I've stuck with an RAF subject after my failure to complete the Gloster Gladiator. So I chose another aircraft with a fixed wing above the cockpit, but only one, this being the Westland Lysander. Interesting aircraft that was used, among other ways, to infiltrate / extricate spies into occupied France. It was also featured in the recent movie Allied (which starred Brad Pitt).
A quick review of the kit. This is a rebox of a Gavia kit, a manufacturer that I am not familiar with. The kit was not terrible, and it was not great. Parts fit was mostly decent, although the canopy pieces and the parts constituting the cowling panels were terrible. I had to insert shims between a few of the canopy pieces to eliminate huge gaps, and I had to do some plastisurgery to get the cowling parts to fit reasonably well. This is one of Eduard's "Profipack" kits, meaning it includes a fret of PE, some resin parts, and painting masks. The PE enhances the average detail the base kit came with, including a bunch of tiny details as well as harnesses and gun detail. The resin parts were a couple of intakes in the engine (that's my assumption as to what those are, the small circular openings you can see when looking straight on at the radial engine, just poking through on either side of the cowling) and the rear gun, which is further enhanced with some of the PE. The masks fit to the parts well, but my experience with them differed greatly from my experience with the Montex Masks I've been using on many of my recent builds. When I got to lifting them away, they tended to take chunks of paint from the frame with them. I tried doing some light cutting between frame and mask but that didn't resolve the problem. So I had to do some frame painting by hand.
I did have a little difficulty getting the wings and those braces to set properly. In the end I believe I managed a "close enough" approximation, but the wings are not set as far onto the upper mount as they could be. The engine was too large for the cowling, which is what I believe caused the poor fit of the cowling panels. I ended up chopping off the ends of most of the cylinders (which cannot be seen in any event) to be able to get the cowling panels into place, but even with that, there remains a small gap.
Paints were Tamiya, Vallejo, Model Master, and AK Interactive Real Colors. The last was my first use of these paints (the top side camo colors, dark green and dark Earth), and I must say that they spray very well, brush well, and look great. Very little weathering other than a bit of exhaust staining, which is barely visible, and wear on the paint where the pilot mounts into the aircraft along the port wheel shroud.
Not a bad kit that results in a small 1/48 warbird.
Next up, Airfix's 1/48 Bristol Blenheim Mk. IF