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What do you get when a Lancaster has its way with a Lysander? The Wonderful Wacky Wendover!


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Sitting here waiting for Paint to cure on one project and rain prevents me from going to town sanding on another, I've managed to get myself all figity and bored (not a good combination) .So what's a model builder to do?

Sit around longingly at the projects stalled? Never I say! Must bash bits of plastic even if its small bits. So rummaging around in the stash I happened upon a little gem of an idea for a build(definitely does not bode well). What do you get as an offspring if an Avro Lancaster and a Westland Lysander mate? druuuum rollll.... rim shot! The Westland Wendover!

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I have to ask... What were the British designers smoking when they cooked up this amalgamation of spare parts lying around? Thank god they weren't sharing. With out a doubt this is the Ugliest Aircraft ever flown.

I actually blame @Heather Kay for this She started wo wonderful 1940 projects and that started my rusty mental gears creaking. That or I'm just well, you know, Totally  Mental. But on the plus side it starts out with this nifty 2nd hand Hawk Westland Lysander kit in a most wonderful hideous  brilliant green.

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And a resin conversion set, of dubious quality that I scarfed up for a mere pittance. I think it's a knockoff of a legit conversion, but for 20$ I won't complain.

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No instructions, but, ehhh, who needs 'structions.

and I have a nifty set of gun barrels for the rear turret. At least I think that's a rear turret.

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But on the list of things to accomplish with this build

1. Needs an interior

2. Needs a decent Bristol Perseus II engine

3. Needs a Nash-Thompson 4 gun rear turret.

4 Need to keep Sane

Should be a walk in the park....right?

All Comments, suggestions, ideas, or ribald statements behind my back are always welcome.

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This looks like fun!

 

The Wendover scheme was conceived in the dark days of 1940, when it was thought the Germans would be landing on British beaches in their thousands. The idea was the aircraft could fly low over troop columns with the turret guns strafing away. I understand the prototype Lysander was converted, and it never carried an actual turret, the project being cancelled when the threat of invasion receded.

 

If 1940 what-ifs interest, though, a read about Operation Banquet is worth a few minutes. Desperate times make for desperate measures.

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That really does look like some Photoshopped concoction, but I know it really existed. I mean if the Bartini Beriev VVA-14* could fly over 100 times, why not. Best of luck with this insane interesting venture!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

 

*It is worth googling, if you like absurd aircraft, as you evidently do.

 

 

Edited by Learstang
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44 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

This looks like fun!

 

The Wendover scheme was conceived in the dark days of 1940, when it was thought the Germans would be landing on British beaches in their thousands. The idea was the aircraft could fly low over troop columns with the turret guns strafing away. I understand the prototype Lysander was converted, and it never carried an actual turret, the project being cancelled when the threat of invasion receded.

 

If 1940 what-ifs interest, though, a read about Operation Banquet is worth a few minutes. Desperate times make for desperate measures.

Thanks Heather, Even though it didn't have a "real" turret, I must graft one on. in the interest of "what-if" history you know. Besides It's been a while since I built something from the British 1940 era.

 

31 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

You're a brave man. I think @hendie built the Hawk Lizzie a few years ago.

So there will be an excellent guide to beating the kit into something like it should be.

Thanks Pete, I'll see how that build went.

 

24 minutes ago, Learstang said:

That really does look line some Photoshopped concoction, but I know it really existed. I mean if the Bartini Beriev VVA-14* could fly over 100 times, why not. Best of luck with this insane interesting venture!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

 

*It is worth googling, if you like absurd aircraft, as you evidently do.

 

 

Thanks Jason. I have a feeling this will be insanity laden  walk in the park build.:wall:

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55 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

You're a brave man. I think @hendie built the Hawk Lizzie a few years ago.

So there will be an excellent guide to beating the kit into something like it should be.

 

Yep, he did. 

 

 

The Hawk kit builds into a nice aircraft though some scratching is required

 

PC260014.jpg

 

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1 minute ago, hendie said:

 

Yep, he did. 

 

 

The Hawk kit builds into a nice aircraft though some scratching is required

 

PC260014.jpg

 

I'm spending a few quiet hours perusing your build. In between grinding down bits of resin. This will go along way answering many questions on the Lysander/Wendover. At present it looks like a 40/60 split original/resin-scratch built on this build. Can't afford the P/E,(if I could find it online anyways) SO I will have to print a few things out(naturally)

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While researching any information on the Westover(which is scant at best) I did get a little prep work done.

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I separated the forward cowl/cockpit section on both plastic and resin pieces. I don't need the rear half of the Lysander and I didn't like the Front half of the resin  fuselage.

Besides I needed to carve out some of the interior of the resin. It  probably was hollow all the way back to the rear turret, but that won't be seen at all once its together.

So I only went back as far as the area where the fuel tank would be located(assuming that the interior of the Westover is the same as the Lysander) 

In addition to carving back I thinned the walls of the fuselage as well. This will make the mating of the two kits easier and getting the interior to fit properly.

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The resin interior is rough at best

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Some hours later after grinding, sanding and a smoothing out

Tomorrow I'll see what I can do about scratching together a reasonable facsimile of an interior. I know it won't be as fancy as Hendie's build was, but it should muster a good representation.

The tubular frame will be plastic rod, the seat, Controls,  fuel tank, and probably the instrument panel will be printed.

Other areas as of right now that will probably be printed will be the Bristol Perseus Engine, the cowling /and exhaust, leading edge slats, and the inside of the rear turret.

So Stay tuned for more.:pilot: Myself it's time to start dinner.

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6 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

What do you get as an offspring if an Avro Lancaster and a Westland Lysander mate? druuuum rollll.... rim shot! The Westland Wendover!

my modelling buddy @Adrian Hills did one of the in IIRC, 1/32nd, but scratchbuilt I think.  He maybe able to add some pointers or suggestions,  and if nothing else I'm sure will enjoy the build.

cheers

T

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Hi Loren,

I made the Wendover in the 1990s whilst living in Canada by scratchbuilding the back end. I made the fuselage much as yourself and pull moulded two halves over a turret shape I made in Milliput. The early Profile publication says that guns were not fitted. This isn't necessarily true as there are various publications, such as "British Experimental Combat Aircraft of WWII" by Tony Buttler which clearly shows things like guns fitted.

IMG_5569[9526]

 

Below are some pictures of my 1/48 model using the Testors kit. Please note that the back end is far too short. I copied a general arrangement drawing - don't make the same mistake.

IMG_0302

 

IMG_0260

 

IMG_0300

 

GOOD LUCK with your build. I will be following your progress 🙂

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  • 2 weeks later...

Time for a new update. While waiting for parts to finish printing, I started work on coving front with a new firewall

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And taking an idea(one of  several) from @hendie's Lysander build, I added vents to the side of the fuselage. I'm nit as good as he is with bending thin brass(At least the way its supposed to look), Instead of brass I used very thin card for the walls after opening up the ports.

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Cutting out the foot holds in the spats and since the Wendover didn't have the rocket rails I sanded them off and smoothed the area over with glazing compound. 

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Also carved out  vents on the leading edge of the spats

 

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From there I wanted to add the landing lights in the spats. 

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I carved away what is supposed to be the light lens and soothed the interior some. I finally got to use the bigger stick on gemstones. To fit properly I shaved off both sides and glues in place.

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After I get everything painted up I'll soften some vac plastic and drape over an eraser end to get the curve. I don't think I'll have to make a proper buck and go to the trouble of vacing a set. But we will see.

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I wanted to also do a full set of flaps and slats. I at first started to print out new lowered leading edges but on cypherin' and plotting and thinking. I tried something with the original slats I cut off. I sanded the detail off and the thinned the back(or bottom)

side and attached with the top wing part setting on top. And surprisingly it WORKED! There was just enough of a gap at the back that the leading edge's thickness doesn't change the fit of the top of the wing.

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I also sanded down some of the Mt. Everest Peaks that are supposed to be ribbing tape. Before painting I'll smooth them down a little more then Use kabuki tape  simulate the real tape.

From there just a matter of attaching the flaps and ailerons.

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51618513299_d8dc60fc39_c.jpgClaened the seams up with a little bit of glazing compound.

Then comes the fun part.... Printing!

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Most of the parts came out ok on the first try. I did have to fiddle with the Slats some. the first set were scale correct, but the thickness was too fine to prevent warping and curling. So I went back and increased the thickness 2.5 times to about 400um( just under a 1/2 mm)

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Fuel Tank

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Pilots seat. I had to redo the seat. The original print was too wide and too short.

 

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51618513244_95d6e3d995_c.jpg

The control column and pedal assembly I combined from an earlier separate  print. Though both pieces printed perfectly the columns would break while removing from the supports.  Combining the wo made for a more successful print.

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I took my old model of the Bristol Taurus I used on another build, dropped half the jugs and re did the crankcase I'm not going to worry about the exhaust piping as it won't be seen

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Then finally the slats

 

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Time to put the cockpit, most of it anyways, together.

I built the tubular from from plastic rod. Since I'm only doing the area seen I didn't drill and carve out the rest of the resin fuselage. and as such I'm only going back as far as the rear of the fuel tank.

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Also built the flat framing and added throttle quadrant , added the printed bracing, seat and control column assembly. I got the Eduard instrument panel and seat belts in stead of printing out my own ,(I know I cheated)

I wasn't feeling like making my own on this part. So there you have it. Today I'll put everything together and start the painting process. More updates soon!

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On 10/10/2021 at 6:05 PM, LorenSharp said:

I have to ask... What were the British designers smoking when they cooked up this amalgamation of spare parts lying around? Thank god they weren't sharing. With out a doubt this is the Ugliest Aircraft ever flown.

I reckon they were sitting around, smaking Gauloise, eating tartiflette,  and looking at French aircraft engineering magazines! ;) Our gallic friends will ALWAYS take the prize for ugliest but then they will also take prizes for the prettiest (viz Mirage!) :)

 

Martin

 

 

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36 minutes ago, Mike said:

So ugly it's cool, and it's in the right scale too.  Once you've finished all the hard work, you need to cast me one ;)

Thanks Mike, Casting is probably the one thing I've not tried yet. Though I did think about it once, then discovered.... Printing! It wouldn't take much to make an STL file)s) of it. It's small enough you could probably print it out on  a Mars.

 

21 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Wow, this is a treat! :popcorn:

 

Excellent work on the printed parts.

Thanks , It took a couple of tries to get the thickness right on some of them. I forgot my Prime Directive  "Thou shalt not go any smaller than 250um lest you have problems."

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On 10/10/2021 at 6:05 PM, LorenSharp said:

With out a doubt this is the Ugliest Aircraft ever flown.

Oh I don’t know I’d still vote for the Blackburn Blackburn or the AVRO Bison

 

cdd75e73-9a10-4d27-83b5-52e0de8d1681.jpe

 

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One or both of which I may add to the collection next year ( I think they’re so ugly they’re cool)

 

I’m enjoying the build so far a great mix of old school and modern. Plus I have a prediluvian Lizzie in the stash ( hawk or testors) and this is giving me ideas :) ie with a new tube of silicone sealant I could copy the wings and forward  fuselage for my own Wendover, hmm might save that for the prototypes GB if it goes ahead.

Edited by Marklo
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