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Roden 1/32 Cessna 337 Lynx - Rhodesian Air Force


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Hello Folks
Haven't had much bench time in the last few months but I just managed to get this one done.  It is the truly horrible :oops:  Roden issue of the Skymaster with extra parts to represent an aircraft operated by No. 4 Sqn Rhodesian Air Force during the Bush War.  After embargoes were imposed on the regime at the time by the major powers, Rhodesia turned to French company REIMS who modified civilian Cessna 337 Skymasters. The added weapons capabilities in the form of 2 x 303 Browning machine guns mounted above the cabin and strengthened underwing hardpoints gave the Lynx a formidable close air support capacity in a stable and east to operate platform.  The aircraft carried no national markings.

The kit is pretty average all round but the worst parts are the clear parts and the decals.  Despite a lot of polishing and buffing the windows are barely see through and the decals were rubbish.   I used aftermarket brass landing gear legs I got from Ebay to help cope with the metric ton of lead in the nose and some Master metal 303 barrels improved the look of the gun pods.  The landing lights under the nose are MV lenses.  

 Here's some pics.

 

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Very nicely done Andrew. Shame that the kit lets the side down a bit - particularly the clear parts but unless you are a vac form genius, there is not a lot you can do.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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Despite the negative aspects, you've done a great job. It looks smashing. Congratulations. :clap2:

I've seen one of these up close. The Portugusese Air Force used them too and they have one in the museum at Alverca, outside Lisbon. You can walk right up to it and peer inside the cockpit.

I would really like to have one in 1:72.

 

Cheers

Miguel

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Looks good to me.

 

I have been planning one of these in 72nd scale forever but have been trying to find some good pics of the interior to see what seating was left and where the ammo boxes were kept.

 

You wouldn't happen to have taken a pic of the interior as you built it or even some pics of the instructions showing the layout?

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10 hours ago, philp said:

Looks good to me.

 

I have been planning one of these in 72nd scale forever but have been trying to find some good pics of the interior to see what seating was left and where the ammo boxes were kept.

 

You wouldn't happen to have taken a pic of the interior as you built it or even some pics of the instructions showing the layout?

Sorry but I’m in the same boat as you. I could not find a pic showing any more than the front seats through a door. The kit provides 2x2 rows of seats with a radio rack in the back. No info on the ammo storage at all and no parts in the kit.  I had to fabricate a cabin roof to support the upper wing piece anyway, so I put a couple of boxes up there as a guess. The kit has two windows above the cabin which need to be filled in and painted over as the lynx had a solid roof.   This whole area of the kit is weak.  As it ended up the clear parts are so distorted that you can barely make out any details in there anyway.

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Looks superb,....... I`ve always liked the Lynx and bought one myself, so a bit worried about the fact that it doesn`t build well,........ but you have certainly pulled the irons out of the fire and got an brilliant result,

 

Cheers

          Tony

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That is disappointing.  Sounds like the stock O-2 interior as what I have read indicated possibly only 3 seats and the ammo bins were mounted on the floor.

have wondered if they kept the 2 seats up front and put the third between the ammo or just the pilot seat up front.

guess I will keep looking.

thanks for the info and she still looks great.

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Gorgeous result. Have a couple of these in my stash. Just one point: Rhodesian aircraft carried no visible serials, so this one, showing '3044' is clearly post 1980 and therefore Air Force of Zimbabwe!

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On 4/15/2019 at 8:08 PM, Ingo Degenhardt said:

Very nice!

Where did you find the brass landing gear? I could only find the metal parts by ScaleAircraftConversions and I do not trust the rather soft metal to take the weight.

ingo

Aerocraft models. Ali62 on here is a member.

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