Good day! Since this is my first post of 2021, I wish you a happy new year - may it be happier for all of us. Over the Christmas holidays I started the traditional plastic model kit build - a 1/48 scale Lysander for my Weird War 2/ Pulp project. I had opened the box back in the summer of 2020 and the myriad of small parts therein seemed more complicated than the time I had on hand would allow for.
The kit is by an eastern European company, Eduard, which I gather is a gold standard for WW2 games, though I found the instructions somewhat less helpful than I would have liked.
This time I kept my nerve and forged on, going as slowly as was necessary, as it required some nerve doing things like gluing the brass-etched parts like the foot pedals onto the cockpit assembly - totally unnecessary for gaming, but if you’re going to do a thing, do it well as my dad said when he vainly tried to teach me how to make the balsa wood airplanes he had made as a kid.
Brass-etched seatbelts, cockpit instrument panel, and pilot’s compass.
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Wireless set.
The interior fuselage assembly complete. I had a discouraging moment when I broke off the wing roots at the top of the frame with some misapplied press from my clumsy fingers and had to re-glue them.
The Lysander has a huge canopy and the Eduard kit came with precut masking tape, which I had to carefully apply with my wife’s best tweezers. That was fun.
The masking tape certainly helped the final product.
And finished! Because of the gaming it might support, I chose the all-black paint scheme used by RAF 141 Squadron, which supported SOE operations in Occupied Europe.
Those huge struts supporting the wings give the kit a lot of stability. There is also an underslung fuel tank for greater range, and a ladder to help passengers enter and exit the aircraft.
Somewhere in occupied France. Yvette of Cafe Renee and Michelle of the Resistance keep watch as the RAF delivers something vital to the war effort.
Thanks for reading. Again, may 2021 bring happier lives and gaming to all of us. Stay safe, and blessings to you brushes.
MP+
That is the sort of aircraft that would 'fit' very well into my 'Jono's World' project. I wonder who does it in 1:72 scale...? Fine looking aircraft, Michael!
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly Ion. Matchbox and Airfix made a 1/72 scale Lysander, not sure if they are still in print. Perfect odd shape aircraft for an imaginations game set in the 1930s.
DeleteVery nice work, Padre!
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you, Pastor!
DeleteThat is the dogs danglies, Geezer
ReplyDeleteAnd you know all those unseen details are there, which seems appropriate to the arcane theme of the game
Thanks, James, it is a bit of alright, and the fixed landing gear make it appropriate for a flying (if I had a decent stand) or landing role in a game. I love all the unseen details, they I drew the line at the dozens of little engine service and "ligt here" decals that would have blinded me had I tried to put them on a black surface. Even the masking tape was almost more than I could do, but worth it in the final result.
DeleteLooking great!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking model too.
Cheers,
Pete.
Cheers Pete. All the best to you, hope 2021's off to a good start for you and yours.
DeleteLovely work, Sky Pilot. That brass-etched stuff would give me the heebie-jeebies.
ReplyDeleteThanks sir. I've never worked with brass-etched stuff, it was intimidating and I didn't use all the fiddly bits, just what I absolutely needed to use, though the pieces make the cockpit look amazing!
DeleteA Happy New Year to you Mike. The plane looks fab!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray! Same to you.
ReplyDeleteYou're a braver modeller than I Gunga Din!
ReplyDeleteWell done! The final result is eccellent.
Lovely work on a much under appreciated aircraft.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful model with an interesting secret agent SOE history. I regret not buying the Matchbox 1:32 Lysander kit but in my pocket money in 1978 just not possible ... not that it would have been in good gaming shape 40 years later.
ReplyDeleteWonderful job Padre. Well done for sticking with it..they used to call that character building....now it's probably another 'ism'. I have a 1/72 Airfix one and if they don't still do it Archie can quite easily get one from eBay. Always handy, it's the only way the RAF will reign to communicate with a squaddie. Happy new year to all. Here in Scotland we keep that up until March.
ReplyDeleteReally looks the part with the mesdamoiselles of the Macquis covering the arrival! I recently built a Revell 1/72 PzKfw IV kit and I thought that was bad enough...but aircraft models always seem to be even more finicky !
ReplyDelete