A “Dambuster” Lancaster has long been on my short list for addition to my collection of 1/72 World War II aircraft. I first built the old Revell kit in 1973 or 1974, and for me the Dambuster incarnation has always been the one I wanted.
I have had a newer pressing the the same “old mold” Revell kit for sometime, but after reading Max Hastings’ book on the road, and noting how much of my limited shelf space it will take up I decided I needed to upgrade to the best kit available.
Most reviews indicated that the new-tool Airfix was the best, and I also ordered aftermarket masks for the camouflage and canopy, and the Eduard cockpit panels.
The kit is well engineered, but with tight tolerances – it’s crucial that you align the center spar correctly for the wings to attach as intended. But the final product is sturdy and able to handle the constant handling and flipping necessary.
I used Vallejo paints – 71.323 and 71.324 Dark Earth and Dark Green for the uppers, and 71.057 Black for the Night sides and undersides. The AML masks were simply terrific. The biggest disappointment I ran into was that I did not sufficiently gloss coat the model, and had major silvering of the decals, especially on the Night surfaces. After seeing this with the first couple I went back and applied the gloss coat with a brush to the areas that would get the red striping, and it went on fine. But I had mistakenly decaled the Upkeep mine on its bomb trolley before even that insufficient gloss coat, so I never quite got rid of the silvering there.
Since the colors are a little dark in scale I applied a heavy matt finish, then a wash of NATO Black 71.050 on the Night areas, and a 71.075 Sand to the uppers to light the earth and green. The only weathering – since these were new bombers at the time of the raid – was some exhaust stains on the upper wing surfaces.
The Eduard cockpit detail parts were a disappointment, not because they weren’t good, but because they were not sized for the Airfix kit, and I could not use some.
The only other addition I made was adding a flight engineer to the fold-down seat facing the pilot (Lancasters didn’t have co-pilots).
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the model. Lots of mistakes, but it’s nice getting this big bird finished.
0
0
Average Rating