MD530F

It's 27002 actually. Polished Aluminum. On the previous Lightning and I'll do the same on this one, I used 27001 which is flat Aluminum on some panels and the tank. 27001 doesn't seem to have any issues sticking to the kit so I'm not sure what that's about.

yes, hand painted all around. I don't know if I'll ever get an airbrush. It looks good enough for me but there are always a few irregularities that I tend to run the sandpaper over and do again. I use big square tipped artists brushes which I think is probably the key to a relatively consistant finish. Although the metalcote is probably a good approximation, it's a little tricky in that it doesn’t like sticking to the plastic. I've tried primer but it doesn't seem to make a difference. As a result, you have to be careful handling the kit once it's painted. The flat aluminum, 2001 I think it is, doesn't seem to have this problem.

Had a few months away from the bench with shifting house and working overseas. Just cracked into it again a couple of days ago. Laying down the first couple of coats of Humbrol 2002. I think it's a reasonable approximation for the bare metal Lightnings. Inserting the provided PE into the inside of the canopy and scratchbuilding some of the canopy mechanism.

I think if you look at photos of the bigger stations like Da Nang, Bien Hoa etc as long as the aircraft were in country at the same time, it's perfectly probable that they could've ended up in one place together. Aircraft from all over the country would end up in all other parts of the country

Good work on the gear bay boxing. That'll look brilliant on the finished build

The missus has a 1955 model Apache that she's rebuilding. I'll post photos of the interior tonight if it would be of assistance.

I held out and bought the old Heller T3 because I had heard how terrible this kit was. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with it

Thanks very much guys. I'm actually finding that this build is very low stress compared to battling the Airfix Harrier that I built last. The engineering on the Lightning is nice and simple

A bitof progress over the last few days. Exhaust in place and filled PE in undercarriage bay... which you can't really see and shim up against the flap. More or less together. One wing is a little bit twisted I think but I don't think it'll affect how the aircraft sits on the ground. Have to clean up the joins and fill a little around the tail planes. Found the gunsight in the end and eventually managed to attach the radar scope face. I'm pretty sure they had a hood over them but no matter

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it. I've ended up with another one that I'll do in green but I'm waiting for some different decals to turn up from Hannants

I built one of Airfix's F2As and in all honesty, it's the best Lightning kit out. I had only minor issues with the build. There are injection plugs along the inside of the fuselage that will stop the intake from fitting properly so those need to go. The gun ports require a bit of fitting as does the forward section of the tank but nothing stressful. The decals are excellent.

Yep, I've been finding the same. I dremeled the slots a little and filed off the front of the tabs and it seems to fit OK. Had to put a shim in along one of the flaps to get it close to the fuselage. I've built a few new Airfix kits recently and honestly, this Lightning is actually lower stress... Except that I've gone and lost the gunsight to the ether trying to get it to fit into the combing. Modifying a Meteor one now to work. I find that Airfix's new kits are way too clever for their own good in the gentleman's scale and I have had a hell of a time getting them to work. The Harrier wing didn't fit even remotely well and the less said about the Gnat the better....

The instructions say 30mm back from the undercarriage bay, I measured it and thought that was too far back so I did move it forward a little. I still had to shave it down some to get the two halves together. How'd you get on with attaching the wings to the fuselage?

I haven't finished with that just yet. When I place the exhaust properly, it's a lot better. The gap that does exist could probably be done with filler.

Looking good... Interestingly, you've got filler in exactly the same spots as me along the fuselage seam....

Not a whole lot of progress over the last few days but I did manage to get a few things done. Shaved down the resin exhausts to fit into the fuselage better A lot better than they were originally... Insides painted and faces on. Not really too concerned with going any further than that, you can barely see them. Both wings together and getting cleaned up. The wing halves needed to be thinned around the edges as well as the injection plugs removed. Despite all of this, some parts just wouldn't form a good join so I had to break out the wet and dry. Mostly just for the join up against the aileron on the underside though. The flaps don't fit particularly well and it would've been nice if they'd been part of the wing seeing as they were almost never parked with them down. Getting there through.

OK, that's interesting. I might consider that for the Ts when I get to them. Your T4 looks splendid too

Managed to make progress over the last few days. Put some plastic card along the joins to assist with putting the thing together. Managed to get the fuselage together with minimal fuss all things considered. It did have quite a step along the underside around the tank despite the spine being lined up perfectly. Got it more or less sorted with the file and sand paper and then got some Squadron filler on the join to fill it out a little. It's actually come up alright in the end. Used the Vallejo putty around the inside of the nose gear bay to fill the gaps which worked surprisingly well and attached the fill behind the cockpit. Tail went on OK although the part was actually warped. Didn't notice until I had it on the aircraft . No matter, a bit of hot water and it was straight again. Some more filler around the base of the fin and it's starting to look the part.

Funnily enough, mine's the same. Can't notice it until you put the two halves together. Got it more or less sorted though.

After this morning, I was thinking about getting one of those metal rings and shock cones for the next one. Does the Quickboost one fit easily enough?

No I haven't but I haven't really thought about it that much either. Thanks for the tip though

The dremel is has certainly been paying for itself over the last few builds. Got the wing halves off the bulbous gates today and like the fuselage, enormous plugs preventing the two halves from closing. The moulding is actually pretty good. The only thing that you really need to do is remove the plugs and tidy up the edges. The gear bays require a little bit of work with the knife to get rid of some excess plastic but all pretty easy. Painted the shock cone. Pretty rough painting on the radar bullet but I didn't put effort in as it's hidden once the fuselage is together. Shock cone is a bit rough as I'll be needing to touch it up at the end. Fit isn't perfect around the gear bay but again, it's unlikely to be visible once it's all together. On the next one, I might try to reshape it a little to get a better join. The big issue is that it's near impossible to hold it in there by hand to check the fit. The main thing that I was concerned with is that the shock cone is in the middle of the intake.

So, I thought I'd sit down and compare the three Lightning kits for length. Top: Airfix (F2A) Middle: Sword F1 (F3 is the same) Bottom: Sword T4/T5 Airfix on the Warpaint plans. Possible a touch too long but not bad Airfix on the SAM plans. Quite similar. Sword F1 on Warpaint plans... seems too long but on reflection, I didn't have the kit lined up perfectly on the plans. It is slightly too long though. Sword F1 on the SAM plans. A touch too long and fuselage depth questionable but pretty accurate. Now this is where the waters get a bit muddy... T4/T5 on the Warpaint plans... perfection. T4/T5 on the SAM plans. Didn't quite have it butted up against the plans so it is a touch short but still not terrible. Airfix on Sword. Allowing for the separate intake ring that Airfix has, they're identical. However... Sword on Sword... the T is noticeably shorter.... despite not being out THAT much on either set of plans... The rear of the fuselages were lined up... I haven't measured the length and compared it to the real thing because I can't find a measurement of the length of just the fuselage minus shock cone and engine exhausts (Why would there be this measurement anyway) but it appears that an error has crept into a set of plans somewhere. Is the issue big enough for me to faff about correcting? I doubt it.

I'll have a look. I haven't taken any parts of the sprue on the Ts yet. Strange thing to go wrong.

OK, that's interesting, I'll put them on the plans and have a look. Thanks