The next part of the build was fitting the undercarriage. Obviously before doing this, you have to decide whether the undercarriage is going to be up or down. I was planning for it to be down so that the display (if I make one) will be the bomber on the ground with bombs being fitted and people around it, working on the plane in various places.
Actually fitting the undercarriage was relatively simple but again whether the various parts should have been painted before fitting or waited until it had been assembled is something I will have to think about for the future. At the same time, I fitted the flaps on the backs of the wings. This was one of those occasions where painting was a waste of time. The instructions show you painting the underside of the wing where the flaps go but if you’re fitting the flaps closed (in my opinion the most likely position), then the painted area is covered and just makes life slightly more difficult to fit everything.
At this point my new kit (the Bomber Resupply kit) and RAF personnel arrived, together with the paint for the pilot. Again the bits are very small but it looks like they will be fun. I fitted the pilot into place. How visible he would be when the canopy is in place is another question for later. I also fitted the bomb bay doors and the propellers. The bomb bay doors are another of those awkward pieces. They seem to be a bit warped in the mould and are difficult to fit properly. I ended up with a slight gap which I filled with excess glue to be overpainted. If I was more pernickety I think this is one of the things I would complain about.
Finally I put on the wheels, tailfins and propellers. There are two sets of propellers included in the kit and no indication of which ones should be fitted. I presume the same sprue is used for all the different Lancaster model variations but it would have been nice to know which ones were meant to be fitted to this particular model. If you look at the picture above, you can see the problem I had with the right hand wing (as you look at it).
The next stage is to complete the painting.
Part 3 of 4: Part 4