English Electric Lightning F.6 - 1:72 Airfix

[Paul A H]

English Electric Lightning F.6

1:72 Airfix

With the appearance of fast, high-flying, jet bombers in the class of the Canberra, came the realisation that Britain's post-war defences were unable to cope with emerging threats. The answer was an aircraft that represented a quantum leap in capability over the other similarly tasked aircraft then in service. Following the construction of two development aircraft, to test low-speed (Short SB.5) and high speed (English Electric P.1A and P.1B) qualities, the first Lightning proper, the F.1, entered service in 1960. Its dramatic design, characterised by thin, sharply swept wings and sleek fuselage, offered superb performance but left relatively little room for fuel. This meant that although very fast, the early Lightnings were suitable only for point defence.

The design was steadily refined, through the F.1A and F.2 to the much more capable F.3, which featured more powerful engines and a new radar and weapons system. In order to address the woeful endurance exacerbated by the more powerful Avons, the F.3A introduced a larger ventral fuel tank and kinked wing leading edges which also contained larger fuel tanks. Although the F.2A was the last to enter service, it was the F.6 which was considered the ultimate incarnation of the design. It featured revised wings, jettisonable overwing fuel tanks and a larger ventral fuel tank. Initially lacking cannon, these were subsequently reintroduced as part of a revision to the ventral pack. A total of 39 built, with more converted from earlier marks.

Eagle-eyed modellers who examined the earlier F.2A kit were keen to point out that only a small number of extra parts would be needed in order to build an F.6, and so it has proved. This kit contains all of the plastic from the F.2A, but with the addition of an extra sprue containing the revised ventral tank, the overwing tanks, Red Top missiles and extended cable trunking needed to build an F.6. The part count has risen from 92 to 112. As before, panel lines are refined enough to convey a sense of reassurance that Airfix have got to grips with this particular feature.

The cockpit is pretty good and is comprised of a tub, a four-part ejection seat, control column and instrument panel. The instrument panel and side consoles are devoid of raised detail, as are the fuselage sidewalls, but decals are provided instead. The cockpit fits inside the fuselage on top of a fairly large sub-assembly which is made up of the engine intake trunking, nose gear bay/nosecone and engine compressor face. Only the lower of the two Avon engines has the compressor blades moulded in place, but I doubt you'll be able to see much once the fuselage halves have been joined anyway. The front of the nosecone is moulded as a separate part, and Airfix recommend you place at least 4 grams of weight inside the radar fairing in order to prevent the model from being a tail sitter. All in all, everything fits together much like a scaled down version of the kit's older, larger brother. I'd recommend leaving the nosecone off until the end as it will be easier to paint separately and allows a little wriggle room just in case you haven't added enough nose weight.

Before the fuselage halves can be joined, the staggered jet exhausts must be assembled. This sub-assembly is made up of vertically split double jet pipes, a bulkhead (on which are moulded the reheat flame holders of the Avon engines) and the exhaust nozzles themselves. A quick test fit of these parts reveals a nice, tight fit. Once plus point is the design of the fin, which is moulded to the port fuselage half only, thus cutting down on the time you will have to spend cleaning up seams.

The front portion of the belly tank has had to be split vertically, owing to its bulbous shape. Make sure you use the correct part for the aircraft you want to represent, as the cannon pack was fitted later in the career of most F.6s. With the fuselage halves joined, the wings and tail planes can be fitted. The wings are nicely moulded and feature the same fine, crisp surface details as the fuselage. The flaps are moulded separately, and while it is handy to have this feature, they are rarely seen dropped on the real thing. The all-moving tail planes are each moulded in one piece and join to the fuselage via pins on which they can be pivoted into the required position.

With the major components of the airframe in place, the remaining stages of construction are taken up with smaller details. New inserts to cover the nose mounted cannon bays (which weren't fitted to the F.6) are provided. The undercarriage looks very good, with separate landing gear bay doors provided for landing gear up and down options. The landing gear itself is nicely reproduced, with sharp details and subtle flat spots on the tyres. The airbrakes are moulded as separate parts, which is noce, although I have heard that they don't fit particularly well if you wish to glue them in the closed position. I haven't had a chance to check this for myself yet, but hopefully it will just be a case of cleaning the parts up in order to achieve a more positive fit.

Ordnance is covered by the pair of De Havilland Firestreak air-to-air missiles that were included in the original F.2A release, as well as a pair of Red Top missiles which are exclusive to this iteration. Finishing touches in include the air-to-air refuelling probe, the pitot tube and some vents, intakes and blade aerials. A FOD guard for the engine intake is included too, which is a nice bonus.

The clear parts are ok, with nice clear frame lines and well controlled distortion. As with the F.2A, there is evidence of a flaw in the form of a line. It seems to have been caused by the two waves of molten plastic meeting in the mould.

Two options are provided for on the decal sheet:
English Electric Lightning F.6, No. 74 Squadron, RAF Tengah, Singapore, 1970. This aircraft is finished in natural metal with a black tail fin; and
English Electric Lightning F.6, No. 11 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, England, 1988. This aircraft is now owned by the Lightning Preservation Group based at Bruntingthorpe Airfield. It is finished in Dark Sea Grey over Medium Sea Grey and Barley Grey.
The decals, advertised on the side of the box as being printed by Cartograf, look excellent and include a comprehensive range of stencils.

Conclusion

Following hot on the heels of excellent kits such as the Harrier and Gladiator, Airfix's Lightning is a real gem. It is a beautifully moulded, high quality kit with relatively few flaws. The accurate shape, generally positive fit and fine surface detail combine to make this kit a real winner. Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Julien]

I see you got one of the early boxes with the tail plane missing on the box art!

[Basosz]

This may be the wrong place to ask this, but why were those fuel tanks ON the wings instead of under them? I've never understood that.

[rayprit]

Undercarriage was in the way, they u/c needs to lower and retract

[Duncan B]

The air brakes are too small for the openings on the fuselage so no amount of cleaning up the parts will help that. A shim or spacer to stop the air brake part falling too far into the recess works best but will still leave quite a gap around the sides. Another approach is to drill through the fuselage and make a pin to hold the air brake.

I notice you didn't mention the short shot on the Redtop missile fin but it is clearly visible on the sprue, a minor niggle to be fair.

For anyone interested in finding out more details on how the kit goes together I would recommend having a look at the Lightning Group Build where you'll find quite a few build threads of this kit.

HTH

Duncan B

[Basosz]

Thanks Rayprit. That makes sense.

[Paul A H]

I notice you didn't mention the short shot on the Redtop missile fin but it is clearly visible on the sprue.

Duncan B

I didn't notice that - bum!

[GREG DESTEC]

Great review Paul. Its good to see what you get in the box, my interest in this one is greatly renewed. Cheers

[Andre B]

When I was building this kit I noticed an small "defect" on right fuselage half about ten mm i front of the "shaft" for the right wing. On the inside of this fuselage there is an "mark" from the mould tool but this cant be the reason for the defect. I knew several builders that have experience of bad fix concerning the right wing compared to the left wing and fuselage part. I just wonder if there is something happens when they take the kit out of the mould that make this "hard to see damage" on  the right fuselage half. It's hard to se but on my kit I can clearly feel it with my fingers...

Careful building can probably fix this type of damage if noticed in time...

/ André 

[blanco77]

Great review so thanks for that. I was just wondering how this kit compares to the 1.72 Hasegawa Lightning? Both cost about the same. Thanks for any advice. I’m into doing panel lines (very new to this) so any scribe lines I don’t have to do would be appreciated.

[Sidders]

8 hours ago, blanco77 said:

Great review so thanks for that. I was just wondering how this kit compares to the 1.72 Hasegawa Lightning? Both cost about the same. Thanks for any advice. I’m into doing panel lines (very new to this) so any scribe lines I don’t have to do would be appreciated.

Airfix Lightning is far superior to Hasegawa’s offering which was first released over 40 years ago.
 

My advice would be to buy the Airfix Lightning which also has recessed panel lines, compared to Hasegawa’s which has raised.

 

 

[blanco77]

12 hours ago, Sidders said:

Airfix Lightning is far superior to Hasegawa’s offering which was first released over 40 years ago.
 

My advice would be to buy the Airfix Lightning which also has recessed panel lines, compared to Hasegawa’s which has raised.

 

 

Awesome thanks for the advice. The Airfix comes with paints as well that should be at the least a good colour guide. I don’t mind Humbrol Acrylic. I found as long as you are generous with the thinner it generally paints on nicely. Off topic also looking to build Meteor A77-851 which served in Korea with the Aussies and scored a couple of probables. Thanks again.

Edited September 19, 2020 by blanco77
Mistake

[Mick4350]

On 11/17/2014 at 9:05 AM, Julien said:

I see you got one of the early boxes with the tail plane missing on the box art!

Was lucky enough to get this unique boxing as well.

[theplasticsurgeon]

On 9/19/2020 at 2:19 AM, blanco77 said:

Great review so thanks for that. I was just wondering how this kit compares to the 1.72 Hasegawa Lightning? Both cost about the same. Thanks for any advice. I’m into doing panel lines (very new to this) so any scribe lines I don’t have to do would be appreciated.

As others have said - Go Airfix.

I've built the Airfix F2a, Hasegawa F6 and loads of other F6s.  Airfix has really shown the way with big-belly Lightnings.

 

 

 

 

[mr.T]

Found this review and found one and got it. Thanks for the review!!

[Space Ranger]

On 11/16/2014 at 5:05 PM, Julien said:

I see you got one of the early boxes with the tail plane missing on the box art!

That box art depicts the little-known Lightning F.5 7/8.