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


mc65

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thank you, seeing it as old-fashioned modeling can be acceptable, that's the way I'm taking it.

 

today some progress, ready to some bad photos?

well, the kit's seat would not even be so bad, but from the historical photos you can see that it was a metal tube structure with leather padding, which has nothing to do with the one supplied, so I tried to make it with welded copper wire and magic sculpt.

the pilot sat on the parachute, so the base remains naked. the armrests on the sides would be missing, but I don't know whether to do these or not, in several photos there are not.

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another necessary thing, either because the original instrument panel was a flat piece of plastic, or because I also lost it, was to redo the instrument panel.

side A

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and side B. the cables relating to each instrument will be glued into the holes, clearly visible between the panel and the fuselage (transparent permitting, another bad chapter in this story, I'm afraid).

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and up to here... now these have to go stuck in the chicken cage! the panel was fixed to a spider web of metal pipes that I tried to reproduce, while for the oil tank I limited myself to installing the rear wall, the only one visible -maybe- in the dark toward the bow and aft the instruments.

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the kit involved attaching the seat to the fuel tank, and under the seat a perch on which to attach the rudder pedals.

of course I threw all this away and rebuilt everything trying to follow the diagrams and photos of the real welded structure. a second fuel tank was installed behind the driver on the SD. to make from scratch the latter I had to glue the upper horizontal truss, which now sits between my eyes, but at least stiffens the lateral struts and above all gives me the volume in which to build the tank itself.

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I think that I have placed the rudder pedals too far forward, I will have to intervene, I'm afraid. but in the meantime the volumes in the center are there, now I can move on to the side panels, here the one on the left, with throttle, mixture control, horizontal stabilizer control wheel, and a map case.

IMG-9607.jpg

 


and the whole story of the tailplane, you say? I did it ... and I'm moderately satisfied with it: Archer resin rivets and adhesive aluminum strip above.

tomorrow I'll give it a round of primer, but I think we're there.

forgive the David Hamilton's style photo, but I'm boiled at this point of the day (night, actually).

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well, it's a loooong way, but I think I'm starting to see a light at the bottom of the dark.

cheers, paolo

Edited by mc65
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Let me congratulate you for having the courage to confront yourself with this old stuff. Looking at the pictures it seems to be a great challenge but your results are spectacular. Final effect on control surfaces is just outstanding!  On the other hand, it's obvious we should be offered a new rendering of this important and unique plane. Not necessary 'state of the art' but say ICM standard would be enough for me.

 

I really like this kind of WiP threads - good research combined with fine craftsmanship. Keep us posted frequently.

 

 

 

 

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+5 on craftsmanship , I love this style of old school scratch building , I'm sure Quinta panels have their place in our world, but watching you make an IP or seat from scratch is far more interesting to me personally .

Take a terrible old kit , throw hours of skill at it and end up with a masterpiece, most excellent work .

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thank you all, i really appreciate your kind comments!

a special thanks to Zac, I just had a look at the Hadfield's videos (i didn't think at that option, til now) and I found some weak spots in my building, I have to corrrect these asap!

 

tonight just a couple of little things i did today in the wake of what I did yesterday: the compass, that will go under the main IP,

IMG-9685.jpg

 

then established the size of the additional tank. still missing some stuff, but as a basis it works. now let's face it: this is the Mk.III, I threw away two, before guessing the right shape and size. to his left the bench installed on the SD instead of the gunner's seat. this allowed to seat two people (how I have no idea, the spaces are really small) and to contain the parachutes for the passengers.

IMG-9690.jpg

 

since I was in the tank area, I decided to throw the kit one (on the right) and to redo one that conforms to the space in the fuselage and above all to the photos which fortunately are abundant. even here I'm far to call it done, but the basis is there.

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I then gave the elevators some primer,

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and made the rudder in the same way. I would say that we are, I could switch to wing, aileron and flaps, except that I have almost run out of rivets, I have to wait for the order while traveling so far to the borders of the empire. it may take some time...

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between a minor job and the other I carried on the spats, and I almost see the end of these, at least until some primer will reveal more work to be done!

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the wheels are pitiful, but I really don't know what to invent, to come up with a credible tread. and that's all for today, I'd say.

cheers, Paolo

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On 11/25/2021 at 3:20 PM, mc65 said:

a special thanks to Zac, I just had a look at the Hadfield's videos (i didn't think at that option, til now) and I found some weak spots in my building, I have to corrrect these asap!

Only now did I realise I forgot to add a link for you! I'm glad you found them - Dave is such a cool guy and his videos are great. I did worry you'd see things you hadn't included or gotten wrong somehow but I'm glad it helps!

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hi Zac, 

it helped a lot, thank you again!

I spent quite some time watching closely to these, and I found these really interesting, I also understood more about the peculiar habits of that kite, awesome! 

 

well, tonight little advancing in the cockpit area: I assembled an electrical panel as per photos.

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and then I started to add wires on it, here just the thin ones. next, when it will be glued at station, the thickest ones.

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and what will be seen (maybe)

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and a little more wiring in the front too. added a pressure tank behind the instrument panel, I'm not sure what it was for, but in a couple of photos you can see it.

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definitively placed the upper tank and the seat-locker in the rear compartment, testing in the main tank.

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now it begins to be too crammed, I need to shoot some color on that before adding the next items.

so, I added the last things on the right front side before the colors: command of the cowling flaps, command to release the emergency landing flares placed in the tail, and flare gun. the two panels with plasticard discs will serve as a basis for some other commands, but I will put them on later, however I still have to invent the way to make them.

IMG-0127.jpg

 

and that's it, for this session. next time, some colors, I hope!

cheers, Paolo.

 

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hi all, 

some progress on this build..

I worked on the fuselage's outside, placing the panels fasteners. not difficult, just a little boring.

IMG-0255.jpg 

 

after some time, I discoverd that following the kit, I put some fasteners (and some lines, too!) that don't exist, in the true kite. ok, remove these, and make the lines disappear, again.

here is the final result, at least I hope it's the final one.

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actually a number of these things need to be removed and redone: it's not so easy to shoot the screw exactely in the middle of the circle!

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the good news are that I shoot some color in the cockpit area, and placed permanently the main fuel tank.

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same in the rear compartment, adding also the rear of the upper fuel tank. this thing has a really strange look, I know.

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also I placed the electrical panel, after having some fun with the weathered wooden surfaces.

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in the front office I had to rearrange some objects on the right side, and after the first coat of green I added other commands and some placards.

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on the left side the story was less complicated, albeit I have yet do some color corrections.

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while the various parts of the cockpit were drying/consolidating, I completed the construction of the spats, adding the trellis that supported the fairings.

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the finish of the surfaces is horrible, but I don't know how much I feel like insisting: the particular shape of these makes them really difficult to sand, and on the other hand the aluminum color highlights the slightest flaw... with a coat of pitch black and a bit of mud these will look the part without too many problems.

maybe.

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and to close, the instrument panel in progress. several little things are still missing, such as switches and glasses on the instruments, but roughly it's done, on the front side. behind... is another whole story.

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well, next session I hope to do some weathering on the cockpit area, so to close the fuselage in the next days.

cheers, Paolo

Edited by mc65
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thank you all, I'm glad you like it, all in all this wip seems popped out from a time machine!

 

and surely it could built better... anyway I'm happy to have put my hands on this box now, I think later I would have just trashed it, considering how many diopters I'm sacrifying in it, and that I'm certainly not rejuvenating over time. let's say that I'm immolating myself for the cause... in my opinion at the end of a couple of years it will come out done as is appropriate by one of the emerging companies of the East.

 

so. small jobs, ready for several bad photos? brought forward instrument panel by adding switches and "glass" to the front, and wires and placards to the rear.

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I'm studying the color codes of the cables, but I've not found certain sources, present time.

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sure, I can paint them in different shades of dark gray and stop there, but what does it cost me to try to get them correct?

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then I got a little package... I couldn't resist the charm of the aftermarket: plusmodel resin fire extinguisher. it's not a beauty?

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it would be time to close the fuselage, but it is difficult to work with Cigolo biting my fingers, better postpone!

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anyway the last thing to do before closing the fuselage was still missing... the fork of the kit's tail wheel as well as being short and really ugly, it seemed to me very thin, considering the weight of the whole model. I remade it with ballpoint pen offal and scraps of brass.

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and then I steered my attention to the engine cowling, engraving and riveting the outside of the central section; planing away the ugly details of the cowl flaps, replacing them with sheets of anchovy paste tube. the front part with the exhaust manifold is the one modeled in plasticine and cloned in resin. better than nothing, I guess.

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it's not beautiful, but neither is the rest of the plane, so I enjoy it.

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what worries me is what goes into it! the one from the box I would call it unclassified.

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the one I remade is a little less worse, and still requires a lot of work to make it look even remotely like a Bristol Mercury XX.

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when I may just go up to the attic and take a look at the IBG and ICM ones... here the IBG one, ripped from its sprue and stuck in the hood, to which I have meanwhile added the details in the carburetor air intake.

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definitely another planet.

moreover, for the IBG kit there is also a resin aftermarket, but it seems difficult to obtain, as well as costing a sum, between living cost and shipping, while the ICM one would also have a hood that could perhaps be adapted to the Lysander... so? so we will see, I'm trying some paths, please have some fingers crossed, maybe I'll be lucky about that.

 

as usual I used dead times to do something else. this time I produced a couple of Martian jellyfish:

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another small aftermarket, I must admit: PE headlight structure, a really nice and impressive Brengun product, combined with a little inventiveness: vacuform dish, heated fishing line bulb, plasticard lamp holder and two copper wires, voila.

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it should all look like this, in the end.

holy cow, I have to work with putty and sandpaper again and again, here...

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and even today the workshop closes. It's time to get everything together (with cat's permission) and see if a plane will come out, but strangely I'm almost confident about, today.

cheers, Paolo

 

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