Growing up in the 1980s, I found myself enthralled by World
War 2 history. My grandparents’ generation had lived as adults through WW2 and
even 40 years later, it seemed to my young eyes that all the best films, the best
comics – and the best model kits – were focused on WW2. In Britain we maintain
a strong remembrance of previous wars, particularly WW2, so growing up I was
accustomed to seeing the RAF's surviving Lancaster flying over each year as
part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and naturally I was very
impressed by this mighty, rumbling, graceful machine.
Back in the 21st Century, and I realised recently
that I have never built a model Lancaster. It occurred to me at the same time
that some acquaintances of mine are involved with an armed forces charity, and
a plan began to form: what if I made a model Lancaster diorama as a fundraiser
for them? They quickly agreed and work began earlier this summer. The plan is
to create a diorama showing a Lancaster being readied by ground personnel for
an evening mission at a Lincolnshire bomber base.
The main focus will be the Lancaster, of course, and for
this I chose the Revell Lancaster Mk.I/III kit in 1/72 scale. This has turned
out to be a decent kit with good detail and nice build options. I deliberately
didn’t select one of the Dambuster Lancaster kits available because I wanted
the model to represent a typical aircraft preparing for a typical mission,
rather than a one-off.
The Lancaster is currently about 75% finished. The main
assembly is complete, together with the finished paintwork and decals, with the
propellers, landing gear, gun turrets and cockpit glazing still to add. The
rear vertical stabilisers are finished but still to be added.
To
add some life to the scene, I will be adding some ground personnel and RAF
vehicles to the display. Luckily, Airfix have just released their WW2 RAF Bomber Re-Supply set, and I will be making good use of the excellent vehicles and
ground accessories within to give some purpose to my display. I will also add
some figures from Revell and Airfix RAF personnel kits.
Airfix RAF Bedford in progress
Next jobs on A Quiet Evening in Lincolnshire:
Finish the Lancaster
Build the ground vehicles
Finish the ground base and figures
No comments:
Post a Comment