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Question for Lightning 'xperts


Skii

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Say I want to build a T.5 in 1/72

I have the Aeroclub Vac-Form fuselage

what would be the best kit to provide the wings?

ta

:)

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At the moment the only early wing kit around is the Airfix one. However you might want to wait and see the ones that Trumpeter and MPM have announced for 2008. They are all supposed to be much better than the airfix kit, if only cause they are 30 years younger !

Giorgio

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The T.5 had the earlier wings, as per the F.1/F.3, so you'll need the F.1/F.2/F.3 boxing.

Karl.

is this the Airfix or Matchbox kit mate ?

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:doh::doh::doh:

Just re-read the original post... for some reason I was thinking about 1/48 scale!!

You would need the wings from the Airfix kit, either F.1 or F.3 kit... not the Matchbox one as that was the F.6 or T.55, both have the kinked wing.

Karl.

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Skii, I would hang on until the MPM or Trumpeter kits put in an appearance, it would be difficult for them to have worse wings than the Airfix kit. If on the other hand you can't wait I have a couple of the old Airfix plonkers in the stash. They are definitely surplus to requirements in the light of these future releases.

peebeep

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Hi Skii,

I have this conversion also. John Adams (Aeroclub) designed this kit to utilise the Airfix F.1A wings and tailplanes. However, if you cannot get hold of the Airfix kit, it is very easy to alter the later F.6 wings back to a strait wing, just a few minutes work with a file and some wet and dry paper on a flat block. All you then need to do is fill/rescribe the ailerons - job done. You could do this to any F.6 kit wing (Frog/Hasegawa/Revell Lightning F.6 are readily available), although the fit of the wing to fuselage may require a slight tweak. For my conversion, I have already earmarked an old Matchbox Lightning F.6 for this task - mainly because the basic wing is accurate in chord profile and the undercarriage is way better than other lightning kits.

HTH

Derek

Edited by Derek Bradshaw
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Thats some excellent advice - thanks Peeps :)

Karl is very kindly sorting out some Airfix F.1 wings for me, should be good to go !

John

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Say I want to build a T.5 in 1/72

I have the Aeroclub Vac-Form fuselage

what would be the best kit to provide the wings?

ta

:)

No info on the Aeroclub conversion, but here's a 1/72 Lightning T5 that I built a couple of years ago.

Matchbox T55 fuselage with the belly cut out, and replaced with one from an Airfix F1A kit.

The Airfix kit also provided the wings. Matchbox provided the tail on this one - for a T4 I'd have needed an Airfix F1A tail

MatchboxLightningT5Stbd.jpg

T5 has longer cable ducts from Matchbox. T4 would have shorter ducts from an Airfix kit.

MatchboxLightningT5Side.jpg

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The Aeroclub vacform is, I believe, designed to be used with the 1/72 Airfix kits (F1, F1A, F3, take your pick) and may not easily fit the Trumpeter/MPM offerings looming on the horizon, because the Airfix kit has a lot of errors in its shape which I would hope are absent on any new expensive kits.

So it may be best to stick with the Airfix kit, so long as you put in a little work to improve its over simplistic detail.

If the new kits are any good, somebody will market a decent conversion kit I bet.

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I'm gonna have to chip in here John.....Sadly the Airfix 1/72nd scale F1a/F3 is truly woeful - and should have been put out of its misery years ago and replaced with a down sized 1/48th version!! The mould is so old now that the shape of the wings is all over the place. The wing tips are far too rounded and the upper wing half is solid - no room for any detail or depth - and the undercarriage door shape is wrong - as are the ailerons. The tail planes leave a lot to be desired as well!!!

I'd seriously wait until MPM or Trumpeter bring out one of theirs - BUT if you really can't wait, then get hold of a Matchbox F6/F2a or T55 and cut back the wings - at least there's a bit of depth to the wheel wells. The tailplanes have a better shape but are too thick. You will of course need to remove all of the raised detail - and re-scribe.

I can't remember if the Aeroclub conversion has the white metal nose cone and ring and undercarriage sets - if not you will need them!!

HTH!

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