AAbshier

it's also possible that they made provisions for the aftermarket to take care of it. Tamiya does keep their secrets well, but I would be surprised if they released a dedicated recon version of the Spitfire as a stand-alone kit; modelers seem to like their fighters armed, after all! Andy

Hmmm, guess you didn't need my bulkhead templates! Nice work on the structures--you build way faster than I do. Of course, most people do, actually. I like the Rub n' Buff effect. You might try out the Klear on a scrap section (say, the overwing tanks you're not using) before committing it to the model. Andy

Oy oy oy.....my camera is working again, but my photo editing software on my laptop has gone on the fritz! Not to worry, I have another computer I can work up my photos in. I'll try to get an update posted tomorrow. Bill: I am using Alclad for all natural metal surfaces except for Testor's Metalizer for differential toning. Andy

I've just written a preview of this kit for Modeling Madness, and I made a point of stating that I purchased my kit, so that no one would think I was lifting talking points from a Tamiya advertising brochure! If the fit is that crazy-good, I'll have to work that into the preview. Meantime I'm still battling the Trumpeter 1/32nd Lightning. Sigh..... Andy

I just found out that I'm getting ANOTHER Lightning to do a build review on. Fortunately it's the Eduard rebox of the Airfix 1/48 scale kit, so it should go relatively fast compared to the ordeal this project has been! Quick build update on the Trumpeter kit: wings and stabilizers are fully finished and ready for decaling. The fuselage needs some more tweaks, but should be going to the paint shop next week. Andy

Hi J, Thanks for the heads-up. I can see that Mr. Tamiya may well be getting some more of my money down the line--but I'll settle for an E wing Spitfire at some point! I'll be going over mine with a fine-toothed comb tomorrow night, when I'm in Mt. Carmel, Illinois (NOT an exciting town). Andy

I see the scoops and outlet flanges on the right side of the fuselage--did the kit provide those, or did you make those up yourself? The F1A/F3 kit omits these things entirely, and I've made up mine using thin sheet brass. Andy

23 Sqn.? Nice! I hope that works out for you. What is your decal source for 23 Sqn. markings? I was just making the point that with my earlier-type wings, I had the easier road--plus I didn't make the fuselage outline corrections you did, so my F3 is going to have that wrong-o tank on the bottom. Oh well. Like the man says, this is not a competition, so please, Britmodeller readers, no wagering. Andy

Today I had a major distraction arrive via UPS: Ah, but not to worry, work on the Lightning continues--I'm just looking forward to building an actual well-engineered accurate model soon! I've gotten Alclad on the wings and horizontal stabilizers, and am working on the wheel wells now. My camera was on the fritz today so no pictures, but I've since fixed it and will post pics later. Andy

Now I know one thing I'm thankful for on this upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday: that Stevens Int'l sent me the F1A/F3 to review instead of the F6! Holy crap.....the wings are wrong also? No one could have predicted that Trumpeter would have blown it on this airplane. You're going for NMF? What squadron? I just got Alclad on my wings and horizontal stabilizers, so I beat you to it. Of course, I have non-cambered leading edges and I kept my wheel wells at stock length, so I saved myself some time! Andy

They already have markings out for the Hunter F6 and Lightning F1 in 1/32nd scale. I'm with you on the Phantom markings--a big Tamiya Phantom next to my 74 Sqn. F3 would suit me fine! Andy

I wonder if the same crew who engineered the 1/32nd E.E. Lightning got this project also--the Lightning has many shape errors on the fuselage. Andy

So I test-fitted the nose ring and the radome, expecting, with the repositioning of the radar tower, that the radome would be much better positioned...... Oh. Well, the fix wasn't hard; I just lopped off the constant-diameter section of the radome, then checked it: Much better. I still need to smooth off the cut line (complicated by lead shot inside the radome) but that shouldn't be too hard. I'll have to raid the 1:1 scale tools to get a large file, but it should work out fine. Meantime, I finished the front of the nose ring in Alclad Polished Aluminum, applied over Krylon black primer: Oooooh. Shiny! I did get some pitting on the ring--my fault, I applied the Krylon primer too heavily rather than "fogging" it on--but I'll fix that later. I knew I would sand off most of the paint on the outside when I was fairing in the nose ring anyway. The inside paint is untouched, and that's primarily what I needed on at this time. Finally, I added sheet plastic to cover up the gaps around the nose gear bay: After getting this faired in, all that is left to do is canopy work, fix a few more contour faults, then it's time for Mr. Surfacer! Andy

You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din. It builds well if you don't make major changes like I did; the F3 has been giving me fits! I'm guessing that you already know that Bill Clark has been working on the F6 for some time; check down thread and you can see the changes and mods he's made. At the very least you're going to need to move the intake trunk and radar tower forward; see my build for how it's done (Bill didn't do that, but he's using FOD covers). OOB, it will look like a Lightning F6, it's just us super-boffins that have felt compelled to make changes. Email me your snail mail address and I can send you photocopies of the templates for the bulkheads I made to stiffen up the fuselage near the wing joins. I'd also reccommend additional strengthening back near the exhausts, where the vertical fin meets the fuselage. Andy

I like AU-U better, but either one would be fine. I was going to do my Mk IX as a 74 Sqn aircraft, but they used IXes in Britain, and Tamiya's kit has a C wing. Andy

(tap, tap tap) Is this thing on? I'm still doing major structural work (seam finishing) on the airframe, which is pretty boring to post about, but while I've been doing that I've recieved a copy of the AMS Resin seat for the Lightning. Here's a few pics of it: It looks really nice, with good detailing overall. Retail cost is US$12.00 including shipping in the continental U.S., add $2.00 for shipping elsewhere. Compare that seat to the kit seat/Eduard combination: I like the color and detailing on the Eduard parts, but the seat just looks too "flat" to me. That, plus the Eduard set is US$17.95. Since I have an AMS seat, I think I'm going to go with that for the build. Andy

I've reached the boring phase of the build: seam finishing. Woo hoo! Here are the wings and the fuselage in my paint booth, in the midst of getting Mr. Surfacer applied to the small imperfections. I apply the Mr. Surfacer in there to dissipate the considerable smell, which not only keeps the house smelling better, it's also better for my health. You'll recall my travails getting the intake trunk moved forward--actually, that part of it wasn't hard, it was getting the cockpit fitted and redoing the nose gear bay opening. I taped the intake ring in place as seen here.... .....and this view shows the intake ring in place. This is with me sanding everything to get it to line up as best as possible. It won't be as perfect as if it might be with the intake ring cemented on, but I can't cement the intake ring on before getting the radar tower installed. Even still, as compared to the debacle of the intake trunk as Trumpeter gives you (here's a reminder).... ......this is a lot better: I still have a few things to do on the front end, but I'm just about ready to install the radar tower for good and finish up seams on the fuselage. Next: dealing with the clear parts. Andy

Does it look like you'll get a good join on the wings without internal bracing in the fuselage? What about sagging or bending upwards? I'm very happy I put the bulkheads in mine, but if you think the model will be OK without, I want to mention that in my build review. Andy

You should see what they did to the ventral tank on the F3--too short, too bulbous, and too low! I didn't fix mine, but a real anal Lightning builder is probably stuck with stretching the fuselage and rebuilding the tank. I'm building mine for a review, so I can't take the time to do the major rebuild. Andy

Thanks for NOT blaming me--I'm the guy with an F3 in progress right now! :-) Andy

Have you decided on a color scheme for your F6? It looked like you were knocking around some gray airplanes or the Saudi camo'd aircraft (which WOF's article says didn't fly). I'd dare you to do yours in NMF, but you have way more Milluput on the outside of yours than mine. Andy

I'm looking forward to following this build. I have a Hunter F6 on deck as my "easy" build after I finish the Trumpeter 1/32 Lightning F3. Mine won't be as tricked out as yours (just a resin seat) but the kit is so nice I don't feel the need to add to it. Do you need the 74 Sqn. markings from your Hunter sheet? I'd like to do my Hunter in 74 markings to go with my Lightning. Email me if you want to do a deal. Andy

So of course you show us this AFTER I assembled my wings with the stock wheel bays. On the other hand, since Trumpy molded the struts too long, I could have figured out that the resultant wheel bays would be too long also. Oh well! Since I"m doing the F3, I have no leading edge problem. Trumpeter's plastic bends pretty easily, so I suspect you'll be able to get the F6 camber without too much trouble. Andy

OK, I have finally gotten fed up with this kit. At least I'm being environmentally correct about it: Not really! I just reached the point where I don't need the big box to store everything anymore; in fact, the blank is coming together: The wings are removeable; I fitted the fuselage with spars that the wings slide over. I didn't want the risk of the wings bending up after the model was placed on the landing gear. Speaking of the wings, I fitted the flaps today, and ran into yet another conundrum. From the top, the fit looks good: From the bottom, not so much: Fortunately the fix isn't that hard. I just removed the raised wing join area on the fuselage where the flaps meet it: I'll use the putty smash method to tighten things up; I need to do that for the general wing to fuselage join anyway. I also have been finishing up the landing gear doors that receive Eduard photo-etch: The photo also shows my shortened MLG struts; the dark gray areas are where I used toolmaker's epoxy to finish the joint. Both struts were drilled out to recieve reinforcement pins. I still need to finish the join area on one of the struts, as you can see. The strut doors for the main landing gear is molded as one piece. On the actual Lightning, there is a section of the door that folds out slightly when on the ground. Trumpeter scribed this fold-out section into the door part, but the scribing is inaccurate. I filled it in, and also took care of the sink marks at the same time: To rescribe the doors, I used Dymo label tape; for placing the tape, I held the door to the light so that I could place the tape accurately. I lightly scribed the horizontal line, then scribed the vertical line until I cut through: The results were much more accurate: Next: finishing seams, including inside the intake trunk; canopy work; initial painting on the landing gear struts and doors. Andy

Nice work on the F-27, one of my favorite types! Who makes replacement gear for the model? The icky landing gear in the kit was one thing holding me back from building one. Andy