Blue Monday

That looks superb. Paint is very sharp. BM.

That looks good. It undermines the thinking amongst so many modellers (probably myself included) that all Matchbox kits are toy like and not "real" models. Some admittedly aren't great but some are really good. 👍 BM.

Work continues at my usual snail's pace. One seat is complete while the second needs a small repair that should be completed at the weekend. I have added the side frame and a representation of the seat cushion. It hangs out a little over the front of the seat base on the real thing so hopefully mine will look OK when painted. The next job will be the avionics/test equipment rack in the rear cabin. It looks like the rack is mounted on a large base that appears to be made from wood. I have made that from thick plastic card. I also added a small plastic card disc to cover the connection for the co-pilot's cyclic control that won't be fitted but presumably was capable of being fitted if needed. Next up will be the rack itself. It will then need some electronic boxes. Thanks for looking. BM.

Exactly. If Airfix get in early with a 1/72 AW159 kit, they'll probably corner the market for quite a while. They also potentially have two options with their current Lynx mould. 1. Re-release the AH1 Army Lynx in their "Classics" line as it was the only decent Army Lynx available, although not 100% accurate for a production-standard British Army Lynx. Feel free to include some decals for the Qatar Police Lynx too! 👍 2. Tidy up the tool with new, correctly-shaped lower windows forward of the pilot's doors. Then add an additional sprue to make a Mk7 and Mk9 Lynx (although re-tooling for a Mk9A might be a stretch too far). That would be sure to generate some good sales from an existing mould. They no doubt enjoyed some reasonable sales with their Lynx HMA 8 when released a few years ago. BM.

Another Matchbox classic. I recall building this one in my childhood too. Inspired at the time by Warlord's Harrier Squadron! BM.

Not much to report. I glued the rear bulkhead to the cockpit floor. The rear bulkhead on the real thing is not completely flat but has a pronounced raised section towards the centre two-thirds of the rear wall. I have tried to represent this with a section of thicker plastic card. When this painted a d dry-brushed, it might look OK. Next, I will try to make a bench/seat attached to the rear bulkhead and I might try to make a stretcher, some medical bags and an oxygen cylinder too. Things that these helicopters normally carried. Thanks for looking. BM.

That looks nice and clean. Great result from another classic Matchbox kit. BM.

I didn't make as much progress on the Lynx as I had hoped to in the last week. Here are the two seats with my effort at adding some extra detail to the seat backs. The added panel isn't truly representative of the real thing but gives an impression of the seat back. I should have been more diligent in measuring the exact position of each little detail. In the end, the rear panels are not exactly identical but one seat will have a fire bottle affixed to it so that might hide the differences between each seat. The fire bottle was made from plastic rod and wire. Again, far from perfect but might be OK under a coat of paint. Here it is sitting on the rear of the co-pilot's seat. I am currently adding panels to the sides of both seats. So far, so good. I have the last panel fitted and I want to let the glue dry fully so it might be Wednesday before I can finish off the work on that modification. I purchased the Airwaves etched set for the Airfix Lynx so I will use that as a pattern for an instrument panel. I also need to start work on the rear cabin rack for the flight test instrumentation. Thanks for looking. BM.

Notwithstanding the points you raise, I’d still love to see a new-tool Wildcat AW159 in 1/72 scale. The Lynx is pretty well covered in 1/72 from prototype through to HMA8 and SuperLynx. The Wildcat is all we need to complete the series! BM.

That Lynx looks stunning! Congrats. BM.

That looks fast just sitting there. BM.

Great to see yet another Lynx being built. Good luck with your build. BM.

Very impressive result form this kit! BM.

Not much of an update. I wanted to remove a portion of the raised detail on the floor that helps to position the front seats. I overdid it on the sanding with a metal file. I have tried to repair the floor with filler so hopefully won't be too noticeable when painted. BM.

Don't laugh, but I almost messed up this build beyond the point of salvation! While washing the main rotor blades in the sink prior to a coat of paint being applied tomorrow, one disappeared down the plug hole!!!!! 😱 A lot of coarse language ensued! Then I took the cover off the base of the sink and saw that the U-bend had saved the day! Off came the U-bend and there inside was one undamaged Lynx blade. Another quick wash and I was back in business. That is a big relief because otherwise, this kit would be dead in the water. That would have been a real shame, given that this particular kit is no longer available other than on the second hand market. A trivial issue given current global events, I have to admit. I am doing some more work on the seats as well as prepping the main and tail rotors for painting. I am just relieved this build is back on track. BM.

I managed to make a start on this model this evening. I started on the seats first. I thought about scratch building two new seats but I think I will attempt to add some detail to the kit seats instead. The rear of the seats actually have the seat belt inertia reels present! I will retain the reels but try to add a little extra detail to the seat backs. I have glued on some sheet styrene and when the glue has dried, I will trim and sand them down to match the seat shape. A fire extinguisher is usually stored on the rear of the co-pilot's seat, even on the early prototypes so I'll try to make one. I also plan to add seat cushions and belts as well as the metal frame on the side of each seat. I have also attempted to fashion a cyclic from wire and plastic. It didn't turn out too badly but it is far from perfect. If I can find a suitable spare cyclic from another kit, I will try that or perhaps attempt a second scratch built cyclic. I also want to add a longer instrument console between the two seats as well as an instrument panel. None is provided at all in the kit. It also looks like there is enough room between the centre console and the pilot's seat to squeeze in a collective lever. I might try to copy the tail rotor pedals from the Airfix Lynx as well, just to fit a complete set of flight controls! Thanks for looking. BM.

Box and sprues. The box has seen better days. The little window on the back always piqued your curiosity as did the colour drawings. The front of the instruction sheet. The decal sheet has seen better days but I'm hopeful it will be still be serviceable. I'll need the rescue markings for the doors as well as the roundels. The rest will have to come from the spares folder. The markings for the Army Lynx are for XX165. Oh, how I wish they had issued the serial for XX153 instead! The clear sprue. Everything is present and correct with no scratches, as far as I can tell. The rest of the sprues. Just as I remember them! None of the sprues appear to be warped so everything should be straight and fit pretty well. It's nice to see some neat little details like separate windscreen wipers and a representation of the mesh air intake grills.. I am still searching through my references for details of the cabin interior for a prototype Lynx. It appears there was an electronics rack fitted in the rear cabin for many of the prototypes and my earlier photo of XX153 seems to show it fitted with a rack in the rear cabin. I was trying to figure out if the standard test crew consisted of two pilots and a flight test engineer or one test pilot and one flight test engineer. I can find no evidence so far of a seat in the rear cabin for a flight test engineer who might be monitoring the data recorders so I'll go with a two-crew configuration with some electronic boxes in the rear compartment. I'll fit just one cyclic on the right side and leave the left side devoid of flight controls. I think I'll leave both rear doors shut on this model. I'd like to add some detail to the seats and also make an instrument panel to at least give an impression of a complete interior. I hope to have some initial constructions photos by the weekend. BM.

Yes, good to see that XX153 is still around and in good shape in a museum. Apparently, it was restored with some parts from XX907 before that airframe was scrapped. BM.

The Matchbox Lynx is a kit I have built in my youth, possibly in 1987, if I recall correctly. I built it in the Navy configuration after having previously built an Airfix Army Lynx and thought it wasn't quite as well detailed as the Airfix kit. The three-window door also made me aware that it was a kit depicting an older version of the Lynx. Overall though, the kit went together well and looked well beside the Airfix Lynx. Here in Ireland, back in the late 70's and early 80's, Airfix dominated the modelling scene but Matchbox ran them a close second. Novo and Revell kits could be found too from time to time but in general, Airfix and Matchbox were the big two. Matchbox kits were available in two shops in my town, as best as I can remember and one of them was aptly called "Happy Days". Happy days indeed when you were on your way home with another kit in your hands! Most of my Matchbox kits in my childhood were fixed wing types even though helicopters were my real area of interest. I think I built the Huey Cobra twice and had one attempt at the Lynx kit. As well as kits, I tried to get my hands on any books or aviation magazines featuring helicopters and in the late 70's into the 80's, the Lynx featured in many publications of the day. I even have an old children's book from 1978 that heavily featured the Lynx and its antics and looking at the drawings now, they were obviously based on photographs of XX153! These drawings of a barrel roll appear to be direct copies of a series of photos released by Westland in the 70's. I also have the Novo Lynx kit in the stash and that has decals for XX907, the second Army Lynx demonstrator and it is very tempting to build that instead. However, 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the first flight of XX153 as well as the 50th anniversary of its speed records from 1972 and XX153 was also the first Lynx to be looped and barrel-rolled. It was also flown in a camouflage scheme that was unique. Therefore, I think it is a machine that is worth attempting to replicate in miniature in its anniversary year. Here it is in the configuration I'd like to build. Copyright: Robin A Walker. The box and sprue shots will appear tomorrow and hopefully some plastic will get cut too. BM.

Well done on a very smart looking Lynx! BM.

I wonder if anyone might have any other photos of this Lynx, F-ZKCV/XX911? I am interested in building a model of this Lynx but I am unsure if it was equipped with two or four missiles during the test depicted in this photo, While the Aeronavale tested the AS12 missile on the Lynx prototype, they never fitted them to their standard-production aircraft because the AS12 missile was retired in the early 80's, as far as I can tell. There are plenty of photos of Royal Navy Lynx carrying four Sea Skua missiles but many of these seem to be promotional-type photos from the manufacturer as opposed to a configuration that was flown operationally. I'd imagine that a four-missile configuration, with Sea Skua or AS12, would be a heavy load-out for the Lynx and it wouldn't be able to carry too much fuel as well. The AS12 is a bit lighter than the Sea Skua so maybe this test was flown with four missiles fitted. I also found this drawing which shows the Lynx fitted with four missiles, but again, this could be based on a configuration heavily promoted by Westland. The AS12 is second from the right. I also found this quote online: " -Lynx HAS Mk 2 and Mk 2 (FN): first version of the naval Lynx powered by Rolls Royce Gem 2 turbines with a wheeled landing gear instead of skids, a rotor and a folding tail, a harpoon to facilitate landings in rough seas on a small platform. Their basic armament for the ASM fight consists of two torpedoes or two depth charges and for the anti-surface fight of two Sea Skua missiles (FAA) or two AS12 missiles." This mentions the Lynx being fitted with two AS12s. Does anyone know of any good references for the early French Lynx, even French language books, magazines or websites that might answer my query? Thanks. BM. EDIT (19/03/2022): I have found a few old magazines from the 70's that feature the early Lynx prototypes. All seem to indicate that the Royal Navy and Aeronavale tests with the AS12 missile involved the helicopter flying with four missiles. I have also found a photo of an in-service production-standard Aeronavale Lynx and that is carrying four missiles too. It turns out the Aeronavale did fit their Lynx helicopters with the AS12 and only retired them in 1991 after the Gulf War.

World class modelling! BM.

Your perseverance has paid off handsomely. BM.

Great level of weathering on your Huey. LD.

Great work on the kit overall and in particular, with the cockpit. BM.