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"Sugar's Blues" Late War RCAF Lancaster


Uncarina

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“When fear is new and the sight of death has novelty, men will buffet danger to test their strength. When the novelty has gone, replaced by confidence and determination, then operations become a challenge. Halfway through a tour, the end is still distant. Trip by trip the end is being overtaken but is still too uncertain to dwell upon. It is not until the remaining trips number only five, then four, then three, that their minds dare to compute the cold statistics of deliverance. With three more trips to fly, at three per cent losses, the chance is 108 to 9 of living. Then it is 108 to 6. And then it is the final deal: 108 to 3, good odds but the heart is beating faster and the hand that deals the cards is trembling. It is all or nothing for the final jackpot. Men pray for an easy target as their last. They beg the chance to get it over quickly. A final trip to Stettin would seem a cruel omen. Even as men’s minds pondered the end of a tour, so, now, were spirits bent upon the end of the war. To end a tour meant a six month reprieve; to end the war meant more than most of them had dared to think on more than lightly.”

 

— 101 Nights by Ray Ollis

https://a.co/15l4cfO

 

I was able to finally carve a cabin air vent for the fuselage, after a few attempts to get something to match my reference photos:

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This is the last major fuselage modification I have to make (hopefully). In other news, I've been focused on the wing corrections:

1) the landing lights were located under the port wing, but HK has them molded under both;

2) the landing lights were concave lenses, but HK just has molded circles engraved;

3) the life raft hatch was located on the top of the starboard wing, but again HK has them molded on top of both.

 

I took a cue from Ian and made a concoction of Tamiya Extra Thin Cement mixed with sprues from the kit to make a sprue filler. I've seen this technique before but as Ian observed, using matching plastic ensures it is compatible. I've been pleased with it so far, and it acts very similarly to Mr Surfacer but without the shrinkage (always a good thing :)). I used this to fill the extraneous lenses and hatch. The filler discolored the plastic, but that is from the Tamiya cement. It fills and sands just fine.

 

To make the concave lenses I VERY carefully used a Dremel with a rounded sanding tip, then again used the thin Tamiya filler to even out imperfections. Finally, I added the wing tips, and as I've read elsewhere the fit is suboptimal. Fortunately most of the misalignment is under the wings, and while the fit above and below is gap free, the wing tip surfaces are either above or below the matching surface. I've sanded everything to shape, and still need to restore panel lines and rivets. Until next time!

 

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Cheers,  Tom

Edited by Uncarina
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Wow, I've just been catching up on your build and you've done some seriously detailed and accurate work. 

 

I think you've nailed the new Martin turret fairing and surrounding structure. It may be too late but I found these photos I hope might help you at least confirm what you've done. They were taken from the rooftop observation deck at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. These were from 2015, and I believe they have refined the shroud around the turret since. 

 

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There was also this from the inside, I got an 90 minute long flight a few years ago. Sorry, just bragging now.

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Looking forward:

OhJvF8s.jpg

Edited by R Palimaka
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Thanks Maru! The Lancasters mainly operated at night, so I guess it’s only appropriate that you get caught up during that time. Seriously, your support means a lot. Hope to have more soon!

 

Cheers,  Tom

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Thanks for checking in Craig, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the journey! I’m now focused on restoring detail to the wings and finishing them before moving on to completing the gear bays/nacelles, which will go faster without having to build the engines, which I’ve read are undersized to fit inside the nacelles. Reads like a lot of critiques of the kit but it is actually very buildable, and I really like HK’s engineering. Not often mentioned is that the wings are each molded as a single piece! I’m looking forward to seeing your build.

 

Cheers,  Tom

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“Vincent crawled around rescuing equipment from the floor. To every navigation instrument—protractors, slides, computors—was tied a piece of string. Vincent found his strings, lifted them all together and deposited his missing equipment on the plotting desk. That trick for finding things might save a minute. A minute might save their lives.”

 

— 101 Nights by Ray Ollis

https://a.co/5CV4w9K

 

I've been finishing restoring detail to the wing after filling and sanding where appropriate, and revisited my assembled engine nacelle to finish up some corrections. On the back end I opened up the area behind the rear exhaust. On the front end I drilled out the two small intakes on either side of the engine. Not very pretty, but they will be painted black and hidden behind the really nice intake screens that Eduard provides with their radiator screen set. Moving to the front opening to the radiator, something about the shape bothered me. Then I realized that HK had molded a curved surface from below the propellor all the way back to the radiator, when according to reference photos it transitioned to a flat shape to match the top of the radiator. I am really pleased with how modifying this improved the shape and dramatically changes the look of this area. Finally, I added the small hole to this area to match reference pics. Three more to go!

 

Prime Portal Walkaround:

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Until next time!   Cheers,  Tom

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