LightningBoy

My model depicts an English Electric Lightning Mk 2A of 92 Sqn as flown from RAF Gutersloh in 1972 as shown in the photographs below. On 1 May 63, XN793 (c/n 95146) was first flown (as an F2) by Wg Cdr D de Villiers from English Electric Salmesbury. It was delivered to 92 Sqn on 21 Jun 63 and was marked as ‘K’. Along with many others, on 26 Sep 68 XN793 was returned to BAC Warton for conversion to F2A standard, very similar to the F6 only with guns!!! It was returned to 92 Sqn as an F2A on 1 May 69, this time marked as ‘A’. On 18 Sep 73, XN793 was damaged at RAF Gutersloh after which it received the maintenance serial number 8544M. Most F2As were equipped with 2 Aden cannon in the nose, XN793 was equipped at this time with 4. I am aware that Lightning F2a's were not able to be fitted with 4 cannon and a missile pack. As I built the model based around a photo showing XN793 so fitted I can only assume that the lower gun was removed, the panel where the bullets come out was left fitted and a Firestreak missile pack was fitted. I'm prepared to be corrected on tis point?? LightningBoy

hello all, the last Lightning I worked on at ASF RAF Binbrook was XS932. I was sent to become an Instructor at RAF Halton before the Check3 was finished so never got to see it test fly. When it was in ASF it was still in green / grey / silver finish and I think 11 Sqn markings. Point to note - I discovered some shiny silver tape to use on the intake ring and the figure of 8 around the jet pipes. Not sure what it is designed for but it makes all the difference to a model Lightning. "My model depicts an English Electric Lightning Mk 6 of 56 Sqn as flown from RAF Akrotiri in 1975. XS932 was the third Lightning I worked on during my time at RAF Binbrook. When receiving a Check 3 Servicing in ASF at RAF Binbrook XS932 was in the green / grey finish, on completion it visited RAF St Athan to be painted in Dark Sea Grey / Medium Sea Grey finish for delivery to 5(AC) Sqn."

Hello Scarlet, I left ASF in June 1983 having been chosen from a cast of thousands to become an Instructor at Halton - to this day I'm still puzzled about why I was chosen, I hadn't volunteered? LightningBoy

Thanks for the feedback. I served in the RAF for the first time 1975 - 1987 and worked on Wessex, Chipmunks and Lightnings - how's that for diversity? When XR770 was wheeled into the hangar it looked very weird in overall grey and large roundels. The other 5 Lightnings in ASF at the same time were all in green / grey / silver undersides. I must admit, I did not like working on Lightnings in the hangar but love watching them at airshows and Cold War Jets at Bruntingthorpe. LightningBoy

Thanks for your feedback on XR763. as promised these are photos of the second Lightning I worked on in ASF RAF Binbrook, XR770 Point of interest is XR770's serial number has always seems to be further back than all other Lightnings. As the engine technician on Team 2 I got to run the engines after the Check 3 servicing, only one at a time though to avoid jumping the chocks lol. When you select reheat the nose is pushed down and the Lightning really wants to go somewhere. I remember this experience every time some wants to show off pulling away from the traffic lights - I just smile to myself. The 1:72 Lightning photos are of a model not made by me, I've included them to show the grey colour scheme that XR770 wore, the first Lightning in grey and the colours she arrived into ADF with at the start of her Check 3 servicing. My model depicts an English Electric Lightning Mk 6 of 5 (F) Sqn as flown by Wg Cdr M V Streten at RAF Binbrook in 1984. The ‘Sharksmouth’ was added to XR770 (along with XR754 & XS903) during an Armament Practice Camp in Cyprus in August 1984. XR770 was the second Lightning I worked on during my time at RAF Binbrook and was the first Lightning to appear in a ‘Grey’ scheme. The accompanying sheet shows the original grey scheme, the scheme depicted on the model and one variation of the grey with red scheme in which ‘770’ finished its service. Unusually, all photographs of XR770 show the serial number painted further towards the jetpipe than all other lightnings!! XR770 is now maintained at RAF Manston Museum.

Here's a bit of the history of XR763: "My model depicts an English Electric Lightning Mk 6 of 11 Sqn as based at RAF Binbrook in 1982. XR763 was the first Lightning I worked on during my time at RAF Binbrook and after completion of it’s Check 3 servicing in Aircraft Servicing Flight was repainted into a ‘Grey’ scheme at RAF St Athan. On 1 July 1987, a Lightning pilot out of Akrotiri was flying an air firing sortie on a target banner towed by a Canberra. During the breakaway manoeuvre after a firing pass on the banner, Flt Lt 'Charlie' Chan saw a black circular object detach from the banner spreader bar. The object hit the aircraft. There was a loud bang and indications of a seizure of the No 1 engine. The pilot shut down the engine and turned towards Akrotiri; during the recovery the pilot noted an abnormally high temperature on the No 2 engine. A higher and faster than normal approach was flown with the undercarriage and flaps retracted. At about 2½ miles from the airfield the engine began to lose thrust. When the pilot applied full power, the JPT rose to 900°C (the normal maximum allowable JPT is 795°C). The aircraft continued to lose speed and at approximately 250 feet and 150 kts the pilot ejected. XR763 AP impacted in a vineyard close to some houses and exploded in a fireball. The upper wheel from the spreader bar had been ingested by the No 1 engine which seized; debris damage to the No 2 engine resulted in its progressive disintegration. The pilot's ejection was successful and he was uninjured." I'll post a selection of pictures from XR770 , the second Lightning I worked on, soon - thanks for all the feedback.

Hello Toby, There are no dates on the pages which were removed from the magazine. I've Googled the article with no luck. All I can tell you it was in Airfix Model World as an advanced build - sorry! It was in the same issue as a Puma HC1 advanced build if that helps. Cheers. Kevin

I have been detailing my current work in progress, RSAF Lightning F53, elsewhere on Britmodeller and thought I'd share a few pictures of my first Airfix 1 48 scale Lightning built c2010. It is a Lightning F6 XR763 ex 11 Sqn which was the first Lightning I worked on after being posted to ASF RAF Binbrook in 1982. I have another 11 Airfix Lightnings finished if anyone is interested in viewing them? "If a Lightning isn't leaking fuel, it's tanks are dry" Lightning Boy

A very useful article in Airfix World if you can get hold of one...

What colour is the radar nose cone? You choose..

The intake ring is another area that requires careful fitting and fettling. From experience I have found it best to align one side completely to the fuselage and then carry out all the filing on the other side. Red Top Tip When fitting very small parts into place I often use a small piece of Blutac on the end of a cocktail stick. I used this for the very small air intakes on the fuselage.

Mainplanes all glued now, time to fill any gaps between the mainplanes and the fuselage joint. As you can see, the fit is quite good and required very little fillin. I use ordinary DIY filler, apply it to the join with a cotton bud then wipe of any surplus with wet cotton buds. Belly tank now fitted, gun ports drilled out and join line smoothed out with panel join lines carried across areas which have been sanded. I do this by using a curved scalpel blade aligned to the remaining panel lines and using a rocking motion to reinstate the missing line. Easier to do than describe. Some filling will need to be done where the belly tank joins the fuselage and rear tank. Red Top Tip F6 Lightnings could be either fitted with a belly tank with guns or the full belly tank with no guns.

If the belly tank is off, as shown, when the wings are fixed and set, you can reinforce the glue joint on the inside of the fuselage to make certain they will never come off.

Attaching the mainplanes to your lightning needs care to get the correct anhedral. The photo shows the anhedral of the mainplanes and also shows the main u/c door are slightly tilted outwards. The small u/c doors at the top point slightly downward hence my tip of leaving the u/c off until second last as these small doors are extremely difficult to fix in place once the u/c is glued to the wing. Starboard mainplane fixed on and supported while it dries. Port mainplane fixed on and drying using the shoebox to support it in the vertical position. Generally, both mainplanes fit well and require minimal use of filler when dry Red Top Tip Humbrol enamel tins are just about the correct height to support the tailplanes while the glue sets and the u'c has been attached.

Having sorted the photos again, I can carry on... Whilst the fuselage sets I worked on the wings. I add my own minor detailing by adding a springy rod and straight rod to each undercarriage bay. It is important when gluing the 2 halves of the wing together dry fit them first to identify where it might be required to add shims to bring the leading edge join and the extreme wing tip to ensure a flush join. Sorry, I forgot to take photos!! Red Top Tip Make up a stand to hold the model in the vertical position as per Cosford. I used a spare sellotape base with a pencil glued vertically and lots of extra weight as shown

Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm - Winston Churchill

Next instalment on 53-670... I fix the cable ducts along the fuselage before fixing the 2 parts together as it gives a nice flat surface to push against when ensuring the ducts follow the fuselage contours. The cable duct lengths are different on various marks of Lightning so do check with references and photos to get it right. For the curious, the cable ducts are full of electrical wiring, if you take off the ducts the wiring all falls out and looks like long strands of spaghetti hanging down.. The most challenging parts of the kits are the gun port blanks and airbrakes. They are not a good fit and need lots of fettling. I use bits of pre-used masking tape to shim each part until it becomes flush with the surface. The F53 had no guns in the nose so blank them all off. I find the 2 airbrakes are slightly different, try each one individually in each fuselage recess, choose the best fit and then fettle the other one to fit. Masking tape was again used to shim each airbrake to the correct flush finish. Even following this process requires you to pare down the surface of the airbrake to get a flush-ish finish. When gluing the 2 parts of the fuselage together with liquid cement , use elastic bands to hold the 2 parts together and then work your way along section by section (nose to windscreen - back of cockpit to hole on spine - hole...), allowing drying time and alignment as you go. DO NOT GLUE IN THE AREA AROUND THE ELASTIC BANDS - the glue ill spread under the bands by capillary action and ruin the finish!!! When finished, cut off elastic bands and glue the areas that were underneath. Red Top Tip Leave the undercarriage off until next to last to enable the small stencils on the fuselage to be applied more easily and it's easier to glue on the top, small undercarriage door and the scissor link Hello Lord Riot, the 29 Sqn F3 wasn't in camouflage I just used the page from the Airfix instructions to draw up the camo on the F53. Lightning Boy. Having trouble downloading photos again, hopefully they will follow. I've been copying the URL into the Insert Image box as I did for my earlier photos but now it doesn't woyk!!!!

I will be detailing areas of the build that I think deserve further explanation avoiding a blow by blow account of the basics... The cockpit tub I built as per the instructions with the exception of smoothing the control panel and side panels off before adding the decals. I consider lots of modelling time spent on adding detail to areas you can barely see to be a bit of a waste - just a personal opinion - each to their own. I added the weight as shown in the photos using nuts and washers from a packet bought in the Pound Shop - use plenty and when superglued in, pad out with BluTack in case they rattle around at a later date! Red Top Tip Use a shoe box as a support for your Lightning build - it supports the model under the wings and not on its undercarriage which can be fragile.

Hello Jan, Any ideas how to add photos to this post?? Cheers. Kevin

This is my first post on Britmodeller, but as you'll see, not my first Lightning! So far I have built 12 x 1:48 scale Lightnings, for a short period in the early 1980s I also worked on the real thing at RAF Binbrook. I'm going to describe my latest build. an RSAF F53 in the experimental camouflage of 1977. I'm very much an 'out of the box' modeller with some aftermarket / scratch built detailing. I use brushes to paint my models except when I use a Matt Silver rattle can' from the Pound shop on my silver Lightnings. Can't seem to download photos?? To be continued.... I can now continue my post on building 53-670. Success - I know I have used an F3 to sketch out the camo pattern. Colours used will be Humbrol 29 Matt Dark earth - 83 Matt Ochre - 23 Matt Duck Egg Blue. Camouflage pattern shown was built up from photos for the side views and patterns used by other modellers and a bit of guess work. Red Top Tip: Leave the tailplanes off until last which makes adding the small stencil decals a lot easier to place, including the serial number and the 'dotted lines'.