1:72 Squadron Avro Lancaster PH-H - Panavia Tornado

From a night bomber to a jet machine

Few decal sheets offer two aircraft with seven decades of development between them. This one manages it. The first subject is an Avro Lancaster B.III with serial number LM321 and the code PH-H from the English station of Wickenby, the second a Panavia Tornado GR.4A with the number ZA395 in a commemorative finish for an anniversary, with the Scottish station of Lossiemouth and the year 2014. One thing alone links the two aircraft: they served with the same squadron of the Royal Air Force, with No. 12 Squadron.

Commemorative finishes for anniversaries are a tradition with British aviation and tend to be the most rewarding subjects of all, because large scale artwork appears on an otherwise inconspicuous machine. Setting a night bomber beside a supersonic strike aircraft, both with the markings of one unit, is a way of telling the history of a single formation on two models in a display case.

The code PH-H on the side of the bomber is exactly the kind of detail sheets like this are bought for. The pair of letters denoted the unit, the single letter after the hyphen the particular machine, and it is from these markings that the history of an aircraft can be traced. A modeler therefore does not build a general type but one specific example with a fate of its own.

Two surfaces, two procedures

Work on the two models differs fundamentally, though. The bomber has a matte, rough finish that calls for a layer of gloss under the printing, so that the edges do not give themselves away. The jet machine, by contrast, tends to be smooth and satin, and there the thing to watch is rather that large artwork goes across the edges of wing and fuselage without a fold. With large scale elements it helps to cut them into two parts along a natural division and to lay each one separately, because a single large piece will never lie over a curve entirely without a wrinkle.