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Westland Lysander Mk. III SD Matchbox-Revell 1/32


mc65

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hi all, 

sorry for start this topic just now, but I didn't discovered this section til now.

also I fear I won't end the building in time for the assigned deadline, but maybe this will be the right boost to complete a kit that I have on stash since I guess 2003.

it's a 1998 Revell reboxing of a 1978 Matchbox kit, wich I already did in my early teens when the latter was issued.  

IMG-9712.jpg

 

in the years I piled up quite some references, but the book you must read if you are interested in this subject, is this one:

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the box in question spitted out a pile of pieces with which I have beaten myself several times over the years trying, and postponing each time, to give a little dignity to this plane, whose rendering as a model is correct in the general forms, but really crude as details.

every time I opened the box I got discouraged and closed it again, after thinking a bit about what to do.

so now I don't know if I can complete it this time, but I would like to put its direct competitor close to the Fi 156. let's start with the things I've already done, I don't even remember when: the wing.

IMG-8834.jpg

 

unlike the Storch, which had them fixed, this thing had movable slats, divided into three sections per side. the two outer sections automatically extended when the speed ran out, lowering the stall speed, while the inner section not only did the same thing (at a lower speed) but was mechanically linked to the flaps, making landing operations at low speed very simpler from the point of view of surface management (we will talk later about tailplane trimming). pity that the model provides the wing with the slats nailed closed (which is quite rare, on the ground) the flaps retracted and only the separate ailerons. the mc-answer was to cut flaps and slats, and reconstruct the rounded profile of the former, while the latter I remade from scratch in sheet brass.

IMG-8898.jpg

 

this, I see now, is far from acceptable at my present standards. I think I have to revise the scribing lines (part of these are simply badly mistaken by the kit) add rib tape to flaps and ailerons at least, add some hatches and so on.

the other thing I did, who knows when, is the exaust ring. the kit rendition lacks totally the inner part with the collectors housing from the cylinders. I did a master with clay and did a resin cast of it.

IMG_4418.jpg

 

this is also a crude work, especially taking into account the fact that nowadays we may find very good rendition of this engine, being the same used in the Gloster Gladiator and PZL 11, rispectively made by ICM and IBG.

there is to do ... everything else, and it's a titanic job. the cockpit, very visible due to the large windows, is unwatchable. the engine yuck. the tail planes mh-mh. the landing gear bah. in short, I foresee a tragedy.

I hope that the already "done" parts are less than specified by the group rules. honestly it seems to me that everything in this kit has to be redone by roots, and whichever will be the effort, it never will reach a decent level.

if you can encourage me, I will need it!

cheers, Paolo

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by mc65
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Be great to see one of these done "properly" with the all attention you are showing it .

 

I love Lizzies , and also did this as the Matchbox in 79/80.....my recollections of the kit were it's large size and also the crudeness of everything , the canopy being really heavy and overscale, as well as an pain to get together convincingly . 

 

Good luck with the build . 

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1 hour ago, MikeMaben said:

:speak_cool::popcorn:Very interesting Paolo. Don't give up because as soon

as you finish this one, Tamiya will shock the world with a release of the

Lysander....or maybe ICM ... or SH, or ...   ;)

 

 

Mike,

it's the story of my (modeler's) life!

Has appened a number of occasions, mostly with tanks and trucks kits, so that I started to suspect that someone in the world's east is watching my wips!

 

for sure some friends of mine ask me to start this or that conversion, hoping thay in a couple of years it wil appear on the market!

you may guess my ansewer...

:innocent:
 

but, just in case someone of a scouting team is reading... please considerate a new tool release of this machine!!!

there are tons of references of it, either from WWII or contemporary ones. With an agreement and a ticket to GB you may see and touch and replicate every nut and bolt of it. even have a flight in it, probably.

in 1/32 there is room to print a terrific level of detail in the wide fuselage, and is a subject seen in at least four interesting camo.

 

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hi all, 

just some little steps ahead, I began to figure how to deal with the scribed lines proposed by the kit. actually trenches, more than lines.

IMG-9762.jpg

 

I tried to fill these with sprue lines and putty

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here after a first passage with sandpaper. it needs some primer and some retouch, but it should work. since the most of this aircraft was canvas covered, I hope to do it without going crazy.

IMG-9852.jpg

 

I also filled with sprue the wrong lines on the wings, and then rescribe these. here I highlighted these on the upper wing with some ecoline to better understand what the hell I was doing. before I had given a coat of primer and added the inspection hatches, simple plasticard discs. I think it would be nice to highlight the strips of canvas that covered the ribs, but I'm still figuring how to do.

IMG-9903.jpg

 

then the tailplane, here a photo in progress: on the left as they are from the box, on the right with first modifications: on the stabilizer I engraved a cutout for the end section of the same, cantilevered, and on the elevator I planed the part towards the stabilizer, which was plain.

IMG-9875.jpg

 

here after having scribed the joining lines on the tops, riveted them and glued the cantilevered sections.

on the right elevator a test for the strips of canvas I mentioned earlier, but I'm not convinced at all. just as I really don't like the lines of the rivets seen on the monitor, I think some corrections are necessary.

IMG-9901.jpg

 

well, now I remembered why this box has been lying in the attic for years...

:blush:

 

the only nice new is that a friend of mine saw the restart of the building of this aircraft, and identified it with this picture.

I just can't blame him!

:lol:

IMG-9863.jpg

 

cheers, Paolo

 

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you are too kind ... this is a job that, however hard I try, will turn out a disaster!

 

so. resumed the lines of the rivets on the stabilizer, which I would take for granted, and tried a way to emulate the details on the canvas of the elevator. does not convince me at all, I think that the next session I'll pull everything down and start it again.

IMG-9992.jpg

 

i scribed the tail after a turn of primer, and here too I see some lines to redo.

IMG-9991.jpg

 

and started bickering with the landing gear. just so as not to miss anything, I cut off the wheel covers and rebuilt the leg (which in reality was a single, big piece) with brass square and round profile.

IMG-9678.jpg

 

I thought it appropriate to install sections of aluminum tube in the landing lights holes to strengthen the structure of the fairings, weakened by the cut of the covers.

IMG-9679.jpg

 

in short, a disaster. it is true that this kit has its +40 years, but it seems to me to be Penelope, who makes and undoes the canvas over and over... nonetheless I go ahead, if only to see it come out of the IBG in the next six months!

cheers, Paolo.

Edited by mc65
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19 hours ago, RLWP said:

A Revell kit, some nice modelling and classical references. What more could you want!

 

Richard 

well...a gin tonic? I think I need one. or two.

seiously, I dont think, I'm sure about: the more I dive in this work, the more I curse myself. but either me or it, this workbench is too small for both of us!

 

today I worked on tailplane, again. 

IMG-0025.jpg

 

I like these? NO. and since they are mirrored, I can flip these over and give it another try. I know I may look crazy, but these are just guinea pigs for wing, flaps and ailerons! so, again.

 

let's see, what else have I done: carried on the big feet, also called "spats". I filled and filed the seats of the landing lights, re-engraved the doors and the steps, glued the bulkhead that acts as a fender, placed the strikers for the fixing keys of the covers, created by vacuform what will be the lights ...

IMG-9970.jpg

 

but these are still so far from being called ready!

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but no one forbids us from doing a test ... but how ugly is it?

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ok, ok, this is body shaming, forget it... let's change argument: are ribs, the ones that can be glimpsed?

actually yes: I threw in some ribs, and a sort of oil coolers.

IMG-0029.jpg

 


they are hideous, but all you will see will be this:

IMG-0030.jpg

 

and for today it would be enough, but I wanted to try to see how looks like the fuselage tubular structure which should be the cockpit cage and the wing support. it seems that even the two pieces that constituite it have some major mistakes, but I don't think I feel like doing it completely from scratch.

rather, for a brief moment I hoped I could cannibalize parts from other kits, but the only thing I managed to adapt is the cloche, taken from a tempest Super Hobby.

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so it will have to do form scratch... everything, for a change. I started with the rudder bar footplates, on the right the ones proposed by the kit. phew.

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and that's it, for today, don't be too severe with it!

cheers, Paolo

 

Edited by mc65
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