Adrian Hills Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 About twenty seven years ago I modified a 1/48 scale Testors Lysander to the turreted Wendover. Our club, IPMS Mid-Sussex has a special competition theme 'restored examples' so I thought I'd spruce the model up a bit and show you. Potted history of the 'Wendover': In 1940 Westland did various investigations with their Lysander to add a turret. Turrets to were quite fashionable at the time, a prime example being the Boulton Paul Defiant. Even the Naval plane the Blackburn Skua had a four gun dorsal turret added and became the Roc. A Lysander fuselage had a BP dorsal turret added but it seems this moved the centre of gravity too far back and was unuseable in this configuration. According to James' Putnam Westland book, Westland technical director W Petter and their test pilot Harald Penrose visited France in early 1940. Here they both inspected and flew the Delanne T20 which was a sort of biplane with the lower wing mounted low down at the rear of the aircraft. This configuration solved the centre of gravity problems for the Lysander and they were then able to progress a large rear turret. Initially the aircraft flew with just a mock up rear turret but Penrose still managed to loop it on its first test flight in July 1940! According to some references this was as far as the modification progressed. However, work continued and by the end of 1941 a Frazer Nash FN20 (same as used on a Lanc) was fitted. According to my references no firing trial documentation has survived. ............................................................. My starting kit was the Testors 1/48 Lysander. To this I added lights in the wheel spats by pull moulding clear acetate over them, then cut away the front and added a clear 'glass' over a rudimentary light. Milliput was added in the front of the Townend ring to make it less hollow. The main modification required sawing the fuselage in half. An i-beam was glued to the front section and to this three formers were added. I skinned the empennage with thin plasticard on which I had drawn parallel lines with a fine point biro. Once turned inside out this provided a reasonable ribbing effect. The fitting of the first sheet crumpled as I used too much glue. My only option was to repeat the process over the top of the first skin. The end of the fuselage was formed using solid Milliput. The same material was used to make a basic turret shape over which I pull moulded more clear acetate. The rear flying surfaces were carved from solid plastic and I even tried to show the contoured surface on the rudders. Once completed I found I had made the rear section far too short, which gives the whole thing a rather stubby appearance. I used a general arrangement drawing from a publication and this was my downfall. As John, elsewhere on this website has pointed out - 'some publications distort the dimensions of drawings' ! I'll know better next time. Below are some views of my model IMG_0303 by arhills, on Flickr IMG_0302 by arhills, on Flickr IMG_0300 by arhills, on Flickr IMG_0304 by arhills, on Flickr IMG_0239 by arhills, on Flickr 28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 What a nicely built model albeit of a very odd looking aircraft.👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhenderson Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Lovely model - but what a weird looking machine!! Do you know what the intended role for it would have been? Too slow for a fighter? Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Hills Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 Al, The 'pregnant perch', another Lysander modification was made 'in order to strafe beaches in case there was an invasion', according to the Putnam book. My thoughts are that the rear turreted Lysander would be good for a similar activity. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhenderson Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 16 minutes ago, Adrian Hills said: Al, The 'pregnant perch', another Lysander modification was made 'in order to strafe beaches in case there was an invasion', according to the Putnam book. My thoughts are that the rear turreted Lysander would be good for a similar activity. Ah, OK, that kind of makes sense, I guess. Not easy to imagine what the mindset in 1940 must have been with an invasion seemingly imminent... Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invidia Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 great looking model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soyme Scale Models Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 what an interesting aircraft! fantastic build mate, you'd think it was an actual kit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Bravo. That is a virtuoso performance of multiple scratchbuilding techniques. (Also - I'm from South Bucks and I'm tickled anyone would call a plane "Wendover". Why not the Fairey Beaconsfield, or the Avro Little Chalfont? 🤣) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Reminds me of this somehow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Excellent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire man Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Never leave a Lysander and a Lanc alone in a dark hanger ! 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 That is superb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 A lot of skills and creative thinking went into this model, that much is obvious. Inspiring project, never mind the original research mishap! Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Very interesting project, superb scratch building. Wulfman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Hills Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 6 hours ago, Spitfire31 said: A lot of skills and creative thinking went into this model, that much is obvious. Inspiring project, never mind the original research mishap! Kind regards, Joachim Joachim, thank you for the compliments. This model was done in my club in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. There we met every Sunday and Wednesday evenings - the Canadian winters being such as they are ! Suggestions of how to do this came from club members - particularly the ribbing technique. My point is that meeting regularly helps modellers bounce ideas off each other. Nowadays we have the internet and forums like this but it is a poor substitute to the advantages of being together. Fortunately, my other IPMS Club 'Hailsham and District Scale Model Club', do meet bi-weekly and BUILD together 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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