English Electric Lightning F.6 1/72 Airfix

[smokeriderdon]

Getting a late start in this one, but better late than never eh?

I have had this kit for a while, and figured it would be a perfect entry into this build. Plenty of Russian and U.S. stuff, and even though I am American, I figured this build could use some British firepower.

From Wikipedia:

The English Electric Lightning is a supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War era. It was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was subsequently absorbed by the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation. It was then marketed as the BAC Lightning. The Lightning was the only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft. The Lightning was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). Although it was the RAF's primary interceptor for more than two decades, it was never required to attack another aircraft.

The Lightning is powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines in a unique staggered stacked installation in the fuselage. The Lightning was initially designed and developed as an interceptor to defend the V bomber airfields[2] from attack by anticipated future nuclear-armed supersonic Soviet bombers such as what emerged as the Tupolev Tu-22, but it was subsequently also required to intercept other bomber aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-16 and the Tupolev Tu-95. The Lightning has exceptional rate of climb, ceiling, and speed; pilots have described flying it as "being saddled to a skyrocket".[1] This performance and the initially limited fuel supply[3] made the Lightning a "fuel-critical" aircraft, meaning that its missions are dictated to a high degree by its limited range. Later developments provided greater range and speed along with aerial reconnaissance and ground-attack capability.

Following retirement in the late 1980s, many of the remaining aircraft became museum exhibits, and, until 2009, three Lightnings were kept flying at "Thunder City" in Cape Town, South Africa. In September 2008, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers conferred on the Lightning its "Engineering Heritage Award" at a ceremony at BAE Systems' site at Warton Aerodrome.

Pictures like this are what made me attracted to this plane. A lot of punch in a small package.



And the kit:

[aur0ra145]

Looks like a fun build!

[Bender10101]

Nice! Almost went with this kit myself.

[smokeriderdon]

OK, got the pilot and cock pit done. I am not a big figures guy, and in 1/72 I REALLY dont like doing them. But, no real detail on the seat and no extra PE belts laying around in this scale, so pilot it is. Turned out OK I think.







And this is the only reason I am able to even attempt this stuff in 1/72...



The instructions call for 4 grams of weight in the intake assembly inside of the nose cone/wheel well part. Not much room, but I squished 3 split shot weight to fit in the larger part, and half of one in the cone. Hopefully that will do it. No other place to put anything.

[pourquoi61]

Nice choice.

[smokeriderdon]

OK, got the fuselage together. Had issues with the fit around the cockpit. Just did not want to close up all the way. I ended up taking of a good portion of the corner of the pit tub to get it to close up somewhat decent. Thankfully you cant see that part. This is my first real use of sprue goo. I made up a batch from the sprue pieces from the Vulcan kit. I figured I might as well since I am going to have to sand regardless.

[warpedcrisis]

Nice work there.
Need to get me a lightning

[NorthernModeller]

love a lightning looking forward to seeing this come together

[smokeriderdon]

Quick update. Got it mostly together and gloss black primer on. Will spray in the next couple days. Going to try the AK paint I picked up I think. Behind it is the 1/72 Vulcan I am working on. Shows how big the Vulcan was and how small the Lightning was.

[warpedcrisis]

looking good and the Vulcan looks sweet as well

[smokeriderdon]

Small updates since I am splitting time with two projects. First, a tip. I dont know about anyone else, but the sprue letters are a pain to find. Its nice they are there, but not easy to read. Simply wrap a piece of tape on the sprue and write the letter in larger print on both sides. Makes life easier.



So it is now silver. I used AK extreme aluminum. These are enamels, and it sprayed great! And dried almost as quickly as Alclad does. As you can see, it looks very good. A definite alternative to Alclad.

[NorthernModeller]

Looking great so far. Nice metal finish you have got

[pourquoi61]

The dog's b*&%$££"&** mate. Metal paint puts the wind up me.
Tis the black art.

[smokeriderdon]

The dog's b*&%$££"&** mate. Metal paint puts the wind up me.
Tis the black art.

LMAO The black art eh???? It does take some practice, and I am far from a master wizard, but I manage. And thank you.

So, Mon was my birthday, so I didnt even look at the bench all weekend. Got a bit done tonight. Nose cone in, exhausts on, tail and canopy black. All ready for decals now. That will be next session.





Fun facts. The Lightning could reach 36,000 feet in under 3 minutes. The only plane in the same league is the F-15C. The Lightning outperformed F-104s with ease. At least two pilots took a Lightning to over 80,000 feet. Intercept exercises were performed using U-2As as targets. The lightning easily intercepted the U-2s between 60 and 65,000 feet.

[pourquoi61]

Thanks for the fun facts, these are the most interesting facts not stuffy text book blurb.

[smokeriderdon]

Thanks for the fun facts, these are the most interesting facts not stuffy text book blurb.

Thank you. I like to take the stuffy facts and present them in a less formal manner. And I find it amazing that this plane that got retired in 1988 is matched only by the 15. As much as I like the 104 and 105 and Phantom, they just couldnt touch the performance of this rocket.

[DBMiller]

I've never seen one for real, but I had a magazine photo of one on my wall when I was a kid. The Lightning is one of the coolest looking jets ever built. Yours is coming along nicely!

[NorthernModeller]

Coming together very nicely Keep it up

[smokeriderdon]

I've never seen one for real, but I had a magazine photo of one on my wall when I was a kid. The Lightning is one of the coolest looking jets ever built. Yours is coming along nicely!

Coming together very nicely Keep it up

Thank you gents.

So, I have the decals mostly done. Just the bottom to go. For a 1/72 of a small plane, this thing has a large number of stencils. LOL



You gotta mark em as you go. You can easily lose track. Especially on larger models.







Sorry for the blur. Couldnt get the damn phone to focus.

[smokeriderdon]

OK, so last update before I post the completed thread. This is where she sits right now. Waiting for the parts to dry completely. I will decal them and attach and that will be that.





So, I cant say enough about the kit. I honestly believe the cock pit issue I had was self inflicted somehow. I want to do another just to see if that is the case. regardless, this kit is right on par with Tamiya and the rest. The fit was great, the decals superb. I hate fiddly little parts on 1/72s though. But that is just my issue. LOL

I also really like the way the AK metal paint sprayed. It also brushed well on small part and touch ups. Highly recommend giving it a go.

[pourquoi61]

Thanks I have just got one.

[smokeriderdon]

Thanks I have just got one.

I honestly believe you will be more than happy with it!