Rob1970 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Long time lurker, first time poster! And you know what? A new year . A new project. And you know what? As a first project of this year we do something simple .... BWAHAHAHAHA... sure... For a "Flying Abominations"-GB on another forum I proudly present; The Westland P.12 Lysander Delanne (Wendover)! The whowhatsit!? Well, this... Short (Really short) History Almost everybody knows the Westland Lysander . Famous mainly for the risky missions that the Allies undertook during WW2. Because of his special flight characteristics of the Lysander was very suitable for landings on short improvised airfields to pick up and drop off agents and Resistance fighters in the middle of the night. With the expected invasion of England in mind the Ministry of Defence was looking for a way to defend the beaches. Thus was born the idea of Westlands's chief designer, Arthur Davenport, for a "beach Strafer " . The Lysander as a basis (which was able to maintain a speed of just over 100 km/h in the air), but better armed to wipe clean the beach. Therefore it was decided to install the 4-gun Nash & Thomson rear turret of a Wellington. The design was made even stranger by adding an extra pair of wings. The Westland P.12 Delanne was equipped with the tandem wing akin to the design of airplane designer Maurice Henri Delanne . And contrary to what you might expect at first sight, the flying characteristics of this monstrosity were remarkably good . So much so that the pilot flying the first test-flight in July 1941 ended it with a looping ! The Victim For this build the Matchbox 1/32 Lysander serves as a (willing) donor. Recently picked up on a forum for a pittance, without decals and box. Along with the Revell reboxing from the stash I'm going to see if I can do something with it. Matchbox kit. Trust me, everything is there... Revell kit Sprue shot! I'm not entirely sure if I even need parts of the Revell kit, but the decals are in any case already moved to the box of the original Matchbox kit that still lies waiting in the stash... Reference MaterialSo pitifully little... On the Lysander itself there is material enough to find, but on the Wendover (as the British called him eventually ) there is not much. Some black-and-white pictures and a few three-way views of questionable quality, one more useful than the other. But do not worry; with a little common sense, a bit of calculation and tricks with a drawing program , we can work it out ( I think ...). Anything I can't figure out I will guestimate... More sooooon!Rob BiggTim, Derek B, tomv87 and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hi Rob, Excellent project - a *very* different Lysander! Iain Harold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul fisher Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Have long wanted to see this done in 1/32....great idea! Good luck and I will watch with great interest since I am far too lazy to do it myself. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 looking forward to this *beauty* of an aircraf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seiran01 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Oh freaking awesome! I can't wait to see this thing built, oh, and welcome to (posting on) the boards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) Wow, what a project. Looking forward to this one! Jim Edited January 3, 2016 by ClumsyDude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Fascinating project, Rob! This should be fun to watch. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 THIS i gotta see, very interesting subject. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHatch Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Very nice. I've always wanted to see one of these built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Les Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Nice choice Rob, a man after my own heart ! The biggest hassle for me when I made this many years ago was the rear turret. I spent days combing supermarkets for a suitable product that had a clear cap of appropriate dimensions - I eventually settled on a Norsca brand deodorant that someone in my household could use whilst I nicked the top ! Of course, with the advent of the "build a Lancaster in 1/32" magazine model and the HK product there should be more options out there. I look forward to seeing your rendition of this beastie. more of my interpretation here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10207006203455788.1073741873.1300634609&type=1&l=ab4c7cdb67 sandokan, Harold, paul fisher and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cees Broere Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Fantastic build.Cees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob1970 Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 Righto... research, research and then some more research...As I mentioned before; there isn't all that much on the P.12 out there to find. But all the more on the Lysander itself. So that's a good start. I found a load of pictures showing looooooaaads of details. And details are good. And inspiring...Like inspiring you to build at least one side of the landing gear with the covers off, showing the .303 gun......and maybe with the ammo chute uncovered as well... Open cockpit?Open EVERYTHING!?Open ALL! THE! PANELS!No! Bad Rob! BAD! Go sit in a corner!Although I might just have ordered some resin .303s and a new engine...More soooon!Rob sandokan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wimmer Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 "Lycaster" I'd say. Haven't ever seen this before. Welcome aboard, Rob! Cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob1970 Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 ...Although I might just have ordered some resin .303s and a new engine... *BLEEEEP!* "... Unfortunately, an extensive search revealed that the Vector Mercury engine is no longer in stock ..." Within a minute my money is back in my Paypal account. But no engine to tinker with. Again; *BLEEEEP!* So we are "forced" to ordered on the big bad Internet. From a store outside the Netherlands... Where the engine including shipping also proves to be a lot cheaper. Unfortunate for the "poor little Dutch independent Hobby Store". *End Sarcasm Mode* Rob Chris Wimmer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob1970 Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Well, another episode of very little building and a lot of research... For those who were wondering; I did look into getting a Persues, but it seems there are none in 1/32 scale. And I was planning of going slightly down the whif-road (you know the one... the gates have a sign above it saying "Abandon thy rivet-counting, ye who enter here."), by using an FN-20 turret from a Wellington or Lancaster, and using the Mercury engine used in the Mk.! and Mk.III. As we speak a 3D printed FN turret (from the HKM Lancaster concept show model no less!! Thank you Cees!!) is on it's way to me to be used as a master for some vac-forming and scratchbuilding goodness. Combined with some nice brass barrels that should look ace. The interior of the rear halve of the fuselage is going to be educated guesswork anyway, since the testbed was build by a coachbuilder and will probably have lacked much in the way of working internals a production aircraft would have had. The pictures of the testbed show no way to get into the rear bit (altho the gunner could have gotten in and out of the turret by turning it fully sideways) so a hatch might be in order. The Lysander had a bunch of removable panels on one side of the fuselage for easy access and maintenance, and I might do the same on the Wendover, because it seems like a logical step. But still mostly in the research-phase of the whole build, scouring the web for reference material. Speaking of which... anyone have any pictures (of know of any) that show the way the ammo moved into the turret? I got a few shots, but mostly curious about the way it went from the ammunition runways to the bit that feeds the .303s themselves. Some sort of movable track/linkage? Rob sandokan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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