Latest offering from Bazmania

[John Howling Mouse]

Picture this but with floats...

1:48 Italeri Westland Lysander twin-floatplane is underway.  Tomorrow I mold and cast a whole swack of floats (and Jeffrey's TF-51 Mustang Cowl).

[Leigh]

ooh ooh ooh how much you selling them there's floats for? I'm gonna need two for my Fulmar.

[Eddie M.]

That is something I envision fly around up in your neck of the woods, taking people out for adventures in the wilderness.Very cool! B)  Will any of your floats have wheels in them to come out of the water at boat ramps?
   Eddie

[retro_seventies]

ahhhhhhhhhh barry...  

my purely platonic heterosexual admiration for you knows no bounds when you talk about floatplanes...and Lysanders at that!

the matchbox lysander was one of my very first models when i was a wee bairn, fresh from the teat, and eager to stick my fingers to each other, and get gluey fingerprints all over my clear acrylic parts...

twin floatplane you say?

twin floats?

or twin engines?    

[Captain Canada]

Cool !

Looking forward to that one, baz !

I've got all the bits cut up for mine, but it's still a ways away from being built.........

[Tophe]

I've got all the bits cut up for mine.........

Thanks a lot Captain for this drawing, bringing back to my memory the J2F Duck. Yes, I had forgotten this case in my Mustang collection: adding to GlennLyn's & TSR-Joe's float-P-51s a pylon with room for passengers...

[John Howling Mouse]

ooh ooh ooh how much you selling them there's floats for? I'm gonna need two for my Fulmar.

Leigh: As for the menagerie of resin floats, I'll post pics of them once the collection is cast.  That way you can pick what you think will best suit your subject.  They're all 1:48.  I plan on widening and lenghtening a few variants just to suit some of the bigger planes I eventually want to convert to floatplanes (Wyvern, Corsair, Stuka, Sea Fury, etc.).

Cost? Just pay for (minor amount of) resin used and shipping, I suppose.

Todd: your centreline float version will look fantastic!

Eddie: Yes, very similar to the Otters and Norsemans that fly a little farther north of me.  In the end, I would like to have Kingfisher-style set-up for beaching.

Ben: I should have clarified: a pair of floats on the single-engined Lysander.  Would look interesting to see my version next to Todd's (aka Cap'n Canada's).

I've modified the sparse interior just a bit.  All the sub-assemblies are already painted and ready to be thrown together.  I'm going to round off the pointed wingtips (just for personal aesthetics, realizing its renowned STOL ability would be affected). If I leave it as a high-wing monoplane, I will use a general configuration similar (in theory) to the Dornier D0-22J (pictured below).

But I am actually tempted to slap a lower wing onto it and turn it into some between-the-wars floatplane BIPLANE  ("just can't leave well enough alone, can you?") just to make it even more nostalgic.

[Radish]

It'll be fantastic!

The Lysander has such huge appeal too.
Must build one again.
In my youth I built a couple of ancient Airfix ones (they weren't ancient then though, but we both are now!) and had great fun.

Fancy having a go at the Gavia one oneday  

[Ollie]

So Barry, you're planning on mauling the Testor/Hawk/Italeri Lysander?

Can't wait to see it!

Speaking of which, if I drop by Military Hobbies on Monday, I'll pick up one with the drop tank...

 

[John Howling Mouse]

Here's a shot of some interior bits before they get closed up.

It's a very rudimentary cockpit so I've added a few painted details on the sidewalls and made the tiny (!) "radios" you see in this shot.  The radios are just some bits of Evergreen styrene plastic painted flat black then scratched on details, switches with a number 11 Xacto knife and toothpick-painted dials.  Used a Berol Prismacolor silver artist's pencil to slightly weather them.  I'll have them on what is normally the aft gunner's deck.

He's now and observer (the gun won't be used on this one).
I've turned his seat into a swivel chair.  Used painted on seatbelts.  

Really, with the size of the glazing, this would be one of those kits where it would make sense to get a fantastic aftermarket cockpit set as everything will be quite visible.

But I just can't wait to get this together and throw some floats on it!

It will be a heavily weathered (naturally) navy white, maybe with some faded grey bands and plenty of rust and exposed metal.

[Ollie]

Barry, don't forget, no rust on an aluminium aircraft, eh!

Lookin' good so far!

 

[John Howling Mouse]

The painted on details just to add some life to the otherwise featureless cockpit sidewalls.  Yep, kind of chintzy (okay, REALLY chintzy) but should do the job.  I might redo this as a "regular" Lysander c/w an aftermarket cockpit details and PE someday.

Now, I got to go look that up, too.

Does anyone know if this kit was in any way upgraded since it was a Hawk/Testors release?  Some of the surface details seem pretty modern, actually.

[cthulhu77]

Most awesome, Sir Mouse !!!

         greg

[John Howling Mouse]

Barry, don't forget, no rust on an aluminium aircraft, eh!

Lookin' good so far!

Aw, what the hell----you're no fun.

Okay, no "rust" just iron oxide (man, I've got to use my earth reds)....   B)  

[Captain Canada]

Looking goo, Bazman !

Where do you find the time ?