FROG 1/72 Westland Lysander - Resuscitated

[flyjoe180]

Hi all. I rediscovered this old FROG 1/72 Westland Lysander, which I've had since the 1980s. Magnificent art work.



It is dated 1973, and I still had the decals and bits. Unfortunately a younger me started building it 30+ years or so ago and made a hash of it. As you do when you are much younger and new to everything. Luckily I kept the bits and instructions in the box after I'd butchered the poor thing. I thought I'd try to bring it to life and make something of it, rather than let it languish in that box or suffer an even worse fate in years to come. There are much better, newer kits out there of the Lysander.

I deconstructed as much as I could, cleaned the parts up, and started the build anew. Bearing in mind this was built whilst the younger me was wearing mittens or something, I had limited scope. The wheel lights were stuck , I'm not sure what glue I used but it made them permanent, so I simply sanded over them and went for basic, painted on lights. The decals, being 48 years old, were placed in a plastic bag and hung on a window to whiten them using nature's UV. This took 6 weeks, even in the summer light. I gave them a coat of Testors Decal Bonder and tried my luck. Turns out they performed okay with Decalfix, but those that did crack were put together like a puzzle.

Here are a few progress photos and the final result. It's not intended to be a great build or a one of my 'greatest hits', simply me being an emotional sod who can't let things like this die. Enjoy :thumb2:

[rtfoe]

Hi Joe, looks like you used the defibrillator paddles, turned up 200 volts, got the all clear and wham! ...got this old gal to live again. Nice.:thumb2:

She looks good for a forty-niner.

Cheers,
Richard

[papa 695]

Great story and fix Joe, it can now sit proudly on your shelf instead of the old dusty box. Great work.

[adt70hk]

Joe

That's turned out very nicely indeed. Well rescued.

ATB.

Andrew

[Tim Marlow]

Wow! Flies right off the ground! Great result from an old stager...interesting markings as well.

[outrunner]

Lovely rescue job on an iconic aircraft.

Andy.

[Neil Merryweather]

Very respectable indeed!

[stillp]

Looks nice and clean now. What are the markings?
Pete

[colin m]

'And two secret agent figures' that's as good as a shark mouth decal. Tidy build Joe, very nice. As Peter says, what are the markings ?

[yak face]

Beautifully done joe, a real result from a good oldie . i had the very same kit when i was a nipper and also did it in the special ops scheme .I remember thinking the spider in the middle of the roundel looked really cool, and the images it conjured up of resistance agents being dropped off / picked up in the middle of the night were really inspiring. If i recall correctly the large tank under the belly was for transporting things rather than fuel . Cheers tony

[flyjoe180]

Hi Joe, looks like you used the defibrillator paddles, turned up 200 volts, got the all clear and wham! ...got this old gal to live again. Nice.:thumb2:

She looks good for a forty-niner.

Cheers,
Richard

Thanks Richard!

Great story and fix Joe, it can now sit proudly on your shelf instead of the old dusty box. Great work.

Cheers Ian, glad to have rescued it

Joe

That's turned out very nicely indeed. Well rescued.

ATB.

Andrew

Cheers Andrew

Wow! Flies right off the ground! Great result from an old stager...interesting markings as well.

Thanks Tim. Suitably mysterious isn't it?

Lovely rescue job on an iconic aircraft.

Andy.

Thanks Andy

Very respectable indeed!

Cheers Neil

Looks nice and clean now. What are the markings?
Pete

Thanks Pete, glad you like it. The markings are for a Lysander Mk.IIIA V9289, C Flight, No.357 (Special Duties) Squadron RAF, Burma, 1945. Here's a picture of the real life aeroplane. You could go to town on weathering if you wanted to.

'And two secret agent figures' that's as good as a shark mouth decal. Tidy build Joe, very nice. As Peter says, what are the markings ?

Thanks Colin. Guess what I found?...


Pierre looking pretty smug in his cool cardigan. Poor Yvette not so cool with her ankles broken. I'd take a gamble and say that French dress would stand out rather badly in the Burmese jungle. :smiling:

Beautifully done joe, a real result from a good oldie . i had the very same kit when i was a nipper and also did it in the special ops scheme .I remember thinking the spider in the middle of the roundel looked really cool, and the images it conjured up of resistance agents being dropped off / picked up in the middle of the night were really inspiring. If i recall correctly the large tank under the belly was for transporting things rather than fuel . Cheers tony

Thanks Tony, glad you like it and it brought you as many memories as it did to me. You might be right about the tank, makes sense to me. The agents I think were intended for the European scheme?

[flyjoe180]

BTW guys, if you like the scheme and the Lysander, there is a new 1/72 kit out from Dora Wings, using these exact same markings. I used their colour chart to help me with my FROG kit.

[David Lovell]

Great stuff ,as Richard says we tend to forget the age of some of the stuff we pull out but ,things have come along way but this old girl still holds her own .aged with dignity. Dave

[flyjoe180]

Great stuff ,as Richard says we tend to forget the age of some of the stuff we pull out but ,things have come along way but this old girl still holds her own .aged with dignity. Dave

Thanks David. I think Matchbox and Airfix also did 1/72 Lysanders in the 1970/80s. The new kit from Dora Wings looks great. The Lysander is an under apppreciated aeroplane I think.

[The Migrant]

Looks great, quite sinister in that scheme. I used to prefer Frog to Airfix kits when I was young- they weren't as detailed, but they fit better and the canopies were much clearer.