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Airfix 1/48 Lightning F.2A


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Following on from my Canberra, this was my 4th Lightning in 48 scale (the previous 3 being an F.1 and T.4 built last year as a Firebirds duo, and an F.6 prior to these for a GB a while ago) but following the recent release of a half engine by CMK in resin, I was inspired to build this. I decided beforehand that I'd open a few panels up myself, wanting to stretch my skills beyond my norm, so with the timely publication of the Daco book "Lightning Uncovered" I purchased a donor kit and several resin items (I'll post a link to the WIP photos later) including the aforementioned engine, and cockpit, undercarriage bays, and (what CMK call) "electronic boxes" which in fact comprise of the rear spine gubbins ahead of the engine bay, plus two resin boxes that fit into the port side of the fuselage that don't really hold electronics, but hydraulic pumps and pipes... Also, the CMK instruction sheets are not very helpful, or accurate. Be warned if you use these sets. Aires provided the exhausts, as I always use them, Master the pitot, Eduard a few bits and pieces from a leftover set plus the RBF tags, Montex the paint masks, and Model Alliance the decals. The painting was my trusty Alclad shades, with Humbrol and Xtracolor providing other colours. The weathering was various Humbrol and AK sets of washes and powders. Please refer to the build pics for the scratch built stuff, I think most of it should be covered in those photos. All of the piping and wiring you can see I added from either copper wire, fuse wire or plastic rod. The shock cone wasn't really long enough to be displayed off, so to build up the "base" I glued a core of acrylic rod then wound very thin plastic strip around it til it sat flush with the end of the cone, before painting with aluminium. The Ferranti AI.23 I made from plastic strip and rod, and again more strip would around solid rod for the aft section. The dish is made from the end of a pipette. Some of the wiring and details is even too small for me to add so it's more a representation than 100% accurate. The individual small panels I made from very thin sheet, cut to size by tracing them through off the plans provided at the back of the Daco book. The corners were rounded off and fastener holes made with a metal point in a pin vice. In the last pic I have laid them out in the positions they would be on the airframe. Below is the build log, I hope you can see it

 

 
Also I apologise for the amount of pics here, but I usually can't decide which base or background looks best so I present a selection of each. Many thanks for looking
 
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1 minute ago, Darwinism said:

Great modelling - perfect finish.  I do think the pilot in the second last photo is being a bit optimistic though if he thinks he's going to be taking that airframe for a flight any time soon!

 

I usually add him to a build just for scale. There is a serious lack of RAF personnel in 48th scale of this era: plenty of WW2 stuff but very little in the way of standing pilots or groundcrew, so he has to suffice. I got him from Australia a year ago

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