Airfix 1:72 English Electric Lightning F.6 build

Post by **TommyKillander** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 6:13 pm

Hey guys,

Just started my build of the Airfix 1:72 scale English Electric (BAC) Lightning F.6. I will share my thought in this thread and also ask questions (there will probably be alot of them

. I'm quite new to this so I struggle wity almost everything.

I'm very interested in getting your feedback about my thoughts/decisions and don't hesitate to post if you see anything that is wrong, dumbass stupid or just an unneccessary hard way of doing things.
Here we go.

Build decisions:

Airfix have two layout options for this aircraft:

No. 74 Sqr. RAF Tengah, Singapore, 1970 (Black fin/Silver fuselage and wings)
No. 11 Sqr. RAF Binbrook, England 1988 (Grey fin/top fuselage and wings, light grey bottom)

I think the Black/silver looks awesome so I will go with that.
http://itdoesnthavetoberight.files.word ... tengah.jpg

This build-option also features the Firestreak AAMs and they look cool aswell. According to the painting-scheme gloss colours should be used, which I have no previous experience airbrushing - but one time needs to be the first one, so why not this €20 kit instead of a €100+ kit

I will model this aircraft inflight with retracted undercarriage, pilot and closed cockpit.

To get a feeling for airbrushing gloss paint I will start with the AAMs, where I will use Tamiya X-2 Gloss White for the body/control planes and paint the optic lenses with X-19 Smoke (transparent grey).

Notice the amount of flash on the rear control planes... not cool

This is supposed to be a new tooling from Airfix.

I prefer to cut parts into the stem/sprue to avoid deformation. The cutting tool should only displace material into one direction, but I have had experience of the tooling moving into the part, causing it to deform, in my previous build. Maybe not a big deal if you need to putty and sand the part anyway, but I prefer to avoid damage...

Post by **chief5437** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:54 pm

Good look with this, I've heard that the new moulds have aged rapidly for some reason, hence all that flash. I'll still be getting one though! Should be fine once the flash is gone.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:30 pm

chief5437 wrote:Good look with this, I've heard that the new moulds have aged rapidly for some reason, hence all that flash. I'll still be getting one though! Should be fine once the flash is gone.

That's true, this clip on YouTube actually points this out quite clearly:

I removed the flash without too much hassle and have primed the Firestreaks just now with Vallejo Gray Surface Primer, will put on the white gloss and decals tomorrow and a gloss coating.

I have two different gloss coats; Tamiya X-22 and Microscale Micro Coat Gloss.
I'm tempeted to go for the X-22 since I use Tamiya already, but on the other hand I my experience sofar with Microscale products are very positive and I have used the Micro Coat Satin and the result was sooooo GOOD!

Post by **chief5437** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 10:01 pm

I look forward to seeing this, my fave British jet!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:30 pm

Thanks chief, hope I can make it justice.

Spent a lot of time today in the spraybooth trying to get the clear paint to look good. Could only get one missile to look decent.
Had issues with buildup of paint around the control planes and uneven coating and dust - guess I just got lucky with the first one and mega-troll with the other one

To avoid going full TILT-mode I washed the paint away and started from scratch by putting primer on again. Will resume tomorrow after a good nights sleep.

I also built the cockpit and primed it, will let it dry until tomorrow aswell.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 4:43 pm

Ok, finished the cockpit and painting of the Firestreaks today.

I'm quite satisfied with the ejection-seat handles, I made the out of a strand of AWG 30 (wire-wrap), peeled the isolation off, dipped it in Tamiya XF-3 Yellow and put dots of XF-69 NATO Black on. The red part is X-7 Red.

The OOB handles had too much flash, where too thick and where just two circles. So I tried this approach to get something that didnt look "perfect".

The pilot have been weathered to enhance the details, buit I'm not sure if I will weather the interior or not. I will maybe drybrush some light grey or white on the edges to give a "used" feeling, but no dark wash. All instruments are decals to they do not need to be weathered I guess.

No more modelling until next year - gotta prepare some stuff for the end of year party tonight.

Happy New year

Post by **chief5437** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 6:45 pm

Nice work, pilot looks great! Happy new year!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:31 pm

Started to work on the engine air inlet and exhaust pipes.

The compressor fan are modelled at the back of the air intake tube, 1/3 into the fuselage of the model. Airfix suggests in the colour-scheme that I should paint the fan spinner and the fan blades with two different shades of aluminium color

You need an endoscope to be able to distinguing any colour at all....

On the other hand - they leave two quite large ejector pin-marks in the air inlet, where they can be clearly seen. I have reduced the hard edge so the step is removed. I guess this is a wear-issue of the tooling or a tool-trimming issue if they have made modifications.

I have primed and coated the inlet and exhaust pipe. The inlet inside have been painted with Tamiya XF-16 and I will mask the nose-cone and paint it olive drab tomorrow. I will paint the exhaust pipe with Alclad2 ALC-113 Jet Exhaust tomorrow as well.

That's all for today.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:46 pm

Fox One!

Firestreaks turned out OK - I'm happy with that.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:02 pm

How did this pass QAC ?

Didnt check the sprues properly before I bought this kit - which is something I will do from now on... There are some serious moulding artefacts in this kit; there are suspected tooling issues (like the flash and raised ejection pin marks), but also poor workmanship issues like too short cycles and/or too wrong injection pressure.

The knocked off pins on the airbrakes may be my fault, I might have handled the sprues without caution when I opened the polybag.

What I cant wrap my head around is the artefact on the fuselage; first I thought it was abbrasion, but it seems more like a dent in the tooling or an uncompleted tooling change. However, the problem is easily fixed with a scribing-tool I guess...

It the kit where more expensive I would probably send it back or ask for replacement parts. What is the normal procedure for situations like this ?

I think I will continue with the build anyway. I can fix those issues by reusing scrap-material and filler.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Jan 04, 2015 10:52 am

Been working on the fuselage and the wings yesterday and did some progress...

Air intake tube and exhaust pipes are completed.

I glued in the airbrakes and nose gun panels - the gun ports will not be used for the F6. I used superglue instead of my regular Tamiya Extra Thin, to avoid deformation of the small part due to melting. It was quite easy to apply the glue from the inside of the fuselage for the gun-panels.

Had to repair the broken hinges on the airbrake using a strip of styrene; it worked out quite OK I think. Just need to finish the rescribing.

Have also assembled the wings. I needed to drill holes for the over-wing fueltanks and the refueling-boom.

Next up is the fueltanks and refueling boom. The boom looks awful, need to rebuild that using a brass-tube (as suggested by Drewe Manton in his YouTube-clip mentioned earlier).

Oh, I also noticed that the fuselage has a very fine texture(!). I hope the difference between untouched and sanded areas will not be too prominent.

This kit is full of surprises, but I will not abandon it - I have invested too much work in it already and haven't screwed up completely (yet)

Stay tuned.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:58 am

Started to assemble the fuselage and had to do a lot of work to get rid of ejection pin marks and reduce the circumfence of the air intake tube - massive collisions everywhere. Basically it's impossible to put the fuselage together without those adjustements. It's still a tight squeeze, though. Had to use CA-glue for the last seam

Anyway, lots of putty and sanding is needed before I can move on to the next step.

Did som light drybrushing of the cockpit tub and ejection seat to make a little bit worn. Hope it is enough, I was concerned about over-doing it...

That's all for now, time for coffee and then add some other parts to the fuselage and then start masking and get some filler onto it

Post by **chief5437** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:44 pm

She's coming along nicely! Keep it coming

Post by **TommyKillander** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:50 pm

chief5437 wrote:She's coming along nicely! Keep it coming

Thanks chief,

I will take my time with this one. Please bare with me

I might seem a bit negative about this kit, pointing out all the "problems" with ejection pins, flash an bad fitting. I actually like the kit and the Lightning aircraft model itself have certainly grown on me, since I have done some research and crosschecking colours and details that look suspicious in the Airfix kit.
It's such a beast; a big "hot-rod" interceptor armed with only two missiles (and autocannon, but I would not expect it to engage in a dogfight

Found this clip when I looked for footage of the exhaust nozzles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QIvUa8sid0

Post by **chief5437** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:25 am

More tips and 'problems', the better. It's all good info for others to take on board!

Although it was designed as an interceptor, the Lightning was actually very agile in a dogfight scenario. For a period in Germany, a guns only version was used on Battle Flights.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:20 pm

chief5437 wrote: Although it was designed as an interceptor, the Lightning was actually very agile in a dogfight scenario. For a period in Germany, a guns only version was used on Battle Flights.

Interesting, I jumped into the conclusion that such a big aircraft wasn't suited for A-A guns-only combat. Need to do my research better

Post by **TommyKillander** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:51 pm

Messed up really bad today and managed to bend and crack the front canopy when I was polishing and preparing it for masking. I have ordered a new part from Airfix, hope thay have spare parts in stock.

BUT today I received my brand new airbrush; H&S Evolution CR+ 2-in-1, so everything is not totally bad

Will try it tomorrow!

Post by **CJSomerset** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:10 pm

The hard work is paying off, that's looking really nice, the finished missiles look spot on.

How come you Swedes are such good modellers?

Post by **TommyKillander** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:11 pm

CJSomerset wrote:The hard work is paying off, that's looking really nice, the finished missiles look spot on.

How come you Swedes are such good modellers?

Thanks CJSomerset, you are awesome.

I don't consider myseIf to be good and I haven't much experience in building yet.
I just started building kits again a couple of months ago - haven't done this since I where a kid. But I'm learning all the time and I get tons of inspiration and help from the ISM community.

Post by **patrickroos** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:09 pm

Looking good Tommy!
Nice progress so far.
And trust me, You will LOVE that H&S!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:11 pm

Thanks Patrick!

The Evolution is awesome. Have only done priming and stuff like that sofar, but the control of the air and paint is so much better than the cheap Chinese Badger-copy (Meec from Jula) that I where using before.

Had some issues at first with bubbling in the paint cup, but I got that sorted out quickly.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:08 pm

Hi there!

Still waiting for the spare part from Airfix and I haven't heard anything from them yet and they respond to hails as much as a Borg cube would do

...so I'm looking for a plan B, because the Lightning must fly again!

Came up with this workaround; I found a piece of 0.5mm thick PET sheet from a blister-pack and made folded out projection of the mangled canopy part. Folded it two times in a hobby vice and got something that is fairly similar to the canopy.

I will put on some masking tape and glue it on with PVA. The shape is not perfect, but it will suffice.

The show must go on

Post by **chief5437** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:00 am

Sorry to hear about the canopy

great recovery though, looks good from here. I'm surprised you haven't got a replacement from airfix, they've been great when I've used them in the past. It can take a while though!

If I had a spare I'd send you it. But I've only got a T.4 in 1/72 at the mo, the others are 1/48.

Best of luck buddy

Post by **TommyKillander** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:48 pm

Hello,

Fitted the front canopy and made another round of PVA filling (just to even out the steps between the two parts).

Also started to fill the gaps with Tamiya Putty diluted in Tamiya Surface Primer. It soaks into the gaps good, but needs a couple of rounds before the seams are fully coated. I will make another go at it before I go to bed today, so it can dry overnight.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:49 pm

Hey guys,

Decided to take the bull by the horns and prepare the refueling probe for final assembly. I already knew that this part looked like crap but thought I might try to clear it from flash and give it a go.

But I decided to salvage some of the details and use a brass tube instead.

The the rod isn't even close to round shape... It's an oval with 1.2 x 1.8 mm

I dented one detail a little, so I have mended it with "liquidized sprue".

Post by **Thomas2542** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:02 pm

Looks good. I had the same problem with the airbrake but everything else was fine. I have the F2a version and I don't think the flash was too bad on mine. Good luck with the refueling probe.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:33 pm

Hello,

Started to assemble the aircraft (finally!)

There are a couple of ugly gaps that needs some filling and sanding still, but I hope to be able to start put paint on this week.

I have tried to rescribe the nose part three times without success, had to walk away from the model for a couple of hours, since I went almost full-tilt

I might leave it as it is. No panel-line is better than an ugly panel-line....

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:36 pm

Thomas2542 wrote:Looks good. I had the same problem with the airbrake but everything else was fine. I have the F2a version and I don't think the flash was too bad on mine. Good luck with the refueling probe.

Thanks Thomas,

I started to scratchbuild a probe tip as well. It will not look like a turned metal after-market part, but it will look better than the stuff that came out of the sprue for sure

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:38 pm

Oooo! She's looking nice! All that hard work is paying off.

Can't wait to see some paint on her!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:16 pm

Time for the paintjob!

Started with a disaster - I tried using MIG Black Primer (which I have never used before) and read the instructions thorougly before I started... The instructions said that I should thin the primer with MIG thinner, but I dont have that so I used Tamiya X20 instead... The primer didnt coat properly and left big spots on the bare plastic.
So I wiped it of as much as I could and sprayed on XF-1 around the cockpit.

Going back to MIGs website again is said "We recommend MIG -2000 Acrylic Thinner for a correct thinning". Now that doesn't mean that it needs to be thinned, right ? So maybe it was wrong to thin it in the first place...

But I got my trusty Vallejo Primer on without any problems.

There are some areas that needs more filling and sanding. I will leave the primer to cure until the weekend and fix those problems before I continue with the preshade, which will be a challenge - there are zillions of panels and some are hard to reach because of the overwing fueltanks... But I will give it a go anyway.

I'm thinking of using Testors Model Master Aluminium Plate, which is buffable. Or maybe I use Tamiya X-11 Crome Silver.... I will make a sample on a piece of plastic of each I think to see how they look.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 3:02 pm

Hey guys,

Painting is well underway and I have managed to put on the metallic basecoat. Just need to do some masking to complete the detail paint.

I decided to use the buffable Modelmaster metalizer laquer "Aluminium Plate". I were a little reluctant to do so, because I wasn't sure that it would look good, but after watching this YT clip ( I was sold on it - and I'm very pleased with the result.

The only "problem" is that the paint is very unforgiving to sloppy surface treatment. Surfaces must be polished well and black gloss primer is preferable instead of gray flat primer.... Things you learn by doing it wrong the first time

Just need put on some black anti-glare paint around the cockpit and then it's time for gloss coat and decals. There are ~100 decals to put on (insane for a 1/72)

/Stay tuned

Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:12 am

That NMF has a great finish to it! Looking good, mate

Cheers,

Martin

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:33 pm

Hi !

I decided to postpone the decals for a bit and build a stand for the aircraft today.... It's made from a sheet of 5mm clear acrylic.

Haven't made up my mind of which position to put the aircraft in. Maybe a roll or bank one side ?

Decisions, decisions......

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:35 pm

UKguyInUSA wrote:That NMF has a great finish to it! Looking good, mate

Cheers,

Martin

Thanks Martin!

The metal paint lost a little sheen when I sealed it with Micro Gloss, but it still looks nice.

Post by **patrickroos** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:53 pm

Looking good Tommy!

Impressive stand, looks really nice and professional!
Where did you buy the sheet of acrylic plastic?

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 5:31 pm

patrickroos wrote:Looking good Tommy!

Impressive stand, looks really nice and professional!
Where did you buy the sheet of acrylic plastic?

Thanks Patrick,

I bought if from Clas Ohlson, they have different sizes and thickness of this material. I could probably buy it cheaper somewhere else, but the sizes are convenient for most projects...

I made a quick drawing in a 2D CAD program to make the outline of the base and post.

Post by **patrickroos** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:56 pm

Thanks, looked around and Biltema also have plastglas "plastic glass" at nice prices.
They have up to 1200 x 800mm sheets, 4mm thick. Im thinking of possible ways to build display cabinets also.
Another thing is that for a while now I more and more lean towards in flight displays instead of gear down. Most planes look better flying i Think.
Especially Beautiful ones like Hawker hunter, Draken, SU-27, Spitfire etc.
In flight pose really shows the lines of an airframe.
Will definitely buy this type of transparent plastic glass and make my own stands, thanks for the inspiration!

Post by **CJSomerset** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:03 am

Looking really nice.

See, I told you, you were good

But can't help thinking you've put the fuel tanks on the wrong side of the wings

Post by **TommyKillander** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 10:30 pm

CJSomerset wrote:Looking really nice.

See, I told you, you were good

But can't help thinking you've put the fuel tanks on the wrong side of the wings

Thanks, this kit have been "entertaining" to say the least - both ups and downs. I have learned a lot building it.
Just spent the evening putting on close to 150 tiny decals so I'm a bit dizzy now....

Yeah, the fueltanks are really something special....

Peace out

Post by **TommyKillander** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 7:02 am

patrickroos wrote:Thanks, looked around and Biltema also have plastglas "plastic glass" at nice prices.
They have up to 1200 x 800mm sheets, 4mm thick. Im thinking of possible ways to build display cabinets also.
Another thing is that for a while now I more and more lean towards in flight displays instead of gear down. Most planes look better flying i Think.
Especially Beautiful ones like Hawker hunter, Draken, SU-27, Spitfire etc.
In flight pose really shows the lines of an airframe.
Will definitely buy this type of transparent plastic glass and make my own stands, thanks for the inspiration!

I agree totally that some aircraft looks better in flight than sitting on the ground, like the the ones you name. One of my favorite aircrafts the F104 Starfighter is just made to fly like an arrow - and it's all it can do

. I wouldn't build that one gear down.

On the other hand gear down can create opportunities to build amazing details in the undercarriage.

I'm thinking of amending the design of the stand a little on my next version and add a magnet in the post and put some steel into the fuselage so I don't need to drill holes - but it's too late to add that to the Lightning now....

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:26 pm

Hey guys,

The Lightning is finished!

.... but now I'm struggling with my old DSLR (Nikon D80), Scandinavian light-conditions and my sub-par photographic-skills

But I managed to take a couple of decent looking photos today before the sun went down.

The Lightning is too awesome aircraft to get this little recognition so I will post more photos later. Just need to get my shite together with the photo-gear

Post by **kikque** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:49 pm

Great looking Lightning Tommy

Lovely paintjob.

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 5:57 pm

kikque wrote:Great looking Lightning Tommy Lovely paintjob.

Thanks kikque, you're awesome!

Post by **shortCummins** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:22 pm

I agree with you about the lightening being a plane that needs to be presented "in flight", you made a 1st class job of it!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 9:07 pm

shortCummins wrote:I agree with you about the lightening being a plane that needs to be presented "in flight", you made a 1st class job of it!

Thanks mate, really appreciate it!

Post by **chief5437** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:03 am

Fantastic! Beautiful bird, always looks best in flight. Great finish mate, well done!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:42 am

chief5437 wrote:Fantastic! Beautiful bird, always looks best in flight. Great finish mate, well done!

Thank you, sir!

You have patiently followed this build from the start and supported me when things went south for a while

Post by **AndreFerro** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 2:48 pm

Superb work! Job well done !
Congrats!

Post by **TommyKillander** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:31 pm

AndreFerro wrote:Superb work! Job well done !
Congrats!

Thanks André!

Post by **patrickroos** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:47 pm

Nice bird Tommy, great build!!

Nice stand Tommy, great build!

It looks really cool in a flying pose, Im going to start putting some planes on stands from now on.
Also make my own stands.