irregular shapes exactly where they are needed. I marked each piece of film with the fuselage centerline and used dividers to determine the final position using the skylights as datum's. I burnished the edges well so that paint bleed at the rivets would be at a minimum. Two coats of Dark Earth were brushed on and when the masking was removed I was pleasantly surprised at how little paint bleeding had occurred, easily cleaned up with a small brush.

Now the parts mentioned above – except the canopy and the bomb aimers blister - can be fitted and touched up with paint where necessary.

A card mask was then cut out and placed over the cockpit and the bomb aimers position was masked with a piece of foam trimmed to fit. A light application of flat clear acrylic was then airbrushed over the assembly.

Aw Gawd – I did not mask the front and rear gun turrets! They look as though they have been sandblasted. What to do now?? I contacted my local model store and asked them if they could get me the vacuum formed glazing from Pavla Products in the Czech Republic, I figured that I could replace the ruined turrets with this accessory. – No joy there, they could not. The only thing left to do would be to scrub the flat coat off – that did not work either. Carefully I prized the rear turret glazing off of the turret itself, breaking it in half in the process. With a new # 11 blade I started scraping and to my delight the flat coat flaked off. Encouraged, I removed the paint on the framing as well. The glass looked horrible with scratches and digs all over but an overnight soak in Future cleaned it up so that it looked like new.

Now for the front turret. Firstly I had to file away the location pin underneath the turret, going in through the bomb aimers position (fortunately I had not fitted the glazing yet). Carefull prying poped the turret out but the back half fell off as I did so. No big deal there, it had to come off anyway. Scrape, scrape, scrape and the turret began to lose the flat coat and then the whole turret was plunged into Future for soaking. Like the rear turret it came out looking like new. All I had to do was to paint the framing and replace the back half and it could go back onto the model. The Future gummed up the guns and they no longer go up and down and the turret no longer rotates. A small price to pay! Phew!

The canopy and the bomb aimers blister were than installed.

The fuselage decals were then applied as per instructions - see Decals.

Step 9 Tailplane and Fins

There is some detailing to be done here. I removed the molded trim tab linkages and the mass balance detail and replaced the trim tab mass balance with parts made from 0.010 dia plastic rod that has been held close to a candle flame. (The plastic will melt and form a ball that looks just like the full sized object). The rudder mass balance weights needed to be made from scratch using 0.010 plastic rod with weights (carved out of any odd bit of plastic) glued on.

Step 16 Wings

As indicated above, there was a little flash on one wing of my kit but nothing to talk about. The port lower wing half was quite warped. The trailing edges of the wings are commendably thin considering the two thicknesses (upper and lower molds) involved. I managed to trim off a couple of the cable cutters by mistake which was not such a big deal as it turned out. The blobs representing the cable cutters make sanding the wing leading edge a chore so I cut them all off – BUT – before I did this I marked their locations with a pencil. Once sanding was complete I drilled 0.039” dia holes at the marked locations and using the tapered parts of stretched sprues I wedged in small bits of plastic that I could trim to shape with a knife.

Historical Note - The Lancaster wing leading edge was made of steel, not aluminium. During WW2 bombsights were not too accurate and if an enemy bomber could be kept at a high altitude there was a very good chance that the bombs would miss the target. To make the bombers fly high balloons tethered by thick steel cables were floated above the cities. These ‘barrage balloons’ as they were called, were anchored at large heavy drums and were raised and lowered by the Army. A bomber flying below the barrage balloons risked having a wing cut off by the cable, rather like a piece of cheese cut by a wire. With the Lancaster it was expected that the steel leading edge would withstand the cable and the cable would slide along the leading edge to the cable cutter and be – well – cut.

Anecdote.  I was a toddler during WW2 and I remember my Mum taking me to the local park so that I could run about on the grass. When she saw the soldiers start to attend to the barrage balloon equipment she knew it was time to head home. Something was in the air and this way comes! Being in an open street is not a good idea during an air raid.

Flaps  My model was to represent the taxi out before take-off and that meant that I needed to add flaps. I decided to make my own flaps from 0.010 plastic sheet, using the Lancaster book as a guide.

I cut off the flaps from the lower wings and discarded them.

Scratch made flaps I wanted to repeat the rivet detail on the new flaps so I needed a tool to do this.

Rivet embossing tool. I found an old brass gear wheel that had teeth at about the same pitch as the rivet spacing and I installed this into a scrap plastic handle so that it looked like a small pizza cutter. Trials showed that the best rivets were produced when the 0.010 plastic sheet rested on two thicknesses of paper kitchen towel.


© Pete Noyle 2003

I used the mold lines on the wings as a spacing guide and I was able to quickly manufacture some sheet material to make the flaps. Note – mark the rivet lines with a pencil not a scriber otherwise you will end up with a fold line! The forming of the rivets caused the plastic sheet to curl but this was easily flattened out using fingers. From some 0.020 sheet plastic I cut four lengths about 6 mm long and 0.060 wide and glued them vertically to the long edge of each flap. (Keep some pressure on the 0.010 sheet to keep it flat as the glue sets).

I cut out a long length of 0.010 sheet 3 mm wide and using a pencil marked the center of each lightening hole (using the kit rivet lines as a guide). One lightening hole mid-way between each rib was needed (they are not all equi-spaced).

Jig for punching holes using a Waldron punch set  

The hardest thing about using the Waldron punch set is to get the punch exactly where you want it. The lightening holes must lie along the same line otherwise they will look awful so a jig is a must. I glued two pieces of 0.010 sheet to two pieces of 0.040 sheet so that the 0.010 pieces were 3 mm apart and the 0.040 pieces were exactly the same width as the Waldron die, it makes a sort of saddle. The Waldron die now clamps down on the 0.010 pieces and of course the strip to be punched will not feed through. Add two layers of household sticky tape to the ‘saddle’ parts and this will add 0.003 to the 0.010 pieces and the strip to be punched will pass through comfortably.

Using the pencil lines as a guide I punched a row of 0.058” dia holes. This strip was glued to the flap, along the other edge from the one with the 0.020 stiffener. Triangular ribs from 0.010 sheet 0.060 high were then cut, just long enough to fit between the stiffener and the hole punched strip, and glued to the flap at the rivet line.

A similar exercise was repeated with the upper wings to reproduce ribs and stiffeners.

See now Steps 14 and 15.

Step 8 Propellors and Steps 10, 11, 12 and 13, Engine cowls

Dry assembly of the fronts of the nacelles and the nacelles themselves showed that a noticeable step is present along the top profile. This step needs to be filed and sanded to make a smooth profile but this is extremely difficult to do if Step 8 (adding the props) has been completed. So – how to clean up the step before all is glued together and still have the prop shaft turn (it will fall inside unless held in place with something)? Well, you can glue the props in place after assembling the cowls, but with my models I like the props to turn. My solution was to glue a piece of 0.040 plastic to the inside of the front of the nacelle. Using trial assembly I slowly added 0.010 shims to this piece to push the prop shaft forward into the front ‘bearing.’ The prop shaft needs to be sufficiently far forward to ensure that enough shaft sticks out to attach the prop and yet still have enough freedom to rotate.

Each nacelle is the same when it comes to the engine part and the following needed to be done on all four. The radiator outlet is solid on all the kit parts and needs to be opened up. This can be done before the two halves are glued together or after, using the drill and craft knife technique. The breather slot just aft of the outlet needs to be tidied up by squaring off the slight mismatch of the kit parts. In front of each carburettor intake is an ice guard that is an oval mesh 4 mm by 3 mm. This guard is represented by a flat plate in the kit. I cut off all eight flat plates and made guards from 0.006” diameter wire for the frame and a fine mesh super glued within. The fine mesh was cut from a Christmas Cake decorative band! The exhaust flame dampers need to be hollowed out at each end. The radiator is split at the centerline, one half cools the engine and the other the hydraulics. I defined the split line with 0.010 plastic rod cut to the exact length.

Steps 14 and 15 Inboard engine nacelle 

Flaps – With my model having flaps deployed I needed to cut off the rear of the inner nacelles. On the Lancaster the rear of the inner nacelles are attached to the inboard flaps and as the flaps come down the cowl slides into the rear of the nacelle. For the model the cut-off parts need to be trimmed to the correct angle between flap and nacelle and I suggest that this should be done at final assembly of wings/nacelles/flaps.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Steps 12 and 13 Undercarriage

The undercarriage parts are well modelled and only need a little flash removed. The undercarriage wells however are a different thing. Firstly it is almost impossible to clean up the seam line of the nacelle once the two halves are glued together and the only thing to do is to cover them with 0.010 plastic. I cut a piece to fit at the top of the well first, cutting out small indents to accommodate the undercarriage actuator locations. Then I cut a piece to fit at the rear wall with a rounded profile to fit inside the cowl, scoring a bend line at the lower horizontal line of the kit part (at the bend line I applied about a ten degree angle). This will ensure that the top of the piece will glue flat to the kit part and the bent up rounded part will fit inside of the nacelle. Secure it with a drop of super glue at the bottom and plastic cement at the top. Apart from the wing spar detail supplied by the kit parts, there is no detail in the wheel wells so the hydraulic pipes and valves on the rear wall need to be added. I simulated these with bits of plastic and wire. The front wall is also the engine bulkhead so a similar exercise to that at the rear wall is needed here. Fittings to be added are two large architrave brackets reaching the top skin, two red fire extinguisher bottles and valves and a round part the function of which can only be guessed at. Dropping down from the wing spar are two forgings that support the undercarriage main wheel hinges. I could see no way of getting these installed in this area so I left them out. On the lower section of the front wall is a profusion of confusion of bottles, pipes and wires. I added the minimum of detail here but the masochists among us can have a field day detailing this lot!

One advantage of this exercise is that you remove the ‘see-through’ aspect of the inboard nacelles.

Step 16 Wings and Engine Assembly

One of the inboard nacelles refused to sit down comfortably in its hole but a bit of filing sorted it out. The assembly was otherwise trauma free.

The inboard flaps were added after trimming the inboard nacelle to provide the correct flap angle. The outer flap was then added, lining up both flaps to the same angle.

Aw Gawd - Deep inside of the ‘flap cavity’ is the operating shaft and levers. I could see no way of installing this at this point of the assembly – I should have done it before the wing halves were joined together.

Painting – Step Two – Wings and Tailplane Assemblies

I brush painted the wing undersides, the tailplane undersides and fins with two coats of matt black. The flap internal ribs and strengthening plates were painted matt Battle Gray.

The top surfaces of the wings and tailplane were painted with two coats of matt Dark Green (see my note ‘Painting – step one above), and when dry the masks applied. Matt Dark Earth was then painted on. There was a little under bleed of paint when the masks were removed which was easily taken care of. The air intake inboard of the inner nacelles was painted matt black and the wire cutters painted ‘Gunmetal.’

Anecdote - I had great difficulty getting an even line at the wing leading edge and then a neighbour of mine showed me a photograph of the Lancaster that he flew in during WW2. The leading edges of the wings were smeared with stains of insects and dust, plus chipped paint. He said that he never saw the ground crew wash a plane but the windscreen and bomb aimers window were always cleaned. The real – working airplane - did not have nice crisp paint at the leading edges!

These sub-assemblies were then given an airbrushed blow of flat clear acrylic.

The icing screens for the carburettors were added before the wings were fitted to the fuselage.

Decals were applied to the fins and wings as instructed and then they were attached to the fuselage – see decals. Props and spinners were fitted. The undercarriage was added last.

Weathering:

The ground crews worked around the clock to keep all of their aircraft flying. Touching up of paint in a war time setting would be at the bottom of their priority list and with the Dambuster aircraft it is unlikely that too much cleaning would have been done to the outside of the aircraft and certainly not the inside. All twenty aircraft had already done long hours of low level flying before the actual mission and you can imagine the build up of dead bugs that would have occurred on the leading edges of all the wings. This may have been cleaned off – dead bugs would, after all, reduce aerodynamic efficiency quite a lot, but the very act of cleaning would have damaged the ‘factory fresh’ paintwork. The leading edges then, would have been worn and smeared.

Deposits on the wings from the engine exhausts had a particular pattern on the Lancaster. For the inboard engines each exhaust deposited ‘soot’ on the wing upper surface but with the outer engines it was only the inner exhaust bank that formed a pattern. (This was because of the dihedral of the outer wing). On the undersides of the wings whitish deposits were left trailing from the fuel tank vents.

Additionally, paint would have been chipped off of cowl screws and access hatches. Views of an actual WW2 aircraft will show where to apply these little details.

Options:

Control surfaces are poseable except for the rudders. Undercarriage doors are molded together as if closed if a model in flight is being depicted. For ‘undercarriage down’ models the doors have to be cut into two items. A standard Mk 3 can be modelled – a complete bomb bay door is provided which, like the undercarriage doors, can be cut into two items for a ‘bomb doors open’ model. A selection of bombs is provided. Front and tail gun turrets and guns are poseable.

Versions:

A standard Mk 3 can be modelled although there are no decals supplied.

Decals:

Two aircraft can be represented, Wing Commander Guy Gibson’s ED932 AJ-G and ED912 AJ-S flown by Flt. Lt., R.S.D. Kearns of the RNZAF. The fuselage Standard Type C1 roundel (60” diameter, the kit decal scales at 58”) is included with the letter decal with the centre red on separate decals. The ‘Angel’ nose art used by Kearns is supplied. The wing roundels are Standard Type ‘B’ of 102” diameter and the kit decal scales at 99”. The remaining decals are standard Lancaster items that denote such things as the walkways on the wings etc. The cockpit instrument panel and the flight engineers instrument panel are so badly defined that they should be discarded.

The decals need several applications of Micro Sol setting solution to settle over the rivets but once settled they look OK with the following proviso –

Not apparent at first is the missed register of the colour white. The fuselage letters have a minute white line to one side of the Dull Red colour as does the roundel. All the underside markings have this defect as well. The center of the fuselage roundel is provided as a separate disk and centralizing this disc can be tricky.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Aw Gawd - When applying the decals I suggest that you follow this procedure, I did not and I had to lift a couple of decals to get them in the right place. Position the rear ‘trestle here’ marking (26) before the ‘first aid’ decal (27), this determines the true position of #27. Apply the top wing surface walkway decals before the roundels and then use their location to position the roundel. I did it the other way around and I have different distances from decals 12 & 18 and the roundel decal 6. Not much, but it shows.

Aw Gawd – I applied a finish flat coat to the model just after the decals were applied. Nearly all the walkway and spar location decals ‘silvered’ and looked awful. I applied small amounts of Microsol to the offending decals using a very fine hypodermic needle to inject fluid under the decal. This seemed to take away the silvering quite well although multiple ‘injections’ had to be made all over each decal. The Microsol left behind a white residue but after weathering the model this seemed to blend in and not be so intrusive.

Antenae and Aerials not supplied in the kit

There is a di-pole like antenae on the rear fuselage left side that has three supports. The di-pole is about 7ft 6ins long.

A whip aerial is needed at the lower front right side of the fuselage.

Accuracy:

Overall dimensions of the kit are just about smack-on! The tailplane span and engine centerline dimensions are accurate as well. Overall the model radiates the Lancaster image.

Conclusions:

At this point in time, fall 2002, the Airfix Dambuster Lancaster is the only kit available in 1/72 scale, although the Revell Dambuster Lancaster in 1/48 scale can still be had if you are lucky. Revell are also advertising a 1/72 Dambuster kit to be available in 2003. There are many ‘after market’ detail kits available such as a complete vacuum formed set of canopy and turrets from Pavla and Merlin engines from Engines and Things.

Straight from the box, the kit makes up to be a beautiful model despite the ‘empty office’ and with add-ons and scratch made parts as described above, then the result is a model to be proud of. I have no hesitation in recommending this kit – rivets and all, but watch out for decal silvering.

With so many Lancasters built during the war years it is not so surprising that there are many versions to be modelled on the basic Mk111 airframe. There are those with upper turrets and those without. Those with radomes and those with bulging bomb doors. The B11 features Bristol Hercules radial engines instead of the Merlins. Post war there was the civil version – the Lancastrian. Colour schemes add variations as well. Although the wartime green and earth pattern was standard, later aircraft showed different patterns such as the Sea Gray / Night colours of the Royal Egyptian Air Force, the Natural metal of the Canadian Royal Air Force Rescue Unit, the white of the French Aeronavale and then the RAF School of Maritime Reconnaissance with a gloss Sea Gray overall. Add to this various styles of nose art and a whole variety of models can be made from this kit.

For scratch builders who love ‘add-ons’ then have a look at the numerous Lancasters that were used as flying test beds, there are nine to choose from! The conversions just go on and on – a feast of material to add to the basic Mk111.

Oh, there is a conversion kit available to convert back to a Manchester as well.


© Pete Noyle 2003

Paints Used:

Kit supplied – Humbrol enamel. 

Other paints used – enamel. 

Various artists acrylic paints from the local store.

References:

  1. Modellers Data File number 4 by SAM Publications. This 175 page book gives full information about the Manchester (the Lancaster’s predecessor) the Lancaster in all its versions and the Lincoln, the Lancaster’s descendant. It is an invaluable reference for all things Lancaster.

  2. Various web sites devoted to Guy Gibson, the Upkeep mine, the Raid itself and 617 squadron.

  3. How to in Scale Aviation Modeller International issue November 2002 describing the construction of a 1/48 model.

  4. Documentary film from the series “Secrets of the Dead.”

  5. Tom Maher, my neighbor who, as a Lancaster wireless operator, flew with the decoy mission over the top of 617.

Picture Titles:


© Pete Noyle 2003

 

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