She'll be finished in the colours of 74 Sqn most likely......

Amendments on (upper) starboard fuselage



And CMK cockpit bits....

We might as well have called it the "Lightning & a few other planes GB"

Care to explain the amendments to the fuselage for the uneducated, Bill?

Good idea!

All I've added are scoop intakes covering the NACA ducts and a "tube" vent! The putty filling is to cover the rivet holes drilled out - a la Neil "FGR2" Ashbeys suggestion! Works for him; NOT for me!!!

I'll add the other sides parts tomorrow, and then onto the cockpit.........ALCLAD is being ammassed!!

All these big Lightnings. I'll be taking notes!

cheers

Grant

Running parallel to Ian's F3 (though it ain't 28 degrees celsius here!!!), progrees of a sort..

Nice 'pit Bill... how's the leg btw?

Cockpit looks lovely Bill - If mine ends up looking half as good I'll be very happy.

Ian

Ta Mike - stopped taking the anti-biotic's at the weekend - due to some unpleasant side affects!! Don't Ask!! The leg is still sore , still red and shiny!! BUT I managed to get a pair of socks on today!! 1st time in nearly FOUR Weeks!!

Ouch! What on earth have you done to yourself Bill?

Anti-necrotics kill off the flora and fauna in your gut, so I'm guessing your world fell out of your bottom

Socks, eh? Wow!

What's up bill, you not like the drilled rivet's???

Cheers,

Neil

Me like the drilled riviets, trouble is ambition outweighs skill - I buggered them up!!



Had myself a nasty bout of cellulitis in my left lower leg a few weeks ago. It Hurts!!!

Lovely cockpit there Bill, A stunning aircraft in the making I'm shore

Well...she's taking shape......

Intake trunking added, along with the cockpit tub. Dremel came to the rescue here as I had to remove acres of resin and plastic to get the tub to fit snugly on the trunking...



fuselage halves nailed, and fin added...



I'm using Aeroclub's white metal nose ring - added weight and I hope to polish it up - nice and shiny!!
It is considerably larger than the kits plasticitem, so I've begun to remove excess metal....dremel again. There are a few pot marks in the metal - I may have to solder these holes... I've also added some lead sheet aft of the cockpit - don't want a tail sitter!!

That nose ring looks like it's taken a lot of craeful work to look that good... Can't wait to see it polished

Yeah it looks the business doesn't it !? I plan to do a T.5 Aeroclub conversion at some point (Thunder City's ZU-BEX )

Nice work (as ever) Bill

In nice shiny glossy black?? Luvverley!!

Anyhow.....update time

Rather than use the kit part, I used Milliput to blank off the blank canon panel


Left side of model - now looking like a Lightning


Detail added to undercarriage bays. I used P.E (Airwaves?) salvaged from an old build. Added detail from fuse wire, plastic card etc.,



Another view of the shiny nose ring


Canopy has been added and masked off. I've added some plastic card framing + de-misting ducts


Ready for Halfords Grey Primer- and then a nice coat of Gloss black!!!

ZU-BEX is the highly polished BMF with the Shell logo



Beautiful isn't she ?!


anyway - I digress, coming along very nicely Bill, the wheel bay looks spot on, I used a kind of mesh in my build for the texture, but yours looks much better.

Lovin' it

Got my Neomega/Aeroclub T-Lightning conversion kit yesterday... Obviously not out of stock of those & Viggen cockpits hen!

Thats good to know Mike, as I think I can here the roar of twin Avons on a Silver LTF T5......

She is a beauty!!

As for the wheel well, PE, I seem to recall that on the real thing the "gridded" thing was a sheet slight flush of the inner skin - and as such looked quite battered.....I never go too mad on undercarriage bays - no-one sees 'em!!!

Looking forward to the gloss black application tomorrow, and maybe a coat or two of Alclad tomorrow evening.......

I was originally thinking of this baby!!! Ex- XS452 - The Pink Flamingo!!
ZU-BBD

A couple or three pic's of progress thus far..

"Halford-ed" - and cleaning up commences, prior to the glossy black....

She looks sweet so far Bill, can't wait to see her in some shiny silver paint!

Thanks Col, got her in some nice shiny black paint!!

You know.......it's a shame that 111Sqn never flew their Lightnings in a shiny black scheme

Your motoring Bill - I know what your other Lightnings have come out like, so very much looking forward to seeing this all painted and decalled.

Oooohhh...the first Black Mike;)

Good work so far Bill. The wheelwells look like a less work intensive and sanity-saving than Aires. Although it can't rival Aires for detail (nothing can IMO - I don't know how "they do it"), it is quite effective and convincing what is there. What black did you use? That looks very nice and smooth, and if you micromesh it, you could chrome your Lightning if you wanted to...

Jens

I love that Micromesh stuff!! Spent best part of two days (in between customers of course!! Best basil Fawlty voice: "What do you mean you want serving? Can't you see I'm building a model!!?!?!") polishing the thing up. I've used Tamiya Gloss Black - and can't help but ponder..If only 111 Sqn had painted their Lightnings the same way as their Hunters........

And yes Alclad CHROME is due its initial application tonight......wish me luck!!

Couldn't help myself -Ii just had to have a look to see what the nose ring looked like with the gloss black.....

Bill,

Looks lovely in black, your ring looks great (ooh er missus ). Good luck with the Alclad.

Cheers,

Ian

Fnar!!!! He's right though, it does look rather nice

Had a bit of a disaster with my first application of Alclad Chrome! Heres my second attempt - a lot better but a bit too shiny!!!
I've applied a top copat of "Airframe Aluminium".

My aim is to show my F3 as new and highly polished (as Lightnings sometimes were!). I'll pick out a few panels in a different shade tomorrow....

Ready for the Tamiya masking tape's removal....







Can anyone advise......how easy is it to mask this stuff, as it appears to have lifted some off in areas where the tape overlapped!?!.

Is it worth sealing Alclad, with varnish?

As far as I know Bill, allclad is best left naked, but that looks GORGEOUS !!!

I can just see those Tiger stripes now against that BMF - good work so far Bill.

Oooooooooh shiney, sparkle sparkle

Bill,

Looks absolutely gorgeous!!!

In my (very) limited experience with Alclad the "shiny" finishes (chrome, polished aluminium and airframe aluminium) need some time to "cure" before being masked. Overnight seems to allow the surface sufficient time to be resilient to masking. I've found that even the "duller" shades are not maskable within 15 minutes as advertised - I managed to put a nice fingerprint on the aluminium wing upper surface of mine last night some 3 hours after spraying

HTH,

Ian

Thanks for that Ian. I think I'm used to using SnJ which was rock hard within minutes!!

"I managed to put a nice fingerprint on the aluminium wing upper surface of mine last night some 3 hours after spraying".

Guess what?......Me too!!!

AH.............wheres my sun glasses That's better

Oh Alclad................

OK hears my finding on it over the time line of several cock ups.

1st I find it works best with Tamiya acrylic gloss black as the under coat. Don't know why but that what works for me.

2nd Misting it on is a must, I spray at 20psi and mist it on, the first two coats you can hardly see it. Leaving 2 to 3 minute between coats and building up the layers

3rd Never put a clear coat on top as it will change the the Finnish of the metal, even with a good gloss goat I find it duller than the Alcad on it's own.

and as for masking I only use Tamiya tape and never had it lift on me.

But looking good Bill

Looking good Bill... Will the SnJ polishing powders work with Alclad?

Jens

Cheers Phil, I have used Tamiya gloss black and that was fine. I checked the thing this morning and applied a small piece of Tamiya tape and it still lifted- and is noticeably patchy where it has lifted! I've already stripped it down once, and may have to do the same again...third time lucky- or I may revert to Halford's Aluminium!!!

Dunno Jens, I may give it a go before I strip it for the second time.....

Nige had trouble with Alclad Chrome.... it never set up properly, and he could rub it off with his fingers. Maybe this is a less severe version of that?

OK Bill, plan 'B' use Post It Notes for masking tape. They are very low tack.

I no using Tamiya chrome is a pain to mask as it lifts a layer and leave it all motley, but I find a bit of a rub with a bit of kitchen roll brings it back to a nice Finnish again.

If I'm not mistaken, Alclad Chrome and Highly Polished Aluminium are supposed to go over a gloss black *enamel* finish, and I believe the Tamiya Spray cans are a sort of acrylic (though a different acrylic from the water soluble acrylics) - could this have anything to do with it? Shame to see that you're unhappy with the durability (or lack thereof) - I thought Alclad was tough as nails?

Jens

Thanks for the advice chaps! I'm not sure of what action to take next on this. I partiularly wanted a high gloss metallic finish - as seen at Airshows etc., (sometimes!). The chrome looks fantastic for this, but tamiya tape did leave marks - blotchy as Phil says. I may just concede some of that chrome finish by applying a thin coat of satin or gloss acrylic varnish -hope that doesn't bugger thigs up more, but its looking like I may have already reached that point!!

Bill,

I sprayed some Airframe Aluminium on mine yesterday afternoon - I've just tested it and it is dry and does not lift/mark with Tamiya tape.

The symptoms you decribe are identical to those that I had with the Alclad Chrome on the nose ring of my F6 earlier this year (Cop/Nigel had the same problem) which I believe was caused by the Chrome being part of the "bad batch" of Alclad. This "bad batch" Alclad does eventually dry ................... but it took a month or two in my case So if you are (very) patient it will save you any further (drastic) action.

HTH,

Ian

Thanks Ian, I think I may go down the "Airframe Alu" route.......I've no confidence in the Chrome I'm afraid

More pic's to follow...BUT I've tried a new bottle of ALCLAD Chrome and touch wood (and tentatively a bit of my Lightning -guffaw!!), AND I think that it may have worked!! I'll leave it until tomorrow annd I'll attmpt some masking on the lower wings!
Thanks for the advice on ALCLAD y'all!!! It may have paid off!!

Just a quick update.....I've decided to pull my F3 build from the GB, as I have no chance of completing the thing in time. I will finish the little so and so off - but later in the year!

This will hopefuly allow me a bit of concentrated time to complete the Harrier GR1 - We shall see!!