Airfix Avro Lancaster B.III Special “Dambusters” 1:72

Remaining construction

With the silly putty masks removed, the model was left for a few days over the bank holiday. After this, I added the bomb bay fairings and the callipers for mounting the Upkeep Device. A few slithers of plastic card would aid greatly in aligning and securing the forward fairings, but I just got on with it and it was ok. Just take your time!

Tamiya tape was used to mask the hard demarcation between upper and lower colours, with the trickiest bits being the nacelle/leading edge areas. Hmm, it seems there is a theme here… Once masking was complete, Rubber Black was again used for the main under surface colour, stretching right up the sides of the fuselage. Some NATO Black and pure black was added for variation.

Decals

A good coat of Future followed, and that takes us up to decaling. I do like the look of these and I hope they go on just as well!

Well, two days after writing the above I can certainly say they do go on well! They are beautifully thin, but do have a tendency to wrap around themselves if left to soak for too long. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend you soak them too much. Easy. They are also pretty strong and stood up to being moved around on a wet surface without any problems whatsoever, and they also responded very well to the use of Microscale Micro Set and Sol. Top notch decals Airfix!

Upkeep chaps

Two cylinder halves and two end plates make up this nice rendition of the famous “Bouncing Bomb”, with even the 3 hydrostatic pistol and central self destruct fuses represented. In the case of the weapon carried by “E-Easy”, this self-destruct feature didn’t work as it was operated by a cable once released from the aircraft. Ultimately, it ended up rolling away at some point during the fatal crash and there are several pictures that show it in German possession. There are no official records for the colour of the Upkeep mine, but it is thought that the live weapons were painted in a dark green colour with some of them even being painted black to blend in with the undersides of their parent aircraft. The Germans have recorded that their “captured” Upkeep was a red-brown colour, which fits in with the fact that the primer used on them was also this colour. Therefore, it is easy to come to the conclusion that this particular mine, and possibly others, were kept in bare primer. To this end, Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown was used to paint it, followed by a coat of Future before laying the coloured warning band decal down. The weapon will not be weathered at all as they came pretty much straight from the factory.

Gunners reporting

The front and rear turret transparencies were un-masked, and much to my relief they looked fine. The two turret assemblies built up easily, with everything fitting nicely. The guns were painted with Mr Metal Colour Dark Iron. This goes on very dark, but when buffed it gives a nice metallic finish on any raised areas.

Read on…