Hasegawa 1/72 scale Lancaster B Mk.I/Mk.III

Kit: No. E23
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer:: Hasegawa, from Dragon Models USA, 626-968-0322, www.dragonmodelsusa.com
Price: $59.95
Comments: Injection-molded, 292 parts (4 vinyl), decals
Pros: Excellent fit, great details, wing spars make sturdy model, fine clear parts and decals
Cons: Minor errors in decals and instructions

The Avro Lancaster is the perfect subject for Hasegawa's return to producing 1/72 scale heavy bombers. This excellent kit has fine recessed panel lines, and the parts breakdown indicates other variants to come (a "dam buster" has been announced). Options include three markings schemes, two types of propellers, alternate clear parts, ventral radome, and clear wingtip lights. It's engineered so all the clear parts can be attached after painting, preventing masking headaches.

The cockpit has suitable molded-in detail, with decals for the instrument panel. The extended cockpit deck serves as the bomb bay roof and center structure for the sturdy wing-spar assembly.

Despite having nearly 300 parts, the kit goes together with no problems. Those 16 little bumps on the wing leading edges aren't sprue nubs; they're the cable cutter heads, and they make sanding the seam, well, interesting. Masking over them is also a challenge. The wings slide onto their spars and fit into fuselage mortises with no gaps. All four engine nacelles have separate radiator cooling-air exit ducts, and assembling everything into the outboards was a tight fit.

The main landing gear is done beautifully and includes "weighted" tires and an anti-shimmy, dual-contact tail-wheel tire.

The clear parts are outstanding in clarity and fit, and all sprue attachment points are located so the parts won't be marred by their removal. The turrets have simplified gun mounts but look great when finished. The bomb bay holds 18 200-pound bombs and one 4,000-pound "cookie" bomb, and the correctly contoured bay doors may be posed open or closed.

The decal sheet features two No. 467 Squadron aircraft, coded PO+V and PO+S, with the latter in both its early and late guise. All decals were thin, right on register, and fit well with no setting solution required. There were two minor decal errors, the omission of the R in "Reich" from the nose art of PO+S and four black dots for access panels on the horizontal stabilizers. I scrounged the R from my spares box but opted to overlook the four missing dots.

The instruction sheet in my sample had a couple of errors, one specifying the wrong part numbers for the rear turret fairing, but this has been corrected by Hasegawa in later releases of the kit.

I spent 32 hours on my Lancaster but only because of the large number of parts and the magnitude of the project. The model goes together virtually trouble-free, despite its size and depth of detail. Boy, my wait for this kit was worth it - I enjoyed it from start to finish.

- Walt Fink