Reviews : Lindberg Westland Lysander Aircraft

Considering this is a 1:48 scale kit for just $10, you’re getting a pretty good deal. It’s a simple kit and when you discount the 13 bombs and five gun magazines there’s only around 35 pieces, so it isn’t a huge challenge to build. But with a finished wingspan over 12-inches it’s a very generously sized model, particularly for the price. Its size makes it a great kit for practicing your airbrushing, or for learning to hand brush camo designs. Also, for an allowance-friendly $10 a young modeler gets a nice big kit to work on, while more seasoned modelers can find satisfaction in masking and painting the 30+ panes in the canopy. Clean sprue without much flash, the pieces are a good fit and the decal set is simple but effective. I built my Lysander without the wheel mounted racks and various bombs because the Lysander is best known for its clandestine mission capability thanks to its short takeoff and landing performance, during which ordnance wasn’t carried. BOTTOM LINE: It’s a 1:48 kit with a one-foot wingspan that’s easy enough for a beginner but still presents challenges for the expert. And it only costs $10. NOTE: I’m an average skill modeler at best. Usually I leave non-permanent fixtures (bombs, drop tanks, etc.) off my kits because I’m interested in the airplane, not extraneous add-ons. If the decal set includes them, I never apply swastikas - they are a vile symbol of a vile political party we don’t need reminding of. I use the following for all my models: • Harder & Steenbeck CRplus with a 0.2mm nozzle. It’s way above my ability level but was a birthday present from my wonderful partner. • Vallejo Air and AMMO by Mig acrylic paints. I never use oil-based paints or washes because who needs the toxic fumes and cleanup chemicals. • Walthers Solvaset to apply and set decals. • EZ-Line Fine for rigging. • Vallejo Mecha Satin Varnish to coat finished models. If you’ve ever seen a Spitfire or whatever in real life, they have a slight gloss to them and are not matte. Personally I think matte painted kits look fake.

The Lysander was by far a true war horse that carried men supplies during World War Two. This kit is the rendition that fills a large gap in history and is a very easily built kit. I started out by thoroughly reading the exploded drawing instruction sheet which was typical for the era of the kit's age. I decided to build sub-assemblies to ease painting the parts later and piecing them together with better results. That is a good practice with this kit. I had no fit issues and there was little flash of leftover plastic which was nice. As old as the plastic seemed it doesn't take well to CA or Super Glue and after trying a few parts using HobbyLinc brand CA I was successful by clamping parts together such as the wing halves, and fuselage but beyond those parts there were no more gluing issues. I found that painting the entire model with a light greenish-grey primer of acrylic paint was the best way to go and through research found photos of actual aircraft had been restored showing a light green for the underside of the wings, so I painted them accordingly. I painted the fuselage in a similar paint pattern as the box cover shows and added different decals as the markings followed an actual aircraft pattern. This would make a good beginner kit with minimal supervision and loaded with fun parts to detail if one chooses. I highly recommend this kit to anyone with a little experience with aircraft models.

The old Hawk Lysander now comes with the later Testors mods: cylinder head blisters, a boarding ladder, and the fuel or cargo pod. Other than those, it's identical to its original form in the 1960s. The Hawk Lysander is a viceless, quick, easy, sturdy build. I talked to a Lysander driver once, and he assured me there were more middle-of-the-night conferences between the opposing powers, and he chauffeured many flag officers and diplomats to France and back before dawn, far more, he said, than you'd ever imagine. Other passengers woulld be MI-5 and OSS agents going into Axis territory, and downed aviators coming out. Highly STOL-capable, the Lysander was your prime specimen of a WWII spy plane. So this is a seriously significant model subject. Unless you aim to invest a compulsive year-long effort, this kit will yield you great results for minimal cost and effort. There are some aftermarket decals, but most Lysanders should be RAF camo over an all-black bottom.

Back in the 1990's,(when I could afford the and had space,I was building 1/32 scale kits I got a hold of a revel Lysander of this scale. It was a great kit; the detail in the complexity of the wing root was terrific. Now building 1/48 scale, I found this Hawk kit; I never heard of them in 60 years, but knowing Lindberg (ugh) and being priced right, I gave it a try. it's not a bad kit at all; most everything fit together quite well, and very little flash. it was good as the old Monogram kits. While I missed the complexity of the wing root detail, I found the use of the clear part roof of the model as a structural element quite clever in its conception. If it were not for the difficulty in gluing the wing assembly to the fuselage I would rate this kit a good one for beginners. It is a great value and a must for WWII aircraft collector/builders.

this is a very simple kit to build. Only around 40 parts. It is a quick build, once build you will be surprised about the size of this model. The decals are a minimum, but there is a dash board and the co-pilot even has a map that shows a river on the flight plan. If you take the time to detail the painting you can make a very nice model of this kit. Some parts are even not showed on the build plan, there is a spare fuel tank, just you must figure it out yourself were it goes. If you want a more detail build you would need to spend more. But all in all I was happy with this build. Very good kit for a starter builder.

Found this in my local store and gave me a bargain price, from a recovered collection I was told. It was the original 1967 HAWK company that later became a few other companies including Lindberg. Be careful as I totally put the wings on backward when disturbed during the build, As long as no one knows about this bird then I am fine with people not knowing as it still turned out okay. An old kit but fits together very well for such an old kit. I will add pictures of the completed build.

A nice model for me to practice on. Easy to assemble. Canopy gave me some problems with fitting together. All in all, a nice build. Painted it a satin black with a flat green accent. Pictures to follow in the future. Lindberg has improved since I was younger.

It is great to see these again. The molds look great. Looking forward to building it. Build reviews have been very good which is why I bought it. Apparently mounting the canopies with the framework is very well engineered, better than many newer kits.

Very nice easy build that looks great when done. A very historical aircraft from WWII read the other comments for more info on the subject

Was surprised by the comparative size of the Lysander to the Spitfire and the Hurricane. All parts fit very well and was a quick build.

Cool old well made kit.Fit together well.Love seeing these re-issues.I may buy another.Priced nice as well.

Airplane used in WWII by the British. Nice and cheap kit to build for the 1/48 Scale.