Airfix 1:72 Avro Lancaster B.Mk.I (F.E.)/B.III

HISTORY

Introduced into RAF service in 1942, the basic form of the Lancaster changed little during its production run and the Mark 1 continued in production to the end. The B.Mk1 (F.E.) was a special tropicalized version designed for a campaign that never took place – the RAF’s strategic bombing of Japan. The near-new airframes were available to equip the squadrons of a much-reduced RAF Bomber Command in the early years of peace. The F.E. versions featured a very distinctive colour scheme; Black undersides were logical for what was intended to be a night bomber, White upper surfaces to deflect tropical heat and to provide camouflage on long over-water flights. Bomber Command was drastically reduced to a peacetime complement of some 270 Lancasters spread across 22 Squadrons. The Tiger Force Lancasters went into service while hundreds of war-weary airframes headed for the scrap yard and the type faded out of Bomber Command service in 1949.

THE KIT

This is Kit Number: A08013, using an Eduard CX211 transparency paint mask.

Airfix have made good use of the basic tooling for their 1:72 scale Lancaster with the first release to the market in 2013 being the B.Mk.1 (Special), The Dambuster version, later the radial engined B.Mk.II and standard Mk.I/III bombers, but this time Airfix have produced a version with eye catching box art depicting the Far East version in its distinctive Black and White paintwork.

There are five parts frames in Airfix’s familiar pale blue-grey plastic and one of clear. Surface detailing is mainly recessed panel lines that some may consider being too deep but I found they look OK under a coat of acrylic. There are no stores provided for the bomb bay.

An A4 sized instruction book runs to 109 steps of construction. There are two pages of three-views as a colour and decals placement guide. Much of the instructions relate to build options. that I will not need.

Airfix has carefully designed its Lancaster tooling to cover many of the detail differences between Mks and the early and late production versions of the same Mk. number. They are clear as to which parts are needed for each version but there are some parts that are only applicable to other boxings of Lancaster. Airfix do not provide a parts chart, where other manufacturers helpfully highlight parts “not for use”, so a bit of planning and checking is necessary and I find it helpful to harvest the parts not needed at an early stage and to keep them nearby in a plastic bag – just in case I have misunderstood the options.

Airfix provides the following parts options in most of the “Merlin engined” versions of this kit.

1) Early small and larger late-type bomb aimer’s nose bubble.

2) Square and oval under-nose bomb aimer’s window.

3) Nose aerials optional

4) Flat or bulged cockpit side windows.

5) Optional radar scanner under the belly

6) Mid upper turret or blanking plate.

7) Shrouded or unshrouded engine exhausts.

8) Standard or paddle blade propellers.

9) Early and late type rear turrets.

Airfix does not provide some of the elements of very late build aircraft such as the taller astrodome to the rear of the flight deck, extended rudders or treaded tyres.

Decals are provided for the flashy white F.E. version shown on the box art, an aircraft assigned to the Tiger Force at Royal Air Force Graveley, Cambridgeshire in 1945 and a more run of the mill aircraft in night bomber finish of Dark Green and Dark Earth upper surfaces with Black undersides, being a B.Mk. III of No 57 Squadron, Scampton, Lincolnshire in August 1943. The latter has no belly radar fit, the early type four-gun rear turret, shrouded engine exhausts, early type propellers and the oval bomb aimer’s window. This neatly illustrates the designation system of Lancaster production where the MK.I offered in this kit has all of the late-build features, while the MK.III has the early build details. The fundamental difference between the ‘I and the ‘III is that the ‘IIIs were fitted with American built Packard Merlin engines. When building other than straight from the box, good references are essential, especially photographs of the version being modelled. As it is, at the end a question remained.

CONSTRUCTION

The F.E. version is a late build aircraft that does not have the staggered row of small windows along the length of the fuselage sides. These need to be filled, although this is not made clear in the Airfix instructions. I find that this is best dealt with by gluing the clear window strips in place, allowing them to set hard and then masking off the fuselage each side of the strips with 6mm Tamiya tape before filling over the windows with Squadron Green Putty. The tape can be removed before the filler dries leaving a raised ridge of filler that, once set hard, can be gently sanded down to a smooth finish. A quick blast of grey auto primer from a rattle can will seal the filler before the primer is sanded away to check that it has covered all the window openings. I then proceeded with fuselage assembly as normal.

Based on my previous efforts I have learned that following the build sequence as set out in the instructions is a sensible choice and following the options set out should give a satisfactory result.

Airfix’s 21st century kits can be considered little jewels or awkwardly over-engineered, depending on your point of view. Many of the intricate interior details cannot be seen after assembly and in the four Lancaster kits that I have examined the fuselage halves were warped as were the bomb bay doors . The wings and tail structures could be treated as sub-assemblies.. There are a couple of potential glitches with awkward parts of the build.

The main undercarriage is built into the airframe at a fairly early stage and needs to be masked and carefully protected thereafter.

The mid upper and tail turrets can be added at a very late stage after main painting is complete although the seating of the rear turret required some trimming. The nose turret is more of a problem in that it has a horseshoe shaped fairing surmounted by a small acorn shaped fairing above the turret pivot. This is meant to be added after the turret is fitted and it is a real problem to try to get the turret to sit in place if this fairing has been first glued to the nose, without hacking away much of the turret base. The alternative is to assemble and paint the turret, mask it and install at an early stage or to add the fairing at the end and touch in the paintwork. Either way it is a bit of a fiddle. My standard procedure with these Lancasters is to treat the turrets as separate kits, make, and paint and finish them to be incorporated into the build as it progresses.

With care, steady progress can be made to arrive at a basic airframe, with wings, engines and tail attached, ready for painting.

PAINT AND DECALS

For me an Eduard canopy mask is a “must have”. Although it can cost about a quarter of the price of the basic kit, there are over 100 perfectly die cut masks in Kabuki tape that can be applied with confidence that they will fit each panel of the glazing and saving what could be hours of work. Once applied, I gave the exterior of each masked clear part a quick blast of grey auto primer to provide a dark colour to the interior framing.

The completed airframe was primed with Tamiya Ultra Fine White primer applied from a rattle can and a second coat of the same over the top and side surfaces as a finishing colour. The undersides received two lightly airbrushed coats of Black, Tamiya XF-1 matt and X-18 semi-gloss in a 50/50 ratio. The demarcation line between the White and Black on the sides of the engine cowlings has a very distinctive swooping curve, so I made a stencil from 20thou plastic card to enable the masking on the eight panels to be trimmed to match.

The airframe was sealed with two brushed on coats of Future/Klear to provide a gloss surface for the decals. The decals were of good quality and reacted well with Micro Sol and Micro Set solutions. Airfix provides the wing walk markings and a range of airframe stencils. The decals were sealed with two misted airbrush coats of Xtracrylix Flat varnish. The White finish almost demands some sort of exhaust staining to the paintwork so a few light passes of Tamiya X-19 Smoke gave a hint of some service use to the aircraft. The small external aerials were added and two small windows in the fuselage spine were drilled out to be filled with Micro Kristal Kleer. Propellers and wheels were added to complete the project.

A query remains. The B.Mk1 (F.E.) is not the best recorded version and I found only limited references in my books or on the web. I have found a single photo that shows at least one F.E to have a long external intake on the right side of the fuselage above the wing root. Revell provides such a component in their 1:72 Lancaster kit. Airfix have a good reputation for well researched colour schemes so should TW880 have such an intake or not?

The Airfix Lancaster has been deservedly well received by modellers. The white colour scheme of the post war era is distinctive and provides a dramatic contrast to the more gloomy night bombers in my collection. Not a shake and bake build, but like most current Airfix kits it rewards careful work.

Frank Reynolds.