Clunkmeister

The granddaddy of Canadian Aviation. Ultra rare aircraft, and they were loved up north.

Lambair Otter. These pics bring back GOOD memories. I loaded and unloaded these on the docks at Landing Lake as a kid. Got paid with some ride alongs and got to see the northern camps. 18 years later I was doing it myself in a somewhat larger aircraft, my freight after being unloaded, would be stuffed onto these for the trips to the camps.

Clean machine! I love it, Jerry! Those old Monogram kits still have some life in them, I see They were revolutionary in their day, and except for the raised panel lines, with a bit of tactical AM application, are still extremely viable kits.

Looking at your picture, Tony, and you've got to be the only guy I know who can do a visual inspection of the upper surface of a Cub's wing, FROM THE LEADING EDGE. Personally, I always needed to stand on the wheel, or better yet, get a stepladder

Tony, there's one at Hobbytown Plano with a very decent price on it. It's a big, imposing kit with plenty of options. This makes 1/24 Airfix #4 for me: Both Tiffies, the Mossie, and now the Hellcat. And I'm a 1/32 modeler! But I like the "new" Airfix. Some incredible detail right OOB, but not so "shake the box" that you don't need to work at it.

Danny, stunning work so far. I expect that you'd be able to easily get the helmet right, but the rest, well, what can I say? As usual, your work takes my breath away. Amazing job, sir!

Following this one as well. I love the Grumman Cats, and the Hellcat is no exception

Phil, you ain't supposed to actually go back and look at my previous posts... I'm like an American politician. I don't flip flop, I "evolve".

Andy, the Mk.X was just the designation given to differentiate a Lancaster built at Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario. The first several hundred were VERY similar to their British built cousins with the exception of the Americanized construction materials and equipment. They almost all went to bomber Command in Europe , and contrary to popular belief, were not held over specifically for RCAF use. however, many RCAF crews received their aircraft in Canada after training, and flew their new bomber off to war. When the RCAF was gearing up to join in the fight against Japan, the "Tiger Force", or at least Canada's contribution to it, took the newest, lowest time, most modern aircraft available, retrofitted long range tanks, and took off towards the east. Of course, it all came to naught after the A-Bombs ended the war about four years too late. The returning Tiger Force's aircraft, which had been gone through, tuned up, and had numerous modifications made to them is what formed the basis of the RCAF's postwar Lancaster fleet which served well into the 1960s, and is the one big reason we have so many surviving examples of this aircraft still around today. Rare indeed, is an actual British built Mk.l or Mk.lll. Of course the Mk.ll is an extinct beast today. Mk.X's were already sen with great nostalgia in Canada when they were retired, and very. very few were scrapped. Most went to museums or put up on pedestals as ornaments. The RCAF stated that the lancaster was wholly suited for it's designated mission of long range patrol, and had, over the years, been extensively modified to fit that role. Indeed, it was simply the tired airframes and the scarcity of Merlin repair parts that eventually grounded the fleet. Of course today, pretty much everything for a Merlin is, has, or will be reproduced as needed, but in the 60s, it was just an old, obsolete engine. From what I've read, when the Germans up gunned their fighters, the .303 didn't cut it anymore, so the .50 was a definite improvement. From what I've read, at first, Bomber Command was none too impressed with that modification. The Martin turret, in my opinion, was ill conceived and poorly thought out.

Packards of course. And yes it is. Placing an order today. I've always wondered at the actual differences. I know that as production went on, more and more minor changes were made, most done to ease production issues. Then later, other changes such as answering the cry from crews to give them something better tail guns resulted in the 50 cals being added in the rear turret. I've always wondered why Britain, (and Germany for that matter), insisted on carrying forth the idea of rifle caliber guns in all their aircraft, long after they knew how the .50 caliber outclassed everything else short of an autocannon. The Germans stuck with the 7.92mm and the Brits stuck with the .303.....

KB700 Ruhr Express The very first Mk.X, and pretty much identical to the Brit built machines, except for US and Canadian suppliers, fasteners, instruments, etc

Nice!! thanks!!

Ok folks, I decided to not attempt to patch in a high visability color like Day Glow Orange, so I stripped it all back, reprimed it in white and this time, shot the blue bands first. Next up is the Orange, then careful edge masking and touch up the Voodoo Grey on the belly. Anything I can do to minimize potential pitfalls by keeping tape off the orange is OK by me. I believe so, Bill, yes. I'll verify it tonight, but I do know I wanted an FS color, as I was pretty certain they wouldn't have just grabbed any old paint can out of the paint locker to do the job. I found out something I didn't know, though. There is an FS color for High Visability orange, and there is another FS color for flourescent red orange, which is somewhat redder and is what I use on my early USN T-28s. Who knew? Certainly not I, that's for sure. I, like many, I'm sure, seem to pay more attention to the mysteries of RAL and RLM tinting than we do the stuff in our own backyard. There is a bit more head scratching going on here as well. I know there is absolutely NO question as to the shade on the fuselage band, but the wing tips and elevators? That's another story. The shades seem to match in the period pics, but in others, the wingtips and stabilizers seem decidedly red. The spinners are definitely red, as they certainly don't match anything else. For such a well documented aircraft, there sure isn't many period detail pics out there. And that's half the fun, right? I've also read where the areas around the nacelles were often painted light grey, not left in NMF. Apparently to facilitate clean up after long patrols, I expect. I've seen them both ways, but for visual interest, I think I'll add the grey to break up those massive surface areas of aluminum. And for the distinctive walkways, I'll be masking and painting those as well. If I had the printer and software I needed, I'd even make masks for the big numbers on the bottom of the wing. I LOVE the look of painted numbers. But, one of the goals of this build is to showcase the work of those many individual and companies that have developed new products specifically for this build, and to show what can be done relatively quickly with a decent basic kit and a bit of passion and vision. We have so far: 1. A new RCAF decal package now available from Belcher Bits made specifically for guys like us that features not only a postwar bird, but also three notable Lanc Mk.X's that give us, with the HK kit, the freedom to create these icons of RCAF lore. 2. The possibility of the main bits needed for converting the Lanc X into a MR or SAR bird coming available in the future 3. The distinct possibility of some specially designed postwar block tread Lancaster wheels and tyres being developed and possibly released in the future. 4. Airscale's superlative cockpit set that's absolutely a required item for not just this, but ANY 1/32 Lanc build. It wasn't developed for my specific build, but you better believe I'll sing the panel's, Airscale's, and Peter Castle's praises to the High, Holy Heavens y'all. I'm a bit premature here, but I just have to say that the support for this project has been overwhelming, and I just hope I can come through on time and do it justice.

Thanks again, Carl! Seriously awesome it is. I'm taking a new approach to the high viz lower striping on the big Lanc, as the pics show.

And I’ll be following your build closely. I’ve built exactly one jet in a whole bunch of years, and that was earlier this year for a friend. So a Pole opened a poll to build a Pole. Hmmmmm

Funny, I just got the AFV Club version of that kit. I was deciding between Israeli and Polish. Now it’s simple... the Poles for the win. Pulling up a chair here.

Something incredibly COOL just showed up in the mail. Carl sent me this, and for once in my life, I’m speechless!!!

Ron, I can’t tell you much about them other than they leaked and used oil like champs, and, if you kept throttle applications smooth, keep the temps fairly constant, and didn’t overspeed them, they lasted forever. I’m loving this, Ron! Seriously. Keep going, man, I’m watching a master modeler at work here.

It’s looking every bit the predator, Carl! Right up with your best so far! Time to get crackin’ on and power through to the end.

I actually love this! Except for some of the curvaceous MiG and Sukhoi fighters, I’ve never been a modern grey jet lover whatsoever. But I’ve now changed my mind. This Hellenic F-16 just looks the part. F-16s are pretty much ubiquitous, but just realistically add the dirt on the airframe and you have a winner. It’s so very easy to overdo this type of weathering, but you pulled it off in spades! Nice!

That nacelle and wing is FILTHY

I thought that too, but this might be a bit much. The grey area I might have just made it look like a field repair, but I need the orange to be straight and clean. Out of desperation I used some CA and kicker to handle a stubborn bomb Bay Area. Afterwords I gave it a cursory wipedown and micro sanding on the outside. I think I’m going to find kicker fluid residue under the grey paint

So,... guess what happens when you get lazy? So now, instead of spending the day I had slotted in for applying decals actually applying decals, I get to spend half of it fixing some poor prep work. All I can think is that I was concentrating so much on the NMF areas, I missed a single area on the bottom. The top stripes are flawless, and the NMF is perfect, so we just pull back the bottom, wipe it down better, reprime and respray. And yes, they’re the same size, just the camera distortion. Otherwise, I’m feeling quite chuffed.

Well, it’s sitting there in a box with the fuselage together and the lower wing half on, and I just needed a break. F-5F showed up on my doorstep, then the Lanc hollered....