Scale aviation modeller international

are included in the additional

photo-etch set, and really add

a lot of interest, especially once

detailed with some lead wire to

represent their actuating cables.

A pair of small triangular photo-

etch cockpit access steps fitted

above the gun ports completed the

wheel fairing sub-assemblies.

In unmodified form, the spat

landing lights comprise a reflector

and a transparent cover. I added

photo-etch surrounds from the

Eduard set, and the distinctive

triangular bulb holder structures.

The surrounds were annealed and

formed to shape in a jig I made by

pressing a marble into a lump of

Milliput. Once set, the surrounds

were placed in the concave Milliput,

and the marble pressed firmly onto

them. This gave the surrounds a

slightly conical form, more or less

matching the form of the spats.

I made the arms of the bulb

holders out of thin stainless wire,

PVA’d to small recesses notched into

the circumference of the reflector

dishes. A small photo-etch rivet

formed the central holder itself. As

an aside, the arms really should be

curved, but I thought this would

be too tricky to get looking right,

so I left them in simplified form.

It’s surprising that curved holders

weren’t included in either the kits or

aftermarket photo-etch sets, since

they would have greatly enhanced

the look and accuracy of the model.

The tailwheel is a nice two-part

item, but looked too long to my eyes.

I cut about half of the upper fairing

off, and Araldited an aluminium

mounting stub in the end to

replace the discarded original.

WINGS AND TAIL PLANES

The wings and tail planes comprise

two sets of upper and lower halves,

and rely on manual alignment.

Reference to several builds of the

original Gavia kit show that the

four locating holes for the wing

struts required re-positioning in

order to give a realistic dihedral

angle. Close scrutiny of the

Eduard version suggested that the

moulds were perhaps corrected

at some point, with the slightest

evidence of witness marks from

the incorrect holes still visible.

Still unsure, I opted to leave well

enough alone until I could dry-fit

the wings to the rest of the aircraft.

As it turned out, the two forward

holes were correct, with the rears

being slightly offset. I chose to

simply remove the locating pips on

the rear struts and make a butt joint

with Araldite epoxy; the footprint

of the rear strut end fairings easily

covered the misalignment.

At this stage I began test-fitting

the wings. This turned out to be

quite a job, since there are several

degrees of freedom that all need to

be correct: dihedral angle, sweep

angle, twist, and lateral alignment.

I found that in my model, none of

these could reliably be achieved

by simply sliding the wings onto

their respective canopy stubs.

I proceeded as follows: with

the correct dihedral estimated,

the roots were chamfered to

give a good fit to the canopy.

With this completed, attention

turned to the sweep of the wings.

Again, some wing root sanding

70 • MAY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

064-73-FEAT-RAF100-Lysander-0518.indd 70 13/04/2018 14:13