hk models Lancaster B Mk.I, R5868, PO-S (S-Sugar)

[James H]

Lancaster B Mk.I, R5868, PO-S (S-Sugar)

 

 

It's been a week or so since I tool delivery of the test shot for HK's soon-to-be-released Lancaster kit, and despite some pretty crap illness last week, I made some headway this weekend and snipped some plastic. Most of what you see here is dry-fit, with a very small number of glued components. I've read on another site that this model has soft detail and soft edges. Perhaps that's the impression my photos gave, but actually having the plastic here, I know it's not the case, and is no better/worse than recent and contemporary releases, and is every bit as sharp as I would expect from a modern tooling. There was also a hint towards 'brand loyalty' too, suggesting that I would happily write nice words where none were really justified (in not as many words). My answer to that is bullshit. There's no such thing as a perfect kit, and this is far from a perfect kit. However, the Lanc is my thing, so here we go. 

From the RAF Museum:

Quote

Built by Metropolitan-Vickers at its Mosley Road works, Manchester. After completion taken by road to A.V.Roe plant at Woodford. Part of a batch of 100 originally ordered as Manchesters in 1939 of which only the first 43 were built as such, the remaining 57, including R5868 being completed as Lancasters as part of contract No.982866, serial numbers R5768 -R5917, delivered between Mar 41 and Aug 42.

 

 

Building a Lanc
As I have said, work at the moment has simply to snip some plastic and do a little test fitting. This time it's quite nice to be furnished with some instructions as I was building blind with the test shot fuse I received in Shizuoka. Unlike that test, this one required me snipping off all of the injection points which double as pin towers, from the circumference of the fuse halves. These are connected to the joint faces, which I prefer, and you'll notice that because of this, there are no pin marks within the fuse halves. Of course, the nose is a separate unit too.

 

Hers's a couple of basic mock-ups of the cockpit area, minus many key details which still need to be installed. This kit does have a serious lack of wiring moulded into the cockpit areas, linking up the various avionics panels. This will need to be added with some lead wire before I can start to add some paint. When complete, things should look quite different.

 

The bomb bay is around 12 inches long and is constructed as two parts. No other items fit into here apart from the sidewalls. The munitions plug directly into these plates. 18 bombs and 1 cookie.

 

I also did a little turret work too, and here you can see the rear turret sat in position on the rear fuse. Note the tail spar boxing and the walkway. There will also be internal fuselage doors installed here, which I'll add when the interior is painted.

More soon!

 

[Wingco57]

Nice, that strange shape on the stabilizer centre is a leather cushion or other material padding to protect the rear gunners nether extemities while crawling over it. Underneath are bolts and other protruding nasties.

Cees

[LittleMicksta]

The images are showing good clean detail.

Very nice.

 

Michael.

[JeroenPeters]

Really cool. Coolest scheme. Interested to see this get some colour!

[JeroenPeters]

And i think this is the first official online build!

[JohnB]

Looks like a really nice kit!

[Peterpools]

Fantastic and will be following with great interest

Peter 

  

[James H]

After a little studying of some photos, I decided to thin the wall panels adjacent to the engineers console, and also scribe a line under the console to separate it from the surrounding plastic panels. Here's my work:

[DocRob]

Use PE or just thin it . Yeah James, that adds some realistic touch, nice (and clean) work.

Cheers Rob

[Bomber_County]

Looking forward to more James 

[BlrwestSiR]

Great work so far James. The thinned wall panel is so much better looking. 

Carl

[Wumm]

11 hours ago, James H said:

I've read on another site that this model has soft detail and soft edges. Perhaps that's the impression my photos gave, but actually having the plastic here, I know it's not the case, and is no better/worse than recent and contemporary releases, and is every bit as sharp as I would expect from a modern tooling. There was also a hint towards 'brand loyalty' too, suggesting that I would happily write nice words where none were really justified (in not as many words). My answer to that is bullshit. There's no such thing as a perfect kit, and this is far from a perfect kit. However, the Lanc is my thing, so here we go. 

The photos are clear and precise, and show the area to great advantage. I wouldn't concern yourself Jim; I remember almost a decade ago the crap that particular Site allowed James Kelley to post about your review of the Zoukeu Mura Ta152 kit... it seems that unsubstantiated claims about kit quality and alegations of Contra deals with Kit suppliers is still par for the course over there; yet if you provide clear evidence of why the Hasegawa Bf109 kit is not 2mm short at the nose it gets you branded a trouble-maker. 

The wiring... I actually prefer to add my own. Much easier to paint and looks much better IMO. 

S

[mozart]

I've read the "soft edges" comment as well James, it was made by one person only and not endorsed by anybody else so I don't think it's an issue at all.  Personally I think it all looks b****y marvellous in the photos and, critically, you're the one with the plastic in your hands.

Max

[GrahamF@Iconicair]

looks great James, Nice to see some grown up comments on this forum.

 

Graham

[Bomber_County]

Never a truer word said in jest........

Graham are you attending Telford ?

[Grunhertz]

To be honest Jim the photos look fine, the problem is every troll in the world is lining up to have a pop at this kit. I don't know why I suspect that every thing changed because of the WNW kit but it's not out and this is. So let's enjoy it 

[HubertB]

Will follow this one with interest.

As for the comments on another forum, it is fascinating to watch mob phenomena. Since the annoucement of the WnW release in one year (or more) from now, comments about the HK kit have evolved from enthusiasm to bad-faith trashing. I suppose it is human nature to judge comparatively (and in this case, the comparison is between real stuff vs 3D renderings) rather than in absolute terms the merits of products .

Anyway, from your review pics and considering your talent, I am sure your end result will be outstanding 

Hubert

[Wingco57]

Nice touch James. That panel covers the wiring loom to prevent damage.

Cees

[James H]

2 hours ago, Grunhertz said:

To be honest Jim the photos look fine, the problem is every troll in the world is lining up to have a pop at this kit. I don't know why I suspect that every thing changed because of the WNW kit but it's not out and this is. So let's enjoy it 

Remember, everybody is an expert  

 

2 hours ago, HubertB said:

Will follow this one with interest.

As for the comments on another forum, it is fascinating to watch mob phenomena. Since the annoucement of the WnW release in one year (or more) from now, comments about the HK kit have evolved from enthusiasm to bad-faith trashing. I suppose it is human nature to judge comparatively (and in this case, the comparison is between real stuff vs 3D renderings) rather than in absolute terms the merits of products .

Anyway, from your review pics and considering your talent, I am sure your end result will be outstanding 

Hubert

Your faith in my ability is welcome! Thank you.

You are right with your comments on the phenomena. Another day at the plastic modelling criticism coalface. 

 

1 hour ago, Maxim said:

Interesting that the majority of those people that trash a kit before it's even released are often people that are arm chair experts and never build nothing. Both the HKM Lancaster and the WNW Lancaster appeal to different modellers. I think the WNW kit when released will give many people sticker shock. I can just hear those experts whining about the price. The HKM kit will give many modellers the chance to have a Lancaster in their collection who can not afford the WNW Lancaster. Both kits tailor to different modellers. The HKM kit is a nice accurate Lancaster out of the box. The WNW Lancaster comes with all the bells and whistles. We never had it so good.

We certainly haven't had it so good. Couldn't agree more! 
I'm really enjoying this build and looking at making my own little marks where I can. The aim is to show the kit in the best light that I possibly can, as is the same with anything I try my hand at.

 

36 minutes ago, Wingco57 said:

Nice touch James. That panel covers the wiring loom to prevent damage.

Cees

Dank je!

 

[aderowlands]

I shall have to live vicariously through this and the following threads when others  kits start getting put together as I have had to cancel my pre order and sell some of my stash due to a central heating boiler melt down. Keep up the good work. 

[Phartycr0c]

Supporting you every step of the way with this build James. 

 

[mozart]

3 minutes ago, aderowlands said:

I shall have to live vicariously through this and the following threads when others  kits start getting put together as I have had to cancel my pre order and sell some of my stash due to a central heating boiler melt down. Keep up the good work. 

That's a tough call Ade, I'm sorry to hear that.

Max

[aderowlands]

42 minutes ago, mozart said:

That's a tough call Ade, I'm sorry to hear that.

Max

Such is life. I should really try harder at this saving money thing. To be honest, the stash cull probably isn’t a bad thing, I find I put a kit away if it displeases me, and most will at some point through user error or whatnot and I go start something else, well if there’s less choice in the something else pile I might just be that touch more likely to persevere and crack on and deal with the user error I’ve just committed. 

[Clunkmeister]

The plastic's looking great so far, James, easily as nice as we were led to believe it would be.  I'm looking forward to the final result, and I'll definitely be building one of these, along with the WnW kit when it arrives.

This, along with the long awaited B-24, is forcing me to consider adding at least one new wing onto my house.

[Jeff]

James, I agree, FWIW.................. all the "Bovine Excrement" that is being tossed around , to which I am gob smacked at, BECAUSE, a few years ago who would have ever thought that we would have a BIG Lanc, and the possibility of TWO big Lancs....................AND the fact that you , my friend are the FIRST to showcase one, is awesome in my book...... IF there are items that one doesn't like in the kit, then the guy building has a couple choices, first off , don't buy it, second, fix it or third leave it, and press on..... we are most definitely blessed with ALL of these kits, I still can't get over the melt down due to the fact that there are going to be 2 1/32 scale Lancasters...... did I miss the melt down on the TWO 1/32 scale Mosquito kits when they came out.........................................?? 

I am looking forward to watching this come together, and I echo the comments above my post here...... this is an exciting time for sure...... I will lurk in the back ground and take this in like a new drug !  Thanks for sharing this with us......