Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
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Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
This was me then, yesterday morning. Please excuse the PJ's and sleeping cat in the background, it was early as we have small children who were awake at 05:00!
My SS pressie was a most acceptable Airfix 1/72 EE Lightning F.2A. Right up my street, being RAF and Cold War era and an aeroplane. I think I am going to enjoy this.....
Box opened and contents examined.....
Lovely surface details. I've not seen this kit up close before...
I will be building marking option "B". 92 sqn RAF
Here is the real aircraft, plenty of shiny metal and weathering patina....
My SS pressie was a most acceptable Airfix 1/72 EE Lightning F.2A. Right up my street, being RAF and Cold War era and an aeroplane. I think I am going to enjoy this.....
Box opened and contents examined.....
Lovely surface details. I've not seen this kit up close before...
I will be building marking option "B". 92 sqn RAF
Here is the real aircraft, plenty of shiny metal and weathering patina....
Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Mike,
Looking forward to see what you do with this . . .
regards,
Martin
Looking forward to see what you do with this . . .
regards,
Martin
Martin R
"the 'R' stands for 'Representative'."
"the 'R' stands for 'Representative'."
- iggie
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
It's a cracking kit Mike and I'm looking forward to seeing this get built by someone who is clearly a lover of the breed
Best wishes
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
OK......
Work commenced yesterday, Boxing day, with sorting out what could be done in advance like the wings and the nose weight which I added using lead shot into the radome(no pics). The wings needed a little care assembling, all mating surfaces had a little smoothing down with a a fine grit sponge sander and the panel lines along the leading edges were deepened slightly to take the sanding when they were cleaned up. here they are all fixed up sans flaps whichI am still unsure whether to add drooped or flat, I'll decide later in the build.
Next I sorted the cockpit components out ready, cleaned up and prepped for painting. The instructions call for Medium Sea Grey for the interior which I was not certain about seeming to recall that Lightning cockpits were all Black, but done some Googling and turns out Mr.Airfix are right, Grey it is .Great little decals are supplied for the IP and consoles so I will add them later. The seat is a little basic but will suffice until I get a replacement. The control column is VERY delicate but looks good.
The nose wheel bay has some neat detail though little if any will be visible once assembled,anyway I primed, painted and washed it using Tamiya Sky Grey, Alclad and Smoke before assembling.
The intake needed a small amount of work to get the halves to seat together properly, the mating holes were enlarged a little and the back was sanded before a couple of prominent ejector marks were scraped out. I the sprayed the compressor fan face and the interior Alclad Aluminium.
The airbrakes were closed up too, not the best fit so will probably need a little Mr.Surfacer when the glue dries.
So far, so good then...
Work commenced yesterday, Boxing day, with sorting out what could be done in advance like the wings and the nose weight which I added using lead shot into the radome(no pics). The wings needed a little care assembling, all mating surfaces had a little smoothing down with a a fine grit sponge sander and the panel lines along the leading edges were deepened slightly to take the sanding when they were cleaned up. here they are all fixed up sans flaps whichI am still unsure whether to add drooped or flat, I'll decide later in the build.
Next I sorted the cockpit components out ready, cleaned up and prepped for painting. The instructions call for Medium Sea Grey for the interior which I was not certain about seeming to recall that Lightning cockpits were all Black, but done some Googling and turns out Mr.Airfix are right, Grey it is .Great little decals are supplied for the IP and consoles so I will add them later. The seat is a little basic but will suffice until I get a replacement. The control column is VERY delicate but looks good.
The nose wheel bay has some neat detail though little if any will be visible once assembled,anyway I primed, painted and washed it using Tamiya Sky Grey, Alclad and Smoke before assembling.
The intake needed a small amount of work to get the halves to seat together properly, the mating holes were enlarged a little and the back was sanded before a couple of prominent ejector marks were scraped out. I the sprayed the compressor fan face and the interior Alclad Aluminium.
The airbrakes were closed up too, not the best fit so will probably need a little Mr.Surfacer when the glue dries.
So far, so good then...
- Clashcityrocker
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Good start.
Nigel
Nigel
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
This is the nose intake section with the steel shot that I added, I added probably a little more than needed but its always better to err on the side of caution to prevent tailsitting......
The airbrakes received a coat of Mr. Surfacer to blend them in and get a smoother transition, It may need a couple more applications to blend it perfectly but i will deal with that later if needs be.....
The belly tank inserts are two parts that are joined together and attached AFTER the fuselage has been closed up according to the instructions. I beg to differ and attached each piece to the respective fuselage halves FIRST...
All the exhaust parts were sprayed Alclad Jet Exhaust, what else?
Bring it all together with the cockpit attached to the intake trunking...
The airbrakes received a coat of Mr. Surfacer to blend them in and get a smoother transition, It may need a couple more applications to blend it perfectly but i will deal with that later if needs be.....
The belly tank inserts are two parts that are joined together and attached AFTER the fuselage has been closed up according to the instructions. I beg to differ and attached each piece to the respective fuselage halves FIRST...
All the exhaust parts were sprayed Alclad Jet Exhaust, what else?
Bring it all together with the cockpit attached to the intake trunking...
- AndrewR
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Nice work,as usual Mike.
I see you are using the Roket plastic glue, how do you find it? I'm looking for something to stick the transparent fuselage of the Caproni together, without risk of fogging.
I see you are using the Roket plastic glue, how do you find it? I'm looking for something to stick the transparent fuselage of the Caproni together, without risk of fogging.
Up in the Great White North
- Stuart
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Great looking build thus far Mike!
Stuart Templeton I may not be good but I'm slow...
My Blog: https://stuartsscalemodels.blogspot.com/
My Blog: https://stuartsscalemodels.blogspot.com/
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Yeah, it is very good with excellent "grab" but also allows for repositioning should you need it.AndrewR wrote: I see you are using the Roket plastic glue, how do you find it? I'm looking for something to stick the transparent fuselage of the Caproni together, without risk of fogging.
That said, I have not used it on transparent parts so cannot guarantee it will not fog the parts. Deluxe materials do make an odourless CA which is fine for canopies/clear parts.
- AndrewR
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
I nipped out this afternoon and got both types of glue. The second closest hobby shop to me carries the full range of Deluxe products.Mikeew wrote:Yeah, it is very good with excellent "grab" but also allows for repositioning should you need it.AndrewR wrote: I see you are using the Roket plastic glue, how do you find it? I'm looking for something to stick the transparent fuselage of the Caproni together, without risk of fogging.
That said, I have not used it on transparent parts so cannot guarantee it will not fog the parts. Deluxe materials do make an odourless CA which is fine for canopies/clear parts.
Up in the Great White North
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Right...
Storming ahead I almost forgot to get piccies for updating this build thread
Fuselage and wings all assembled with little hassles though the lower seam where , in my wisdom, I joined the belly tank parts t the fuselage halves first needed some CA to fill the gaps and then I needed to do some rescribing here and there where I had sanded through the details. The wings needed a smidge of putty at the roots, might just be me being over-cautious but better safe than sorry , and the primer will highlight any flaws anyway
I got a couple of BarracudaCast resin upgrades and the ubiquitus pre-cut masks from Eduard too.
The seat is a huge improvement over the kit part. I had already painted the kit seat but left it out .
The same can be said for the wheels, especially the nose gear leg and separately moulded nose wheel. The finesse of the details on the wheel hubs is much better than the Airfix offerings.
The masks took a couple of minutes to put on, no messing about and hassle of cutting around complex curves. Job done.
Storming ahead I almost forgot to get piccies for updating this build thread
Fuselage and wings all assembled with little hassles though the lower seam where , in my wisdom, I joined the belly tank parts t the fuselage halves first needed some CA to fill the gaps and then I needed to do some rescribing here and there where I had sanded through the details. The wings needed a smidge of putty at the roots, might just be me being over-cautious but better safe than sorry , and the primer will highlight any flaws anyway
I got a couple of BarracudaCast resin upgrades and the ubiquitus pre-cut masks from Eduard too.
The seat is a huge improvement over the kit part. I had already painted the kit seat but left it out .
The same can be said for the wheels, especially the nose gear leg and separately moulded nose wheel. The finesse of the details on the wheel hubs is much better than the Airfix offerings.
The masks took a couple of minutes to put on, no messing about and hassle of cutting around complex curves. Job done.
- iggie
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Cracking start!
Best wishes
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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- Joined: May 1st, 2011, 9:36 am
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
I fixed the windscreen in place after I had fitted the gunsight and then blended it in with white glue.
The radome got a thin coat of Tamiya NATO green and I still need to add the chrome tip.
The spine and tail have been sprayed Blue also, this all needs time to dry and masking off before I can get going with the Alclad.
The details on the Barracuda resin seat really show up under a coat of primer, I couldn't believe my eyes!
I added the plastic pitot but will remove it later and leave the mounting plate in place so I can drill out a small hole to replace it with aluminium tube as seen here...
The radome got a thin coat of Tamiya NATO green and I still need to add the chrome tip.
The spine and tail have been sprayed Blue also, this all needs time to dry and masking off before I can get going with the Alclad.
The details on the Barracuda resin seat really show up under a coat of primer, I couldn't believe my eyes!
I added the plastic pitot but will remove it later and leave the mounting plate in place so I can drill out a small hole to replace it with aluminium tube as seen here...
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Re: Mike W's Supersonic Secret Santa Lightning.
Nice work Mike. That seat looks great and the canopy mask must have been a real time saver.
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Current Projects:
East German Air Force (1956-90)
South African Air Force (1958-93)
Current Projects:
East German Air Force (1956-90)
South African Air Force (1958-93)