1/72 Revell (ex-Matchbox) Westland Lysander

[Rob G]

They were never designed as fighters, Army Co-Operation and (very) light bombing were the original roles, so they were hopelessly outclassed by even the early 109s in France (pre-Dunkirk), where they didn't do well in their original role - not fast enough nor aerobatic enough to defend themselves. That said, they came into their own as the SOE Special Duties aircraft of spy fame, and did sterling work there - I was just reading about it, 161 Sqn alone did 400 sorties into France, 293 people dropped off, 500 brought back, and something I didn't know was that the type did the same job in the Med and behind Japanese lines until VJ day. Pretty impressive.

My old Airfix one was done in black with the ladder and underfuselage tank, and I stuck the trenchcoated spy on as well - silly bugger kept letting go of the ladder and falling into the Channel on the way home. There are bits of it in a box somewhere...

Enough waffle. Build, my boy, build!

Edited June 28, 2015 by Rob G

[stevej60]

Nice to see this being built Stew,I built it many moons ago when it came out in the multi colour era,looking forward to this!

[Tomoshenko]

Liking it Stew. Canopy looking good. Ratskin Flesh...gotta get me some of that stuff.

I paid £9 for mine. Not sure if that's a bargain or not, but frankly didn't care as I wanted a Lysander. It's in the newer Matchbox boxing (I prefer the older), but it's still in the cellophane wrapping. It'll break my heart to open it, but it must be done. Here it is, hope you don't mind the piccie.

PS. I'll put my cards on the table, and unashamedly state that I'll be plagiarising and nicking your tips and techniques

[John_W]

I remember building this when it was a new release, feeling old now.

I always wanted their 1/32 version but never had the room.

[old thumper]

Thanks OT, did you do a build thread? I'd be interested to see how you did it, I am worried I might remove any prospect of the permanence of the wings attachment if I tried that

I - finally - finished the canopy masking and sealed it with Klear:

I am not very scientific I'm afraid. All I did was cut the wing joints right back until they matched the thickness of the canopy and cut a hole in the top of the A frame structure that sits between the pilot and observers seats. I found pictures of Lysander interiors and considered scratch building a interior complete with new A frame but decided it wasn't worth the trouble. The finished model is strong enough with the centre of the wings removed as the wing struts together with the 1 mm or so of plastic inside of the canopy are sufficient to hold everything in place. It was a bit of a fiddly job though, sorry no build thread.

[Mitch K]

That said, they came into their own as the SOE Special Duties aircraft of spy fame, and did sterling work there - I was just reading about it, 161 Sqn alone did 400 sorties into France, 293 people dropped off, 500 brought back, and something I didn't know was that the type did the same job in the Med and behind Japanese lines until VJ day. Pretty impressive.

And also did a lot of vital work in the air sea rescue role, of course.

[Stew Dapple]

Great progress Stew and we all knew you wouldn't be able to resist a few improvements!

It's nice to see the affection people have for these... I think it's the strange stance and somewhat unusual appearance, all that black. Although I've never 'flown' one I do hear they can be pretty sturdy, especially during 'night ops' and they... what? Oh Lizzies, I thought we were still talking about Lessies*

* Fnaar fnaar, and of course you score several for the comments on your holes.

Thanks Ced, I really meant not to muck about with the kit at all but like I said it would bug me if I didn't fix the things I can fix...

Following with interest Stew, I remember building one of these back in the eighties....gosh I'm getting old! Top work and patience on the canopy masking, you deserve a medal!

Rob.

Thanks Rob, imagine how I feel, I built one in the seventies

They were never designed as fighters, Army Co-Operation and (very) light bombing were the original roles, so they were hopelessly outclassed by even the early 109s in France (pre-Dunkirk), where they didn't do well in their original role - not fast enough nor aerobatic enough to defend themselves. That said, they came into their own as the SOE Special Duties aircraft of spy fame, and did sterling work there - I was just reading about it, 161 Sqn alone did 400 sorties into France, 293 people dropped off, 500 brought back, and something I didn't know was that the type did the same job in the Med and behind Japanese lines until VJ day. Pretty impressive.

My old Airfix one was done in black with the ladder and underfuselage tank, and I stuck the trenchcoated spy on as well - silly bugger kept letting go of the ladder and falling into the Channel on the way home. There are bits of it in a box somewhere...

Enough waffle. Build, my boy, build!

Gods, no, it would never have cut it as a fighter, I don't doubt some of the RAF Army Co-op pilots in France might have 'aggressively defended' themselves if they saw the enemy in time, but I imagine most of the casualties came from the very effective German light flak that accompanied their columns everywhere - so I think in the Army Co-op role the losses to enemy action would have been the greater. However for the later 'spy-dropping' work, landing an aircraft at night in a small, poorly-lit or unlit field in enemy territory even if not under fire is a different matter altogether and I imagine it was this that led to the claim that more were lost to accidents than to enemy fire.

I never built the Airfix Lysander but it looks a nice kit, better in some ways than the Matchbox, not so good in other ways.

Nice to see this being built Stew,I built it many moons ago when it came out in the multi colour era,looking forward to this!

Thanks Steve, me too and it was many moons ago indeed, luckily we have matured like fine wines rather than just gone mouldy

...I paid £9 for mine. Not sure if that's a bargain or not, but frankly didn't care as I wanted a Lysander. It's in the newer Matchbox boxing (I prefer the older), but it's still in the cellophane wrapping. It'll break my heart to open it, but it must be done...

Eh Tom that's not such a bad price, especially for a sealed one, I've seem them go for more and like you say, if you want it enough it's worth it. At least with the newer version the transfers might be usable, they probably wouldn't be with one of the early boxings

I remember building this when it was a new release, feeling old now.

I always wanted their 1/32 version but never had the room.

Same here John, hopefully we will get a new tool one next year or the year after and men of our age will not be forced to confront our mortality in such a graphic way as when we have to build kits we built forty-odd years ago

I am not very scientific I'm afraid. All I did was cut the wing joints right back until they matched the thickness of the canopy and cut a hole in the top of the A frame structure that sits between the pilot and observers seats. I found pictures of Lysander interiors and considered scratch building a interior complete with new A frame but decided it wasn't worth the trouble. The finished model is strong enough with the centre of the wings removed as the wing struts together with the 1 mm or so of plastic inside of the canopy are sufficient to hold everything in place. It was a bit of a fiddly job though, sorry no build thread.

Ah thanks OT, I think I'll give that a miss though, for the terminally cacked of hand like myself it sounds like an invitation to disaster...

I finished the crew and got the interior parts sprayed with Phoenix Precision Paints Interior Grey-Green:

The crew have been seated:

...and next I will install the interior parts prior to closing the fuselage up...

Cheers,

Stew

[CedB]

Your normal great work on the crew Stew... I aspire to your finish on those, even though I have your instructions

[Gremlin56]

Certainly is great work on the crew :goodjob:

[Les Moore]

Stew...your figure painting is second to none...well done!!! I like what you are doing!!

[Martian]

That interior will look fine once the cockpit is on and frames painted. I did one of these shortly after it came out and was quite surprised how detailed it looked.

Martin

[perdu]

blooming good painting there, they look better than I've ever seen the old Matchboxers look

[Mitch K]

Love your crew members! A source of really nice pilot figures would be great. I never liked any of the ones that came in kits. They were either not touching any of the controls, or touching something inappropriate for the context! And that's before you even think about the sculpting and uniforms!

[HOUSTON]

Stew,

Like the Lysander and you have made a pretty IMPRESSIVE start with your build.

Keep it coming...Lubly-Jubly indeed.

[Stew Dapple]

Your normal great work on the crew Stew... I aspire to your finish on those, even though I have your instructions

Thanks Ced

Certainly is great work on the crew :goodjob:

Thanks Julian

Stew...your figure painting is second to none...well done!!! I like what you are doing!!

Thank you very much Les

That interior will look fine once the cockpit is on and frames painted. I did one of these shortly after it came out and was quite surprised how detailed it looked.

Martin

Thanks Martin, it looks a bit clean and empty at present, but I think the wings ought to block out a lot of the light getting into the cockpit...

blooming good painting there, they look better than I've ever seen the old Matchboxers look

Well thank you very much Bill, they are not the prettiest of figures but they are quite well moulded so at least the details are fairly easy to paint

Love your crew members! A source of really nice pilot figures would be great. I never liked any of the ones that came in kits. They were either not touching any of the controls, or touching something inappropriate for the context! And that's before you even think about the sculpting and uniforms!

Thanks very much Mitch - I agree about the pilot figures, I had high hopes for the Revell RAF aircrew set but was disappointed to find they didn't really fit into the cockpits of any models I built... I think that was an opportunity missed for Revell, I know most modellers don't use crew figures anyway but Revell clearly thought there was a market for a set like that, and they would have sold many more if the figures had actually been scaled to fit... but they don't even fit in most of Revell's models.

Stew,

Like the Lysander and you have made a pretty IMPRESSIVE start with your build.

Keep it coming...Lubly-Jubly indeed.

Thanks very much Houston, I'm well on the way now...

I installed the gunner's combined hob unit and machine gun:

... and gave the pilot and etched instrument panel to look at (it's from an Eduard set for the Spitfire - don't tell!):

I had to use a smear of filler at the base of the tailfin, and a test fit of the canopy looks to indicate a small gap at the back:

I will have to see how it looks when the canopy is fixed, which is the next job and probably the last of the day...

Cheers,

Stew

[Gremlin56]

Hob's handy for making crumpets underway to occupied France. Seriously though, how did the gunner work the Mg? seems he could only cover one side at a time.

[perdu]

I bet Matchbox forgot to include the kettle and frying pan, good thought for the aftermarket guys

It might come in handy for Sunderland crews too

The IP looks fine in there, cant see any problems with that one

[Truro Model Builder]

Great work so far. I made one of these three or four years back, and you are now making me want to search out another. It's a lovely little kit.

Love your crew members! A source of really nice pilot figures would be great. I never liked any of the ones that came in kits. They were either not touching any of the controls, or touching something inappropriate for the context! And that's before you even think about the sculpting and uniforms!

PJ Productions do some superb resin pilot figures.

[JimHead23]

I love this kit Stew! It was the very first Matchbox kit that I ever bought. My local sweet shop started stocking them when they first came out and had one of those old fashioned whirly displays that you normally find sunglasses on.

It looks great from the box with a bit of detailing but the one thing I never liked was the wing join. You can still see it through the top of the canopy when it's complete and it really detracts from the finished article. What I did with later builds was to cut the offending tabs off and use two sections of wire to join the wings. This also adds to the look of the finished aircraft and also gives you a little bit of play when adjusting the wing sit and mating them to the struts.

I know you will do an excellent job Stew as you have with your previous but I just thought I would share that nugget!

Regards

Jim

[philp]

Late to the party but on board. Have this kit in the stash.

[Stew Dapple]

Hob's handy for making crumpets underway to occupied France. Seriously though, how did the gunner work the Mg? seems he could only cover one side at a time.

Hi Julian, there's a brief bit of footage here which includes the gunner checking his gun, suffice it to say the Matchbox gun-mount does not really look that much like the real thing

I bet Matchbox forgot to include the kettle and frying pan, good thought for the aftermarket guys

It might come in handy for Sunderland crews too

The IP looks fine in there, cant see any problems with that one

Thanks Bill - it's a semi-circular panel with a blind-flying central rectangle so I think I can get away with it, if anyone looks too closely I shall brain them with a (1/1 scale) frying pan

Great work so far. I made one of these three or four years back, and you are now making me want to search out another. It's a lovely little kit.

PJ Productions do some superb resin pilot figures.

Thanks T7, I am enjoying it so far. I've used the PJ Productions pilots in the past (the Japanese make a reasonable substitute for French WWII pilots) but they work out at well over a quid each before you even factor in postage... if the Revell set had been more useful those pilots averaged out at about 25p...

I love this kit Stew! It was the very first Matchbox kit that I ever bought. My local sweet shop started stocking them when they first came out and had one of those old fashioned whirly displays that you normally find sunglasses on.

It looks great from the box with a bit of detailing but the one thing I never liked was the wing join. You can still see it through the top of the canopy when it's complete and it really detracts from the finished article. What I did with later builds was to cut the offending tabs off and use two sections of wire to join the wings. This also adds to the look of the finished aircraft and also gives you a little bit of play when adjusting the wing sit and mating them to the struts.

I know you will do an excellent job Stew as you have with your previous but I just thought I would share that nugget!

Regards

Jim

Thanks Jim. It used to be great when corner shops stocked Airfix and Matchbox kits, I didn't realise at the time that I was growing up in some sort of golden age of plastic kits... on the other hand we didn't have internet mail order...

Late to the party but on board. Have this kit in the stash.

Welcome on board Phil, nice to have you along. I suspect some version of this kit graces many a stash

Cheers,

Stew

[CedB]

What a great clip - thanks for the link Stew

The SToL capabilities were impressive eh? But I think it's the quirky looks that make it one of my favourites.

I want to build another one now (I built the Airfix version from an old kit with ruined transfers). Oh and a Walrus after seeing it in the clip.

Thanks Stew and watching with interest

[PLC1966]

Made the Matchbox one of these Nov-Feb this last Xmas, lovely little kit.

As you, I drilled out the lights, exhaust, inspection panels at rear of fuselage, did a load to busy up the cockpit area (dropping in the fuel tank between the seats, table, fuselage framing, control column & Instrument Panel, changed the seats) none of which can be seen when finished...

But attaching the wings and supports to the aircraft legs frustrated the out of me. Weird as I cannot remember it being a problem when I made the kit back in 197Black &White...

[Nigel Heath]

Nice work on the cockpit and I'm well impressed by your figure painting.

[Gremlin56]

thanks Stew, the film clarifies a lot.