1/48 Lysander Mk II - 1960's Hawk version: End of year... end of build.... it's FINISHED !!!

[phildagreek]

Looking very good indeed.

[Brandy]

What shim stock do you use? Is it the plastic Practi-Shim from Accutrex or do you use metal? If it's the plastic, what do you use to attach it without melting it?

Ian

[Pete in Lincs]

Hendie, I found this on hyperscale.com

It may be of use to you...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/message/1472848507/RFI-+Lysander+slat-flap+interface.+I+kknow+that+the+a-c

[hendie]

Ian,

the shim stock I'm using is brass. I bought a section of 5 different thicknesses from some geezer on ebay a few weeks ago

[hendie]

Changing direction slightly for this post... things were going so well with the wings, something untoward was bound to happen. Actually, this was kind of prompted by the wings as I had removed all the location features several months ago and I have no real reference points for the wing attachment - so I really need to get the cockpit area finished off so I can begin to figure out how and where to attach the planks.

Looking at many, many reference photo's I noticed that there was a flat ledge around the cockpit and observers position. The Eduard etch provides a small part for the observers position but completely omits the area forward of the fuel tanks - go figure!

It seemed like an easy enough task - starting with the usual piece of styrene sheet....

A few cuts and slashes and a few deft swipes of the file and we end up with this.... (with the wing support framework just resting on the structure)

At this point I thought "hey this is easy..." so I decided to transfer the shape of my styrene onto brass. This was done for several reasons - The brass would provide much better support for the wing support framework, and wouldn't sag over time, and it seemed like a neat idea.

Lastly, there was a small step between the front coaming and the windscreen - by raising up the entire greenhouse by around 0.010" it eliminated most of the step. - Then after spending most of the day filing the brass sheet, I decided to scrap it as I kept bending it by accident.

Styrene it shall be then!

In the reference photo's it can be seen that this ledge has a rolled edge - I cut narrow strips of styrene and glued those to the inner lip, and added a few strengtheners just for good luck. Okay, technically what I did is not a rolled edge - but it does add some depth to the panel

I think the new edging makes a big difference to the look of that ledge.

It was while dry fitting the parts above that I noticed I had made an error - the wing support framework needs to come a bit further forward according to the plans and drawings I have.

I had just copied the Eduard etch part without checking (rookie mistake) and it appears that the area immediately behind the drivers seat is too far back, and needs brought forward.

Rather than start all over again I took the option of splicing in a small section at the fuel tank area. The cross member now sits in the correct location relative to the greenhouse, which means that the wing support framework can now fit in the correct location. Of course, that section just forward of the observer is now too wide, but I plan to fit a small cabinet looking thingy in that area so the width of that section will not be as obvious

Looking at this photo, I'm not fully convinced I am going to use the kit greenhouse - it's a bit on the heavy (thick) side and lacks clarity. I also have the Squadron vac-formed greenhouse but I'm not sure I like that either. What's a poor boy to do ?

[Martian]

The way you are going you will have this finished in next to no time!

Martin

[longshanks]

Interesting developments ....

Kev

[Brandy]

I tend to agree with you on that greenhouse...with your comment about the Squadron one, I see some vac forming in your future!

Nice save on the shelf though, I hate it when things like that happen and they don't get spotted until almost too late....

Ian

[Tomoshenko]

Yeh as per Ian's comment, I got the crystal ball out, checked out the tea leaves, and yep I too see vac-forming in your future..if only it was as easy to predict lottery numbers. Cockpit detail looks amazing by the way.

[Hamden]

Great work on the cockpit areas. Really starting to look like a Lysander now!

Roger

[phildagreek]

[hendie]

Things are finally getting back to normal - family gone back over the pond, work piling up and more trips on the horizon, but sneaky old me managed to find some time for muddling, sorry modeling. Not a great deal, but some...

I had been plodding about with the tail planes and the issue I had was that the resin parts were designed for the Eduard/Gavia kit and I had the good old Hawk version. The locating tabs for the tail planes were different. The Hawk kit had great big thick locators and the resin parts had two thin locators offset from each other - I guess they fitted one on top of the other in the Eduard kit.... but not here.

In the end I drilled the resin parts, added a small piece of wire rod, filed to a sharp point, and pressed that onto the kit (after marking where the Hawk kit parts lined up. - small sharpy pointy thing here....

With the kit suitably marked, I then drilled out a hole for a larger piece of brass rod as you can see here. There will still be a little bit of phnargling around when the time comes to (eventually) fit the tail planes but at least they will be secure.

I also fitted the sliding shelf and a small radio looking thing at the rear of the observers position (of course never to be seen again once the ledge gets fitted)

I think I'm almost at the point of being able to throw on a coat of primer to see what's what and all that. However, I noticed that there were a few greeblies hanging off the underside which were not (unsurprisingly) represented on the kit. First up was this small panel just aft of the cowling - I scribed the panel then followed that up by adding a small section of bent wire as there appears to be a small fairing or summat around the front edge on the BM walkrounds.

A few more panel lines were scribed - I'm getting better but still not anywhere near as good as some of my esteemed colleagues on here. That panel line just behind the undercarriage looks awful in the photo. I used some stretched runner to fill in the original gap then rescribed - you'll just have to take my word for it that what you see is the stretched runner that looks bad, the actual panel line isn't that bad - I'm putting it down to a badly fitting panel hammered in place by some grumpy rigger.

Also added at this stage are the four small rectangular parts - I'm assuming they are some form of panel fastener. I did actually try and make them line up a lot better than they are, but again, looking at the photo's o the walkround, they don't look too neat on the 1:1 so I'm going to live with it.

The camera port was added by drilling then lining with styrene tube - there is a small etch panel to go over this later. I think it should have been more offset but I had a wandering drill.

Now, the big white panel and the two "runners" may be a point of contention... the drawings I have show a sliding panel, they also show a panel which supposedly folds out with a small ladder - and I have seen reference to both of these in a few threads and other material. That said, there seems to be no definitive photo's showing this arrangement, and the best photo's I have seen (so far) merely hint at the hardware. So I'm taking a bit of a liberty and decided to show these - mainly just to add some visual interest on the bottom half, which will likely never be seen anyway.

What is absolutely concrete though is a number of holes and cutouts on the 1:1 - now they may, or may not be present on the Mk II, but again, visual interest wins the argument for the day. This one caused me a bit of consternation and a fair bit of mind work trying to figure out just how to do it.... There are two slots, one on each side of the fuselage. Well, they are more ovals than slots, but at this scale.....

My initial plan was to shape a small piece of brass, heat it up then push the brass through the fuselage. Luckily I had a few trials on some scrap kit plastic - the plastic is so thick and so hard, that I had to heat the brass up to quite a high temperature before I could get it to start melting plastic. With the brass that hot, any slight movement on my part deformed the slot - so I put that idea to bed. Next, I tried another option.... drill two holes, one at each end of the slot, then cut out the plastic in between.

Much easier to write than to do... but I got there with a mixture of drilling, scraping and filing.

Whilst enjoying the photography in the walkrounds, I also noticed that the kit rail for the sliding canopy was a bit iffy, being about half the length it needed to be - and also didn't look very good.

I searched around for suitable materials, hoping to find some tiny plastic strips somewhere - but to no avail. The best I could find was this small diameter wire... which means superglue! AAaaarghhhhhh

Now, knowing my history with that 'orrible ca stuff, I decided I needed a more robust attachment method, and came up with this crazy idea...

Masking tape marked out the extents of the sliding rail - I then drilled a tiny hole at the rearmost point of the rail. The wire was then bent at 90°, and another 90° at the forward end where it met the observers bay.

I tried to make the forward bend just slightly short of the length needed, then I used a three square file to make a notch on the rear frame of the observers bay. (and you can see here that I've also been drilling holes all over the fuselage to represent fasteners, and other such greeblies). While we're here - I also removed the very nicely engineered rivets from the vertical stabilizer and did some more scribing around the tail.

The notch allowed the "rail" to sort of click into place, and the tension, small though it was, helped keep the rail straight. More masking tape was applied around the rail so I couldn't see any plastic, then I ran ca glue up and down the rail in the desperate hope that some of it would seep into the gap between the rail and the fuselage.

The masking tape was then removed and a small stop added to the end of the rail.

Now, just how long that will all stay in place is anybody's guess.

[perdu]

Looks durable enough to me Hendie

Nice controlled modelling, I wish I could control my self so well

I just seem to dash off at weird tangents always intending/hoping to get back where I should have been in the beginning

The greeblies look incredibly right too, I do wish I ...............

[Martian]

I love your ingenious solution to the rail problem.

Martin

[Pete in Lincs]

Hendie,

Welcome back.

Some good thinking there, I've used

a similar method to your rail solution

on Tornado nosecones before now

for the metal bonding strips.

[Fritag]

Typical hendie ingenuity - by which of course I mean typically bloomin impressive problem solving

[Brandy]

Nice! I've also found that drilling holes then joining them up is the best way to get a slot, as long as the holes line up of course...I have made a few wobbly slots, but fortunately they're so small they're not really noticeable!

Ian

[simmerit]

As ever looking amazing. i always find it a complete pleasure checking in and seeing where you have got to. You are one seriously talented bloke.

Just saying

[hendie]

Continuing my effort to find things to do which will prevent me from firing up the airbrush, I decided it was time to fit the tail planes. Since I was trying to stick bits of plastic, brass rod, and resin together, I chose the safe option and went with two part epoxy glue. I didn't have a lot of surface area to fix things with so I used a piece of wire to drip glue down inside the mounting slots before the tail planes went on, hoping that it would all run together and make at least a half decent bond. Then just to make sure, I dribbled some more inside once the tail planes were on.

Things seem to have worked (so far) with the tail planes staying in place despite my cumbersome handling. However, since that went reasonably well, it was only to be expected that something else had to go wrong.... something I should have checked a while ago but took for granted, and now been bitten in the behind by it - the elevators don't mate to the fuselage very well - rather badly in fact. Original kit part on top with nice tapered fit, and resin replacement below.... spot the gap!

In my best haphazard and slapdash fashion, I was so concerned with getting the profile of the outer edge for the Mk II tail plane correct, I had completely omitted to test the fit both that and the elevator to the fuselage - hence the rather large gaping chasm waiting in store for me.

Easily fixed... Scrap resin to the rescue - I glued on some scrap pieces to the inner edge, then filed and shaped until I closed the gap to a respectable and somewhat even distance along the length of the elevator. (I may still take a tad more off later)

And with elevators taped in place, the back end is starting to look respectively much like a Mk II. (or at least something like the drawing I have of the tail plane area !)

That left me free to find yet more things preventing the great airbrush blow out, a quick search and I found a nice little etch step that Eduard would have you try and fit. "Try" being the operative word.

After searching for a while I eventually found some photo's of said step in position and realized that there was no way I could fit it. In fact, as far as I could see, the etch part is the wrong shape - sort of back to front, inside out, and upside down.

Now, I'm nothing if not resourceful stubborn and by now I was determined I was going to fit a step come hell or high water... So, I scraped a small recess in the fuselage (as the best photo I have come across suggests that the step is in fact recessed), then carefully drilled a few holes here and there.... can anyone see brass looming in my future ?

Yup... brass again. I took some Ø0.4 mm wire, bent it into a "U" shape and fitted it into the newly drilled holes.

The step on the 1:1 has a "+" shaped section as the actual step. My plan to replicate that involved drilling another hole midway between the first two, then poking another piece of wire in there and just butting it up against the "U" shape, like so.... sadly the wire is too thick to make a decent looking "+" shape - now I have to start thinking again

Then another two pieces were added on top as the bracing supports. I'm not entirely convinced with what I have so far. It's certainly more robust than the etch which I couldn't fit but it does look a tad agricultural. I may try and refine it a bit more. - Maybe a hybrid of my brass wire and whatever I can salvage from the etched part.

Now for my question for the day. - You can see in the photo above that the new brass step and the other step midway between that and the observers position are both located on the starboard side. - On all the photo's I have seen, I can't see any evidence of these two steps being fitted on the port side - so does anyone know if they were mirrored on the port side ?

[Martian]

Some good work again Hendie. As for brass looming in your future, that was decided the day some idiot persuaded you to take up this scratch building/super detailing lark!

Martin

[Brandy]

Interesting question.... I'd always thought that the ladder for the special ops aircraft was on the port side, so had assumed that all other access was via that side too....I had no idea there were any steps on the starboard side!

Ian

[hendie]

you're correct Ian, the ladder for special ops was on the port side, but the Mk II was never used for that purpose so the ladder was never fitted as standard but the observer had to get in there somehow I guess

Fozzy's scratch build has some good photo's which show The step in question provided by dr_gn in this post => http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/54305-scratch-built-westland-lysander-mk-1-130-scale/?p=583827

I know that is a Mk III, but decent Mk II photo's are like

I just can't find any photo's of the two steps on the port side - just a ladder

Some good work again Hendie. As for brass looming in your future, that was decided the day some idiot persuaded you to take up this scratch building/super detailing lark!

Martin

Well, you'll be pleased to know that I won a sometime future build on ebay at the weekend. It involves the words Sik, Orsk, and Y, along with 1H9 (jumbled a bit to confuse the masses), and Tsukuda Hobby, with the intent to build it as a whirly-windy-harten of the far east. I already know enough to be kicking myself for being so stupid but at 1/48 it was the only game in town

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Well, you'll be pleased to know that I won a sometime future build on ebay at the weekend. It involves the words Sik, Orsk, and Y, along with 1H9 (jumbled a bit to confuse the masses), and Tsukuda Hobby, with the intent to build it as a whirly-windy-harten of the far east. I already know enough to be kicking myself for being so stupid but at 1/48 it was the only game in town

May I reserve a seat for that build now, please?

More of Mr Igor's "heelicopters" (which us how the great man used to pronounce it, apparently)

[longshanks]

Small steps making for steady progress towards the airbrush.

Kev

[Fritag]

Continuing my effort to find things to do which will prevent me from firing up the airbrush,......

.......

That left me free to find yet more things preventing the great airbrush blow out, ......

Curious that - I often find that I'm undertaking all sorts of avoidance activities as soon as it looks like airbrushing is a reasonable next step

Nice work on the tailplane - s'funny how little things like overlarge or irregular gaps between the control and other surfaces see to attract the eye. Well worth the effort.