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Dug this one out of the stash last week.

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I'm going to finish it as an all black special ops Lysander, very similar to the one flying at Shuttleworth in England.

The supplied bits of the Airfix cockpit weren't used at all, apart from one of the seats. There's basically bugger all there anyway, apart from two wholly inaccurate "egg shaped" bits of plastic, which fit into sidewall grooves, onto which the pilots and observer/SOE agent's seats are glued.

I sanded these down, but you can make out where the grooves used to be.

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I made a basic tubular frame from guitar strings and overlay flooring and upper areas made from phone card. They're a little ragged, but it's 1/72nd scale, so I'm not that worried about exact measurements.

I made the sidewall framing, again from strings, and dropped everything in on top of that.

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I cut up some guitar strings (a g-string in case anyone's wondering!) and used those as cross fuselage supports over which all of the other bits and bobs rest.

I made the petrol tank from cut up card and two bits of tape, and have used the control stick from the spares box. I've got a control panel from there too, and they've both come from a 1/72nd Revell Hurricane. The gubbins on the sidewalls are card, and the wheel's made from rubbish bag tie and guitar string.

The other framework has been made from the ties that come with rubbish bags, and the lot's glued in, firstly with PVA, and then superglue.

Unpainted..

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Painted..

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Box of matches top left, pliers bottom left and and a box of micro drills top right for scale...

I'll be glueing it all up later today.

More to come.

Thanks for looking.

Nick

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Great job Nick, and do keep us posted. I like seeing yet another use for guitar strings, I use a high E string as an ultra fine drill. Much smaller than a #80 drill bit. I have started using the metal from twist ties as reinforcing pegs too.

Warren

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Cheers chaps.

Well, here's the old girl, with IP in place and glued up.

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I started the traditional approach to masking the canopIES today, and then ripped them all off. The Airfix kit makes the "framing" too thick, so I'll try a different approach tomorrow by masking and spraying all horizontal lines, wait to dry, then vertical, until they're all done. I tried a similar approach on my Airfix DH88 Comet canopy, which had no framing on it, with great success.

All for now.

Toodle pip!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, here's where I am so far..

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The landing lights were pure fantasy, and stuck WAY too far off the spats. I'm not going to arse too much around with building anything else, so I cut up some foil, slapped that in there, and will just fill the hole up with Future.

Here she is with the decals on, and the nose painted.

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The decals were a nightmare. Massive amounts of silvering which didn't go away with Future, so I had to remove them (by removing the Future coat with Windex & water), Future them and then put them on again. This also included making little nicks in them as the ribbing was not letting them settle. They ain't perfect, but they'll do.

I masked the nose, turned it on it's nose, and cut around a scalpel blade, removed what I wanted and then sprayed with Citadel Mithril silver and an overspray of Tamiya smoke. Got a bit of touching up to do, but it's alright.

The wings are done, the prop's done, the wing struts are done, and all that's needed is to finish masking the canopy to spray it.

Then it'll all go together in sub assemblies.

I'll have to give it a satin or matt varnish first, as it's way too shiny as a result of drowning the decals in Future.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Nick

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Looks really gd mate, looking foward to seeing it finished !

Would you recommend the kit ?

Yeah, I would. It's been a bit of work, but fun. I have heard the Matchbox kit is nicer, but I can't say much as I've never seen it.

I think Revell are re-releasing it though.

However, the Airfix one's not bad if you don't mind scratchbuilding!

Cheers,

Nick

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:D Hello Nick,

Coming along nicely there. You could put the damage to the decals down to weathering. On the subject of the matchbox Lissie, it is a nice little kit with perhaps a little more detail generally than the Airfix version and much better detail on the engine and cowling than the Airfix. The cylinders each have two eshaust pipes coming into the collector ring and better detail overall on the engine. It's a bit of a sleeping gem, and with detail like you've built into your Airfix one it would be a treat with the Airfix decals as the fabric detail on the rear fuselage is somewhat more subtle than this one.

:cheers:,

Ross.

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Nick

its coming along beautifully, will follow this thread to see thee progress...I cant wait to see more of your pics.

Thank you.

HOLMES. :cheers:

Like he has just said - looks really good - you are a dark horse!

David.

PSI have some pictures of the one in Hendon if that is of any use - picture quality not your standard of course!

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Great job so far, and I appreciate the comparison between the Airfix and Matchbox kits. If I had any room in the stash, I was thinking of getting the Pavla kit. I wonder how I compares to the Airfix and Matchbox kits?

Warren

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Like he has just said - looks really good - you are a dark horse!

David.

PSI have some pictures of the one in Hendon if that is of any use - picture quality not your standard of course!

Cheers chaps.

You are very kind David.

I'm actually using shots of the Shuttleworth Collection Lysander that I watched and photographed flying at last September's evening display.

Ahh, memories of that lovely sunny evening listening to the Bristol Mercury engine. Bliss.

lysander.jpg

We don't have anything that sublime in Dubai.

Cheers,

Nick

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Cheers chaps.

You are very kind David.

I'm actually using shots of the Shuttleworth Collection Lysander that I watched and photographed flying at last September's evening display.

Ahh, memories of that lovely sunny evening listening to the Bristol Mercury engine. Bliss.

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We don't have anything that sublime in Dubai.

Cheers,

Nick

Subliminal suggestions by making US look at this is wetting our appetite for your model Nick..

Your Lysnader is coming along absolutely BRILLIANTLY....

Good work...

HOLMES..... :crying2:

Edited by HOLMES
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Finished at last.

No major problems encountered. The canopy was time consuming, but I think it looks ok. I masked the vertical lines first, sprayed, remasked the horizontals and then sprayed. Mush easier than cutting out masks.

Once that was done, it was a case of just glueing it all together.

Anyway, here she is. A Westland Lysander from 161 (Special Duties) Squadron, RAF Tempsford, 1944.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Nick

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It's not done til you add the trench-coated briefcase hauling "spy" running for the ladder... it's the best part of the kit :thumbsup:

Looks great!

Cheers

Bruce

Edited by RCAFFAN
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It's not done til you add the trench-coated briefcase hauling "spy" running for the ladder... it's the best part of the kit :banana:

Looks great!

Cheers

Bruce

DITTO..!!

We want to see the spy jumping on the ladder!!! :woot.gif:

I have very nice memories of this kit... B)

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