It has been several weeks, since last I wrote on my progress on the Airifix kit of the Lyslander, since then I have made some progress in adding details and also modifying the paint scheme.
I had said that the kit was lacking details, such as a floorboard, radio equipment and ammunition boxes to name a few; but I am an old time modeler. What does this mean? I hold onto scrap plastic , spare parts and decals from just about every kit I build.
I found in my spare box, some sheet plastic that I was able to cut to size for both the floor boards for the pilot and gunner, as well as the radio rack,
You can see some of the scratch built details here. The seat assembly nearest the forward fuselage is the rear gunners area. Sheet plastic was used for the floorboard and plastic from old tree assemblies was cut using scissors then glued in place and pained acrylic black. The floorboard was painted using medium gray. The larger assembly near the aft fuselage is the pilots area and radio bay. Again sheet plastic was used for the floor board and the radio mount. The radio equipment was again made using parts of plastic from old model trees, cut and trimmed and then painted. The instrument panel was again sheet plastic painted brown with pewter gray trim.
You will have to trim the plastic used for the floor board and the radio bay. to fit precisely, remember take your time, you don't have to rush.
You will note a change in the paint scheme since last time. The reason is simple, research showed that the Lysanders in The China, Burma and India theatre in Mid 1942 were still using the Green and Brown camouflage.
Two weeks ago, on Sunday my wife and I went to Mastodon State park, this is latter path leading out of the lower trail that leads to the bone bed, and back to the museum above,
As some of you may know, I am a history buff and also enjoy building scale models, especially the aircraft from World War Two. Recently I began to build the Airifix model kit of the Westland Lysander, an aircraft that many in the U.S. are not familiar with .
The Lysander was a unique aircraft used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during WW2, it started out as a reconnaissance aircraft and a light bomber, It was later used to drop off spies and pick them up from occupied France. What made the Lysander unique though was that it was a short take off and landing aircraft that was also able to hover briefly, then resume full speed flight; this was quite advanced technology for a plane built at the end of the 1930's.
The kit was a re-released by Airifix with the spy figure, a pilot and rear gunner. There is a piece of plastic that is supposed to be an instrument panel, there is no decal for this, except for a paper one, that you have to cut from the instruction sheet, and because of the scale there is no detail. There is no joy stick or floor board assembly.
In the rear gunners compartment there is no floorboard, the barrell on the machine gun is shorter than on the actual plane.
There are winglets that attach to the landing gear spars, on the actual aircraft these could carry bombs, supplies, or a life raft to aid in air sea rescue. There are no hard points on the winglets nor weapons or attachments.
Now if you have a spare parts box, you can add bombs from the old Hasegawa 1/72 A6M-5 zero, this kit had 4 small bombs included that will work perfectly for the Lysander.
The hardest part is the wing mount, since this attaches the upper canopy aft the pilot and before the rear gunners compartment, You will need to let this part of the canopy set a good day before attaching the wings, to be sure that this has set properly.
Also note that you will need to pre paint the canopy frame before attaching to the fuselage or attaching the wing assembly, because of the small size and difficulty in getting to the cockpit frames once the wing is on. It is always easier to prepaint clear parts before assembling to the kit, especially in 1/72nd scale.
If you decide to arm the Lysander with bombs, you have two main theatres of conflict you can choose after the fall of France. *
You can paint the aircraft a sand tan with raw Seana on the upper and side surfaces and the standard cloudless blue under surfaces, for use in North Africa. Or you can paint it the raw Seana and old ivy upper and side surfaces along with cloudless blue lower surfaces for aircraft used in the China, Burma and India theatre This was also the color scheme used by the RAF in France and with some of Lysanders assigned to the air sea rescue wing.
Side bar... Some of the Lysander's in the China Burma and India campaign carried the Old Ivy, Pewter Gray and Cloudless Blue scheme. This was the standard RAF colors for Fall and winter aircraft.
The last alternate is included in the kit, the special operations squadron, which was assigned to getting spies into and out of occupied France. This version the side and under surfaces are 20404 Black and the upper surfaces are Old Ivy Green and 2020 Pewter Gray.
If you decide on the last version leave out the machine gun assembly and rear gunner. Since the plane could only carry two people.
With a little work, this can be an excellent addition to any collection of scale models.
All colors are acrylic and are either Apple Barrel or Folk Art brand.
Here are some photos of the aircraft, including a video presentation of combined RAF footage both pre and during the war.
Instrument panel and forward cockpit detail.
Pre war paint scheme 1938.
Paint scheme France 1940, China Burma India 1941-1944
North Africa Paint Scheme 1941-1943
Special Operations Squadron 1943-1944
Lysander's practicing dive bombing.
Armed to the teeth
Part of the Royal Indian Air Force 1941-4
Also you will see my model under construction.
* The Lysander was used in the battle for France as a light/dive bomber and quickly pulled from front line service, because it was too easy a target for the German fighters. In China, Burma and India it was more successful because it was teamed with fighters like the Hawker Hurricane, and was on one occasion part of a joint strike mission with the Flying Tigers in early 1942.
