1:144 Avro Lancaster B.I

The striding figure from a whisky advertisement on a bomber nose

The best-known item on the sheet is W4954 with the code WS-J of No. 9 Squadron, which during the war was based at Bardney in Lincolnshire. On its nose appeared artwork taken from an advertisement for Scotch whisky: a striding figure in a top hat and a slogan about it still going strong. For crews who flew over Germany night after night, a line like that was more understandable than any official motto.

The second machine of the same squadron, LM220 with the code WS-Y, carried the inscription Getting Younger Every Day. The third item is the Canadian Lancaster KB837 with the code SE-X and a little devil on the fuselage, which served with No. 431 Squadron, nicknamed Iroquois, within No. 6 Group at the Croft base. Canadian crews thus kept their own symbolism on British soil.

No. 6 Group was the Canadian part of British Bomber Command and its airfields lay in the north of England. The machine with the SE-X marking therefore brings two countries together at once, and on a model that can be told precisely from the small details of the markings.

What the sheet offers the modeler

Besides the nose art itself, the sheet carries squadron codes and serial numbers, so the whole set of markings can be completed without hunting for another source. In 1:144 scale the letters of the codes come close to the limit of legibility and the quality of the registration decides the result; the printing is therefore done sharply and with a minimum border of carrier film.

Before applying, the surface is given a gloss coat, the decal is released in lukewarm water and seated on the wet surface. The sheet suits kits of the British four-engine bomber at this reduction; plastic and paints do not come with it.