AirfixAvro Lancaster B.II Model Kit (1:72 Scale)

Airfix has updated their Lancasters several times.This is the latest, and is stunning.(To show how far the updates have come: the first one, which is OK, did not have openings for all the many side-windows, only raised oblongs. This new one has holes in the fuselage, and clear plastic windows to fill them. This is a bear if you are painting last, because you have to mask all those many windows. But it looks great.)It's the first B2 version ever. The main differences: (1) a belly gun-turret, with corresponding fattening of the bomb-bay doors, making the plane look pregnant; and (2) radial engines, with circular cowlings.These changes are very well done.But the whole kit is superb. The panel lines are all recessed, and the skin of the wings, fuselage, elevators and rudders is all subtly GRAINED. This is amazing.The cockpit interior is very fine. 3 decals are supplied to perk up the instrument panels.The elevators move, but the ailerons and flaps and rudders do not. I like these surfaces to move, so I installed hinges, which was easy because all surfaces except the ailerons are separate.The bomb-bay is very detailed and good-looking, but no bombs are supplied. (Airfix advises buying the ground-crew kit for bombs.) I had many many bombs left over from the Trumpeter 1/72 TU 16, so I used those.Apart from the lack of bombs, the kit has no downsides, but be warned. It is very detailed and tricky to build.(For example: the radial engines glue to the nacelles, but the cowlings are only held on by two TINY pins on the engine-cylinders and the very fragile inner-cowling crosspiece, which glues onto the engine nose. That engine nose also holds the propeller pin, so great care is needed not to get any glue on it or the prop won't turn. All in all, fragile and time consuming, but lovely when built.)The prop blades come in for special praise. Instead of the usual paddle shape, they are all sword-shaped and aggressive.Amazing kit, but not for the beginner.

Airfix has done a Bang-Up Job on their New Molds; this Kit (the Lancaster B-II ) is one of them. Highly Recommend; especially since this Lancaster variant is the only one (to my knowledge) that anybody has made a scale model kit of.

Great service. The model is very nice. I am giving the completed model to a friend whose father in law was a turret gunner in RCAF 408 . I have a WW 2 pic of him, with the plane crew, beside a B.II Lancaster. This is a very hard kit to find now, so glad I did.

Before starting a kit build, I always check the contents carefully and thoroughly. The molded parts in this kit were impeccable; crisp, clean, flash free with nicely detailed parts, including recessed panel lines. This is the first representation by any manufacturer of the B.II version of Lancaster Bomber with the four Bristol Hercules radial engines. This is new tooling and it shows! The decals are excellent with the choice to represent two different aircraft. The parts go together well, except for the 4 upper wing engine access panels that were a little sloppy in their fit, but with some patient filing / sanding, they dropped in place nicely. The new design for fitting the wings to the fuselage is solid, utilizing cross members that go through the fuselage and out both sides, with the inner engine framing / struts and wheel well assemblies included for extra rigidity. When fitting the wings, the internal framing they locate onto will need some filing and dry fitting, until the fit is perfect. I didn't have to use any filler, just smoothing of all the glue joints. The interior cockpit comes with one figure only, has a decal for the instrument panel, a seat, joy-stick, navigators table and seat. There are some features on the internal side walls, too. The only negatives I had with this kit were that upon initial inspection, two of the small parts were missing from their sprues, possibly fell off during the manufacturing, inspection, packaging process. These were parts whose gates were very tiny from which the slightest twist of the part would break them free. The port side tail rudder was also broken at the tip, right at the gate entry point; probably due to the internal shear stresses that build up around the gate location during the molding process. But, I called Airfix customer service in the UK, who were very helpful, and replacement parts arrived 10 days later. I would have given this kit 5 stars based on the price, the quality of the kit contents, the amount of the contents and how well it looks when put together, but for those few missing and broken items obviously missed during the inspection process, I had to penalize Airfix for the mishap in their quality control. Overall; if you're a fan of the Lancaster Bomber, this is a must have, you won't regret it! For the beginner modeler, you'll need some patience, there are a lot of parts and you will need to do some dry fitting / checking before gluing. Airfix have come a long way since the 1970's, I absolutely loved this kit and highly recommend it!

New moulds. Nice fitting parts.if you are like me you built models during the 60s and 70s started chasing skirts and fell away from what you loved.Now you are older, have way more $$ and can really do some good stuff modeling now.You'll like this kit.

A larger model, which is impressive when build. Everything you expect from Airfix.

ランカスターは昔から近年に至るまで複数の模型メーカーから製品化されていますが、ほとんどがMk.Ⅰ/Ⅲで、Mk.Ⅱのキットはほとんどなく貴重です。Mk.Ⅱはマーリンエンジンの不足に備えて、空冷のハーキュリーズエンジンを搭載した型式ですが、アメリカからマーリンエンジンが潤沢に供給された為にMk.Ⅱの存在意義は薄れ、Mk.Ⅱの生産は1000機が予定されましたが、300機まで削減されています。本製品はエンジンや主翼まわりをゴージャスに新規造形してMk.Ⅱを正確に再現しています。液冷エンジンのMk.ⅠやMk.Ⅲと作り比べるのも興味深いでしょう。

The only downside is the decals don't stick well! Instructions were the best. Parts fit good. Pleasure doing this model.

Magnifique maquette produite par airfix. Cette version avec les moteurs en étoile sort de l'ordinaire. Une multitude de détail, de pièces en font un modèle agréable à construire.

spedizione rapida condizioni perfette ...positivissimo...sicuramente consigliabile per gli appassionati di bombers ottimo rapporto qualità prezzo. Il dettaglio è eccellente tenendo conto del costo.