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Eduard 1/48 Lysander, Special Duties in France, 1942

Hamiltonian
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Hamiltonian Obsessed Member

Hamiltonian

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This is the Eduard/Gavia 1/48 Lysander "Limited Edition", which comes with a bunch of additional photoetch and resin parts, and a truly horrible "Lord of the Rings" typeface on the box

eduard-lysander-box-art.jpg

 

It comes with parts and decals for a number of aircraft, but not the one I wanted to build. My model is of T1508, the all-black Special Duties Lysander of B Flight, 138 Squadron,  written off by Squadron Leader John Nesbitt-Dufort in a field in France in the early hours of 29 January 1942. After picking up Maurice Duclos and Roger Mitchell in a field near Segry, Nesbitt-Dufort ran into "the most wicked looking and well defined cold front I have ever seen" along the north coast of France. After several attempts to get under and then through this monstrosity, he found himself in severe icing conditions--a gloved hand pushed into the airstream grew a "thick glass gauntlet" of ice in twenty seconds. His passengers in the rear compartment had not donned their helmets, so he couldn't communicate with them. (It later transpired they hadn't donned their parachute harnesses either.) He made a forced landing with no airspeed indicator, and tipped the aircraft on its nose in a ditch. There was so little fuel in the aircraft he was unable to set it on fire even after firing three Very cartridges into it. (But it was later successfully destroyed by the Germans who, in attempting to tow it away, managed to have it hit by a train.) He and his companions spent some time on the run (hampered by the fact that Nesbitt-Dufort's survival kit contained only reichsmarks and a map of Germany) and were later pulled out of France by a Special Duties Anson.

 

I have a couple of photographs of the crashed aircraft:

T1508-1.jpg

T1508-2.jpg

I added control surfaces and slats from Czech Masters, though I had to build my own inboard slats (which are mysteriously absent from the CMK set) copying an excellent idea from @dnl42. I was able to repurpose kit decals for the pre-1942 markings, and used Fantasy Printshop 8" red characters for the tail number.

There were a few modifications necessary to make the aeroplane look like it was sitting on the ground, some major adjustments to the appearance of the rear compartment, and a bit of razor-saw work so that I could open the canopy. Build log is here:

I'm also grateful to @dogsbody for putting me right on the engine colour. Paints are Tamiya and LifeColor, with panel lines and some weathering using LifeColor Liquid Pigment.

 

As an after-thought I added some O-gauge luggage and parcels to the rear compartment. These aircraft frequently flew in SOE agents carrying French luggage, as well as supplies for the French Resistance. The little white "4" on the side of the aircraft is inspired by a remark in Barbara Bertram's marvellous memoir French Resistance In Sussex. She says that the number of packages to be removed from the rear compartment was always chalked on the side of the aircraft, so that nothing would be missed during the frenzied few minutes on the ground, working by moonlight, unloading and then loading the aircraft.

 

Here she is:

blacklysander1.jpg

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dnl42 Completely Obsessed Member

dnl42

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Bravo! Very well done! :clap2:

 

I especially like the luggage in the rear compartment, great touch!!! :thumbsup:

Also good touch on special ladder paint. I had read about that but forgot about it when the time came.

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Hamiltonian Obsessed Member

Hamiltonian

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Thanks all.

14 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Bravo! Very well done! :clap2:

 

I especially like the luggage in the rear compartment, great touch!!! :thumbsup:

Also good touch on special ladder paint. I had read about that but forgot about it when the time came.

Thank you. Yes, white rungs on the ladder, so it's easily found and climbed by moonlight.

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Spitfire31 Completely Obsessed Member

Spitfire31

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A great tale and a magnificent replica of the hapless machine (before it got hapless).

 

By all accounts that was a 'good landing', since they could actually walk away from it; hardly an 'excellent landning', though, as the plane couldn't be used again.

 

Inspired modelling, and I do like that '4' and white ladder rungs. Attention to details that tell a story, yummee!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

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Hamiltonian Obsessed Member

Hamiltonian

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Thanks all, again.

22 hours ago, abat said:

Wonderful work. Superbly weathered. 

I'm glad you like it. picking out detail on a matt black aircraft was a new challenge for me.

 

14 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

A great tale and a magnificent replica of the hapless machine (before it got hapless).

 

By all accounts that was a 'good landing', since they could actually walk away from it; hardly an 'excellent landning', though, as the plane couldn't be used again.

 

Inspired modelling, and I do like that '4' and white ladder rungs. Attention to details that tell a story, yummee!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

It had to be a "4" because I could draw it in straight lines, using the edge of a tiny slip of paper, and I didn't want to get embroiled in deciding between a British and French "1" or "7".

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