1/72 Matchbox Lancaster

[Tiberious]

Just trying to 'busy' up the old girl.

To that end, I opened up the hole for the navigator's dome. I don't have a pic of that, because I split the fuselage seam while doing it... But here's its placement.



I then moved back to the wings. There should be a pair of lights under the port wing. I should have done them while the wings were apart, but I only decided to do this after the fact. And if I did it again, I'd use acrylic rod, but I used sections of clear sprue for this, measuring it and making the correct sized holes in the plastic.

I sanded both ends of them and then slipped them into the wing.





They're a little rough, and look better with a bit of distance.

Then it was onto the wing tip lights. I used plexi for this, as it is thick enough for just about any wing in 1/48 and does not fog with super glue. I cut four pieces to shape, drilled holes for bulbs, then glued and sanded them flush.






Then I did the escape hatches on top, drilling two holes and then covering them with clear plastic. I'll mask the windows for painting.



And then, to the flap area of the wings. I boxed them in.



While those were drying, I then pulled the nacelle halves off the sprue, to start cutting and panel-lining and removing the molded exhaust covers and inlets.





That's all for now!

[Tiberious]

I cleaned the nacelles of their lumps and pumps, and after adding panel lines the raised lines were sanded off.



Then I moved to the front of the nacelles. As they are, they are far from accurate.



I cut into them with a dremel, then used a hobby knife and sanding sticks to refine the shape. All four are pretty close to this right now, and still need a little more cleaning.



To keep the props off until after the build, I'm leaving out Part 48. Part 49 will be glued directly to the nacelle as instructed, and the prop shaft will be able to slide in and out with ease.





Now, I need to build the radiator details for inside the inlets - and finally get to those flaps...

[Tiberious]

Been a little bit since the last update. I was working on a 1/48 S6B for the last few weeks, but now I'm waiting for some paint for that one and I'm now back to this one!

First thing, back to the nacelles. It turns out I have some PE radiators, so I won't have to scratch build any of those. Just snip out and fold.



Not the cleanest, but all we'll see is the faces anyway. Those were painted up with silver, and then were given a dark wash - which I didn't take a picture of. Then I had to dremel out some plastic in the nacelles, as the PE parts are little too wide.




And, of course, I punched through one, but a little stretched sprue and glue fills that up.




A little shave and sand tomorrow and all should be fine!

[Vidar710]

Awesome subject, and terrific build!

Tracy