Part 1: First Look

MSRP: $59.95 Review sample supplied by Eduard; website www.eduard.cz I don't think the Lysander requires much introduction -- short-take-off/landing, army co-op, target tug, air-sea rescue, special ops-- if necessary, checkout the reference list at the bottom. The basic kit has been released maybe a half-dozen times, by Gavia and/or Eduard, with differing details and decals. For example, I have the Gavia Mk.III(SD) in my stash. This is a Limited Release kit and I guess they mean it -- it is listed as Cancelled on the Eduard website already. I don't know how many they made, but you'd better get yours soon ... The kit has three flaws, IMHO. The first, and most serious, is that the wings have noticeably insufficient dihedral because the struts are about 5/32" too short -- solved by either lengthening the struts or relocating them inboard a bit -- I'm not sure which way I'll go yet, although the relocation is simplest. The second is the absence of the rather large rectangular inspection window on the rear fuselage at the leading edge of the rudder -- Eduard has just provided a scribed replica in the plastic fuselage, even though their box art shows it correctly. The purpose was a clear view of the tail balance weights (C/G) during walk-around -- it also opened on the right to access the engine crank. I have seen some pictures with a smaller porthole and some with it blanked out -- it is possible that some configurations had the left side painted over, but not both? Unfortunately, fixing this means cobbling together some interior parts to look at through the window. The third is a historic issue in that this kit represents a "late" Mk.III. There are several differences between the early and late, one of which is the difference in the rear canopy -- the front edge is straight on the "early" and notched on the "late". The kit has a notched canopy. But the decals with this kit are all Finnish -- the Finns ordered 17 Lysanders but only got 12, 3 Mk.I and 9 Mk.III "early". The Finnish serial numbers on the decals are correct for the Mk.III's they received. I have seen a photo of LY-120 with the straight edge canopy. So there is a small problem with this release -- you'd have to do something to backdate it to an early Mk.III to use the decals provided.

Anyway, in the kit you get: 3 sprues of plastic in a single bag, maybe 90-some parts of which 14 are not used. Overall, the parts look nice, flash and seam free, with the exception of a significant mold flaw on Part 79, the underside of the right wing, that will take some fancy fill (same problem exists on my Gavia kit, so maybe this is a feature, not a flaw). Detail is subtle, wing ribs and panels are finely done, although I think the fuselage stringers are a bit heavy. 1 sprue of 7 clear parts, protected in their own bag. The canopy frames are pretty sharp, but the glass could be a bit thinner. Note the instructions show how to separate the pilot's sliding windows. 1 bag of 14 resin parts, protected by bubble wrap. The resin provides a Vickers-K for the rear gunner and the skis (It's Finnish, you have to have skis!!). 2 frets of photo-etch, one in color - over a hundred pieces. These are lots of interior and engine parts, the Mk.I Light Series Carrier, the Universal No.1 Carrier, and some other exterior parts. I'd like to point out that Eduard also produces a similar separate photoetch detail set (#48367) for the Gavia kit(s). The nifty thing is it contains the Light Series & Universal No.1 Carriers that can be used on a host of other 1/48 aircraft, such as the Walrus and many 'tween wars aircraft. I have several of these sets in the parts bin for that purpose. Canopy mask -- yea !!! 1 sheet of decals for 4 aircraft. They appear to be a bit thick. On 3 of the 8 serials the last digit appears off-color until you look at the color sheets and recognize the camouflage break -- in all cases, you will have to be careful to get the camo scheme exact at that point so the decals line up. Instruction booklet and color diagram. These are B/W, folded A4 size -- one reason I prefer to get the PDF from the Eduard website so I get color coded parts and markings. There is some confusion in color numbers between the chart in the instructions and the call-outs on the color diagrams, but they'll be obvious when you see them. It does not, however, come with any ordnance to attach to the carriers -- kind of a bummer, would have fit nicely in the resin baggie. There are two items on my wish list for the basic kit -- the oft-seen open wheel spats, and separate leading-edge slats and wing flaps (these were interconnected on the Lizzie). I know CMK has a resin set (#4130) that includes the latter. Anyway, that's the kit in a nutshell, the build will start shortly .... I'm not going to use the decals -- I'd rather do this in British markings. I had thought about doing a Mk.III Target Tug, and probably will using my Mk.III(SD) kit some other time. I didn't want to this time because it takes us too far from the review kit and excludes use of the Light Series Carriers on the winglets and under the rear fuselage, as well as the message hook -- all of these come with the kit. Instead, I'm going to rely on the fact that the early Mk.III and the Mk.I, albeit with different Bristol Mercurys, look the same. To do this, I'll have to make the same conversion, hack the rear canopy, that you might have to make to have an accurate Finnish kit. Then I'll use some generic decals for an early war machine that I particularly like. My sincere thanks to Eduard for providing the review sample and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it. References: · Westland Lysander, 4+ Publications, ISBN (978)8090255914. · Westland Lysander, Warpaint #48, Warpaint Books, Ltd. · Westland Lysander, Mushroom Model Publications, ISBN (978)8391717844. · Pilot's Notes, Lysander III and IIIA Aeroplanes, Air Ministry, 1941.

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