Before becoming heavily involved in building helicopters, Westland built real airplanes whose wings didn't move in a circle! One of their more successful fixed wing designs was the Lysander. Designed to meet a requirement for an army co-operation aircraft, the Lysander entered unit service in 1938, the prototype having first flown in 1936. It was the Army's first monoplane army co-op design. 

In case you are wondering what a co-op plane does, it is basically used for artillery spotting and battle field aerial reconnaissance. Were it to be built today, it would be called a FAC aircraft and used to pinpoint ground targets for tactical jets. But, I'm getting a few decades ahead of myself.

The Lysander was a very easy aircraft to fly and was capable of doing more than just artillery spotting. It was also used to drop spies and saboteurs behind enemy lines. It had very good short field landing and take off characteristics, thanks to its long wing and ample horsepower.

The downside is that they were relatively slow so an easy target for marauding enemy fighters. The aircraft were replaced by Tomahawks and later by Mustangs in the co-op role, but soldiered on as air/sea rescue aircraft and target tugs as well as continuing in the Special Ops department!

Max Decals are a company based in Eire (Ireland) and have produced a number of sheets on the aircraft of the Irish Air Corps. They are now branching out by offering decal sheet that have an Irish connection, but also cover other users of specific types. 

The decals themselves are printed by Propagteam. As you may know, Propagteam decals are renown for their crispness, clarity and thinness. Though they require a bit more care in handling, the results are well worth the extra effort. 

This is their first 1/32 sheet and is for the Lysander. Your choice of models for this sheet is basically the Matchbox/Revell Lysander. It is a very nice kit and accurate in outline, however it is rather sparsely detailed. I believe that there may be a number of aftermarket sets for the kit, but other than an Eduard brass sheet, cannot think of any of them at this time. Perhaps a reader will be able to jog my memory! 

This particular sheet carries three aircraft. 

The first is an Irish Air Corps Lysander II of 1 fighter squadron circa 1942. It is in standard RAF camouflage colors with Irish markings. 

Next is a Royal Egyptian Air Force Lyander I in overall aluminum dope from 1940.

Finally a Portugese Air Force Lysander from 1943. It is painted in standard RAF colors.

Any one of these schemes would look great on the Matchbox kit and will undoubtedly produce an impressive model when complete. 

Max Decals has color copies of the instruction sheet at their website. Just click on the hyperlink below to access it. Max Decals informs me that their decals are being distributed by Squadron so obtaining them should not be a problem.

Review copy courtesy of Max Decals. Thanks for your support

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that averages over 2,400 visits a day, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors