Global Scale Modeller

Not so long ago I posted that I wasn't going to start anything new until I'd got the two current projects off my desk... turns out that might have been a fib!

I'm hoping this is Eggy enough for inclusion in the Egg-thing buddy build - it's MENG Kids Lancaster Bomber


Inside the box are some bits - but not too many


Looks like the lower fuselage acts as a chassis onto which everything else is attached


There's a nicely coloured card full of what I assume is useful information in what I assume is Chinese


And the instruction book and decals - the lower roundels look a bit "interesting" but more on that a bit later


For the record here are the instructions which will in most likelihood generally be ignored...


All nicely laid out with factoids in both Chinese and English


Including a couple of pages for the colour scheme and decals




Looks like it should be fun

Having dug bits out of the box I noticed there were some nasty seam lines to deal with on the lower fuselage especially; so I called up a couple of willing helpers and sorted out the seam lines and also installed the bomb-bay and main landing gear which also left some joins to clean up and fill with a little CA

Instructional Factoid #1 - The Lancaster's huge bomb bay was more than 10m long. That's almost half the length of the bomber.


Bombs and props were also assembled and cleaned up


And the ends of the guns drilled out to give a bit of definition


And the mystery of that weird decal was also solved, in the kid's version the decal would be used to cover the wingtips from the upper wing part which formed part of the underside - neat idea, but we'll be painting those bits so will have to carry out some careful surgery on the roundels to get the bit we want


So with everything cleaned up or otherwise off the sprues it was all given a coat of Ultimate Grey primer ready for further hosing


That's all for now - hopefully the lads will be able to press on with this over the weekend!

Thanks for looking

Thank god you have some helpers
That should help improve your modelling leaps and bounds

Why do I like the helpers more than the plane oh wait I know I'm done with egg planes lol I'm try a toon tank but that's rapidly getting the same lol

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2019 6:01 pm Thank god you have some helpers
That should help improve your modelling leaps and bounds

Yah - I need all the help I can get!!!

Kingdan wrote: Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:54 pm Why do I like the helpers more than the plane oh wait I know I'm done with egg planes lol I'm try a toon tank but that's rapidly getting the same lol

LOL - this one hasn't been too bad so far but then I've not really tried to put any bits together yet!

Is that one of the Meng Toon Tanks you're playing with? I think there's a couple of those festering away in the stash somewhere.

Yeah it's a something with a Porsche turret I have no idea lol it looked OK when I had a brain wave pmsl

Kingdan wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:48 pm Yeah it's a something with a Porsche turret I have no idea lol it looked OK when I had a brain wave pmsl

LOL that'll be the very rare Jagdcarrera then! Oh wait... it's got a turret

Well the lads sprayed some Dark Green paint onto the lanc and then masked it up ready for some Dark Earth... I guess this went as well as could be expected...


Hit a problem with the Tamiya curves tape in that it actually started slipping off the masked area; not had this problem before but can only assume I'm trying to have too tight curves or something. Anyway after a couple of sessions of remasking and painting the Dark Earth and Nato black were all done and everything kept as tidy as possible


After cleaning up the bombs were installed into the bomb bay

Instructional factoid #2: The Lancaster usually carried a mix of different bombs. The biggest one was called "Cookie". Actually both the Tall boy and Grand Slam were bigger.


Because of the way the cockpit glass fits I'm going to decal up these parts and varnish them before main construction... well that's the plan anyway.

Thanks for looking

Well despite another chaotic weekend the lads managed to get this one over the line...

They attached the wings & propellers and then started on the markings
Instructional factoid #3: The Lancaster was fitted with four Merlin engines. The engine was the most famous liquid-cooled engine during the WWII.


I was a little disappointed that the markings were stickers rather than decals, but since it's for kids I guess that's the easier option. To be fair in places where there is a full colour marking like the roundels or tail flashes the stickers are thinner than some decals I've worked with (looking at you Academy!)


But where there is a lot of clear space it's pretty horrendous to be honest


So anyway we brush painted as best we could over the stickers and it didn't turn out too bad. The exhaust ports & landing legs were also painted in after everything got a coat of Ultra-matte


Back up top and a nice touch was the way that the cockpit "glass" fitted under a frame which made painting a lot easier
Instructional factoid #4: The Lancaster had a distinctive greenhouse cockpit.


This popped together nicely


Onto the rest of the glasswork and the turrets were assembled.
Instructional faction #5: The defensive armament of WWII British bombers was the Browning 7.7mm machine gun. This machine gun had a high rate of fire.


Turrets were installed with no problems
Instructional factoid #6: The tail turret was equipped with four powerful Browning machine guns.


Wheels were attached and we're done!


Here's a quick look round






It's been a nice little mojo builder and went together much better than many mainstream kits.

Thanks to anyone that wandered by and took a look

Absolutely b*&%$y brilliant.
Great build (I have a couple of Meng Egg builds, Tiger and a KV2) sitting on shelves.
Love your companions in build.
Puts a great smile on my face for the day.

DW

Cracking build and superb build review. I may have to get a couple of these 'helpers' as Grommit seems extremely disinterested in modelling these days.......

What an awesome little Lanc, LOVE IT!!!!

Donkeywalloper wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2019 11:56 am Absolutely b*&%$y brilliant.
Great build (I have a couple of Meng Egg builds, Tiger and a KV2) sitting on shelves.
Love your companions in build.
Puts a great smile on my face for the day.

DW

Thanks DW - if it raised a smile then my work here is done

onemac wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2019 1:40 pm Cracking build and superb build review. I may have to get a couple of these 'helpers' as Grommit seems extremely disinterested in modelling these days.......

Cheers Al, the lads were a great help although the phrase "more enthusiasm than skill" applies to them as much as me

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:35 pm What an awesome little Lanc, LOVE IT!!!!

Thanks mate

That’s come out freaking awesome the lads have done a great job do they do contract work because I’ve got a couple of kits they could do pmsl great work mate

Kingdan wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:12 am That’s come out freaking awesome the lads have done a great job do they do contract work because I’ve got a couple of kits they could do pmsl great work mate

LOL cheers Dan, but I wouldn't let those two anywhere near scaffolding!