Border Models Lancaster - it will be my last LSP build

[Sturmbock]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:06 PM, Zola25 said:

I am not kidding - I thought the B/W photo was the real thing until I read your text..

 

It looks awesome

 

/Niels

The same thing here, but then I've wondered about the tissue paper covered underwings!

[Stokey Pete]

1 hour ago, Sturmbock said:

The same thing here, but then I've wondered about the tissue paper covered underwings!

It was the latest in battle damage repair technique. A but like papier-mâché.

[Stokey Pete]

I’ve never attempted painting on this level of detail and thought before. My usual MO is detailing jet exhausts and that’s about it. 
I’ve gone with the strategy of painting/finishing one engine at at time, so that I’m not remembering what i did by the time I start the next one. I’m doing so, weathering inconsistently and uniquely. 
 

Here’s engine 1 in early phases. Base coat, a bit of chipping, some washes, some oil and fuel staining. 

 

[crobinsonh]

Love the prop. Very nice weathering.

[Stokey Pete]

And so ends the construction of Engine #1.

 

My plan is to walk away from the kit for a few days now. Let that construction breathe, so that I don’t find myself repeating the process on Engine #2, and producing identical finishes. I hope to make all for look uniquely weathered/used. 
I’ve only utilised whats in the box, which is more than detailed enough for me. There is provision for the super detailers out there to put a whole bunch of wiring and plumbing in there. There’s pre drilled joints on the bulkheads to assist. 

[Zola25]

Love the scratches on the spinner 

 

How are you finding the parts in your kit Pete? - I find there is quite a bit of tiny flash on mine.

All the round / tubular parts on my "cockpit" sprues (A+B) have a clear seamline on them as well. As if the moulds were misaligned. Much more clean up than I had expected - but Damn!! all that detail. It just blows you away... 

 

/Niels

[Stokey Pete]

1 hour ago, Zola25 said:

Love the scratches on the spinner 

 

How are you finding the parts in your kit Pete? - I find there is quite a bit of tiny flash on mine.

All the round / tubular parts on my "cockpit" sprues (A+B) have a clear seamline on them as well. As if the moulds were misaligned. Much more clean up than I had expected - but Damn!! all that detail. It just blows you away... 

 

/Niels

You made a start on yours then? 

My kit is pretty much the same, there’s a lot of cleanup required on the finer parts. Where the parts are really fragile, im using tamiya extra thin quick setting to ‘disolve’ the flash from them. Where it’s too awkward to tidy up or I risk breakage, I’m leaving it alone, with the rationale that I’m gonna see the finished model from a couple of feet away instead of under a magnifier. 
 

[Zola25]

13 minutes ago, Stokey Pete said:

You made a start on yours then? 
 

 

I have.. I am building the cockpit section first. 

[Stokey Pete]

In between engines, I’m building other sub-assemblies. I’ve got the starboard outer wing built. The inner wing has all its wheel bay and undercarriage parts collected and cleaned up. I even managed to throw out an empty sprue thanks to building the complete tail assembly. 
I’m now fully beginning to see the sheer scale of this thing. 

The areas around all the edges/corners/etc, are getting interior green ‘primer’ to serve as the base for chipping and scuffing later on down the production line. 

[DeanKB]

Looking really good, impressive!

 

I just can't bring myself to fork out the money for this kit. I've bought pretty much all the 1/32 twins & 4 engined bombers, but I've not got the cojones to splash the cash on this superlative Lancaster kit, which isn't a problem I normally have when it comes to buying 1/32 kits. 

[Zola25]

Unmistakably a Lancaster already..

 

Have you decided how you are going to paint the large black parts? Any special technique to create some contrast?

 

 

[BarryWilliams]

19 hours ago, DeanKB said:

Looking really good, impressive!

 

I just can't bring myself to fork out the money for this kit. I've bought pretty much all the 1/32 twins & 4 engined bombers, but I've not got the cojones to splash the cash on this superlative Lancaster kit, which isn't a problem I normally have when it comes to buying 1/32 kits. 

I thought the same but then I had a second thought, ‘oh hell?

it’s only money’ and lashed out on one….    No regrets.  Not started it yet.  

[Stokey Pete]

2 hours ago, Zola25 said:

Unmistakably a Lancaster already..

 

Have you decided how you are going to paint the large black parts? Any special technique to create some contrast?

 

 

I saw a YouTube video recently touching on this very subject. I can’t recall whose video it was, but she was painting the Revell SR-71.

She used a combination of various ‘shades’ of black paint, and also added dark blue, and dark red to subtly change the hue of the black. 
I shall be following that example and mixing various blacks up, and using the same additions of red and blue, maybe a brown too. I’ll be doing a whole load of chipping and scuffing on leading edges too. All to try and break up the monotony of the all black underside. 

34 minutes ago, BarryWilliams said:

I thought the same but then I had a second thought, ‘oh hell?

it’s only money’ and lashed out on one….    No regrets.  Not started it yet.  

I spent months agonising about whether to get one or not. My wife eventually sold me on the idea. Suggesting that I’d probably kick myself if I didn’t own an attempt this kit. I don’t think we’ll see a kit like this again, so that was another incentive to get it. 
The amount of modelling time and enjoyment I’ll get out of the build, will more than make the investment worthwhile. 

[DeanKB]

54 minutes ago, BarryWilliams said:

I thought the same but then I had a second thought, ‘oh hell?

it’s only money’ and lashed out on one….    No regrets.  Not started it yet.  

You smooth talker, you've just talked me into buying one now!

[Stokey Pete]

Time for a bit of an update. 
While I’m waiting for some painting supplies to arrive, I thought I’d take a look at the undercarriage assembly and determine if there’s a better construction sequence than the instructions. They have you build the wheel bays, and attach them to the upper wing. Then the gear, which is quite gangly and flimsy until it’s located. Trouble is, that it’s very fiddly to locate correctly. What can I do to improve that situation?

 

Simple. I build the wheel bay, and attach the gear to it, then glue the whole assembly to the upper wing. I can gain 360 degree access to the bay and gear, making pin locating, and cementing that much less fiddly.

A dry run has proved the concept for me, I can then slide the lower wing half around the built up bay and fix into position. 
 

you can see my methods for creating variations on the black surface to give it some interest to the eye.

 

Bay dry fit.

 

Gear located and taped into position.

 

shows how the legs attach at the rear bulkhead. Very fiddly to do when it’s on the wing. 
 

The whole assembly is a drop on fit to the upper wing half.