Gavia 1/48 Westland Lysander Mk.III By Bob Pearson

History

The specifications for a new army co-operation aircraft were issued in April 1935 – A.39/34 specified an aircraft with good low speed handling, able to take off in a short area and also to carry light weapon loads. Out of this came one of the classic aircraft of the Second World War - the Westland Lysander. A total of 1652 Lysanders were built in various marks, and used for such duties as: Dropping and retrieving agents from Occupied Europe, picking up downed aviators, target tug, army co-operation and others.

The Kit

The kit consists of three medium grey and one clear sprue. All have excellent detail. The fuselage incorporates stringer detail inside and out, and has fine, recessed panel lines where required.

The interior has a framework to be constructed around the seats, and also includes fuel tanks, radio, control panel, side consoles, control wheels etc etc. . This is good as there is an awful lot of glass exposing all of this to scrutiny.

The engine is provided with individual cylinder heads to be affixed to the hub. Detail on these is very well done and all the cooling fins are clearly visible.

The wings and tailplane have both raised ribs and engraved panels and access openings.

Clear parts are thick and slightly distorted, but a dip in 'Future' may help clear this up.

The instructions are very comprehensive, and clearly show each step of the build with locations given in dotted lines so there is no guessing exact placement.

Three marking options are provided: No.309 (Czech) Sqn, N0.26 Sqn RAF and a Finnish example. All three are illustrated in colour on the side of the boix, and in b/w in the instructions. The decals are precisely registered and all stencils are also included, as are seat belts.

Conclusion

This kit cries out for detailing, and to help in this both Eduard and PART have released detail sets for the Lysander. I have featured the PART sets in a past issue, they consist of the normal set as well as a set of canopy frames. The Eduard sets are in this issue and are a normal set and masks for the canopy - a different solution to the same problem. Either companies PE will certainly dress up this kit.

My thanks to Lubos Vinar of VAMP Mail order for my review sample.