Testors/Hawk 1/48 Lysander Mk.II

     As with many air services in the 1930’s, the R.A.F. was in something of a state of flux as aviation technology advanced rapidly. While all metal construction, retractable landing gear, and monoplanes were rapidly becoming the order of the day, there were many within the power structure of the R.A.F. that were reluctant to embrace more modern designs.

This was particularly true with monoplanes. It has been noted by more than one historian that The R.A.F. might well have gone to war with outdated, even if very maneuverable biplanes had things played out only slightly differently. Fortunately, they did not.

However, during this transitional period, a number of brilliant mixed construction designs appeared, utilizing doped cloth skinning over metal framework. The most famous were the Hawker Hurricane and the Vickers Wellington. Then there was the Westland Lysander.

It was an aircraft of humble beginnings and purpose. It was to serve in the role as an army co-op aircraft, replacing Hawker Hector and Hawker Audax biplanes. While these were very conventional looking aircraft, they would be replaced by something that was a bit of a radical departure from preceding designs.

Standing out among competing submissions from Avro, Bristol, and Hawker, the practical brilliance of the Lysander was in no small degree owed to designer William E.W. “Teddy” Peter. He had interviewed numerous pilots as to what sorts of characteristics would be desirable for such an aircraft.

The basic need was for an aircraft with excellent visibility for spotting, observation, and basic reconnaissance. A low stall speed would be a must, preferably coupled with good STOL capabilities.

The resulting aircraft was the Westland Lysander. It was a two-place design with long parasol mounted wings. These, along with much of the fuselage and other surfaces were fabric covering metal framing with wood stringers. The long, fifty-foot span wing incorporated automatic wing slats and slotted flaps into its impressive 260 square foot area. This paired with a variable incidence horizontal tail made for an excellent aerodynamic package for such an aircraft.

Power was provided by a Bristol Mercury nine-cylinder air cooled radial engine. This produced 870 horsepower which was provided via a three-blade, variable pitch propeller. This allowed for a top speed of 212 mph. More importantly, it allowed for a stall speed of only 65 mph. Combined with its rugged, fixed landing gear, this allowed operation from very short landing strips which were often nothing more than unimproved fields.

This short field performance was quite exceptional. A take off run was possible in as little as 100 yards. Landing could be accomplished in an even shorter distance, being compared to descending on an escalator by one pilot.

Armament could be carried in the form of a pair of .303 Browning machineguns in the large landing gear spats. Small stub wings could also be fitted to these allowing small bombs, flares, or message containers to be carried and dropped as needed. Additionally, a small rack could also be fitted to the aft fuselage, forward of the tail wheel. For defense, a .303 Lewis Gun was fitted on swivel mount in the aft observer’s compartment.

While already somewhat dated in its primary role at the time of its introduction (as were many aircraft designed for similar roles during this same era), the Lysander would prove itself to be a versatile and invaluable aircraft throughout the War. It proved to be a good liaison aircraft, an adept aerial target tug, and most importantly well suited for covert operations.

Its excellent S.T.O.L. performance made it the perfect aircraft for covert insertions and extractions behind enemy lines. The Mk.III version was even built especially for this purpose. Mounting an external fuel tank for increased range, it also had an external ladder mounted to the port side for quick access to or from the rear compartment.

Later aircraft featured improved versions of the Bristol Mercury Engine with some alternately mounting the more powerful sleeve valve Bristol Perseus radial. Some would eventually carry twin Lewis or Vickers guns in the aft cockpit for defense. There were even special ground attack variants tested, most notably the very bizarre looking P.12 Delanne Lysander, also known as the Mk.V or Westland Wendover with a four-gun, powered Boulton Paul tail turret.

In Addition to British service both with the R.A.F. and the Fleet Air Arm, Lysanders would serve with Commonwealth forces in Canada, Australia, India, and South Africa. Foreign operators would include Finland, Ireland, Egypt, Turkey, Portugal, and the United States. They would also be operated by Free French and Polish squadrons. It could be found in the skies above Europe and the British Isles, North America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and parts of the Pacific, owing in no small part to its ruggedness and versatility.

With the end of hostilities, surviving aircraft were quickly retired by most operators. Out of more than 1,700 produced, only around a dozen survive today. A few of these are airworthy or are being restored to that status.

With so few preserved, it was in some respects, perhaps, a victim of its own reputation. Like so many things that are very utilitarian and practical, it was not necessarily attractive or glamorous. It was neither a fighter nor a bomber, though it was unquestionably something unique. It was a multi-skilled, durable workhorse in the time and place that it was needed. One can almost call it an indirect ancestor of the versatile Pilatus PC-6, famous for being able to get into and out of places that no other fixed wing aircraft could. It is a pity that more do not remain.

     First offered in 1967 by Hawk, this was the first 1/48 Lysander kit to my knowledge. It has been in almost continuous release in some form since that time by either Testors or Italeri. Consisting of only fifty-nine parts, these are well molded for their day and fit well. The detail is mostly raised, as it is on the actual aircraft. All examples that I have seen are fairly clean molds with very little flash, usually confined to the sprue and not to parts.

     Parts include the optional small winglets and ventral rack for fifteen tiny bombs provided. The cockpit is rudimentary though less so than most of the Hawk releases of this era. Decals include what passes for an instrument panel. Depending on your boxing, the national insignia, while always some variety of British or Commonwealth, do vary a little. Also, the plastic in which the kit might be molded may as well. 

     I have most often seen this kit molded in that unique, whitish, translucent plastic that Hawk and IMC used during the 1960’s. Such was the case with this kit, in fact. I have also seen it molded in black, red, orange, two different shades of green, and grey. There was also a well known, chrome plated release as well. I have never actually tried to build one of these plated kits, though am somewhat tempted to try, sometime. (I suppose I would airbrush the seams with model mater chrome after filling and sanding.)

Hawk seems to have had no end of variations on styrene colors in use, as I have seen other kits also in silver, two different shades of brown and two different shades of blue as well. I am certain that there may also be one or two that I do not recall at the moment. It is unusual, if not even interesting, to see so many different colors by a manufacturer.

     New tool kits were released by Gavia in 2001, with Eduard offering what I believe is the same tooling or something derived from it in 2003. A new release from Airfix is due any time. This will likely prove to be quite nice as well. All of these kits are unquestionably more detailed. Still, for what it started out as and when, the old Hawk Lysander has stood the test of time better than some.

     This was one of the most unplanned builds that I have done in the past two decades. I was at a model show, browsing the vendor tables when I happened upon one selling all kits for $5 each. I loaded up on bargains and somewhere in the process I acquired a vintage Hawk Lysander. Realizing that I had never built a Lysander in any scale, it seemed like as good a time as any. The kit had no decals, I noted, so browsed more tables until I found some that appealed, which did not take long.

I went to work on it the next day. This went by the instructions, mostly, starting with the wheels and landing gear assembly. The wheels were sprayed in Testors Flat Yellow. Once this was dry, the tires were painted by hand in Testors Rubber.

As with many fixed gear kits, the wheels are designed to spin freely on the spindle once the wheel spats were assembled. This fit nicely and there was no sloppiness when assembled. The gear assembly was glued up with CA glue and the seem only required a little cleanup and sanding with 400 grit sandpaper followed by polishing with 0000 steel wool.

Attention was now directed to the engine and cowl assembly. The inside of the cowl was painted with Model Master R.A.F. Interior Green. (I now know this is incorrect, though it would be essentially impossible to correct now.) The engine face was painted Testors Flat Black. This was followed by dry brushing with Model Master Dark Anodonic Grey with the pushrod tubes painted in Testors Silver. The engine hub was painted with Testors Flat Grey.

While this was drying the cowl exhaust ring and the exhaust pipe were painted with a mix of Testors Copper and Model Master Burnt Iron. (In retrospect, it was a little too coppery. Straight Burnt Iron probably would have been the best choice.) This was also set aside to dry for quite a while.

Now work began on the cockpit. Everything was sprayed in more Model Master R.A.F. Interior Green. I had initially thougt of replacing the instrument panel with something from the spares box. However, as the forward canopy cannot be displayed open and is on the thick side, I decided to go with the decal from the kit. Ultimately, this proved suitable, as very little of the panel can be seen once the kit is completed. There is also a map decal for the navigation table in the observer’s compartment which was also applied, though also can barely be seen.

The center of the pilot’s seat was painted with Testor’s Flat Tan, while the aft seat was left entirely in the interior color. A nicely molded, for its day, Lewis gun is provided along with four spare magazines. These were painted in Testor’s Gun Metal and given a dry brushing with Dark Anodonic Grey to imply some general wear. No control stick is provided in the kit, so I sourced one from my spares bins, painting it the same green with the handle painted Flat Black.

Everything was glued up with CA glue and the fuselage was then closed up. Fit proved to be very good, which I have usually found on these old Hawk kits. While the certainly lack in detail, they do fit together well in most cases. Seams were cleaned up in much the same manner as with the wheel spats with no problems. The after fuselage bomb rack was glued in place as well and fit perfectly in the notch provided for it.

The landing gear assembly was glued in place and proved to be the only spot where I needed to do any real filling. The fit was not truly bad, just gappy enough that I needed a little thick CA to take care of it followed by some simple sanding.

The wings were assembled by the instructions, attaching them to the canopy center section. Again, everything fit nicely. One does have to take care with this, though, as the clear canopy center section is not exceptionally strong and could easily be broken. I handled it rather like glass for the rest of the build.

The horizontal tail was glued in place, again, with good fit. Lastly the air intake scoop was glued to the cowl. Everything was blown off to remove dust and sanding residue. Then the entire model was given a thorough polishing with a dryer sheet, then blown off once again. Now it was time to paint

Due to the nature of the canopy and wing assembly, painting would be more easily accomplished before final construction. The first thing would be masking off the exhaust ring. I had let this cure for two days and crossed my fingers hoping that low tack Tamiya tape would not mar it.

All of the openings were plugged up with bits of damp paper towels and the wheels were masked with some more Tamiya tape. Everything, including the yet to be installed wing supports and propeller spinner was then sprayed in Model Master Chrome. The aircraft that I had chosen to model wore a silver doped finish and I had decided that Chrome would be the best shade to represent this.

As soon as it could be handled, the tape was removed from the cowl ring and I happily saw that my gamble had paid off. The paint on the exhaust ring was unharmed.

The propeller was painted in Testor’s Flat Black with the propeller tips painted in Flat Yellow. Canopy framing was hand painted in Model Master Chrome as well.

Once this was dry, the subassemblies were given a shot of Model Master Metalizer Sealer. This dulled the finish slightly, though made it much easier to handle without ruining the finish.

All of these were then glued up with carefully applied CA glue and all went just as planned. No cleanup or touchup was needed. Given that this was one of the first, if not the first time that I had painted and assembled a model in this manner finished in a metallizer, I could not have been more pleased.

The decals came from a sheet from Max Decals. This was sheet #4803, exotic Lysanders. It featured markings for Egyptian, Turkish, Portuguese, British, and U.S. aircraft. There were two schemes for an Egyptian aircraft, though I found the bright one the most appealing.

This was my second time using their decals, as I had used the Turkish markings from the 1/32 Lysander sheet on a Revell Hurricane Mk.II a year or two earlier. Both experiences with them worked out quite well.

The model was sprayed with Model Master Gloss. Once dry, the decals were applied with no issues, settling down with MicroSol. I was most pleased to have no silvering issues with them and once they had cured it was given a spray of Model Master Semi-Gloss.

The canopies were glued in place using a small amount of old fashioned Testor’s tube glue applied with a toothpick. Then the exhaust pipe was glued in place using a small amount of CA. The final thing that I needed to address would be the radio mast and aerial and the running and landing lights.

The wingtip and tail running lights were painted using regular old Testor’s square bottle gloss Red, Green, and Blue. Once dry, these were given a coat of Tamiya Clear Red, Green, and Blue, accordingly.

The landing lights were a little more difficult. They are implied by outlines on the wheel pants, though painting them proved a bit awkward. They are somewhat large and oddly shaped.

My initial idea was to carefully shape some blobs of Elmer’s Glue. I put this on and shaped it with a toothpick. However, once it was dry, it did not really look like anything and could barely be seen on the shiny surface. Fortunately, Elmer’s cleans up with water, so these were wiped off with a damp paper towel with no damage to the finish.

I then painted them on with Testor’s Gloss White. Once this had dried, I gave them a nice, thick blob of Tamiya Smoke to give them some color that would pop. In retrospect, I should have cut it around 50% with Tamiya Clear, as the “lenses” look too dark. Still, you can see them, at least.

The pitot tube and tail wheel were attached now. The final bit was to apply the short radio mast with CA glue. An aerial was made from stretched sprue and applied with more of the same glue. This was then tinted black with Model Master Flat Black.

Now I had built my first Lysander, and rather an attractive one, I think. I have always found the older, green and white Egyptian roundel one of the most attractive of all national insignias. It really catches the eye, even on a very shiny aircraft.

The old Hawk mold was actually rather nice in its day. There are unquestionably things lacking in it. However, it has good fit and decent detail given that it is nearly sixty years old.

It has unquestionably been surpassed by more modern kits. Still, it is worth a look. One could easily be detailed out very nicely, as I have seen done a number of times on show tables back when it was the only game in town.

It would, without question, be a nice kit for a younger modeler, its original target market. I will doubtless build one of the newer kits at some point and have even considered tackling the big 1/32 Matchbox kit. (Yes, I am a bit of a masochist. That may be a prerequisite for being a modeler, though.) However, I think I will probably build another one of these as well.

I found this a most enjoyable build. It is, to date, one of the most trouble free that I have undertaken in recent years. My working time on this was comparatively low. Not counting time for paint and glue to cure, I think that I had this one completed in around three days with a working time of around 12-15 hours, perhaps less.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants a Lysander in this scale with a minimum of fuss. If you want a more accurate, detailed build, there is the Gavia/Eduard kit. Plus, we have a new kit from Airfix just emerging that may prove very nice based on some of their more recent offerings in this scale. As always, enjoy the build and Happy Modeling!!

The Encyclopedia British Military Aircraft by Chaz Bowyer, Crescent Books, 1982

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Lysander

The Encyclopedia of the World’s Combat Aircraft by Bill Gunston, Chartwell Books, 1976

Christopher Campbell

21 January 2025