Lancaster

[Model Maker]

Received a "rush" request from my better half for a Lancaster for a friend of hers. So here goes even  before I have a chance to start to finish those already in progress.

- Scale is 1:72.
- Fuselage, wings and nacelles are cut from pine.
- Horizontal and vertical elevators are cut from maple.

I will create a tenon at each end of the horizontal stabilizer to attach the vertical stabilizers to. The verticals are relatively thin, so the maple tenon should hopefully provide adequate support in  case the verticals are accidentally knocked. Since the wing span is rather long coming in at just over 17", I opted for a single pass through wing with a filler piece to keep things simple rather than a stub in tenon design.

As usual, I have left a tang at the front of the fuselage and each nacelle to facilitate holding them in my carving clamp during the shaping process.

We'll have to see if I can complete this before Lou has 6-8 of his Canadian Air Force models completed. I suspect he will beat me.

By the way, have you looked at the price of wood lately in the big box stores? A couple of weeks ago, I visited the wood isle to possibly pick up a length of maple and poplar for some stands to supplement my inventory. Boy was I shocked at the price increase of all wood - pine, oak, poplar and pine. I have lot's of pine, but my maple and poplar inventory is a little on the low side. Should have enough for a few months though, so I held off purchasing with the hope prices will drop over the next few months. Not sure if this is simply a North America increase or more world wide.

[lastvautour]

Very promising project. I await your progress shots. Your Lancaster will join three already found on our site. http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/SMF/index.php?topic=1413.msg15064#msg15064

Lou

[Gearup]

Always enjoy the Lancaster. Looking forward to updates.
Fraser

[Boomerang]

Definitely watching for updates.

Gordon

[Model Maker]

Wing has been rough shaped.

Photo 03 shows the wing shape after contour sanding. A shoulder plane was used to establish the appropriate thickness along the length of the wing. The joy of a shoulder plane is the blade goes right to the side edge of the plane so you can go right into a corner or location where the wing slope changes. It's great for shaving across the grain.

Photo 04 illustrates the various lines to indicate the crown of the air foil, location where the wing starts to slope up, leading edge of the air foil and area which will be embedded in the fuselage.

Photo 05 is the completed rough shaping of the wing. I recently purchased a "cheap" hand cut rasp and used this for most of the shaping. The hand cut rasp certainly cuts much faster than a standard file and leaves a much smoother surface that a machine cut rasp. A few strokes with a file and some sanding with 80 grit sand paper quickly removed the fine grooves left by the rasp.

[lastvautour]

Great shape to that wing Ken. Thank you for the updates.

Lou

[Gearup]

I do like how you incorporate the holding fixture into the initial model design,
Fraser

[Model Maker]

Managed to grab a little working time tonight.

Photo shows the various stages of the propeller hub assembly

Top - Jig for cutting the propellers the same length. The flowers are from an attempt at dot art on some wooden Easter eggs - Maybe next year
Middle Left - Propellers with holding tabs still attached. I used the 1" belt sander to sand a twist into them
Middle Middle - Hub with holes drilled to accept propeller
Middle Right - Hub with bolt and tee nut attached. I like to have the propeller hubs threaded on in case a future replacement is required. The t nut helps to locate the bolt perpendicular to the hub fax. The wax paper between the tee nut and hub is to prevent the epoxy from contacting the t nut threads
Bottom - Fixture with centre lines 120 degrees apart to assist in positioning the propellers during assembly and gluing.

[lastvautour]

Excellent results Ken. I hope to see more of your work.

Lou

[Boomerang]

Excellent work Ken. Looking forward to future updates as well.

Cheers

Gordon

[Gearup]

Thanks for mapping out the process for building the props. Looks great.
Fraser

[Model Maker]

Have had some time to continue work. Nacelles shaped and glued onto wing. Tee nut installed at front of nacelle to accept propeller bolt. Propellers mounted for general fit up. Still need to blend nacelle into propeller hub.

[lastvautour]

Nice work on those nacelles Ken. Wonderful to hear from you and thank you for the update.

Lou

[Boomerang]

 Coming along Verrrry nicely Ken.

Love the propellers.

Looking forward to more updates.

Cheers

Gordon

[Model Maker]

Found the fuselage plans were off a little and decided cut a new one. This time, I did not cut out the fuselage to insert the wing. But simply cut slots to facilitate cutting out the the slot at a later time. This allowed me to profile the underside of the fuselage on both sides of the final cut out in a continuous manner to establish a consistent profile.

Photos below show the progression of shaping the fuselage and cockpit.