Hasegawa's 1/72 scale
Lancaster B.I Grand
Slam
by Chris Wauchop
|
Avro Lancaster B.Mk.I with
Grand Slam bomb
617 Sqn. RAF, Arnesberg Bridge Attack, March 1945 |
images by Brett Green
Hasegawa's 1/72 scale
Lancaster Grand Slam is available online from
Squadron.com
This is Hasegawa's 1/72 scale Avro Lancaster B.Mk.I with Grand Slam
bomb. My model represents a machine from 617 Sqn. RAF during the attack
on the Arnesberg Bridge in 1945.
The Grand Slam version of the Lancaster B.I featured faired over
forward and upper turret positions, and an open bomb bay to accommodate
the huge 10 ton (22,000lb) "earthquake bomb". The Grand Slam bomb was
developed to destroy fortified structures that were otherwise impervious
to aerial bombing.
Hasegawa provides all the parts needed to accurately build the Grand
Slam version of the Lancaster in their Limited Edition kit number
HAS00819. No additional cutting is required, as the bomb bay is supplied
as an insert.
Construction was completely straightforward with almost perfect fit
of all parts.
Relatively few enhancements were made:
-
Eduard's exterior photo-etched detail
set (72450) was used.
-
A yellow circle added to top of the
pilot's seat
-
Some filler (Milliput White) was
required around the fuselage side windows and, following examination
of reference photos, one of the starboard side windows was filled in
and overpainted.
-
The ends of all gun barrels were hollowed out using a new scalpel blade
Paint
Most of the additional effort was expended on the paint and markings.
All paint was applied with the Testor Aztek A470 airbrush fitted with
the fine tan-coloured tip.
The kit includes the markings and colour scheme used on this
aircraft.
Lower surfaces were first painted with a mix of Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss
Black with XF-1 Flat Black in a 50/50 mix, with a dash of XF-64 Red
Brown added.
Upper surfaces were painted Gunze Sangyo H72 Dark Earth (after an
abortive coat of Tamiya Flat Earth - just did not look right), and H330
Dark Green.
The wheel hubs were first painted silver, followed by a heavy
application of the black/brown mix.
Decals
Kit fuselage were used with the exception of the fuselage roundels
(which were too large anyway) and fin flashes. The only criticism that I
have of the kit is the red in the roundels is too pale.
Unfortunately, my client wanted this particular aircraft so the kit
decals had to be used for the codes and serials, but I think that the
result doesn't look too bad.
All decals were applied using Gunze Sangyo, Mr Mark Setter and Mr
Mark Softer. They performed flawlessly.
Weathering
Exhaust stains were first sprayed with a black/brown mix, then the
centre of the stain was oversprayed with Tamiya XF-57 Buff.
In two photos of this particular aircraft, which appear in SAM
Publications' "Lancaster Modellers Datafile", it can be seen that the
upper ventral turret fairing has been removed. The area underneath this
fairing appears to have been left unpainted, with a darker coloured
round panel covering the hole where the turret was previously installed.
These two photos are still from movie footage. After completion, I
discovered that I had about 3 seconds of this footage on DVD.
The teardrop shaped area under the fairing was painted silver, and
the round cover was initially painted a wood colour to suggest unpainted
plywood. This combination looked disturbingly like a fried egg, so I
repainted the circular cover Dark Green instead. The area was toned down
with the black/brown mix to blend in with the surrounding camouflage.
Panel lines and various dirty patches on the upper surfaces were
emphasized using the thin Tamiya Red Brown / Flat Black mix thinned
around 80% with alcohol. Some panel lines and hinge lines on the lower
surfaces were post-shaded with 100% Flat Black which, in the right
light, shows up subtly against the black mix of the airframe.
Paint chipping was done with a very sharp Prismacolour Silver Pencil.
A very thin wash of Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black was brushed around
the canopy framing.
Hasegawa's 1/72 scale Lancaster B.Mk.I Grand Slam is a beautiful kit
of a fierce looking bird!
Click on the thumbnails
below to view larger images:
[../../photogallery/photo00003520/real.htm]
Model and
Text Copyright © 2007 by Chris Wauchop
Images Copyright © 2007 by
Brett Green
Page Created 29 October, 2007
Last Updated 24 December, 2007
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