JohnRatzenberger Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 Background Alan W. Hall passed away Nov 6, 2009. Without doubt one of the major figures in aviation and probably the formative influence on plastic modelling in the UK, he was the first editor of Airfix Magazine, then creator of Aviation News, Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM), and Warpaint Books. One of the things he did was a series of aircraft conversion articles in the Airfix Magazine and later in SAM. Last year when Maurice Landi of Matchbox passed, the Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum (UAMF) did a "Tribute to Maurice Landi" group build, assembled photos, and produced a memorial book that was presented to his family. After some discussion, members of three forums -- UAMF, Brit Modeller (BritM), and the Airfix Tribute Forum (ATF) -- decided to hold a multi-forum group build with any Alan Hall conversion from Airfix Magazine or SAM as eligible, so long as it was built "the old way". The goal would be to also produce a memorial book showing these builds in time for Scale Model World '09. We may also have a display of completed builds. You can find more information and build threads on the three forums: UAMF: http://gregers.7.forumer.com/ BritM: http://www.britmodeler.com/ ATF: http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/ John
JohnRatzenberger Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Posted February 8, 2009 My Build, an abbreviated log ... I am doing the full build on UAMF & BritM ... Avro Lancaster Conversion to Lancaster Mk.II Airfix magazine, Oct 1968 Basically, the conversion involves creating a Lancaster B.II by making a bulged bomb-bay from balsa and replacing the Merlins with the Hercules of the Halifax kit. Props from the Sunderland are required (have them) and the nose turret from a B-17G (I'll scratch build this, as Hall offers as an alternative). One of the issues is that AWH was using 1960's kits, not readily available now. I found this out right off the bat with the Lancaster. The 1960 kit did not have an open bomb bay as do the 80's kits. I understand from the drawings and my references what it should look like and what I should do -- I'll just adjust as I go. 2 Feb Well, off we go. I thought I'd make a start at the bigger pieces. I dove into the Halifax box and came out with the power packs. Although not specifically mentioned in Hall's article, I figured I'd also need the air intakes, the porcupine exhausts, and the oil cooler intakes off the nacelles, so I got them - and a pair of .303 for the ventral turret. Then the Halifax box went back in the stash with a tag marking "Parts Taken". I got the Lancaster out and glued the wing parts together. After re-reading the article and looking at my B.II references, I see no reason to cut the bomb bay back to the middle of the upper turret. The B.II bomb bay was the same length as the B.I/III. The part from the rear of the bomb bay to the ventral turret is just a fairing - the fuselage contour is the same. So, I cut my 1/2" balsa sheet to fit the existing bomb bay and I'll work with that. I'll do a separate fairing out of balsa and scratch build a turret. 3 Feb After thinking about this, all that is really needed is to leave in (glue in) the kit bomb doors then carve a smaller piece to represent the bulge in said doors and the fairing back to the turret. This allows me to use a better quality 3/16" sheet for the fairing. 6 Feb Today's task was to get the engines cut from the Lanc's nacelles and I should have looked at all this more carefully, because I think I have just been bit by the fact that the 1960's kit isn't the same as the 1980's kit. I followed the instructions to cut the engines off, 1/8" behind the exhausts. THEN I looked more carefully at the illustration in the article. Note the apparent difference in the gear doors on the inner nacelles, not to mention the complete difference in the wheel wells, etc. More importantly, note how he has also sliced the bottom off the outer nacelles - that is not mentioned in the article at all. But most importantly, I don't think 1/8" behind the exhausts is the same place on both kits, because a comparison to the provided drawing shows my nacelles are about 1/8" too short !!! I shall have to put in a balsa block to build them back out. I guess that'll help when it comes time to slop on the plastic wood and build the rounded nacelles. This could have been worse, at least I can recover from it. I'd hate to think I might have trashed a kit in the process. Anyway, this is the start. After the Lancaster conversion, I'm thnking of the DH-4 to DH-9 conversion.
David M. Knights Posted February 9, 2009 Report Posted February 9, 2009 John, These GB are a great idea. Mr. Hall was truly the "father of modern aircraft modeling". I met him once at a US Nats. I forget which one. Very nice.
PaulBradley Posted February 9, 2009 Report Posted February 9, 2009 Interesting build, John - funny how things have changed over the years. And it is interesting how the more modern kit has caught you out, so to speak! :o I shall be doing a relatively simple conversion for this GB - the old Airfix Jet Provost T.3 back to a T.1, the fubn oart of which will be crash-moulding a new canopy - something I've never tried before! Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing more, John, especially how you tackle that bomb bay!
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