Search the Community

Italeri is to release a new tool 1/48th Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II kit - ref. 2810 Not a bad news considering the only other available 1/48th F-35B kit is the Kitty Hawk one. Now we'll just need a better F-35C. Source: https://www.italeri.com/uploads/news/AY8p8Mc4VebT1GVJ5SVhR0wRFuvMlyG6nbu5dgSD.pdf Box art V.P.

My last RFI of 2022. This project took 3 weeks, I'm pretty happy with the result. It's my fourth lightning, they go well together.

I have always had a soft spot for the Lightning, built my first from Frog-Hasegawa when I was a teenager. Not really a beautiful aircraft, but it transmits a sense of brute force... very much like a MiG-25 or an A-10. Then the Trumpeter kit came, and I decided to build it. Then the Airfix kit came, and being more accurate in shape, I decided to build it. Then the Sword trainer came, and... why not? So here they are. The Trumpeter F.6. With Aires cockpit, Aires corrected exhausts, Xtradecal decals and Master pitot. The Airfix F.6, OOP except Xtradecal decals, Master pitot and scratchbuilt cannon muzzle brakes. From a 1.25 mm steel tube with cuts made with a cutting wheel. The Sword T.5, OOB except the Master pitot, and the fin decal. The original was totally out of scale, so I used the one of the Airfix kit. The resin seats and colored photoetched parts are from the box. I couldn't get access to the forum for 1 day, so now finally I've been able to post pictures from Imgur.

Hi all, My Grandfather joined the Royal Air Force in 1958 as an apprentice at RAF Locking near Weston-Super-Mare, he went on to serve as an engineer working on radar and the Bloodhound missile across the UK, as well as Gibraltar and Cyprus. He told me many stories of his time in the RAF, his favourite memory was that of the EE Lightning taking off, accelerating low-level above the runway, before pulling into a vertical climb. About 15 years ago I made the Airfix 1/48 EE Lightning as a gift to my Grandfather, who passed away a few years ago. He left to me his RAF apprentice wheel, beret badge and Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct - which he also told me he was awarded only as"they" never discovered all the mischief he got up to 🤣 The 1/48 Airfix Lightning isn't exactly cutting edge, it's fairly simple with vague fitting parts, but it builds up to look rather good (it is a Lightning after all)! Despite this, partly because of the nostalgia of building this kit when I was a child, and to be displayed with the items my Grandfather left to me, I decided to build another Airfix Lightning. I used the following aftermarket; Aires cockpit Master pitot tube Master refuelling probe Reskit Firestreak missiles Armory wheels This is the first time I have painted NMF using an airbrush, it went ok. I used AK Interactive Xtreme Aluminium for the body and Chrome for the glossy ring around the intake, with gunmetal paint for the gun panels and exhausts. The upper fuselage spine was painted in RAF roundel blue (from Hataka). Weathered relatively lightly using MIG oils and panel line wash. The only additional scratchbuilding was replacement of the plastic oleo with polished aluminium tube and 3D printing of the main wheel torque links. I love this angle, it makes me think of the young man (I suppose similar in age to myself), walking up to a Mach 2 fighter, in an era where motorways were only just being built! And here is the model with my Grandfather's beret badge Thanks for looking Ben

PM Model from Turkey has just reboxed the Italeri 1/72nd Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II kit - ref. PM505 Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pmmodels/permalink/2249457395290916/ V.P.

Lockheed P-38F/G Lightning Right (Starboard) Engine (6481037 for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Tamiya’s recent new tooling of the P-38J/F/H Lightning in 1:48 gave the modelling world a new de facto standard kit of the type, and provided us with an excellent, well-detailed kit of this iconic twin-boom fighter from WWII. You can always improve on the detail possible with injection-moulded styrene however, and we’ve already had some aftermarket sets from Eduard. Now we have a larger resin engine set to allow you to open the cowling to display the Allison V-1710 engine, but bear in mind that the engines themselves were handed to cancel out torque steer, so if you intend to open the left/port engine, this set won’t be suitable, and neither will the cowling parts of course. As is usual with Eduard's larger resin sets, they arrive in a Brassin-themed black-and-yellow deep cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags on a layer of grey foam, and the instructions folded around the top, acting as additional padding. The Set Inside the box are forty-one 3D-printed resin parts, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) with just one part, a decal sheet, and a thick instruction booklet that consists of five sheets of folded A4, printed in colour on both sides. Throughout the 29 steps, Gunze Sangyo colour codes are given, and where additional wire from your own stocks is needed to add extra detail, you will be given the length and diameter to help you plan ahead. As is normal for 3D printed parts, they are attached to their print-bases by many fine fingers that taper at the top end to reduce clean-up once you have liberated the part(s) from the base. A little light sanding is usually sufficient to make any marks disappear, after which you can start putting things together. Construction begins with removal of the kit engine nacelle from the kit parts, carefully following the red markings shown in the first four steps of the instructions. Small sections of other parts are also removed in this step, so take care and cross-refer with the kit instructions to ensure you don’t slip up. At the side of this series of steps is a separate diagram showing the location of all the decals on the engine block and some of the sundry parts around the nacelle, and as they don’t appear to be picked out during the build, you’d be well-advised to mark them on the instructions before you get too far. The first two parts will need extensive painting and those make up the engine block and the ancillaries behind it, which plug together after some extensive detail painting, and the addition of a little nose-weight inside the hollow engine to replace the kit-supplied ball-bearing that would otherwise fill the space. The prop-shaft housing has a circular PE ring applied to its front, adding two short lengths of wire to the aft end of the tubes that run down the top edge of the inner face of both cylinder banks. The ancillary block is wired up with short lengths of different diameters of wire, which are marked in separate colours to set them apart. Over the top of the ancillaries a pair of ignition distributor boxes are laid, one on either side of a joining tube, with a pair of scrap diagrams showing it in relation to the wires that have just been added. More wire is threaded from the front to the rear and underneath the engine, fitting a tapering trunk for the supercharger, which should end outside the starboard engine bearer, which has more wire routed down its top side and under the prop-shaft, with two accessories also attached to the bearer. Turning the engine around, the port engine bearer is fitted, flipping the assembly over to add another hose under the accessories, and with the assembly righted again, yet another hose that runs from back to front is threaded through and joined by another accessory on the starboard side. More wire links the new accessory box to something that will be mounted later, meanwhile fitting another box and a curving hose that has a scrap diagram showing where it links to the rear of the engine. There’s yet another box with some wire leading into the mass of accessories at the rear, with more wires leading to both the boxes already in situ. At the rear is another firewall assembly that mounts behind the motor, detailing it with two more hoses, one wide, the other narrower, bringing it in to mate with the engine bearers, linking up the loose wires that finally find their end-points. At the end of the intake tubes is a paired intake lip that is attached on a pair of keyed pegs, with some detail painting in case you’d forgotten that this had been going on. The underside of the nacelle is an impressively detailed part, and needs painting inside and out, fitting a hose down the starboard side, and printed at the rear a complex intake trunking that slots in from the rear. A scrap diagram shows some more detail painting that will need to be done at this point, adding two filters into their recesses, a horseshoe reservoir at the front, and hoses, plus another long length of wire from your own stocks. The engine is lowered carefully into the nacelle, which is starting to become a rather impressive assembly, finishing the path of two hoses with curving sections that dive into the depths of the engine, with another scrap diagram helping with locating them as well as the other wires installed earlier. Exhaust collectors are installed on each side of the motor, followed by the top framework that is a curved cruciform shape, which has a resin tube and a length of wire run down the underside of the spine before it is applied over the engine within the nacelle. The nacelle is complete, but you still need to paint the surprisingly large number of surface panels that are removed to access the engine for care and maintenance. Each one is printed vertically, and on some you can just about see some layer lines, so after priming them, check to see if those have disappeared, and if not, give them a very light sanding. There are eleven in all, and the inner faces will be silver, while the outers will be camouflage colour, but you might want to loosely apply them to the model to ensure you have any demarcations noted before you start painting. Markings The whole instruction booklet is dotted with detailed colour indicators that have the H and C codes for Gunze Sangyo’s Mr Color range, along with the names of the colours in case you can’t get to a paint conversion chart at the time. The small decal sheet is printed digitally, and the carrier film can be carefully peeled away if you wish, leaving just the thin printed part on the model, which is an improvement if the presence of carrier films bothers you like it does me. Conclusion There just aren’t enough superlatives to cover the quality and detail evident on this set. The space between the cylinder banks however is almost a victim of its own success, as you might struggle to get your paint brush in between the equipment that is moulded into the monolithic block. It’s an awesome example of 3D printed model parts, and the amount of effort that has been expended in designing it is incredible. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hasegawa is to release a 1/72nd Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II kit. Seen at the All Japan Model & Hobby Show 2013 Source: http://happy.ap.teacup.com/applet/runchickens/msgcate19/archive?b=20 V.P.

I originally had the idea of doing a Whatif Lightning FGR.7 with ALL the weapons mounted to it with some trumped up idea of Jaguar and MRCA being delayed or cancelled or whatever other politically expedient excuse would pass muster. Then I decided I had enough on the go without spending ages umming and ahhing over whether something should be an FGx, or an FRSx, or a BRx etc etc. So, because I want to model a Lightning in Beast Mode, I've decided to do an F.53 diorama based on the numerous photos from 1967-1969 of the BAC display at various Airshows (exhibit A & B below courtesy of the internet). I'll be starting with the Airfix Lightning F.6 kit (for obvious reasons), and generally 3d printing the various bits that can't be bought or found for love nor money. As I've only recently bought a 3d printer this promises to be a doddle painful learning experience that I'm sure I'll regret ever embarking upon. So, onto the obligatory box shot... Fabulous artwork, note the inspired use of colour palette and copious amounts of alcohol leading to forgetting to finish the image.... (or whatever the excuse was)... For the F.53 specific weaponry I managed to obtain the Odds & Ordnance underwing stores kit from rossm on here. The CBLS is available though Air-Graphics, but the rest I can't find anywhere, so the list of bits to 3d print (as seen in photos above) is as follows: - JL100 double stack with overwing pylons - Matra 155 double mount (OAO kit is single mount only) - Matra 155 open cones (i.e. without frangible cover. These will be to modify the resin ones I already have which are too fiddly to paint!) - Ventral rocket pack (how has this never been available?) - 540lb bombs - Drop tanks (from a Strikemaster but I'm not buying a whole kit just for 2 of these) - RAE Universal Twin 7.62mm Gun Pod - Firestreak ventral pack - Red Top ventral pack - Reconnaissance ventral pack - 1000lb retarded bomb with semi-deployed parachute (still scratching my head over how to do justice with this one) - Aden cannons in a naked state - A multitude of 2" and 3" rockets..... painting 188 of these promises to be (insert expletive here) delightful The vast majority of the above don't have easily accessible drawings (and I'm not willing to join a billion sites and get spammed for the rest of my life just for some blueprints), so I'll mostly be working from a handful of reference books, photos and whatever Google shows me. I intend for things to be detailed enough that an armourer would recognise what they are supposed to be, but I'm not going to model every rivet and safety catch, mainly because my printer won't do that level of detail, but also because I want to finish this before the apocalypse. As far as the airframe goes, unless someone can direct me to some 1/72 Queen's Award roundels I'll likely be doing the G-AXEE Kuwaiti scheme from the Paris Airshow rather than the G-AWON scheme seen in most other photos from the period. Either that or I need to get creative with Microsoft Paint and some waterslide paper. I've already made some reasonable headway with design & print loops to refine some of the parts, but its late, I've been gardening ALL weekend and I really need a shower, so a progress-so-far-post will have to wait until tomorrow. Stuart

At Nürnberg Toy fair 2013. 1/72nd Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II by Academy - ref.12507. Source: http://www.primeportal.net/models/thomas_voigt7/academy/ V.P.

News from All Japan Model and Hobby Show 2022, Tamiya is to release a new tool 1/48th Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II kit - nef. 61124 Sources: https://www.tamiyausa.com/blog/lockheed-f-35-lightning-ii/ https://www.facebook.com/TamiyaUSA/posts/pfbid0DsupchYkdFciHSQSSJ4ZDwo4vQymWPjsq8UmhVu8Jdp6Vz7QTGYLFXd8UK8dALnPl V.P.

I'm proud to announce my first diorama! I'm sure it'll be followed by many more. It's not based on a specific crash as all of the ones I saw were a bit more complicated then I wanted to attempt, or didn't have enough photos to go off of. It was a nice change of scenery (no pun intended) as it was less repetitive then making an airplane or car: the build, paint, stare at the drying paint waiting to build more, repeat... Anyway, lets get into logistics! The airplane was a friend's completed model that I could tell was sitting around for a bit (yellowed decals, peeled paint, etc.) and that was when I first decided to tear it apart further. I used a lighter to gently melt and form the plastic to make it look crashed, thinner to streak the paint, and some other mods. I used Vallejo Model Air paints and drywall plaster to create the dirt and static grass with moss pieces. In short, the idea was that the P-38 was in a dogfight when it was strafed down one engine and the back one of the booms. Too far from any base, one engine cut out due to loss of oil and overall damage. A crash landing in this uncultivated field resulted. Comments, suggestions, critiques and questions are always welcome!! As always, I hope you like it! Until next time, Joanna

Back in the days before the internet , when we had to look at books for refferences , after market was virtually nil , an amazing man produced a quite limited kit of the Lightning in 1/32 scale. OK Yes it was Vacform , but it was superb. I was a teenager and was looking through scale aircraft modelling magazine and saw an ad for said kit. I had to have one. My Dad drove me from Essex to Maidenhead to get one from the Man himself , Frank Brown. He was a very friendly man. He showed me some built up ones and also the most gobsmackingly good solid resin fuselage with white metal inserts. I believe it was a master for the kit. No idea what resin it was but it was glass smooth and dark blue.Fantastic. The kit was built and displayed in my room before finally getting destroyed years later somehow. I have built a few over the years , i even started one using the Aires bits for the Trumpeter kit , but sold it on to a friend before finishing it. I now want to build another one. One came up on the web for a good price and it arrived today. All is good and the kit it as beautiful as the first time i saw it. Unfortunately the canopy is very yellow. Not to worry i will attempt to make a vac form machine and make a new one. I will post photos of the kit this evening.

A question for Lightning experts. I've bought a very nice LP Models ladder for my nearly completed 1/72 F.2A. But what colour should it be? I've looked through my Lightning references (Ian Black's books etc) and they were painted yellow, green, grey even red for the Firebirds. John @shortCummins asked this question back in 2020, but doesn't appear to have got an answer. My Lightning will be a 1972 92 Sqn F.2A at RAF Gütersloh, Any tips (before I reach for the green paint) would be much appreciated! Thanks. Charlie

Source: http://modelweb.modelforum.cz/2013/09/23/novinky-rs-models-na-rijen-2013/?lang=CS New RS Models 1/72nd Lockheed P-38D Lightning kit - ref.92155 https://www.rsmodels.cz/p/269/92155-p-38d-lightning V.P.

Time to make another WIP post I will probably forget about lol. I have a really old (for my standards, so like 4 years old) Lightning that really needs some TLC. Made it many years ago when I was still new to the hobby. My plan is to restore and convert it to F.6 XS903 (this plan has since been altered and I'm converting it to and F.2 instead) I stripped the paint, I'm sure my neighbours were confused with what I was doing lol. The result was quite good. I then moved onto reworking the interior. I was looking forward to fixing the ejection seat, that was in a pretty sad state. Ready for scratchbuilding and details I am very happy with the result. Outdated photo but I have started putting everything back together, the fit is quite awful, as expected, and there will be a lot of gaps to fill. Expect more updates soon...

Its been a while since I've done a new build, and I've been wanting to replace my Tamiya P-38 for a while now as it was damaged (don't ask) and I wasn't happy with the finish on it anyway, so I decided to give this one a chance to see how this build compares to the easily one of the best kits out there. I'll keep this short and just point out a few key things. Build quality wasn't too bad 8/10 didn't need to use any filler, all components fitted together nicely with minimal sanding. However the fit was somewhat basic, there were a lot of components that you basically just but-up against each other and hold in place until the glue dries. Overall detail wasn't quite there, certainly not compared to the Tamiya kits I'll give it 6/10. Cockpit was sparse, there were was enough to define it as a p-38 but overall nothing stood out. Decals were clear and well printed, no complaints and had everything you needed for both finishes, 10/10 Instructions were clear and precise although, I had to be careful as there were a lot of left over components which were for a different model which were slightly different, 9/10 - I believe this kit is a re-boxing of the Academy one? In conclusion its not a bad build, I've certainly done worse. Its cheap and cheerful if you want to fill in your collection...for £25 you cant go wrong. Cant compare to the Tamiya kit which is on a different level to this one but costing more than twice its not cheap and that without any etched or resin extras. Get this to fill in the gap, get the Tamiya if you want a centrepiece. let me know what you think, finish came out well...gave the invasion stripes that painted by hand look it would have had (they weren't supposed to be neat) BTW can anyone recommend a good basic yellow for air brushing, I'm using Vallejo paints and they are practically translucent...ended up applying about 10 coats!

After the A & B variants, Italeri is to release in 2024 a 1/72nd Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II kit - ref. 1469 Source: https://www.italeri.com/uploads/news/0hFsarN8VqpofmHNCQiD0phaHkvlSZQY30JTdrFK.pdf V.P.

Evening all, I've been contemplating what to build next for a few weeks. Got a Hobby Boss F-5 on the go which has just come out of the paint shop (albeit with half the number of wings attached that it went in with 😬) which had left me losing in mojo. Don't think the heat in the last couple of weeks has helped. Had to take my daughter to London the other week to visit the Doctor Who shop, so took the opportunity to visit Hannants in Hendon on the way back - never been and it seemed too good as opportunity to miss. I almost came out empty handed as nothing really jumped out at me, but on about the 5th circuit a came across the Sword Lightning trainer not which I've been looking at. Love a lightning, and I enjoyed building Sword's Gannet a while back so that was decision made. I actually found myself craving an airfix mosquito when we got back for some reason, that's one for another day. In a break with tradition, I've decided that this is going straight into production rather than languishing in the cupboard for months on end. I'm going to do the 111 sqn T.4 - being an ex Leuchars local these two squadrons are quite dear to me ( I know, 111 never flew lightnings from Leuchars - it's tenuous!). Box and contents shot: Unfortunately it's not a top opening box - I'm going to be sharing the desk with my wife who's about to start a uni course so I'm going to have to try and keep this contained. That might slow me down - even more!! I've found a build thread on here by @71challywhich has some very useful information, especially regarding the fuselage changes required to make this a better T.4. I won't be worrying about the instrument panel being for a T.5 though. I couldn't tell the difference so I don't think anyone else who sees this will either 🤣 So commences the second lightning in my collection. Wish me luck! 🤞 Al

RAF English Electric Lightning F.2A, No. 19 Sqn. B (Wng. Cdr. R.K. Barcilon), November 1974, Gütersloh, Germany Another Airfix kit I built this year that did not disappoint. Huge chunk of an airplane represented nicely in 1:72 scale. Metal finish was tempting but I went with the green in the end. Built straight from the box apart from the seat ejection handles, seat harness & pitot tube. Painted with Vallejo acrylics and weathered with Ammo products and oil paints.

After the F-35A (link) and F-35C (link) here's the Trumpeter's 1/32nd Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II - ref. 03232 Release expected in China in late June 2023. Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=230 Box art V.P.

Hobby 2000 from Poland is to rebox the 1/48th Academy P-38 Lightning kit. - ref. 48027 - Lockheed P-38J Lightning - ETO 1944 Sources: https://www.mn-modelar.com/148-p-38j-lightning-eto-1944-129012 https://hobby2000.pl/index.php?id_product=98322&rewrite=p98322-hobby-2000-48027-p-38j-lightning-eto-1944&controller=product&id_lang=1 - ref. 48028 - Lockheed P-38L Lightning - 80th Fighter Squadron Sources: https://www.mn-modelar.com/148-p-38l-lightning-80th-fighter-squadron-129013 https://hobby2000.pl/index.php?id_product=98323&rewrite=p98323-hobby-2000-48028-p-38l-lightning-80th-fighter-squadron&controller=product&id_lang=1 V.P.

After the A & B variants, Italeri is to release in 2024 a 1/48th Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II kit - ref. 2833 Source: https://www.italeri.com/uploads/news/0hFsarN8VqpofmHNCQiD0phaHkvlSZQY30JTdrFK.pdf V.P.

HobbyBoss is to release in 2024-2025 2025-2026 a 1/48th Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II family. - ref. 85815 - Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II - ref. 85816 - Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II - ref. 85817 - Lockheed-Martin F-35C Lightning II Source: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/8854669690 V.P.

I now find myself in a strange situation. I have six concurrent builds, five of which are likely to be finished over the weekend. I have never had so few ongoing builds in at least ten years. Things will get back to normal after the new year when the 2024 groupbuilds swing into action but until then I need something to keep my hand in. So I thought it might be nice to build an English Electric Lightning. I haven't built one for a few years now, so it's about time. I will build the Airfix 1/72 kit. The box art is bizarre as the artist forgot to put the tailplanes on. Later issues of the box have that rectified. I'm going to build the second option, a grey jet from the Lightning Training Flight (aka 11 Sqn). I have never built a grey Lightning before. There were a number of grey schemes carried by the Lightning. This is the darkest of the schemes. So here are the sprues. Photos are taken (with permission) from the Britmodeller review. All the above sprues are in the F2A boxing. To cater for an F6, Airfix add an additional sprue. Yes, one of the fins on the Red Top missile is short shot. It's the same in my kit as well. The kit was originally issued ten years ago. The sprues in my kit are exhibiting some flash, notably around the wing trailing edges, Firestreak missiles and IFR probe. Considering that the kit has sat in The Stash for a good five years, the amount of flash from a five year old mould is puzzling.

Seen in Hannants future releases. Sword in coming back in the one true scale, with 1/48th BAC/EE Lightning T.Mk.4 and T.Mk.5 kits - ref. 48008 & 48009. - ref.48008 - BAC/EE Lightning T Mk.4: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW48008 - ref.48009 - BAC/EE Lightning T Mk.5: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW48009 V.P.