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P-38 Lightning Brass Undercarriage (for Tamiya) 1:48 Aerocraft Models To the joy and surprise of modellers Tamiya recently gave us a new tool of the iconic twin boom Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Ali at Aerocraft had the same feeling, and has been busy at work creating this set to replace the kit parts in tough brass to alleviate our concerns. The set arrives in an unassuming ziplok bag, with three parts inside, all made from brass. With two main gear legs and the nose leg. Preparation of the brass parts will involve removal of the casting gate with a file or a motor-tool at very low speed. The moulding marks on the top and bottom of the part should be similarly easy to remove using a small file with sanding sticks used to smooth it out once the task is complete. Conclusion This set not expensive by any stretch of the imagination, and guarantees resilient gear legs for years to come, providing you use either super-glue or epoxy to attach it to the plastic. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Evening all, Just pondering my next build since I'm nearly at the end of my vampire and only then got a Tornado to go. Given my cold war fascination, it really needs to be a lightning, and nothing says cold war more than a Gutersloh F.2A. I see Airfix do one, seemingly in two versions, one being a "starter kit". My question is, are the two kits the same? From what I've seen it looks like the starter kit just has only one option for markings - the green one, which is fine by me. And is it a decent kit? Cheers, Al

As far as I know, the RAF never intended to use its Lightnings for ground attack missions. The underwing pylons were normally an exclusive feature of the multi-role export model, the F.53. For marketing purposes BAC used the F.53s with the registrations G-AXEE and G-AWON that were on display at Farnborough and Le Bourget trying to convince potential customers. There are plenty of photos of these aircraft, sometimes carrying a bewildering amount of MATRA and Microcell rockets in the fuselage, under and above the wings. Both aircraft were later delivered to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. However, there are also photos of what seem to be standard F.6s on display at Air Shows with the underwing pylons of the multi role version. Such aircraft are XP697, XS903 and XS934. The last two even carried squadron markings of No. 5 and No. 11 Sqn, so it looks like BAC borrowed them from RAF squadron service for marketing. So I wonder whether every RAF F.6 could carry underwing pylons although they probably never did so in squadron service? Any thoughts?

I built this oob from the old 1997 Airfix kit, which I thought despite its age went together pretty well. The famous 'Tigers' of 74 Sqn were the first to fly the mighty Lightning, and the only unit to operate the first F1 version. Flying from Coltishall under the command of Sqn Ldr (later Grp Capt) Peter Botterill, the squadron's aircraft began receiving black fins soon after entering service, and formed the Tigers aerobatic team that displayed at Farnborough and other venues in the early 1960s. This is Sqn Ldr Botterill's aircraft, XM143/A. All comments and suggestions more than welcome. Keep safe out there.

Dear Colleagues Here is the founding father or is it the patron saint of Britmodeller, the EE Lightning! This is the Airfix kit boosted with Aires exhausts, Eduard PE, Quickboost air scoops, Pavla cockpit and Master pitot tube (which speared my finger on one occasion). Can't say it was an easy build regarding fit. The F2A was only to be found in 19 and 92 squadrons based in Germany and only 31 aircraft existed. They were operated by 19 squadron at RAF Gutersloh until 1976. I didn't want to do exactly the same aircraft as the Airfix markings so found a photo on the internet of this bird and used the Extradecal decal extras set for Lightnings The figure gives you an idea of the size of the beast Hope you like it? Andrew

I dip in and out of modelling and it's been ages since I last built anything. My wife bought me the new Tamiya P-38 kit for Christmas and I wanted to start building the moment I opened the box. The kit is so well engineered that it's easy to build with no filler anywhere! I feel like I've had to learn how to use the airbrush again but the Vallejo ModelAir and Tamiya acrylics are very forgiving. As other builders have said, the kit decals are quite thick - which also meant they stood up to me moving them round a lot! - but they settle in with softener. There is a bit of silvering on the tiny stencils but I can live with that. I tried using hairspray for the first time to get the wear on the wings around the cockpit - perhaps a bit much given the lack of wear on the rest of the aircraft. I used oils to accent the panel lines and to give a bit of depth to the colours (using dots of colours and then pulling them over the model with a tiny amount of thinners on a wide brush). Overall I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out. Photos are done on the workbench so not brilliant... I'll do something better ones when the weather is good enough for decent light. Comments welcome!

Next Kitty Hawk 1/48th kit (http://www.kittyhawkmodel.com/) will be... the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II (ref.KH80102). Release date: July 2012. May I've to say that I'm not really excited by this new release. After the beautiful Kitty Hawk 1/48th F-94C Starfire, I'd have preferred new quarter inch kits of aircraft like the RF-84F Thunderflash, F-101A/C Voodoo, CF-100 Canuck, F-82 Twin Mustang, B-45 Tornado, B-66 Destroyer, F2H Banshee, FH-1 Phantom, AF-2 Guardian, F9F-8 Cougar, F-11F Tiger or AJ-2 Savage etc. Source: http://www.aeroscale...=...e&sid=11598 V.P.

Hello all, For my next Lightning (I always have a Lightning model on the go), I have decided to try my hand at some shiny metal finishes, and a two seater version. I have on hand the Sword 1/48 T4, and a set of Xtradecals for 226 OCU. The kit is certainly a decent representation of the type, but is also a little basic in terms of fit. There is a substantial amount of flash, ejector pin marks and seam lines. However, with some patience (in short supply) I think it will make into a decent model. Box and aftermarket decals The kit decal sheet seems decent - stencils are well defined and good resolution The sprues I think the cockpit is busy enough with kit parts. With some scratch building I think it would even look OK with an open canopy, but for simplicity I'll be closing the canopy on this build. Here I am just starting to dry fit parts. Still some clean up needed. The cockpit includes resin ejector seats (not shown here). The seats are not up to Eduard or Quickboost standard for sure, but streets ahead of the average injection moulded versions in the Airfix kits. (Although the Airfix kits are superior to the sword ones in terms of fit and overall definition). The wings go together fine. The leading edge joint is not very good, but the wing lower sections fit well otherwise. It shouldn't take too much effort to sand the leading edge smooth. The intake ring is not very well molded, but again didn't take to much work to cut out runner leftovers, and smooth the internal diameter transition. And just a couple of progress pics - meaning I have done some priming. And so away we go!

I've managed to find a Matchbox Lightning T55 Lightning, and want to build/paint it up as a RAF T5, I know that I've got to find a pair of straight wings, but is there anything else? And is there a step by step conversion I can follow?

Like just about every British modeller of a certain age, I'm a Lightning fan and built plenty of the 1/72 variety in my youth. The thought of a 1/48 model back then was a mouthwatering fantasy and so when Airfix launched their superlative model back in the 1990s, during my modelling wilderness years, I had to get one - ostensibly or my (then) young son. I'm not saying it's a long time ago but the price sticker said 'Beatties'! After existing in part-built hell for over a decade, I decided to start work on this back in April. The build is fairly unremarkable, although I added Eduard and Airwaves PE parts plus a replacement resin shock cone. I'm not convinced the latter really gave any improvement over the kit part. The major effort for me was to finish the model in (mostly) natural metal through the application of tinfoil using Micro Metal Foil Adhesive. One think I learned very early was that the instructions recommending that the adhesive should be added to the foil make life very difficult. It is much more effective to add the adhesive to the section of the model being covered. The decals are a mixture of Airfix, Model Alliance and home-printed for the serials. I went for a development batch aircraft with the Air Fighting Development Squadron, partially because I wanted to model a very early airframe (note it's a P.1B, not a Lightning) but also in part because in my very early career I worked with a colleague who flew Lightnings at the AFDS. The model is a bit like me: looks good at a distance but close-up there's quite a few snags. 🙂 I'm pleased with it but it's nowhere near exhibition standard. Kind regards, Neil

From Osaka Hobby Festival 2017. After the F-35A Hasegawa is to release in March 2018 a 1/72nd Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II kit - ref.? Sources: https://twitter.com/sa_relations/status/926288421517123584/ https://twitter.com/hasegawa_model/status/927732348271112192 V.P.

Project 192 – Last of the Airfix Lightnings As far as I can remember I’ve always had at least one Airfix Lightning F.1A in the stash. Now there are far better Lightning kits than this 1960s Airfix offering, but it’s like an old friend and I couldn’t help but feel a little sad that I’ve used up the last one. I felt it entirely appropriate to finish it as XM192 in Treble One markings in 1962 as per the original issue of the kit. Well almost, anyway. The original kit depicted XM192 in 1961 when it first joined 111 Squadron. This included the early type of mainwheel soon replaced by the later type, and the basic black-only form of the squadron badge on the fin. I updated wheels and markings. I took a bit of a liberty on the starboard side in representing XM192 later in its life during 1973 as a member of the Wattisham Target Facilities Flight. The old girl needs a bit of work to bring her up to scratch and in this case included: Rescribe of the whole airframe New fin (the original is a bit small – this one was fabricated from a Hasegawa F6 fin) Repositioned tailplanes (brought forward by a few mm) Aeroclub bang seat Aeroclub undercarriage and outer doors (I don’t know why Aeroclub never made those main doors that fit around the undercarriage legs – they had to be scratched) Aeroclub nose ring / radome (designed for the Matchbox kit and needed the forward fuselage widening) Firestreaks from the Trumpeter kit Replacement cable ducts (kit ducts are too thin) Filled in cannon ports (thankfully the real thing has covers fitted over the guns – see photos) Finish was Alclad polished aluminium over Tamiya grey primer with various panels in silver/grey paint Panel lines were highlighted using a pencil and thinned oil paint Coat of Klear before applying decals Decals were from Xtradecal, Aviation Workshop and Modeldecal. The Treble One fin badge came from a Fujimi Phantom sheet. Chris

Sources: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234951970-orange-hobby-new-172-f-35c-testshots/ http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=270957 Orange Hobby (http://www.orangehobby.com/) from China is to release its first 1/72nd injected kit: a Lockheed-Martin F-35C Lightning II. The initial release of this kit will include not only an aircraft but also a flight deck tractor. Note the PE set. To be followed. V.P.

Hello again, Here's one I finished last year, Monograms 1/48 P-38 Lightning from the 1960's - updated and marked in my favourite scheme for the type, the flying Dragon! The kit was rescribed, worn area of wing riveted, all flight controls and flaps had to be defined/rescribed in order to stand out, all engine scoops on the engine nacelles and the supercharger were opened up, and a scratch built gunsight, instrument panel, engine controls and wiring were added to the cockpit. A modified Ultracast seat was used. - Bazooka's and wheels are spare from and Academy kit - Landing gear detailed, oil coolers in nacelle, and radiators /interior structure added to radiators on tailbooms, brass tubing for guns. - Dragon faces and mouths were masked and painted, green color custom mixed to match decals, Aeromaster decals for the rest of markings, - Painted with Tamiya acrylics using "hairspray" technique for worn/chipped paint area's, weathered with oils and acrylics. Lots of work, but I enjoyed it and the model won Gold at our local Winnipeg IPMS contest, and "Model of the Year". I'm quite proud of it, hope you like. Again, hope you like Colin

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.

Old boxing: Latest Lightning build - (I always have a Lightning on the go) is an F6. Keeping it pretty simple - an out of the box build, although I will likely replace some of the decals. As a result, not much in the way of cockpit pictures. I really didn't do anything much with the cockpit, as I intended to close it anyway- so I added some seat belts made out of masking tape, painted everything up, added the kit instrument panel decals and called it good. Here I am part way through blending in the nose ring. The nose ring on these kits just doesn't quite fit right. Got the canopy masked up, and seams blended in, and we're on to the fun stuff. On this build, I am attempting for the first time to use lacquer based paints. In this case I am priming with Gunze Mr surface finisher 1500 black. I had to stop there though, when I realised that I hadn't masked the spine light. Still, got that taken care of, finished priming, and then moved on to the lower wing grey. I am trying the technique known as "black basing", which has been subject of many internet debates. I don't care about that stuff, but I am interested in the effects I have seen reproduced. So here it is after initial marble coat and a partial blend coat. I did suffer a little bit of paint spitting on one wing, so I let the paint cure, and then sanded back and reapplied some black. I may well give the wings just a very light additional blend coat. This is where I am at now. I am very pleased with a couple of things. First - this is the first time I have used spray booths - and they work great, not just to get rid of fumes (essential for the lacquer paints - I always used a spray mask before, but acrylics don't stink up my model room like lacquers do), but theyalso provide a cleaner work area and the amount of dust and hairs in my paint finishes is all but eliminated. Second - I am finding much greater control of the paint pattern is possible, and don't get nearly as much tip drying as with acrylics, so this is a positive. It may be a case of covering up my inabilities with a product, rather than figuring out technique - but since this works I don't care too much. Third - the lacquers are nice and tough, and I can sand back the finish with very fine grade wet and dry to undo any unfortunate spits and so on - but I had a lot less runs and faults anyway. All in all - happy how this is going, looking forward to doing some more.

This might be of interest to some modellers: For the Military Aviation Museum Tangmere I have created interactive panoramas of two of their English Electric aircraft: The Lightning F.53 (ZF578) and the Canberra B.2 (WE113). Both work best with the Adobe Flash Player installed, and in full screen mode. Although they work on touchscreen devices too, all the information explaining the bits and bobs in the cockpit shows up when the mouse cursor is moved over an item, and, without a mouse cursor, all the detail information is not available on touch devices, unfortunately. The Lightning can be switched between "day"- and "night" mode, with the instrument lighting switched on. The Canberra virtual tour has three detailed panoramas - cockpit, bomb aimer station, and the navigator station. Please let me know if you find any problems.

Italeri is to release a 1/32nd Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II kit in 2017- ref.2506 Sources: http://www.aviationmegastore.com/f35a-lightning-ii-2506s-italeri-it2506s-aircraft-scale-modelling/product/?action=prodinfo&art=134766 http://www.italeri.com/imgup/Preview%20Italeri%202016(1).pdf V.P.

Good evening all, I got a bit of a steal on eBay and found this started Lightning F.2A/F.6 for £15. A real Mojo restorer! There were some parts painted and built and the decals were unuseable as they were water damaged, so having an F.6 which I intended to build in a grey scheme I hatched a plan to use the 11 squadron stencils and some Model Alliance decals to build the 'King Cobra', Flagship 92 of Wing Cdr Mitchell. Humbrol metal cote aluminium was used for the undersides with some panels picked out in Bare Metal Foil (Matte Aluminium). Topsides were Humbrol 163 aerosol with a Flory wash and tonal variation was acheived by using matte and satin lacquers on different panels. Enjoy.

As an aside to my "Aircraft my Father fixed" project, I've decided to build examples of other 5 Sqn aircraft from periods when he wasn't ground crew. So to begin with, here is an EE Lightning, the 1:48 Airfix kit. This is pretty much OOB with just the addition of a resin seat and decals sourced from numerous places to represent a 5 Sqn aircraft. I opened up a couple of ports and intakes in the fuselage. I can't honestly say this is one of my best builds - I made a number of mistakes during the build which caused me a certain degree of grief. The paint is Tamiya Acrylics for the camo and details and Alcad Aluminium for the undersides. Its the first time I've used Alcard for large areas, prior to this I'd just used the chrome on the Routemaster handrails. I didn't have too many problems with it. So here are the photos with my new camera!

This one came out of left field for me, I haven't heard anything about this. Apologies if this has already appeared. New Sword 1:72 Lightning T.4 (Kit SW72079): New Sword 1:72 Lightning T.5 (Kit SW72080): (pictures from www.ksmodel.pl) My heart is racing - how about yours? Cheers, Bill

I've been building my own RAF 100 collection this year and needed some models to fill gaps in the collection. I thought that joining in with this group build would be a great way of participating in the fun. So here's my 1980's contribution: An 11 Squadron Lightning F.6 based at RAF Binbrook mid-late 1980's. I always thought the low-conspicuity scheme suited the Phantom and the Lightning and being a child of the 1980's, this is exactly how I remember them, so an easy decision! Yes, it's the old Hasegawa kit: a simple and hopefully quick and painless build.

Good afternoon everyone and I hope nobody has had any bad issues with the weather lately, it has been quite bad round here. My WIP thread will be based on the 1/32 Trumpeter Lightning F.2A/F.6, a very subjective kit with many mixed reviews. I brought the kit from KingKit at a very reasonable price. It was my first purchase with them and I won't hesitate to return, so thanks KingKit for the fast delivery. There are many kit reviews and lots of information on the Lightning so I won't delve too much into that but I will however explain why I chose to model it. As you can see in the Picture I have received 'The Lightning Boys 2' from my OH for Christmas and I am nowabout 2/3 of the way through and find it fascinating! This along with a couple of other WIP threads I have been following especially The Spadgent's build has made me pluck the courage to finally get one. I have never really been that interested in them until I read a bit more about them and now I am fascinated by them. I have chose to model XS903 'AM' of 5 SQN RAF Binbrook due to the distinctive shark teeth also I prefer standard grey camouflage over the cold war style, just a preference of mine. I have also got a Quickboost Aires Ejection seat on the way, but I may decide against using this as I am thinking of modelling the jet just after take off with landing gear retracting. I also have some OOP Master casters resin engine nozzles on the way and my profound thanks to the BM BST section and Gary 'Redcap' I have a set of the OOP Xtradecal decals set to enable me to complete this. More than likely I will probably purchase more AM stuff as I need to go on if I need too and of course I have a PJ Productions pilot on order. So for now just a picture of the kit and of course the brilliant book titled 'The Lightning Boys 2' by Richard Pike. Also some of the actual aircraft. More to follow soon......... PS the 'Skyrocket' in the title was given by the pilots, Commonly described as 'Being saddled to a Skyrocket'.

For my second WIP build I've chosen another vintage kit from the stash, this time its the Hasegawa Lightning F6. Rather than use the supplied decals I'm using some 74Sqn markings from an Xtradecal Lightning sheet. I'm also going to try my best to recreate a nice shiney aluminium finish using Humbrol polished aluminium metalcote rattle can.

Ex Royal Saudi Air Force T.55 55-713 at The Midland Air Museum, pics thanks to Alan.