The engine cowling comprises
three nicely detailed sections,
which once glued together form
a cylindrical shell. The only
modification here was to replace
the moulded cowling catches
with photo-etch versions. The
engine air intake can then be
fitted in its detent at the 6 o’clock
position (more on this later).
So far so good, until I tried to
test-assemble the carefully painted
and weathered engine assembly
into the cowling; it didn’t fit, the
engine being significantly too
large in diameter. This was easily
solved (albeit with a heavy heart!)
by taking a coarse sanding stick
to the tops of the cylinder heads.
The exhaust collector ring
is a separate item fitted to the
front of the cowling. I thought
the standard ring looked a little
featureless, so I added some small
plastic hemispheres (obtained
from Hobbycraft) in pairs around
the inner surface in front of each
cylinder head. These were intended
to represent the distinctive bulges
in the ring where the eighteen
exhaust pipe stubs locate.
I then used a riveting tool
to add a circumferential row of
rivets around the rear edge of
the ring, adjacent to the cowling.
The collector has two small
diameter moulded-in rings,
meant to represent oil cooler
inlets. I removed these as per the
instructions, and during final
assembly fitted the kit’s much
more realistic resin items.
I opted to replace the original
exhaust extension with an
aftermarket Quickboost resin item,
which is realistically hollowed
out. Strangely, both the original
and resin exhausts appear to
be incorrectly represented,
with their outlets being located
directly in front of the starboardundercarriage fairing. Most
references I could find showed them
to be turned to exit more vertically,
thereby deflecting the exhaust
gasses away from the fairing.
With the exhaust and collector
ring together, I sprayed the
assembly with my interpretation
of weathered nickel plated
steel (a mix of Vallejo Air Gold,
Black, and Gunmetal).PROPELLER AND SPINNER
The propeller is a built-up
assembly of two hub halves and
three blades. Careful alignment
using a template of 120-degree
spaced lines drawn on paper was
required, but once set, the result is
convincing enough. The two-part
spinner finished the assembly.
I opted to replace the rather
short moulded hub mounting
spigot with longer Albion Alloys
brass tube, and drilled out theengine gearbox nose to suit, so
that the propeller would spin – a
minor obsession of mine, probably
a result of childhood building
when finished models were
more toys than anything else.COCKPIT
Construction of the cockpit began
with the assembly of the tubular
framework, to which you attach
a variety of electrical boxes and
photo-etch panels, plus the rear
cockpit floor, radio equipment
shelf, and front and rear decks. The
framework is further populated
with seats, control column,
instrument panel (supplied
with a pre-painted photo-etch
face), compass, and fuel tank.
The addition of rudder pedals,
pre-painted seat belts, and rear
armament pretty much completes
the “out of the box” cockpit.
Despite the kit’s good level ofdetail in this area, a quick look at
the real aircraft reveals much more
complexity. The large expanse of
glazing, combined with an open
rear canopy (and the absence of
the option to attach it closed), led
me to add a significant amount of
extra detail. From the additional
Eduard photo-etch set I added
gusset plates to the framework, the
gunsight mount, the pilot’s back
and head armour, and replaced the
pilot’s solid plastic seat base with
the more realistic tubular type.
Some basic wiring around the
cockpit was made from twisted,
buff-painted lead wire, secured
with black painted strips of
Tamiya tape to represent cable
ties. Particular attention was
paid to the wires and pipework
attached to the wing support
structure, since it is clearly visible
through the side glazing panels.
I scratch-built a brass fire
extinguisher, cockpit light shrouds,66 • MAY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
064-73-FEAT-RAF100-Lysander-0518.indd 66 13/04/2018 14:13