Repairing Reinstating and Creating Surface Detail
with Julian Seddon (and Geoff Coughlin)

What’s ‘oil-canning’? I hear you ask…. (intro by Geoff C)
It’s the name some modellers give to the stressed metal effects typically seen on some real aircraft. Take a look at the following photos to see the effect on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Avro Lancaster…

The Lancaster is the most famous and successful RAF heavy Bomber of World War Two. It is a legend that lives on today and the contribution made by the aircraft and its crews to the freedom of our nation should never be forgotten.
7,377 Lancasters were built between 1941 and early 1946. Of these, some 3,500 were lost on operations.
The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (RAF-BBMF) is administratively part of the Royal Air Force No 1 Group and operates from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. They have Spitfires, Hurricanes, a Lancaster and Dakota as well as Chipmunks in the flight.
The aircraft are regularly seen at events commemorating World War II, upon British State occasions, notably the Trooping the Colour celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday and at air displays throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
…and here are a few more to see how extensive the stressed metal appears on the real aircraft.
There are a number of aircraft that come to mind where the effect is very noticeable: BAe Hawk (fuselage sides just behind the cockpit and towards the rear end)
The effect can be quite extreme, as on many Boeing B-52 strategic bombers…

