FME erk

Its never a good thing when you have to go your separate ways but life goes on . . . After being together with my ex for nearly 30 yrs, its take time to adjust but adjust you will . . . Good luck with the move, I hope you soon settle down and start the modelling process once again . . . Ian

Decided to give this ago . . . Its been some time since I put glue to plastic so I hope this will kick start a new phrase of interest which will lead me back to my 32nd scale Lancaster . . . Some progress from the last couple of days . . . best regards to all Ian

What was his christian name Iain? I have written the history of 100 and its always nice to have a full name rather than Pilot Officer 'Kite' etc I take it Can.J.23711 was his Service Number RCAF Ian

Any details you can share would be wonderful, a crew photo perhaps ??

G. I formed the RAF Waltham Association and met with Roy Bailey who told me he and Bruce were the sole survivors from being shot down. Bruce wrote to me with his memories and added to the story of the events of that night. I only have the photo of the ground crew in front of the aircraft and this will hopefully be in my book which is currently at a publishers . . . Ian

Well done Carl Its been a pleasure to have been along the ride . . . Ian

Carl I just read through the whole of the build so far . . . What a size she is and after a number of issues you have turned this into a beauty . . . Feel inspired to get back onto my Lancaster as its been a while . . . I look forward to seeing the completed aircraft, cracking artwork as well Ian

I followed a link that gave details of new kits coming out and thought how useful they might be for crew transport, particularly the second example (thinking more along the lines of twin and four engine jobbies) to compliment a Mosquito or Lancaster . . . . https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3207997686195183&set=p.3207997686195183&type=3 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3208012392860379&set=p.3208012392860379&type=3

Mark Its great to see this build, I have a couple in the wings awaiting the day when I can put them together and your build seems so straight forward so hopefully no issues for the rest of us to worry about . . . .

I have started a small mojo booster build so I think the Lancaster will be making a return quite soon . . .

Enjoying your build Carl, spotted many mods that I also have carried out. I'm hoping by reading your thread it may get me back to the bench . . . . Carry on the good work Ian

In case you guys haven't seen this yet . . . . I altered the settings to obtain English sub-titles but you dont need them to appreciate the detailing . . . WOW

If such a fuel vehicle isnt available, scratch build your own . . . sadly we cant wait for manufacturer to always produce what we want/need I'm in the throws of buildin a crew bus as well . . . Truth is that these are 35th scale but as a back drop to the hugh Lancaster I dont think anybody will notice . . . .

Apparently the 0.5 were prone to stoppages (?) whereas the .303 were very reliable plus, even the RAF gunners considered that havin a bank of four machine guns concentrating fire at close range was pretty good. I cant remember the firing rate but it was a lot of bullets (rounds) for a short burst. Night combats lasted but seconds and usually at close range so it was exceptable . . .

I'm sorry there have been no updates, In recent weeks I lost my partner due to a heart condition . . .

Its a 16ft base Nissen hut with a length of 36ft. 16ft - 32nd: 152mm 36ft -32nd: 342mm

I posted the detail under its own heading 'Nissen hut' (scratch build)

The Nissen hut was designed by a South African engineer from his mining days, Col. Nissen, prior to WWI The size that I shall base my diorama on will be on an 8ft x 4ft board and it will only hold One 32nd HK Lancaster . . . There will be some support vehicles & ground equipment as well (yet to build the battery starter cart from IconicAir).

Been asked to show my large scale Nissen hut that will serve as a backdrop for my up-coming Lancaster diorama . . . A simple 6" plastic pipe cut to the appropriate size, some embossed timber on plasti-card and some square micro-strip. Hopefully the photos are self-explanatory and the finished result rgds Ian

Kai I found this from a chap who was on my squadron (100 Sqdn.) stationed at RAF Grimsby, listen at the very begining to what he says . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAeIv35Qlxs Ian

It sure would Carl . . .

The scratch built and correct fitting for the flight-engineers seat in all Lancaster aircraft . . . . For those not aware, the seat dropped down and the two rails ran up the channels and stopped at the top and in essence formed a triangle, the foot of the support frame didnt move from its base position I will secure it when I have the to halves together as there is a few more bits of equipment to add before doing that such as a canvas back rest for the flight engineer. Ian

My Dad was a founding member of the Auster pilots club along with Jim Simes . . . .

The bomb-aimer was only required to lay down on the bomb run however, in the nose he could also act as a look out for landmarks and report these to the navigator. With electronic aids being used into late 44 and 1945 some bomb-aimers also sat along side the nav to monitor certain equipment, (what exactly I dont know). Here is a link filmed mid 1945 showing such two airmen, It has been suggested to me that the front man is sat on the flight engineers seat but I would suggest that seat would be higher plus, the front man is sat either in front of or slightly behind the equipment . . . Starts around 11 mins Also a photo showing a navigator not sat in a 'chair' but on a bench . . . I know this was not in all aircraft but it was in some . . . . Ian

Something to show after a period of absence . . . The rod bar on which to hang the seat the seat in position, I need to finish the frame then I'll paint it . . . its in the stowed position because I intend to have the flight-engineer stood beside it and how it looks from the outside . . . and because my Lancaster was a late production and I had it first hand from the navigator, the bench seat shared with him and the bomb-aimer more to come Ian