1/48 Tamiya Lancaster. RAF Squadron 101

[chuck540z3]

I would like to ask of you, if you wouldn't mind letting me know exactly which colours/paint codes and band of paint you used for your lanc, I have had a few builds of WW2 aircraft and have never had an end result quite as go as yours looks.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, same question again for your bombs..

Thank You..

Tony..

Thanks again. Tony

Thanks Tony!

I use Model Master (Testors) enamels, mostly because they're readily available in Western Canada and because I hate their acrylic line, which I've always had adhesion problems with. The 2 main camo colors are:

RAF Dark Green (#2060) and

Dark Earth (#2054), which looks very green until you paint it beside the dark green above.

These paints dry very quickly even though they're enamels, so you can touch them after drying about an hour without leaving finger prints. For the salt weathering process, this is a must.

Because this Lanc should have been weathered with lots of sun and rain, I added some flat white to lighten them up before I sprayed them in thin coats to retain the pre-shading. With all the dark washes added later, this will get the colors looking quite dark anyway, so you want to start out on the light side to begin with. Don't spray the entire model the lighter Dark Earth color than the Dark Green, or you'll lose the pre-shading effect due to too much coverage.

For the black sides, I used flat black, again with added white for the same reasons. The underside, which presumably saw less sun, was painted with flat black without any added white.

Make sure you spray fairly close at fairly low pressure, or you'll get balled up "paint dust" if you spray from a distance. This is because these paints dry so quickly they get blown around. This is much less of a problem with gloss black for example, but I find it takes forever to dry properly.

For the bombs, I just used the RAF Dark Green and lightened it further with white. There's not a lot of color photographs of war-time RAF bombs, so it's anybody's guess what the true color should be. The one's I can find are recently painted, which may not be the correct color.

Good Luck!

[chuck540z3]

Thanks for the little 'thankyou' Chuck its very much appreciated and glad our forum and I could help a little

But you deserve all the credit in making such a fine model and after seeing how you have made the spent

bullet chutes for the rear turret out of an aluminum can, you've got me modding all my rear turrets now !

Cheers.

ian.

Hey, thanks to you my model has all sorts of stuff like "cable cutters". I don't think I've seen another model with them on before, but I'm sure many will have them now!

That soda/pop can idea for making "brass" parts I actually thought of myself, but it turns out it's such an obvious material that many others have used it long before I did. Get a photo-etch bender tool and you can make all kinds of stuff out of aluminum cans.

[KRI76]

This is by far the very best Lancaster I've ever seen!

Huge congratulations for an awesome work!

/Kristian

[ian lanc]

Get a photo-etch bender tool and you can make all kinds of stuff out of aluminum cans.

I sometimes wonder were my brains are ! I've got a PE bender and didn't even use it !

i scoured the ally' with a sharp knife then bent it over a steel rule, what a numpty i am... use a PE bender <_<

ian.

[chuck540z3]

I`m posting this today as a final tribute to my Uncle Will, who passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 89. He had several bouts with cancer, a heart attack and even a stroke along life`s journey, but he always fought them back with a positive attitude and had a very high quality of life until the very end. I will miss him deeply, I am very sad, but I celebrate his long and fruitful life.

The other reason I post this update, is to challenge some of you modelers who may have similar situations with loved ones who have served in wars to make a model for them as a thank you for their sacrifices, so that we can all live free today. It could still be for WWII Vets, although they are becoming scarcer every day, but it could also be for those who served in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. As I found in this build thread, it is highly rewarding and you can collaborate with the recipient on the fine details of the model that were unique to their experiences. Do it! You`ll never regret it.

Edited August 29, 2011 by chuck540z3

[VMFA314Knights]

Chuck,

Sorry to hear of your Uncle's passing. I remember seeing that Lancaster you built for him the first time you posted it. It is an outstanding job and I'm sure your uncle appreciated it immensly.

Your suggestion to do a build for a vet is an excellent one and I'll do my best to contribute another model to this cause.

A salute to F/O Willard Sawyer for his contribution in service to his country (as well as in life).

If I'm not mistaken your uncle co-wrote a book with his brother about his experience in the RCAF called The River Rats Came Home. Good Canadian history.

My sympathies and my respect,

David Mielke

[chuck540z3]

If I'm not mistaken your uncle co-wrote a book with his brother about his experience in the RCAF called "The River Rats Came Home". Good Canadian history.

My sympathies and my respect,

David Mielke

Thanks David- and yes, he did co-author that book. As you know, it's a story of 5 brothers who grew up next to the South Saskatchewan River who all served in WWII and they all came home. Pretty amazing, considering that Will was a Bomb-Aimer in Lancasters and his brother Ken flew Liberators in several missions over Germany. The other brothers like my father were in support roles (airframe mechanic on Spitfires), but they served their country nonetheless.

[JohnS]

My sympathies as well Chuck. Sorry to hear of your uncle's passing.

It was great he was able to see your Lancaster completed.

[HOLMES]

Chuck,

I recall seeing your build which was extremely EXQUISITE in HONOR of your Uncle....

AND I am deeply saddned to hear that he passed away...MY condolences and sympathies are with you and your family.

I too salute your Uncle F/O WILLARD SAWYER for his contribution in the Service of his Country and its Freedom.

Hero in Life too.

May HE REST IN PEACE.

HOLMES

[rm20886]

"May 7, 1945. Operation MANNA (cont'd). Dropped 284 bags of food (5,016 lbs) from 500 feet over Rotterdam. Many Allied flags waving in Holland."

As mentioned earlier, I took my uncle Will to the Abbotsford air show to see the only flying Lanc in North America perform. We had a blast, but boy the weather was SMOKIN' hot! 35 degrees Celsius with no breeze. Here's a pic of my uncle in the middle between my son on the left and cousin on the right enjoying a much needed cool one. The "umbrella" was his idea, which is pretty cool for an 87 year old....

Hi Chuck

I was reading through your thread on theis amazing build of the Lancaster for your uncle. May I offer my condolences to you and your family for his loss. I am sure the presentation of your model was much appreciated. Recent medical issues with my father-in-law has insprired me to build and present him with an aircraft he flew during the war as well. He was training in Manatoba as a pilot in a Harvard. He did have a slight mishap during his training when he was forced to make a crash landing after a landing gear failure. He has shown me pictures of the aircraft with the prop bent to pieces. I cannot read the numbers on the plane clearly so I have decided to build a somewhat generic Harvard.

The thing that really made me chucle about the picture you posted above was that if you look directly behind where you were sitting at the airshow. we were sitting inside the K2 tent. I brought that with us because of the heat. Small world it is.

I have a short period of time to get this Harvard completed. He has been diagnosed with cancer and we are not sure how much longer he has. I'll try to keep the build simple.

Reading your build in progress inspired me to get this going. Thanks!

Rob

[chuck540z3]

Hi Chuck

I was reading through your thread on this amazing build of the Lancaster for your uncle. May I offer my condolences to you and your family for his loss. I am sure the presentation of your model was much appreciated. Recent medical issues with my father-in-law has inspired me to build and present him with an aircraft he flew during the war as well. He was training in Manatoba as a pilot in a Harvard. He did have a slight mishap during his training when he was forced to make a crash landing after a landing gear failure. He has shown me pictures of the aircraft with the prop bent to pieces. I cannot read the numbers on the plane clearly so I have decided to build a somewhat generic Harvard.

The thing that really made me chuckle about the picture you posted above was that if you look directly behind where you were sitting at the airshow. we were sitting inside the K2 tent. I brought that with us because of the heat. Small world it is.

I have a short period of time to get this Harvard completed. He has been diagnosed with cancer and we are not sure how much longer he has. I'll try to keep the build simple.

Reading your build in progress inspired me to get this going. Thanks!

Rob

Hi Rob,

I was wondering how this old build thread got bumped up to the top, so now I know! My uncle also had cancer, but for some reason he was able to hang on for about 4 more years after it got serious. I too wanted to make a "quick and good enough" build due to similar time constraints, but the more you research the aircraft subject and the involvement of your father-in-law during the war, you will no doubt wind up doing what I did, which was a much more involved project than originally planned. My uncle enjoyed the build thoroughly and he even coerced me to bring the Lancaster to several meetings where I had to give a talk on the build, including the Canadian Aviation Historical Society and the Air Crew Association, where he was a member. He displayed it over his fireplace where there was a spotlight on it so that it was always front and center when he had anybody visit his condo. He was very proud of it and when he finally passed on, it was also front and center at his funeral. I was very, very honored that both he and his family thought enough of it to do so. As mentioned earlier, FSM magazine is going to do a story on it in one of their future magazines in 2012. There's no way this would have happened with a quick and dirty build, so maybe the same will happen with you?

Good Luck!

Chuck

[rm20886]

Congratulation Chuck!

You sure deserve to have the Lanc. you built in FSM. My skills aren`t anywhere close to yours; so it would be a stretch for me to build an aircraft worthy of that honor. My father in law trained at Gimli Manitoba late in the war. He didn`t get the chance to go overseas to fight but was ready to go. Fortunatly the war came to an end.

I have a could of pictures of a Harvard he crashed on the runway when the landing gear gave out. The best shot was taken facing the front of the plane and clearly shows the prop bent backwards from sliding backwards after the landing. He doesn`t recall the aircraft numbers on that plane and no longer has his pilot log book. After attending the Abbotsford airshow in 2010 he has dug out everything he could find associated with his time at Gimli. I took some nice shots of the Harvards at the show that day and also had some other shots from the Warplane museum in Hamilton, so I had some of those enlarged and framed. He is very proud of his time in training and although he didn`t have the opportunity to show his stuff in the war, I still honor his willingness to fight for our freedom and his dedication to training for the cause.

I wish there was a way I could find records from Gimli that may document the incident he was involved in. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas I would certainly be open.

Also, sorry to hi-jack your thread. I`ll start a new thread once I get things underway.

Rob

[kinnies]

Hi Chuck,

Great story about your uncle and a fabulous build. Your article in FSM is also super. Congratulations. You've also inspired me to start my Tamiya Lanc which has been on the shelf for years. I don't have a personal connection to the Lanc, but my uncle was a tailgunner in a Halifax - shot down and killed in 1944 - and my father was a tailgunner in a Wellington, but the war ended before he saw active service and he missed being shipped to the east.

Cheers,

John

[sweier]

Right off the bat, I thought that my uncle would have flown with Canadian Lancasters with Canadian crew, but, as with your grandfather, Squadron 101 was a very special one with crews of all nationalities including Canadians and Australians attached with English squadrons.

This is a very interesting end enjoyable thread. I like the way you use it as an opportunity to learn, which is also one of my motivations.

FWIW, here's a trivial bit of info to add to our store. In my experience the RAF would never have called them "Squadron 101" which I believe to be a US style. They'd be "101 Squadron", or more formally "No. 101 Squadron" They're still around of course, flying the VC.10

Something to note if you make a name plate for the model!

Shane

[Big Daddy]

Chuck,

First of all, my condolences on the loss of your uncle. These fantastic men are almost all gone and it saddens me to no end.

Second, your fantastic build has inspired me to get started on a 1/72 Hasegawa Lanc. I am fortunate to have become acquainted with one of my dad's friends, F/Sgt.Sam Dunseith, who along with my father, served for the RCAF in WWII. Sam was a tail gunner on Lancaster FM-178, BH-U, which was shot down by a German night fighter in July 1944. He and one other crewman bailed out and escaped capture while the rest of the crew were KIA. I will be dedicating this build to him and the Polish 300 (Masovian) Sqn.

Thanks again for being such an inspiration!

BD

Edited January 23, 2012 by Big Daddy

[chuck540z3]

Chuck,

First of all, my condolences on the loss of your uncle. These fantastic men are almost all gone and it saddens me to no end.

Second, your fantastic build has inspired me to get started on a 1/72 Hasegawa Lanc. I am fortunate to have become acquainted with one of my dad's friends, Sam Robinson, who along with my father, served for the RCAF in WWII. Sam was a tail gunner on Lancaster FM-178, BH-U, which was shot down by a German night fighter in July 1944. He and one other crewman bailed out and escaped capture while the rest of the crew were KIA. I will be dedicating this build to him and the Polish 300 (Masovian) Sqn.

Thanks again for being such an inspiration!

BD

Thank you very much- and my uncle had a very good and long life, so I'm just glad I was able to share this modeling experience directly with him. It was sure a lot of fun for both of us.

If you don't know about it already, the Lancaster Archive Forum is a gold mine if you need specific information on your aircraft:

http://www.lancaster-archive.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4

Signing in to the site is a bit of a pain, but there's some guys over there that know about every rivet on all versions of the Lancaster. I highly recommend you do some research there first before you start your model, because these Lancs were made in a multitude of configurations and you want to get it as close as possible to the real deal.

Also, drill out those gun barrels! I neglected to and now feel a bit silly that I hadn't done so before taking pics. They are now drilled out and they sure look a lot better.

Edited January 23, 2012 by chuck540z3

[Big Daddy]

Haha. I noticed the gun barrels in your photos but didn't have the heart to say anything. Good catch!

Thanks for the tips!!

Don

[rcaf_100]

Chuck,

First of all, my condolences on the loss of your uncle. These fantastic men are almost all gone and it saddens me to no end.

Second, your fantastic build has inspired me to get started on a 1/72 Hasegawa Lanc. I am fortunate to have become acquainted with one of my dad's friends, Sam Robinson, who along with my father, served for the RCAF in WWII. Sam was a tail gunner on Lancaster FM-178, BH-U, which was shot down by a German night fighter in July 1944. He and one other crewman bailed out and escaped capture while the rest of the crew were KIA. I will be dedicating this build to him and the Polish 300 (Masovian) Sqn.

Thanks again for being such an inspiration!

BD

Nice story BD!

One tiny thing though....Canadian-built Mk X FM178 wasn't taken on strength until June 1945.

Did some research and it would have been Lanc Mk III LM178, lost on July 24, 1944.

http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/300/300_losses.html

[Big Daddy]

Nice story BD!

One tiny thing though....Canadian-built Mk X FM178 wasn't taken on strength until June 1945.

Did some research and it would have been Lanc Mk III LM178, lost on July 24, 1944.

http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/300/300_losses.html

Oops. Good catch. LM178 was what I meant to say. I also got Sam's last name wrong (I am definitely having a senior day). It is Dunseith. He is listed as KIA on the PolishSquadronRemembered site, but let me assure you he is still very much alive. Thanks!

BD

(Boy, nothing gets by you guys, does it? LOL)

Edited January 23, 2012 by Big Daddy