* 1/32 Lysander

[mumbles]

I'm in with an attempt to finish this:

I had my first crack at it about 18 months ago, but Lizzie won the first round when I couldn't figure out how to get the landing lamps and wheels to fit in the spats at the same time.

Most of the prep work got done before the tools were downed and I moved on to something easier (A NMF Hustler as it turned out)

Time for a rematch. This will be out of the box and fully painted, aiming to use the kit decals even though they are likely at least 25 years old. They have been well kept though, the sheet is still flat and has its cover sheet still. I'd like to do the SEAC scheme on the box top if the decals allow, since I like the all blue roundels.

Edited November 15, 2010 by mumbles

[Deon]

Good Luck mumbles! look forwards to seeing some progress on this one soon!

[Erwin]

[spitfire23bc]

Ooh I do love a Lizzie! Good luck with it. I really should get around to doing some more on mine...

Dan

[mumbles]

Right, lets get this show on the road then

A couple of good sessions over the weekend have yielded the following:

Cockpit structure almost done, just awaiting the fuel tank and pilots seat

Engine and cowls assembled

Undercarriage attacked (I say attacked because it was the reason the project stalled initially).

I resolved the fit issue of the landing lamp cover by cutting down the rear locators so it would fit reasonably flush:

Then attaching the lamp reflectors to the cut-down covers directly rather than messing about with the moulded tabs on the interior of the spats.

Then the spats and struts could be assembled. Not a pretty picture. The fit on these pieces is terrible.

Tune in for the next exciting installment featuring a couple of large lumps of putty vaguely resembling a Lysander undercarriage.

[Deon]

looks like you're slowly winning mumbles, best of luck

[Milo Black]

Getting there, Mumbles!

Tune in for the next exciting installment featuring a couple of large lumps of putty vaguely resembling a Lysander undercarriage.

Crash damage

[daz greenwood]

Nice work so far!

Can't wait to see more!

[ollieholmes]

This kit is so crying out for some resin sets i think.

[mumbles]

This kit is so crying out for some resin sets i think.

Oh absolutely! Especially as it has now been re-released in a Revell box. Based on what I've seen the interior is more representative than accurate, and highly visible. Since I can live with it being representative I'm sticking to what comes in the box, but given more time and inclination a whole heap can be done with the cockpit, as other builds of the kit on this site can attest.

Thanks for the compliments and encouragement so far folks, although since I haven't really done anything yet I'm not sure how deserved it is

Not getting too much done tonight as its a sports night, but here is last nights progress courtesy of the Ministry of Rapid Progress:

Seat installed and cockpit complete (minus twin Lewis guns; still undecided about installing them)

With that done it was a quick job to get the fuselage assembled together with the tailplanes.

Before combining with some wings I had lying around for one of those publicity style general 'how goes it' shots:

[perry]

Nice work on the pit, very crisp looking.

I have one of these in the stash, I'll be interested to see how you deal with the wings and painting the greenhouse framing.

[mumbles]

Nice work on the pit, very crisp looking.

I have one of these in the stash, I'll be interested to see how you deal with the wings and painting the greenhouse framing.

Thanks Perry. To answer your question about the framing, like this:

The frames are reasonably heavily moulded, so it isn't too difficult to mask them; there is just a lot of it. The main issue is going to be getting all the glassware to fit together properly. I've already found a couple of minor (ish) issues with them that are goin to need fettling.

As for the wings, I'm prepared for that operation to be quite tricky. Hopefully karmic law will apply and they will turn out to be simpler to attach and align than expected. It will be very late in the build either way.

[ollieholmes]

I had a hell of a job getting all my canopy glazing to fit so im looking forward to seing how you do.

[Stebos]

Yep, nothing worse than a multi-part canopy, and that's if they fit well...

It's all been good work so far so I'm sure things will be fine!

[mumbles]

Yep, nothing worse than a multi-part canopy, and that's if they fit well...

It's all been good work so far so I'm sure things will be fine!

Cheers.

Here is a first dry run at fitting all the glazing. I'm not really thinking of these bits as glazing at the moment, more just large slabs of plastic to be fettled. Dry fit not as bad as I anticipated:

I've since cemented the windscreen with the intent of using it as a datum for the rest (using the side panels would have resulted in unacceptably large gaps for the windscreen/fuselage junction). Not the greatest fit, but only requiring what I would describe as a 'smear' of filler if I were writing this up for a magazine:

With that in place the side panels have only required the cutouts for the wing to be lengthened slightly at the rear (by about 1-2mm). This has resulted in a small gap at the rear of the panel but I would consider that getting off lightly. I have read a couple of recent-ish reviews (in SAMI May 2005 and March 2008), and it sounds like the fit on the current mouldings has worsened from the original issues. The 2005 review in particular met some severe sounding fit problems that I haven't encountered (the reviewer could not get the cockpit framework to fit inside the fuselage, something I had no issues with). Aside from the undercarriage and the glazing, fit hasn't really been an issue. Not that much filler has been required either aside from the undercarriage.

Speaking of the latter, it is looking a lot better after some prolonged filling and sanding. Not quite done yet, and attaching them to the fuselage will be tricksy:

[Milo Black]

Good progress! Looks like you might crack it this time.... mumbles 1, Lysander nil (HT).

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good, I see you have had to fill the front of the canopy like I did and the other part I had issues with is the canopy over the wing spar. Which even to today sits proud on mine.

[Deon]

making good progress Mumbles, can't be long now till the wings are on, fingers crossed

[mumbles]

Thanks all. The canopy fit on the real things doesn't seem to have been too perfect, so I am not going for absolute perfection on mine either.

Thanks also to all those who have dropped into this thread to take a look. I had no idea there would be as many interested as the number of views suggests

Over the last couple of days the Lizzie has gained some more glazing and control surfaces. The side panels needed a bit of fettling to get the fit right, but nothing too drastic:

As well as a pair of wings and engine cowling almost ready to paint. The wings have been problematic and prone to splitting along the leading edge seam. The cowling is a lousy fit around the engine, so a bit of sanding and general fetling and filling has gone into both.

After more sanding and filling than the rest of the model put together, the undercarriage has acheived a vaguely respectable appearance (as well as a shim or to to help attach them to the fuselage):

And the close of play tonight saw Lizzie on her feet for the first time, undercarriage permanently attached, and engine tacked on to see how it looks. Not too far away from getting some paint on the beast:

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good

[mumbles]

Looking good

Thanks Mish. Unfortunately, various things (best summed up by a four letter word starting with L, ending in E, with 'IF' in the middle) got in the way of me getting to the bench, and I wasn't able to get anything done between the last post and last night. So unfortunately I missed the deadline, sorry mods.

Come too far with the current build to stop now though, plus some of my IPMS chapter got quite enthused about seeing it done. I'll keep on updating it here or in its own WIP thread as required.

So progress as of yesterday:

Got the rest of the canopy glazing on, using a combination of filing, superglue, polystyrene glue, gentle persuasion, and some of the finest swearwords known to mankind, started painting the engine cowling and wings (and what wings they are!), got an undercoat of aluminium on the prop, and started weathering the exhaust collector.

Just for anyone else building one of these, here are the shims (white) I used to get the undercarriage to seat and adhere before I cover them in putty:

First go at making the collector ring look like metal rather than plastic. Copper overcoated with bronze and sanded back in patches:

Doesn't quite work I think. Next plan is to paint it metallic grey, then dry brush with copper and bronze before applying a bit of buffing to blend.

[Deacon]

You must keep a thread going on this mate.

Deacon

[AnonymousDFB1]

If you want I can see if my Demi Goddess like powers will let me move this thread into WIP if not I can easy get Mike to do it.

That equally applies to anyone else in any GB

[mumbles]

Thanks Deacon

If you want I can see if my Demi Goddess like powers will let me move this thread into WIP if not I can easy get Mike to do it.

That equally applies to anyone else in any GB

Yup, I'm thinking that now the GB has officially closed and there will be a few more updates yet to come that might be the thing to do if its no trouble, cheers.

Edited July 6, 2010 by mumbles

[Deon]

Dont have a problem with you carrying on here, Im sure we're all looking forwards to seeing it done wherever it goes