The Little World

Well, you get lucky sometimes. I got lucky lots of times in practice – not so many in my second career. But one of the memorable ones in 2014 was a trip to Japan as a corporate guest. We were hauled around but occasionally let loose in the shops or cafes to give the tour guide a little rest..

I’d researched the hobby shops in Akihabara and could go directly to what I wanted. But while I got things that pleased me at the time I neglected to pick up the one kit that would have been worth the entire trip: a Hasegawa 1:72 Lancaster in RCAF rescue colours. I have seen it since in the literature, though long out of stock.

Imagine my delight when I found an Xtradecal set of 1:72 Lancaster decals that included this scheme. One step closer to the dream. Then when I encountered the new Airfix Lancaster B1/B.III in Sheriff’s Mini cars at a good price…well, don’t mind if I do. The new kit is infinitely more detailed than the older Airfix offering. It is match made in Heaven.

There will be work. The windows along the side have to be filled in and the panels rescribed. The top turret ditto – and that’ll be a task. I need to discover whether the turrets at front and back were used at all in the RCAF 1950’s fit-out – I suspect that they were just painted over, though I have seen an internet image of another RCAF Lancaster with especially smoothed nose. I hope I will be able to get away with filling the gun slots and painting over.

I note from the Xtradecals sheet that there is a bit of scratch-building needed for a rearward-facing camera housing behind the radar dome, though I am happy to say I have a dustbin dome left over from another Airfix kit.

This will be a build that is shared between club and home time, and it cannot be rushed. But as an RCAF subject, it is superb.