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Another Lightning F3


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....some of you may recall the problems I had in the "cold War GB" with getting chrome Alclad to stick to my Lightning. Well that was then - I stripped the model down and decided to paint her as XR749 as she appeared in 1985 in the LTF's colour's......

Airfix kit (of course), Aerocliub nose ring, Neomega cockpit, and PP Aeroparts ladder (they never got around to issuing this, but Airwaves now do a white metal ladder - not sure if its the same one or not..) Decals from Aeromaster (I think?), paints by Xtracrylic and Revell Aqua( for the blue). Nose FOD cover is plastic card....

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Very nice job, and if it looks good, it must be [good]. I love the markings scheme.

An admission: Being American I never had much thought about the EE Lightning, I guess it's engine configuration and wing design threw me, but after being a member here, (and I cannot thank me British friends enough)I have come to appreciate the "Frightning" in a different light. It will still take some time for me to embrace the Over/Under engine setup, but barring that it is one fine piece of engineering. What I think I'm liking most is the slender design of the fuselage it does reduce the drag penalty(if it just didn't have that bulge underneath). Yeah I know I'm sounding like a bloody designer, well I look at aircraft from more than just the adoring gawker aspect. To those who read this, know that I feel so much better now that I have openly admitted my feeling toward one of the UK's most beloved icons of the cold war :hmmm: , Cold War talk about a contradiction in terms; jeeez.

BTW, for what its worth there are more than one US made aircraft that doesn't ticke me fancy either, and those I will never develope a better liking for. I'm not gonna call any names but P-39/P-63 jump to the forefront.

Edited by Angels49
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Bill,

Great stuff as usual and thanks for the pics (also very nice). You've really captured that scheme's appearance so very well done.

(slight digression follows)

That looks extremely nice, stunning Lightning Bill!

Koen, I really like your avatar, and I instantly thought of those pale grey Mirages when I saw it. Thanks for the associative jolt to the right side of my brain.

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Lovely piece of work Bill, even I ( unlike some others here ) prefer the natural metal schemes.

Snag is I can't get them to look right - though I've not tried Alclad on a Lightning yet. Very complex scheme to do right.

That one looks superb - the LTF machines were often overlooked. I like the ladder - looks properly three dimensional.

How do you get the sealant around the canopy looking right ?- very difficult to get that straight, for me at least.

Angels 49 - I'm with you, can't help looking at aeroplanes with an engineering/design hat on. (the "why is it like that?" bit)

Of course the over-under engine arrangement was Mr Petter's plan to reduce frontal drag. The first design had the upper engine leading - wing position scuppered that, hence the odd top engine to the rear set up. Agree about the belly tank - horrible excrescence. For some reason our Air Marshals ('Their Airships' as Roy Braybrook or Bill Gunston used to call them) couldn' t see past point defence interceptors. Terrible Battle of Britain, doncha know.

That wing plan is a modified delta really - just with cut outs.

I wish our guys had thought like yours and built decent range in from the start. The Lightning could have been truly superb, instead of a cobbled together 'almost'. Good thing it never actually had to fight, lovely as it was. The only version worth a darn was the (rare) RAF Germany F2 variant with 4 by 30mm Adens.

It's very revealing that one of the early criticisms of the HS Hawk was that it had too much range for a trainer. RAF destructors felt that pilots needed to be worried about fuel state right from the beginning !

A BM Lightning line up - sounds good = what do we do?

Edited by John B (Sc)
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What a load of tosh, it's puke grey and doesn't have loads of bombs hanging of it's wingy things..................

Who am I kidding :mental: Bill that is one of the best renditions of an F.3 I have seen for a long while.

:mike:

John.

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