Dam buster Lancaster

I'm trying to find some details to complete the Hasegawa Dam Buster Lancaster. Specifically I am trying to find out the shape of the small fuselage window below the bomb aimer's blister. The Tamiya kit has the larger rectangular one.

So far I have: fuselage windows unpainted, needle props instead of the broader paddle blade ones (anyone know of a source for these? Aeroclub?), and the larger bomb aimer's blister (using the Falcon vac-formed one). The colour of the bomb is another issue...one reference I read said that they were delivered green but almost certainly painted black before the raid. Just wish I could find that reference!

Any help would be appreciated,

Bri

Reply to
Brian
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snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com (Brian) wrote in :

I've got a photo of the dam buster bomb that's in the Duxford collection. I'll check it when I get home. IIRC it's mostly rust brown, though.

Reply to
Harro de Jong

I checked the photo. It was severely underexposed, so most of the color information is lost in noise. The color could have been dark green or black.

Reply to
Harro de Jong

Wherever you are located, Maryland Public TV is running a segment on the Dams raid right now. Just started at 9, I don't know if any other Public TV stations have it.

Bill Shuey

Harro de J>

Reply to
William H. Shuey

I'm in New Zealand, so not able to see the US TV series. Probably one of the ones I have seen... hopefully! Thanks for the advice though.

Harro, ta for the information on the colour of the mine, I think that matt black is pretty safe.

Anybody got any suggestions for the shape of the window beneath the bomb aimer's blister? Or a source of the thin propellors?

Ta,

Bri

Reply to
Brian

You could always email the nice people here!

We just had a tv programme on a few days ago in a museum and the person talking to camera came to a stop in front of ? Yep, you guessed it, the bouncing bomb. It was black but that might have been a 'for show' thing.

Richard.

Reply to
Richard Brooks

(snip)

There was an article in Scale Aircraft Modeler in either 2004 or 2005 on

617 SQN that stated that the bombs were delivered in red primer and were being painted the standard green colour of RAF bombs up until the last moment, with at least one still being in the primer when launched. Also one pilot (Young?) thought that the green was too visible and had his one painted black.

That info fits well with usual procedures etc.

The armourers had to attached the UPKEEP and then spin it and attach balancing weights (like balancing a car wheel) to get them balanced properly. You could do one in primer red with a bright metal strip or two to represent the balancing weights.

Cheers,

Mark

Reply to
Mark Bivens

Hasegawa Lanc? Already?? I thought it wasn't due until the Autumn!

Anyway,

the bomb at Duxford is rusty brown...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Hughes

Just to finish this off, I've been e-mailed a picture (Thanks, Brett!) which shows pretty well conclusively that AJ-C had the larger rectangular under fuselage window, same as the Tamiya kit. It seems to be an original Lancaster, not one from "The Dam Busters" movie because it has flame dampers on the exhausts, and the bomb cradle is present but empty.

Thanks for your help everybody,

Brian

Reply to
Brian

In message , Brian writes

A little behind on the newsgroup here,

Test bombs filled with concrete were grey, live Upkeeps were dark green

- source The Dams raid through the lens, p23, probably the definitive book on the raid. I'd guess at the deep bronze green that most other bombs were being painted by this stage of the war.

Reply to
Dave Swindell

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