CT Modeller Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Lightning F.1A 56 Squadron ‘Firebirds’ RAF Wattisham 1963 When I heard about the new Sword Lightning F1 and F3 I thought I had better dig out those Trumpeter kits and do something with them or they would stay in the attic forever. So here is the result of a bit of work on the Trumpeter F.1A. I had heard so many bad things about this kit that I considered just throwing it away, but actually with not that much effort it can be made to look like a Lightning. There were only 3 main modifications which were a) replacing the exhausts with Aeroclub resin, sorting out the main undercarriage (shortened by 2.5 mm and doors twisted round to their right position) and c) bending the wings to remove that strange dihedral effect and trying to introduce a bit of droop. Admittedly it was almost impossible to introduce the characteristic kink in the leading edge (see the new Airfix kit) but my old Airfix and Hasegawa Lightnings don’t have that and they look OK to me. It was really nice to have a Firebirds Lightning back in my collection – my old Airfix one got refurbished as a Tigers F1 a few years ago. Decals were a combination of Model Alliance (nose bars and fin flash), Airfix decals from their new kit (roundels), kit decals (squadron badge on the fin and stencils) and Xtradecal (serial numbers and fin code). 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Very nice, you have certainly improved the look of the base kit. Once I've got a white tail to go with my black one I might be tempted by a visiting red one! I never finished any of my Trumpton Lightnings and don't suppose I ever will now. They have lovely surface detail and the plastic is smoother than the Airfix kit too. Duncan B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Very nice, you have certainly improved the look of the base kit. Once I've got a white tail to go with my black one I might be tempted by a visiting red one! I never finished any of my Trumpton Lightnings and don't suppose I ever will now. They have lovely surface detail and the plastic is smoother than the Airfix kit too. Duncan B Red, white, blue, black, black & yellow 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 So you like Lightnings then..? Lovely builds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 You`ve got some beautiful looking Lightnings there,..some of the best I`ve seen Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 To my untrained eye (not my period, really) it certainly looks like a Lightning, and a convincing one at that! Nice work and a good pedagogic example of how to radically improve a kit with fairly minor operations. Quite impressive. Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Lovelly Lightnings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace From Outer Space Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 They all look fabulous! I have just been given the Airfix Lightning F2A, and now I'm feeling inspired! Cheers Viv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitok1983 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 You are a real Lighting Fan!!!))) Excellent build! Wonderfull collection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Very nice Chris. Quite apt seeing as it was the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Lightning on Monday and completely over looked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 fantastic lightning looks great, and very nice line up some great schemes and all done very well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev67 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Very nice indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Very nice Chris. Quite apt seeing as it was the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Lightning on Monday and completely over looked! Hello Paul - I missed the anniversary as well - but I'm pleased to say I finished XM174 on that very day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri48 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Quality Lightnings from a colorful era.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonf45 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 What a fantastic collection of lovely Lightnings great detail and weathering on them too Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Wow, great collection of Lightnings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 For a kit that get,s a bad press by most modelers you,ve done a cracking job Chris.Nice one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Superb build and a lovely collection of lightnings. I particularly like 'witches hat' marks, especially because of the great colour schemes, and especially the Firebirds. How did the Aeroclub section fit? I have used the Aires replacement set on Trumpeter's F3 but I found it difficult to get a seamless fit from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) Please forgive me for showing my ignorance, but this is the 1/32 kit, yes? I bought it some years ago and have been saving it for when my skills improve a bit but BTH I have been a bit put off by all the very negative reviews that it receives. I even thought of selling it on recently but couldn't bear to, I love the Lightning and a big 1/32 kit really gets me excited! Not only that but I also love the colourful 56 Squadron schemes and have happy memories of their Tornado displays in the nineties. I'm so glad you managed to get such an excellent result and you seem to have proven that it can be done with not tooooo much effort, tho possibly too much for me!!! Always assuming I've got the right scale that is!!!! (If not please ignore all of the above and I'll stand in the corner) Nice one BTW TonyS Edited August 8, 2014 by dhdove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lansen73 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 very nice !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiff guy Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 you did a good job and proved this kit can be beaten into shape Glenn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Superb build and a lovely collection of lightnings. I particularly like 'witches hat' marks, especially because of the great colour schemes, and especially the Firebirds. How did the Aeroclub section fit? I have used the Aires replacement set on Trumpeter's F3 but I found it difficult to get a seamless fit from it. The Aeroclub resin fitted pretty well, but it's designed to faired in with Milliput because the exhaust Trumpeter waisting goes too far forward and needs filling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Please forgive me for showing my ignorance, but this is the 1/32 kit, yes? I bought it some years ago and have been saving it for when my skills improve a bit but BTH I have been a bit put off by all the very negative reviews that it receives. I even thought of selling it on recently but couldn't bear to, I love the Lightning and a big 1/32 kit really gets me excited! Not only that but I also love the colourful 56 Squadron schemes and have happy memories of their Tornado displays in the nineties. I'm so glad you managed to get such an excellent result and you seem to have proven that it can be done with not tooooo much effort, tho possibly too much for me!!! Always assuming I've got the right scale that is!!!! (If not please ignore all of the above and I'll stand in the corner) Nice one BTW TonyS It's time to stand in the corner - it's 1/72, not 1/32! But havingsaid that, as far as I know the 32 scale kit has similar issues to the smaller one so would probably respond to similar treatment - except that there's no 1/32 scale resin for the back end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Looks good to me. JUlien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 The Aeroclub resin fitted pretty well, but it's designed to faired in with Milliput because the exhaust Trumpeter waisting goes too far forward and needs filling. Right. In that case I think I might persevere with the second Aires set that I have on the Trumpeter F1A. Seems a bit extravagant to buy yet another correction piece when the Sword kits are just around the corner. I'll still build it though. Despite the errors in the kit it still looks like a Lightning (-ish). Thanks for the info. Cheers, Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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