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Bob Torres
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Matchbox 1/72 Westland Lysander Mk.II, No. PK-7 (1972)

January 10, 2023 · in Aviation · · 32 · 1.2K

My final build from a group build to celebrate Matchbox's 50th anniversary.

Added some extra details in the cockpit, did some cutting to add the landing gear lights and rear clear panels. All and all a very nice kit.

Most of the decals came from the kit except for the larger letters, UG-B. Those came from a Microscale sheet. The markings for this aircraft represent a MK.II, L4805, UG-B, 16 Sqn, RAF, France, 1940

Reader reactions:
15  Awesome

11 additional images. Click to enlarge.


32 responses

  1. Great job on this Bob! I would like to have a new tool kit of this in 1/48

  2. A wonderful result, Bob! You took the most out of this kit.
    Ah! These lovely Matchbox kits bring such wonderful memories!

    • Thank you Spiros, to be honest I was surprised on how nice this kit builds up and how it looks. I've built a lot of the Matchbox kits years ago but this was my first time making this one.

  3. This is a terrific build, Bob! Got to love those Matchbox kits.

  4. Strange to think that WWII had ended just 27 years ago when this kit was released.

    • Steve, yes. Back in the 80's we had a lot of the pilots who flew in WW II come to our meetings and talk about their missions and how their planes handled everything. That war was still fresh in their minds with most of the folks I knew back then.

  5. Well done Bob, nice and clean, looks good.

  6. One of MatchBoxes better efforts, made better by the gifts and talents of Bob Torres. This build is something to be really proud of Bob.

    Smashed the like button.

    Two thumbs up.

  7. Amazing what a great looking model can be produced from a simple looking Matchbox kit!
    Well done Bob.

  8. Really great result on this Lysander, Bob @v1pro
    From those Matchbox kits you still can get a nice result with the correct skills.
    Once saw an airworthy Lysander and they are much bigger than I expected.

    • Thank you John! 🍻

      And yes this is a bigger aircraft than expected. It's a big climb to get into the cockpit. The Lysander is a very impressive aircraft on how its flap/slat works (automaticly), the take off and landing procedures are a little different than from the norm. This aircraft uses the horizontal stabilizer to trim (nose up) for take off and landing. Kind of similar to a bigger jet liner.

  9. I love the Lysander and this a great model of it. When I was a kid there was a TV series which featured one, usually flying in and out of a field somewhere in France helping a member of the resistance.

  10. Beautiful Lys Bob,all the best!

  11. Nice work, Bob. I have a soft spot for kits like that.

  12. Always good to see the oldies come alive and you do it very well, Bob! Great Lizzie!

  13. That looks really great. I have the same to be built some day. I’ll be inspired to look at your post when I get to putting it together.

    • Thank you Bernard, this was an easy build. The part that was a bit tricky was installing the wings/struts to the canopy without making a big mess with the glue. I lucked out on my build and came out with a clean installation.

  14. Another great looking model Bob @v1pro ! I don’t recall seeing very many Lysanders on imodeler or other online venues . You did a great job on this classic kit !

    • Thank you Jay @ssgt. You are right about a few of these built. Doing a search on iModeler there are 10 articles.

      They are there but some digging has to be done like in forums to see them but nothing like doing a P-51 search. Plus this is an old kit, a lot of the modelers don't care for the older kits, especially Matchbox. And with the other newer releases of the Lysander, it seems like the wings installation is an issue with them. They do build up nicely but I have read a few on other forums and in Facebook where they give up on the build. One was the 1/48 Eduard kit and near the end of his build it was thrown away into a trash bin.

  15. Very nice! Love seeing old kits brought to life.

  16. This was one of my favourite Matchbox kits I built back in 1983. Matchbox box art were some of the best back then. You did a great job on this model. Absolutely STUNNING. Well done!

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