Eduard 1/48 Lysander - Construction Part 1

I've hinted in several previous posts that the Lysander was proving to be problematic so here at last is an update on progress.

I've already discussed the difficulties with the clear parts and with constructing a cockpit without meaningful attachment points. I left it last time with a completed cockpit and I was about to take the plunge with joining the cockpit parts together. I had already undertaken dry runs of this process and it left me with concerns which turned out to be entirely justified.

A number of people have written about building this kit and the width of the cockpit appears to have been an issue, with the completed cockpit cage being too wide for the fuselage halves. For some reason this wasn't my problem at all and in fact the fuselage wrapped around the cockpit without any difficulties. Instead, the two fuselage halves appeared to be slightly different sizes, so no matter how they were put together there was always a step. Again there are no attachment points but in this case that might have been an advantage because it meant that I could try to minimise the step on the top of the fuselage. Nonetheless I couldn't get rid of it completely while still retaining the shape so after a lot of dry fitting I ended up gluing the halves together on the basis that I would have to deal with the consequences. There was just no getting around the fact that this was an issue which was out of my control - I could blame my building capabilities but if two halves are different sizes there's no way of ignoring that really.

This has meant a fair amount of sanding back just to get a reasonably even join and next I'll go over the join with Mr Surfacer before sanding down for the final finish. I've tried to use sanding sticks with fine grades which cause as little damage as possible, not least because I don't want to lose the rib detail which is a feature of the Lysander. Nonetheless, the difference between the two halves is quite noticeable so some harsh scratching of the surface is inevitable.

Is this a major problem? No not really but there is a cumulative process here which means the kit is not endearing itself to me. Eduard have done their best to make the most of the base kit by adding all sorts of extras such as the PE set and the masks, while the extra PE set has been well worth the money, but the base kit is a mixed bag. Shape is fine, proportions are fine, and as a starting point it's fine, but it could be better.

An aspect with which I have been impressed is the engine. This is quite prominent on the Lysander and the basic engine OOB is very nicely done, with logical and clear engineering. In addition the extra PE parts which come from the additional PE set (not the one included in there box) lend that extra level of detail which raises the model to another level even though adding these parts is quite a simple process. This is where Eduard's research and engineering of PE parts really impresses because they really are the masters of this kind of detailing.

Once constructed the engine was primed with Vallejo black primer and this was left for a few days to harden. I then used some thin layers of Aclad Stainless Steel, leaving enough of the black layer to give a sense of depth. This is one of Alclad's High Shine colours but of course polishing it here is impossible. That's not really the point because all of the photos I've seen of this engine suggest that this is the correct finish for this engine, rather than the Dark Iron suggested by the instructions. I've left the Alclad to dry for a few days and will add some weathering over the weekend in the form of oils and some Mig Grease.

The cowling came next and the instructions are not especially clear on this. I could be wrong but my reading of them suggests that they put the parts together in the wrong order. The line where the cowling meets the fuselage includes quite a noticeable dip but the parts do need to join together by following a consistent line around the circumferance of the cowl without jagged dips. Lots of test fitting (made more difficult again by the lack of attachment points) suggested that a different order of joining the three parts together was necessary and I think I've got it right now.

The PE set includes various fasteners and a new air intake for the underside of the cowling and these really do make a difference to the level of detail. With all of these parts fitted the inner faces of the cowling were primed and painted with interior green in preparation for fitting to the fuselage.

That brings us to the undercarriage. Normally I would paint and build these as separate fittings before attaching the various parts right at the end of the build. With the Lysander this isn't an option because the designers followed the 1930s fashion for spats and these are an integral part of the structure of the airframe, not least because the struts supporting the wings feed into the tops of the spats. This is part of the quirkiness of the Lysander which makes it so appealing as an aircraft. It does mean, though, that it's necessary to paint, fit and mask off the wheels, the interior of the spats (they can't really be called wheel wells) and the lights built into the spats before fitting them to the fuselage. This isn't a problem of course, but forgetting to do this would cause all sorts of problems later on.

The wheels are in two halves with quite a noticeable ridge when joined together. This gave me a chance to try out the Flex-I-file sander system. I bought the starter set and can say that it's very good. The seam pretty much disappeared and the various grades of sander were very effective throughout the process.

Multiple photos indicate that the paint on the wheel covers was subject to heavy weathering, with paint being stripped off in pretty noticeable chunks, presumably because of the rough airfields on which Lysanders operate. As a result, on top of a coat of black primer followed by Alclad Aluminium, I applied random dots of Mr Masking Sol Neo, all the while wondering how on earth the people at Mr Hobby think up the names for their products. As ever with their materials, the quality is second to none, but by any standards the name is bizarre.

On top of this I applied Vallejo Air 103 Grey, which is Vallejo's version of Sky and it seems to be a good match. The masking material was removed using rubber tipped device bought from a local art shop, showing in the image above, in combination with tweezers.

Then we have various odds and ends - the interior of the spats painted with 095 Pale Green, the wheels themselves painted by hand with the ever-impressive Vallejo Dark Rubber and the interior of the lights painted with Alclad Chrome. Test fitting of the light interiors has shown that this is going to be 'interesting' and that'll be next when Ibuild the undercarriage, sort out the extensive seam running around the spats and make progress on the rest of the build.

So, progress, some of it very pleasing, but I'll be glad when the construction aspect of this kit is done with and I can get on with the paint scheme.

Zigerastica