|
Harry Holmes "Lancaster - Combat Legend"
|
Published in 2002 by Airlife Publishing Ltd. A small volume but 96
pages long softcover. You get a complete type history and 6 pages of
colour artworks. There are a few interior and detail shots but no
line drawings. There are no scale plans but one black and white
three view artwork. The black
and white photo's are unremarkable and nothing you will not have
seen elsewhere.
Not of much use to the modeller. Pictures are not
glossy and mostly of poor quality. A so so effort and it is
difficult to determine what market this was aimed at. A bit of a
light-weight coffee table filler. You know you are in for a
disappointment when they prepare an artwork then print it in black
and white.
|
Richard A. Franks "Lancaster Modeller's Datafile"
|
Published in 2000 by SAM Publications. Without doubt the 'ultimate'
Lancaster reference for the model maker. You get a massive 176 pages
not including a set of scale plans slotted into the back. There is a
very complete run down of the then available kits and aftermarket
items (immediately out of date). There is a modeller's colour
cross-reference chart. There are plenty of black and white photo's
but they haven't skimped on the colour like, for example, the
markings colour section on pa ge
144. Richard J. Caruana has contributed loads of colour artworks
throughout. You get a run-down of just how good the available kits
are and how to build them. You also get pages and pages of line
drawings. Then there are literally hundreds of colour photographs in
true 'walkaround' style. The first section of the book does the
usual top-to-tail history with some typical black and white photo's,
but I wouldn't recommend buying it for this bit! The best ever.
|
Haynes Workshop Manual "Avro Lancaster"
|
ISBN
978 1 84425 463 7. "Avro Lancaster - 1941 onwards (all marks) was
written by Jarrod Cotter and Paul Blackah. This hardback was
published in 2008 (this edition reprinted 2010) by Haynes
Publishing. For your cover price of £19.99 you get 160 pages
consisting of eight sections: Introduction, "The Lancaster Story",
"Anatomy of the Lancaster", "The Owner's View", "The Crew's View",
"The Engineer's View", Appendices and Index. Those of you familiar
with Haynes Manuals will recall they became famous for the Owner's
Workshop Manuals for Cars. These books told you everything you
needed to know to take the car apart and put it back together again.
The well-known and quintessential format has been pushed into new
field in the last ten years to include topics as diverse as house
maintenance to child-care. How many new fathers have not had to
endure the ritual humiliation of receiving the Baby Care Manual from
a well-intentioned relative? Some of these books have been little
more than humorous jokes however even the light-hearted topics have
been professionally written and were never spoofs. The new Lancaster
book is part of a new series that covers the Concorde, Vulcan,
Spitfire, Hurricane and Bf-109. By the time you read this no doubt
there will be more. These could be poor exploitative books but if
the Lancaster version is anything to go by then this is the
essential guide to the Lancaster. Of course the intent is to appeal
to aviation fans interested in the nuts and bolts of their favourite
flying subjects. However, it is the nuts and bolts that interests
the model maker too. Obviously the book has little content covering
colour-schemes and history. But that isn't the point is it? This
work is more than fun. It is serious as it is based upon studious
on-the-spot research with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, RAF
Museum London, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre and the
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Basically any major museum with a
Lanc in it must have got involved. And what you get for your money
is exactly what Haynes is great at. This is a genuine (if brief)
workshop manual. It even comes with a disclaimer just in case anyone
has a mishap taking apart their real Lancaster. Just how many of the
readership really have a Lanc parked in the garage? The BBMF Lanc
was the main source for the work. PA474 is kept in airworthy
condition. This
involves taking it apart for maintenance every winter. This was
Hayne's chance to crawl all over it to show exactly how this was
done. Every page drips with detailed colour photos of the airframe
in various stages of disassembly. One might question just how much
of the modern Lanc PA474 looks as it would during World War 2 but
this is a minor quibble. This book is gorgeous. Maybe not quite as
complete for the model maker as Franks' "Datafile" above but a
lovely piece of work all the same.
|
Christopher Chant "Lancaster"
|
Published in 2003 by Parragon. I bought this as somewhat as a
mistake from EBay in 2005. It is an
extremely light-weight coffee table Christmas stocking filler of
little real value. It is one of those empty 'pretty' books for the
undiscerning audience. You get 95 pages in nice glossy format.
Pictures are crisp and clear. Some are interesting and useful. There
is a scattering of colour photos and artworks. Not recommended but
if you must have every Lancaster book....
|
Squadron Signal "Lancaster In Action"
|
Published
in 1982. Written by R. S. G. Mackay and illustrated by Don Greer. 50 pages
in very typical format. Full colour front and rear covers plus a colour
center section. There are line drawings throughout showing differences
between
the different models of the Lancaster. There are no scale plans but there is
a line-drawn layout as usual for these Squadron/Signal In Action books.
Photo's are black and white throughout but crisp and clear. Photo's are
generally useful and of good size. However, there are better books about the
Lancaster for modellers. |
|