In late 2016 the IBCC Digital Archive were approached by one of our volunteers, Geoff Hallett, who asked whether we had anyone who would be willing to take on a project. Geoff, who is a member of several associations had been approached by Graham Chilton, a member of one of the associations, who asked whether Geoff could find a home for a Hachette Partworks 1/32 scale Lancaster kit which had belonged to his brother, a keen model builder, who had only just started the model when he passed away. Geoff accepted the model and asked the IBCC Digital Archive whether we would be interested. We agreed to take possession of the model, and I eagerly volunteered to finish it.
Geoff delivered the model in late February, and I began preparing to restart construction. At this time it was suggested that a Build Diary might be a good way of promoting the whole process.
The first step was to unpack the box and to see what was inside.
In addition to the completed components and the box containing the parts that have yet to be assembled, the container also held a variety of paints and tools which had clearly been intended for use on this project.
I next checked that all of the component parts matched the instructions. I found in the process that one bag of parts out of 126 had been left out (almost certainly at the warehouse). Fortunately, a quick internet search remedied that.
The last stage of preparation was to identify all of the parts which had been completed (or partially so) and discover any damage caused during storage.
As can be seen in these two pictures the most obvious damage is to the broken frames on the Aft fuselage. Fortunately, all of the parts are still present. There is also some damage to the paint on the fuel-tank straps (some of which are partially detached), and one of the centre wing section ribs had been displaced at some point.
First, I removed the fuel tank straps, primed and repainted them. Whilst the paint was drying I sanded the glue marks off of the base of the two fuel tanks and then repainted them. Next, I very carefully detached the wing rib from its position with a craft knife, and moved it into its proper place before reattaching it to the main structure. By this time the paint on the fuel tanks had dried, and I was able to reattach the straps to the fuel tanks. Finally, I was able to reattach the broken frame parts with some super-glue.
The final results look like this:
Next week, I’ll work on making sure that all of the instructions up to stage 20 have been completed. I intend to follow the instructions in full and in sequence at this time, though if someone wishes to make any suggestions we will consider them carefully.