Loving your progress here Richard, outstanding as always!
The detail on the SBS resin set is just sooooo good! The collector ring inside the cowl is worth the price of admission in itself, and the engine assembly is nice and crisp. Much better than the resin set in the Special Hobby Boomerang that I am fumbling around with right now.
Cheers, D
Progress on the engine / cowl set .
All together - engine and cowl interior painted .
All bits primed with Stynylrez Grey - engine crankcase and reduction gear case , pushrod tubes and rocker boxes shot with Tamiya satin black. Cylinders and all induction tract done in aluminum.
Cylinders washed with black oil paint.
Cowl interior and baffles between cylinders British interior green . Collector ring in bronze made by 50/50 mix of Tamiya Red Brown and Vallejo Copper.
That radial is looking great Richard, love it!
Cheers, D
Engine / cowling done - the three triangulated struts installed & painted . SBS supplied the two back pieces for each strut as photo etch and the forward round piece that extends from the reduction gear case to the collector ring is .020” brass rod.
The Bristol Mercury used in the Mark III that is modeled here is a more conventional OHV albeit with 4 valves per cylinder ( unusual for a radial ) and SBS has even included all four stems and springs at the top of each cylinder even though they cannot be seen when all is buttoned up.
A few more details to add to the fuselage and then on to prime and paint.
Cheers- Richard
A few details added -
Footsteps on landing gear spats added from a piece of styrene filed to aerodynamic section .
My brother in law made custom masks for the letter codes and tail codes . I’m experimenting with them on a paint mule . I did one side in positive by painting red first then placing actual character and then spraying black . The other side done in negative by painting black first . I was afraid that the red may not cover on the black and that I would need to build it up too much and leave a paint edge but it seems to work fine either way so now I must choose which way to go.
Thanks for looking-
Cheers- Richard
Looks awesome!
Beautifully done Richard, really neat work!
Cheers, D
Thanks D and all for the interest !
Painting and decals done for the most part - need to finish up external fuel tank , propeller and boarding ladder .
Photos of the aircraft in NASM show a small symbol of some sort on the port side below the pilot’s window. I could not find any detail shots of this but I thought it might be a squadron badge so I googled 138 Squadron and voila !
Tried to mimic it to some degree by punching out some decals for the blue and white fields and painting in a suggestion of the rest…
Spooky, I’m reading a new book about the amazing Marie-Madelaine Fourcade (Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson) who was dropped into & picked up by Verity from occupied France several times during WW2 - highly recommended 
Stunning build Richard, really enjoyed reading through you build log. Brilliant inspiration for taking a build that much further.
tim 
Another great update Richard, beautiful work! The little squadron badge really looks the part, and all of your detail work is coming together to build the overall story.
The tip of the starboard horizontal stabilizer looks like it could use a quick swipe with a sanding stick and a touch-up 
Cheers, D
Thanks gents for the interest and kind words.
I’ll look for the book on Madame Fourcade whom it seems was seriously slighted by General DeGaulle post war .
@AussieReg - Thanks for being another set of eyes D - I’ll check out the stab but right now all is tied up on the Benchmate ( of which you are intimately familiar !) for wing assembly - turning out to be a bit of a challenge.
I’ve only just begun the book but it has already revealed some interesting details about the Lysander. It turns out that the large upper tank between the cockpits is not a fuel tank as I thought but is an oil tank for the dry sump radial engine. Given the long missions they wisely were not taking chances with lubrication. Also of note is some of these aircraft had a tap to introduce a bit of fuel into the crankcase sump to thin the viscosity of the oil for easier starting in cold temperatures.
Interesting too is that the after balance weight bay was used as a place to stash a civilian disguise for the pilot in case he had to abandon the aircraft in occupied territory - Hugh Verity carried a 9 mm Luger holstered by the throttle. I wonder if this was policy so not to identify him as an Englishman which might have been the case if he carried a Webly .
In Hugh Verity’s book he mentions instructing agents where to find the thermos of coffee .
It must have been found here in the aft cockpit by the oil tank … the Lysander book shows the holder for a “ vacuum flask “ -
That thermos is a really nice touch 
Can’t wait to see this one completed!
It’s a beauty Richard, bravo. Two things amaze me – first it caried no navigation equipment, second its carrying capacity. From the book about Mme Fourcade (p.230), the Lysander having just landed after midnight in a field only 30 miles east of Paris in mid ’43 “…the rear cockpit opened and three Alliance (Resistance) agents jumped out pulling their luggage (?!) with them.” Fourcade then exchanged greetings with pilot Peter Vaughan-Fowler (aged 20) and climbed in with two fellow agents (and their luggage) “…seated facing backwards. A sign in French read ‘If you see an enemy aircraft, press this button to alert the pilot’.” Another sign pointed out the thermos of hot coffee on the floor & a bottle of whisky. The Lysander was stationary for 7 minutes.
I don’t see how three people could sit abreast in the back - maybe two at a crush? Olson quotes Verity’s book in her bibliography so presumably it’s accurate – was there ever a larger Lysander variant? Anyhow you might want to source a nice bottle of single malt from somewhere
Love the coffee thermos Richard, awesome little detail. Given the circumstances, I’m fairly certain the shape of the handle would be the last thing the passengers were concerned with! Great to see the wings installed as well, a major step completed!
Cheers, D
Lovely result of the Lysander, Richard. Well done!
