Lancaster restoration project.

As you may or may not know i inherited Garry's Lancaster model aircraft.
i picked it up after the on the monday and brought it back home.
It was in a bit of a sorry state with a lot of hanger rash and damage.
so today i started with the restoration.
i have begun with the nose section as it is small enough to get on the work bench without having to move the tsr2 model.
i need to re make the flight crew as the original ones suffered some flack injuries.
i also need to make new nose guns and fill some holes in the outer skin, but we will get there.





Tony B

Looks like a nicely built model, look forward to seeing it come back together.

I assume it its electric powered ? as I remember Gary being a bit of a convert ?

I built it for Garry four years ago.
he managed to get it all fitted out and taxied, but he never got to fly it.
so the plan is to bring it back to flying condition and then maiden her at the new BMFA site one weekend, either late this year or early next.
then i am not sure what to do with her.
i might add some scale details and take it round the shows, but not too sure what to do yet.

Tony B

Looking good tony. That model really does deserve to be flown and you're the man to do it!

Good luck with the restoration.

hopefully tomorrow i shall spray the nose section all black and then start on some detailing.

i need to design and print out the gun assembly for the nose and then take a look at designing the cockpit interiors.

this is going to be a long slow job, but fun... i hope

Tony B

Well today i decided to have a play with the bomb aimers section.
i have cut out all the windows in the side and underside.


then i tackled the huge block of wood that the designer specified in the nose area.

i cut masses out and then sanded it to a nicer shape.


i have also designed and printed out the first pair of browning machine gun barrels for the front turret.


next job is to design the rest of the gun mechanism and print that off.

i will get to spray the nose over the weekend... i hope
then i will have rivets and rivets and lots of rivets to add.

Tony B

the moment when you realise that the forward gun turret moulding is totally wrong.
the spacing between the bars is wrong and there are quite a few glazing bars missing.
so out came the 1mm Depron and i cut a few extra bars.
it's still not correct but unless i hand build a replacement i can't see what else i can do.



lets hope it will look ok from a distance when finished.

Tony B

Garry had this all fitted out and taxiing but I see from a picture in another thread that all the motors have been removed, what's the story behind this Tony?
I remember a while back that he was almost ready to fly it, in fact I seem to recall offering to pay him a visit and give him a hand on the day, I just can't remember why that day never materialized. ????

Pol.

Well i have been plodding on with the nose today.
i think i have nearly got the sides of the nose riveted. need to look at the top next.



my big issue is that the underside of the fuselage is not correct.
it was designed to have a flat underside to the fuselage, where as the full size has a curved bottom.
so i need to add wood or depron to the underside and then sand it to shape before covering and painting can continue.
i am having issues with finding good views to work from.
oh well i will get there.

Tony B

That's a job for life Tony Well done. Looks good are you using PVA drops .?

wood glue drops from a syringe.

Tony B

Tony
Would this help?
It look as if the underside is also a half circle.

Nice pic Q Lovely plane. It looks like it could take off at once. Like that Non colour scheme

That is a great help Simon.

the TN Lancaster is a fantastic model but just not scale enough for competition.
we shall have to see what can be done to get it to stand off scale condition, fingers crossed.

Tony B

Took the mid upper turret off today and cut open the top of the fuselage under where it goes.
i plan to add a gunner and some better detail in this area, only to find that the model has been dropped at some point.
there is a broken former in the middle of the fuselage, this will entail cutting it open so i can gain access for repairs.
also the tail end has been broken off at the rear of the tailplane cut out.
more repair work needed, might end up having to glue the tail plane in permanently for added strength at this point.

this is turning into a bigger job than i first thought and i have not looked at the wings yet.
oh well, i got nothing better to do.

Tony B