Lancaster BIII Cutaway Interior

Introduction

Lancaster BIII EE136 (WS-R) was one of the 100+ sortie aircraft of RAF Bomber Command during 1943-44. It served with IX Squadron at RAF Bardney in Lincolnshire when my Grandfather Fred Crossman flew on it as a mid-upper turret gunner. EE136 was named "Spirit of Russia" by a previous crew and eventually flew 109 bombing sorties with IX and 187 Sqn. My father sent me the brand new mold Airfix 1/72 Lancaster BI (FE)/ BIII kit as a surprise one day in 2014. I had been putting the build off due to the amount of detail and time in the kit. After seeing the great interior detail in the kit I decided it would be a shame to spend so much work on it, only to seal the fuselage together. So I took the crazy step of deciding to build a complete cutaway interior model and scratch build the entire thing.

  

OVERVIEW OF THE BUILD
The new Airfix (A08013) kit is one of their new molds and excellent in all aspects. Overall the fit was good with the exception of under the bomb aimer's compartment (although that was likely because it had cut it all apart). The 236 plastic parts were in a medium grey hard polystyrene with virtually no flashing to be seen. Panel lines and other details were crisp and accurate and the clear parts were thin, nicely transparent and fit very well.

Fuselage & Wings
The first step in the instructions was the creation of the 2 wing spars around the main fuselage floor. The parts were a good replica of the actual wing design and also served to add strength to the model wings, especially when holding the 40cm (17 inch) wingspan during building. Since the BIII does not have fuselage windows, I decided to fill and sand the whole area. In future I would more carefully mask off each panel line around the windows as I filled some of them making it hard to re-etch later. I used Tamiya putty which wasn't the best and required many re-applications due to tiny air pockets after sanding. I also filled and sanded much of the fuselage floor which had a fair few mold injection marks and a large mold sink area behind the rear spar (not normally seen in a regular build).

Finally I took a deep breath and started cutting away the starboard side fuselage to totally expose the interior. I used small electrical wire snips and cut is stages to avoid splitting the plastic (which it is easy to do). Once complete, I trimmed and sanded the edges to smooth lines. I took care to keep the fuselage sections which I would use later to mask the interior when painting the aircraft camouflage scheme.

The wings attach well onto the spars will little requirement for filling gaps. I cutaway a section of the starboard wing and scratch built 2 fuel tanks shaped from balsa wood and covered in orange acrylic paint. Using sheet strip styrene I created the main wing ribs and trailing edge ribs then covered them with 0.025 in styrene rod for the stringers.

I cut out the section for the dingy/ raf storage and used an old 1/35 Tamiya backpack as the package and painted it yellow with a brown wash.

Interior & Cockpit

Once the fuselage was prepared and trimmed, I skipped the order of the instruction steps and started building up the interior. I first laid down all the stringers (these are the longitudinal strips that the aluminum aircraft skin is riveted to) using 0.020" (0.50mm) StripStyrene square strips. I lined them up with the stringers molded into the cockpit walls as a reference and continued the lines all the way back to the tail. I used Tamiya liquid cement to glue the styrene as it set in a few seconds and was very easy to work with.

Once all the stringers were placed, I used a larger StripStyrene (I forget the size) rectangular rods as the vertical formers for the fuselage structure, again using the same Tamiya liquid cement. I decide not to try and drill out the holes in each former which can be done.

I added the rear fuselage deck using sheet styrene and scratch built the step over the bomb bay.

Next I built up the tail section interior and tail gunner access area using thin StripStyrene sheet to create the box over the tailplane join, gunner compartment doors and slide.

Using the same sheet, I created the armoured door behind the main spar and built up the rest bunk, hydraulic reservoir and compressed air bottles using sprue parts and scraps from other kits.

I scratch built the flare chute using sheet styrene glued together then trimmed and sanded, then added detail parts from styrene rod and thin copper wire attached with CA glue. Old 1/35 scale german stick grenades were re-purposed to make the photo flash cylinders later painted black.

The Elsan chemical toilet at the rear was made from round sprue and sheet styrene.

Finally once all the main structure was installed, I used various sprue parts, old 1/72 control panel parts, strip styrene and copper wire to create the fine detail of first aid boxes, turret hydraulic actuators, fire extinguishers and so on. I used CA glue to hold the copper wire in place on each former, then once set, bent the wire carefully and added more CA until the process was finished. This prevented a pre-bent wire from popping off the fuselage while trying to glue the whole thing. Stretched clear sprue was used to make the crew handrails and the boarding ladder.

Tail turret ammunition cans and delivery tracks were fabricated from sheet styrene and strip rectangle.

Cockpit & Bomb Aimer

I decided to use the Eduard interior set for the build since it would be open for all to see. The pilot seat while hard to bend each part and glue, is worth it in the end. I used the navigator and radio operator seat, step over the main spar, radio panels and boxes, bomb aimer seat and panels as well as the seat belts. The main control panel PE parts are worth using and the very fiddly throttle levels are worth the patience.

I made up an F24 camera and protective frame for the bomb aimer's compartment and added alot of cables and wires.

Undercarriage

The undercarriage on the Lancaster are large and the Airfix kit has recreated them well. They are highly detailed and the wheel wells are well detailed. Out of the box work on this section.

Engine

Instead of scratch building a 1/72 scale Merline 22 engine I decided to buy an Aries resin cast engine which came is super detail. I used Humbrol enamel gun metal paint which dries with a metallic sheen and hand painted rather than airbrushing.

Using 0.025 styrene rod I built up the engine support frame and attached it to the engine firewall that I had previously made (the scratch built orange oil tank can be seen behind it) and added the coolant hoses to the radiator made from red electronics wire (leave the copper wire inside which makes it easier to bend and keep its shape) as well as various other wires and cables. All wires were glued with CA glue.

Painting & finishing

The interior was masked and sprayed with RAF interior green (testors) then the detailed and long task on painting each interior component. The whole interior was airbrushed with future and a wash of black/ brown enamel (thinned 9:1) applied to the formers and decking.

The glass parts (except turrets and nose glazing) were added and masked using the Eduard canopy mask set (I wasn't prepared to do all this work and mess up the clear parts!)

The left over fuselage sections that were previously cutout, were taped back into place to mask the interior from painting.

I didn't bother to pre-shade (I prefer to shade the panel lines with thinned paint after the gloss coat) and sprayed the matt black under side then masked everything and airbrushed the green (Humbrol enamel No 30) and brown (No 29) using paper masks cutout from an enlarged copy of the Airfix instruction sheet.

Decals were a mix of the Airfix kit and XtraDecal for the IX Sqn Lancaster BIII WS-R which were rather thick and took alot of microsol to bed down. My gloss coat wasn't enough and as a result some of the decal edging can be seen on the nose art which is a shame given all the work.

Conclusion

Overall a great new Airfix kit (even if you are not doing a crazy cutaway model) and worth the money. Apart from the pilot seat, its not worth doing alot of detail inside if you are going to close up the fuselage since no-one will see your great work. Recommendation for doing a cutaway model - alot of patience. This kit took 2 months work at 2-4 hours per day and another month on weekends to finish.

Materials/tools used

Kit:                            1/72 scale Airfix Lancaster BI(FE)/BIII kit # A08013

Paint:                         Testors enamels

References:                I bought the Haynes Lancaster manual which is a superb reference with many 

                                   quality colour images, drawings and text. I also managed to get a look inside a 

                                   fully restored BX (Canadian version of the BIII) and took plenty of pictures.

ARADO AR-196 A-3 Water Diorama

AR-196 ARADO A-3 DIORAMA BUILD

Materials/tools used

Kit:                            1/72 scale Airfix AR-196 Arado A-2/A-3 (A02019)

Diorama Base:          ½ inch Plywood and expanded polystyrene with plaster of Paris

Water effects:            Casting Craft 2 part polyester resin and Liquitex Heavy Gloss Gel

Ground materials:      Woodland Scenics

Paint:                          Testors enamels (Aircraft and figures) and Tamiya/ other acrylics (diorama)

Sandpaper:                 800 grit wet/dry paper

Figures:                      Airfix RAF ground crew (converted to Luftwaffe) set A01747

Introduction

I love float planes and having bought the kit, decided to do a water diorama based on the WW2 pictures  of 2./ Aufkl. Gr. 125 at Suda bay, Crete in 1943 (only because I liked the bright yellow wing tips). Having created a previous water diorama of a TBF Avenger, I felt happy to give it another try. The diorama won 1st at IPMS Ottawa local meeting.

OVERVIEW OF THE BUILD

Interior

The Airfix Arado kit doesn’t come with and cockpit floor, just some seats and bulk head between the pilot and observer/ gunner so I put in a styrene floor, gunner seat and some photo etch seat belts. For the observer radio I used an old JU-88 radio set which is the same basic type and trimmed it to size. The stock control panel and decal is a bit clunky but had to do for now. I also used a better detailed MG-13 from the JU-88 set and scratch built the MG swivel mount in the observer compartment.

After installation and painting and shading it fit ok. With the canopy attached, visibility is fairly limited anyway. The fuselage fits pretty well together and only needed a bit of filler and CA glue along the seams – nothing major.

 Engine

As this is a simple kit, the stock radial engine is fairly low on detail and is inserted through the back of the cowling. I drilled out the forward facing MG barrel opening and added two air filters to the top of the engine. The large propeller nose cone will cover a lot of the detail anyway. I painted the engine in Humbrol gunmetal and then scratched off some of the paint along the piston heads and rods for weathering.

Fuselage & Wings

The wings and fuselage fits well in this kit although the elevators and ailerons are a bit large and clunky and needed gluing in the up, down or level position. The fuselage has a lot of raised panel lines but are not horrific although the cockpit section lacks some detail such as the engine exhausts. Joints at the wing roots are clean and did not need a great deal of filling or sanding. I added the crane hoist cables on the forward part of the fuselage using thin copper wire from inside electrical flex.

 I made the decision to assemble the floats and struts and rig them before attaching to the fuselage. After much testing of the rigging (I used stretched sprue), to avoid sagging after gluing to the fuselage I attached the finished assembly and painted the rigging with well diluted black enamel.

Since the diorama included a bomb trolley, I cut the kit 250lb bombs off of their brackets and sanded everything down to a rather basic bomb clamp shape under the wings.

Painting & finishing

I airbrush pre-shaded all the panel lines in gloss Testors black enamel and then added the 2 tone RLM 70 (Model master 2080 Schwartzgrun) and RLM 72 (Model master 2082 Grun) camouflage pattern on the upper surfaces. I added a touch of white to the RLM 72 and highlighted the panels to add a bit of depth to the paint.

 Masking the floats and struts was somewhat fiddly but once completed I used RLM 65 (Model Master 2078 Hellblau) in several coats to let the pre-shading show through. RLM 04 (Model master 2072 Gelb) was used for the wing tips and engine cowling underside.

 

The red propeller spinner was neatly painted using a drill bit size gauge as a mask which worked out well and better than using masking tape.

 

The kit decals were well done as are the newer Airfix types with small edging. The fuselage crosses and letters needed a few coats of Microsol to soften them up to fit over the molded fabric and rib detail.

Creating the Diorama

The diorama base was made from 8 x 8 inch plywood (1/2 inch thick) and the beach section made from a sanded and cut block of expanded polystyrene (although in future I wouldn’t use this with the polyester resin due to several accidents where the styrene dissolved. I used a thin crust of Plaster of Paris painted over the beach for texture and painted the surface in acrylic paint (I forgot to seal the paint with clear gloss which reacted with the resin turning the colour a bright yellow/ green).

 

I used a mix of grey acrylic paint and masking tape to create the concrete launching ramp (the tape used to affect raised ribs) and added small stones and fine sand to the areas below the water line glued with Woodland Scenics spray glue.

 

The jetty was made from thin balsa wood sanded with fine paper and glued with white wood glue in individual planks and support pillars (made from cocktail sticks). Woodland Scenics pine tree bush (painted sponge really) was used as seaweed clumps on top of the darker green painted sea floor.

 

Water Effects

After all the work on the Arado and the diorama, the time came to add the resin water. You can always use Woodland Scenics water effects but it isn’t as good for optical clarity or layering as the polyester type. Casting Craft polyester resin is a two part type that requires absolute and exact measurements of each part in order to work well, not crack, heat up or deform the diorama so it is worth testing before hand on a mini diorama!

First clear acrylic walls were taped to the sides of the base and made water tight (otherwise the resin will escape). Clear acrylic is good to check the filling progress. Avoid using thin plastic as it will heat up and warp (1/8 inch min is best, although the sturdier the better). I used food colouring (blue and green) to tint the mixture (Hint: the colour will always look darker in the pot and lighter once poured into the diorama)

 

Once poured, the resin needs to be prodded with a stir stick to soften the shore line of the water.

 

Once the aircraft is placed in the water, I raided the tail up slightly and poured the rest of the resin so that it “floated” realistically and didn’t rest on the sea bed.

The resin will naturally dry either in ripples, or perfectly flat depending entirely on the heating effect, mix ratio and other black magic that I’ve yet to perfect although the end result was better than I could have planned. I used a stir stick to raise the resin up in soft peaks as it is setting to make ripples and waves on the shore and around the floats.

The waves and froth at the shore and around the dock was created using Liquitex Heavy Gloss Gel (from artist stores) which goes on like thick acrylic paint but dries clear. Once dry, the gel was painted with white artist’s acrylic paint and then coated with future to get a gloss wet shine.

Diorama Detail

Figures. The 5 figures are all re-purposed from the Airfix RAF ground crew set and made from older plastic that doesn’t sand at all well and have large flash and mold lines down each leg and arm which are hard to remove. They are simply tan painted and detailed although actual Mediterranean Luftwaffe wore mostly shorts and short sleeve shirts. The trolley is a modified RAF starter cart to carry the 250 lb. bombs cut off of the Arado kit.

Launch Ramp.  I used fine electrical copper wire to make eyelets for the rope on each float and set into drilled holes with CA glue then painted with Testors aluminum paint. The bollards set into the ramp are the butts of 1/35 scale Tamiya Sten guns glued into the ramp and stained with rust paint and a mixture of thinners and Valejo brown wreathing pastel.

Dock Detail. The dock was made from individual planks cut from thin balsa wood sheet, fine sanded with 800 grit paper and glued together with white glue. It was painted with thinned Tamiya acrylic paint to show the wood grain. Un-thinned paint was used to detail the rusted nails.

Foliage.

The foliage (Grass: T42 fine turf earth; Reeds: FG173 Field Grass; Bushes: Realistic Tree Kit) in the diorama is from Woodland Scenics. Acrylic paint was used to highlight the bushes to a more dried Mediterranean look.

Conclusion

Overall this was a very nice kit to build even though it is an older 1966 Airfix mold. Decals are new in 2011 and they show well. The plastic is nice and hard, easy to trim and sand with limited flashing and minor parting mold lines. Resin water is definitely an acquired art and it’s highly recommended to practice on smaller (2-4 inch size) dioramas to test the drying, layering and surface effects.