Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster BI/III

Posted on: Thursday, June 25, 2009

After being unavailable for the best part of two decades, this model was recently re-released to great expectations by our customers. Modelair received an advance copy to build which was to be displayed on the Tamiya New Zealand stand at the 2009 Retailers Toy Fair held in Hamilton.

John & Dorland accepted the challenge to complete it in 3 weeks!

The reissue differed from the original in a number of ways:
1. The mould is in light grey plastic, not black as previously.
2. Instructions are greatly improved from the 70's version.
3. Options for 3 aircraft, including South East Asia scheme in white with a 
late model 2 gun rear turret.
4. Extra parts include cowling covers, unshrouded exhausts, paddle and narrow bladed propellers, options for smooth or treaded pre-bulged tyres.
5. A more comprehensive decal sheet that include walkways & stenciling.

The kit was completed as the aircraft pictured on the box art. It was built totally 'out-of-the-box' without aftermarket parts. Dorland was in charge of building the fuselage while John tackled the wings and tails.  Richard was put in charge of painting the bomb load.

Here are some images of how the model build progressed.

 
Cockpit area painted & dry brushed with kit instrument decals applied.
Wings were painted before attachment to fuselage. This made for easier handling while painting.


 
Bombs fitted after being masked & sprayed.  The large "cookie" takes pride of place in centre of bomb-bay!
Painting & decaling complete. Awaiting removal of Eduard masks from turrets & canopy.  The pre-painted and completed wings were snuggly attached without drama to the fuselage.


 
Masks removed, turrets fitted & light weathering applied.  The mighty Lanc begins to take shape.
Intimidating view down the centreline shows the Lanc all bombed up!  The bomb door bays can be built open or closed but we felt that it was a shame not to show the cavenous appearance of a full bomb load.



From grey plastic to this in 60 hours!

THE BUILD:
This model clicked together like you'd expect a Tamiya kit to, with one exception:-

The fit of the cowlings to the nacelles required a lot of filling and sanding, as was the case with the original kit. 

After much consideration we decided to tackle this job by dividing the build into two parts.  The wing assemblies were completed as one part and the fuselage as another.  Both parts were mated together at the very end.  Normal test fitting of these parts prior to painting ensured that we did not have an issues at the final hurdle.

As a general rule this also helped with the handling of the model by reducing the size of the parts you had to cope with.

It was also useful in that we had more than one person able to work on the build at one time.


Camouflage masking was done with rolled up Blu-Tac. The Eduard canopy mask set was our only concession to our after-market rule, and a must as a time saver (available soon from Modelair - ORDER YOUR's NOW!).

Worth buying this kit? John and Dorland say "You Bet!"

The finished model is now here & on display at Modelair.
Feel free to pop in and view it.