Operation Chastise - Finished.

I bought this kit a while back and was waiting for some things and now I have all the pieces of the puzzle, this one will be started - soon!! - as I have been itching to get into it.


The additions
Eduard does not make Pe or masks for this Airfix kit so will do with Hasegawa sets

Two things that I felt need to be changed are the props in flight, and the kit Mg barrels, prop blurs should look the part with the Lanc skimming over the dam wall


I cut the dio board edging, here is the dry fitted pieces set against the board with the vac formed dam sitting inside, this gives many pluses including a solid base to mount the ''A'' frame aircraft mount, protection of the dam piece which is fairly thin, much easier to pick up and move, and I think will look much better than the whole thing just sitting displayed as the box photo shows.

The box photo of the completed kit also shows a flat vac formed base on the dam, this has been removed at the factory where it was made - the instructions show and tell the modeller to cut this off.







The water level is the same height as the top of the edging, two towers go onto the rectangles on the dam incase you are wondering why it looks a bit odd at the moment, and I will be doing a little built up area on the sides of the dam wall up to the edging to try and simulate the land leading down to the water run off in front of the wall.

The aircraft is Guy Gibson's, and on a side note, all the upkeep mines were painted dark green, with the exception of P - Popsie, after the weapon was loaded it was accidentally released, falling to the ground under the aircraft causing everyone nearby to run for their lives - luckily it wasn't armed!
It was winched back into place and then painted black to match the aircraft underside color - why is unknown.

After it's release it was seen to veer sharply left and explode well wide of it's intended position.

Did it veer off target because of the accidental drop or was it because the Lancaster's wings were not level at the point of release - this is just one of Operation Chastise's unanswered questions.

Wow, now that is some project!

I will love to see the completed diorama!

Good luck!!

Snowy

Thanks Snowy! you are not wrong - seems this Lanc kit is an old mold - raised rivets and panel lines - heaps and heaps! of flash clean up, as I go along more nasties are rearing their heads, badly warped fuse - fixed by boiling water, next was a huge gap where the added modified fuse bottom to hold the upkeep mine fits into the main fuse, it is such a shame that Airfix didn't hold back until the release of the new mold Dambuster kit and included that into this set instead.

Ah well, that's modelling for you I guess!

Hiya Phil
Complements of the season.

I bought the new Lancaster BII over Christmas in the UK and all I can say is WOW.
(and I don't even like aircraft)

Steve

Hi Steve, thanks, and back at you!

Yes the new mold versions of the Dambuster Lanc is really sweet.

A09007 two decal options - same box no dam - updated? box art - new tool

A050138 one decal option - same box no dam - updated? box art - new tool

My kit A50061 one decal option - dam - mold year unknown.


ok i've done some on this on and off, here is this beast.

This is an old mold kit, there is so much clean up work to do, you can see from this pic on the MG's



Master Model brass barrels test fitted -


The first lot of dry fitting




The Hasegawa version Pe set fits perfect in the kit, the Pe looked a bit ''flat'' so I stuck the Pe onto plastic card to give it a 3D type of look, which looks much better in my opinion


The interior kit parts minus the bomb! is sparse to say the least!!



the ''plain Jane'' interior


i just added a bit of plastic card stock for a bit of a bulkhead look, same with the rear gunner position,
otherwise you see one continuous ''nothing in there''.



Does something look missing on the engine where circled ?

looks like they forgot about the rear facing scoops......



New Year resumed the Lanc, wings tail etc on, ready to close up and get the base silver on, lots of evergreen strips used to close up horrid gaps - just look for the white!!!
At least the wing root joins are very nice.



I just made basic rear facing scoops in the closed position to cover those awful square holes, I doubt anyone will notice when all black and on the stand


Also they cocked up the support rod, if I had went with what they gave you the props would of been scrapping the dam wall with the aircraft flying over the top.

Have since purchased a length of aluminum hollow rod, with this i can cut the top of the longer kit one and the curved bottom off the smaller supplied support I think they included that to use on the bomb, then slide both into the Aluminum tube which is much stronger and will not snap!! you will see my idea when I finish the mods.

more later

Very good work here Phil. Sometimes I find that at the time I Bitch and moan about a crap or inferior kit, but the more difficult the kit is, the bigger the satisfaction when it's done up and looks great, i can see this is heading there for you.

Unfortunately I cant agree there Jugs. I have the patience of a Mince Pie and the kit is more likely to be binned or suffer from deceleration trauma.
If its worth working on, like a rare kit, then I will spend the time, like on most of Protar's Bike kits, but other than that, nooooo. Especially on kits like the Alanger AFV's (shudder)

Steve

I'll never throw out a kit Steve, I find these kind of kits bring out the true modeller in you! and could be a ''challenge'' thing in the mind, I tend to sit back and have a good think about some things before putting the fix in place. Now saying that, there are quite a few - or many more - expletives emanating from my mouth very frequently.....to which the wife replies "relaxing hobby dear????"

plus I refuse to let a chunk of plastic get the better of me!!!

Cheers and thanks guys!

Finished the painting today, black underside Tamiya rattle T/S 29, topside Gunze/Mr Hobby Acrylics, props ready to accept the ''blurs'', starting on the dam colours next.

Crisp paintwork as usual Phil - looking real good.

Finished the Dam yesterday, those tower extensions were not nice to work with, the nature of vac formed thin plastic around 1mm thick, the mounting step for the extensions were the same 1mm area which involved mass sanding to get ''a close as you can'' flush fit.

Am toying with the idea of brushing future over the water, will test on the underside first as the water is not flat coated, only the dam is.






''Down, down, steady, up a bit, up a bit more.........

That damn wall looks excellent Phil, very nicely done.

Question if I may:
How did you do the camo on the Lancaster?
I'm busy putting mine together, done the Dark Earth and now its time for the Dark green. Is it best to mask the whole pattern off? Do it free hand?
Id like to Airbrush the green obviously, but Im not too sure how too get crisp neat lines.

Steve

That looks damn fine as it is in my opinion Phil - great work bud.

Thanks for the feedback on my Dam painting and effects, posted it up on two forums and got 0 replies - so thought - gee this must be crap in their eyes with no replies, weathering is my biggest problem in modelling.

Steve only too happy to help in any way I can

I use this product for these kinds of camo's,
http://www.bostik.com.au/home-office-school-products-catalogue-sheet-28324-blu_tack-m-0-g-0.html

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=blu+tac&client=firefox-a&hs=RwY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=L8zbUo3gN9GYlAXAwoDwAw&ved=0CEQQsAQ&biw=1252&bih=895&dpr=1

Now I'm not sure if you have used this product before so will explain as if you haven't.

First off - it's soft - so don't squash it by hitting it with fingers as you progress !


What I do is make ''snakes'' by rolling it out on a glass kitchen cutting board, you can use any smooth surface, and I use one of those dinning table hot mug/cup coasters, the cork backed with the pattern on the front, as it is also smooth, hope you know what I mean.

I roll one for a size ref, then roll the rest.

here you can see my usual silver base coat for the acrylics, Tamiya A/S 12, and the first round the green - I always end up going arse about with the darker  paint!

The rolls must go on smooth for the lines, if you see it going jagged pull it off and re roll.

When you lay it down use a toothpick like a sewing machine on the side that is to be masked up, this will make sure it doesn't move on you.

you can also make slight alterations to the curves etc with the toothpick by gently working the shape, but only on the side that is to be masked over.

Again be careful you don't make a jagged contact surface on your line where it meets the surface of the wings/fuse.

When you start to try this you will understand.

The blu tac sticks slightly when you first lay it down, but you can gently lift it up to reposition for a curve etc.

I usually do one wing at a time with the tac, when satisfied I then mask up where no paint is going, this then gives you some where to hold as you progress.




The second round - same method.

this time you can fix any little mistakes by spraying your final colour over offending places - sort of an easy cheat!



the good part comes next - removing all the tac and tape!

The very straight line for the black and masking up is just plain old Tamiya masking tape.



Sometimes you may get a slight stain where the tac has been laid, don't know why, some places are not, what I try to do is get it masked up asap and then get it off asap, but the flat coat usually gets rid og it, it's no real worry.

Spraying = spray right into the ''join'' where it meets the plastic, this is where you need that smooth roll to plastic, and this will give you a sharp crisp result.

Spray into the joins first, then fill in the blanks so to speak.

Now if you want a feathered result you roll those snakes larger, then spray at a top angle and from above so the paint doesn't get right into the join.

It's also great for those reverse camo's on Luftwaffe birds too









hope you didn't fall asleep with my long reply! any other questions please feel free to fire away.
HTH

Phil

Cheers and thanks for that extremely informative little "how to" Phil.

Always happy to share my (sometimes mad!!) efforts with friends Geoff   Thanks bud!

Excellent!, thanks Phil...
We do have the same thing here, called Prestik, but when I was in the UK over Christmas I bought a stock of Blu Tak as well, as it seems not to leave a greasy stain like some Prestik does.

But that's an excellent how too, thanks man.

Steve

Have been trying to figure out what to do with the ''runoff' side of the dam for a while!! so
what I have come up with is an old mouse mat cut to fit into the side gap, with the idea of putting earth ground cover and adding small flock (bushes) or cutting the mat even more from the outside edge of the square tower so it runs into the corner of the board and just earthing that.



these will give you an idea what I'm trying to do,




I have to get the glass cover made first before I do the board as I have to leave it at the shop so they only have the bare board, depending on how much work he has could be a week and some days.


Doing the decals atm, the new USA version Future is going well!




A few more to go.

Damn fine work Phil, looking forward to seeing the final result of this one - for sure.

Thanks Geoff, it's on hold now as I have to leave the base at the glass replacement shop so he has it to check the fit of the glass cover I am getting made, better that it is just bare so nothing gets damaged.

I have the prop blurs ready for painting, I have burnished them with the Ushi liquid that I use on the brass barrels instead of having to prime them first before the paint so I hope that works!.

In any case I will flat or gloss (undecided yet!!) coat them straight after I spray them when dry before any more handling to seal the paint on.

A bit more progress on the Lancaster.

Mass filling for the nose blister and a tight elastic band cured the main canopy woes, at least they are on now, horrible fit all round.









I used grey pastels over the lower rivet lines which unfortunately don't show up well

Nice work Phil.

This one looks all but in the bag - nice work as usual Phil.

been a while, here's a sneak peek of the Lanc on the support, sure glad I bought that aluminum tube, the kit plastic one would of snapped for sure!

I played around with the angle of the rod, got it so it's nose up climbing away rather than level.

Started gluing the small ''break me please'' pieces on tonight so progress in underway again.

Outstanding Phil!!!!!.....but where are the AA puffs?