Ray S Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Hello all! In addition to my boat I am building for Made in Britain, I have decided to do a Lightning. Never having built a trainer version, I have chosen Sword's 1/72 kit. There will be a few more 'firsts' to this. I have never built a kit by this manufacturer, and I am aware they are not 'shake and bake' Although I have used photo-etch extensively on model ships, I never have on an aircraft I will be experimenting on the Natural Metal finish, I have an idea I am going to try, I will let you know when I give it a go! I do not have an airbrush, so it will all be hairy stick work. Anyway, here are the kit shots: The kit looks well moulded, with fine detail. I heard that the instrument panel on either the T4 or T5 is actually for the other but I cannot remember which way round, but this is going to have what is in the box. There is a bit of flash around some of the parts, but nothing drastic, and not much in the way of location lugs, so I will need to be careful with putting it together. The nose ring is going to stay as moulded too, I will not be correcting that. There are quite a few mould ejection pins/towers that will need dealing with. The scheme I am going to do is the 56 Squadron version supplied in the box with a NMF and red trim, unless the siren call of Xtradecals sheets gets answered in which case the 111 Sqn with the black/yellow tail may win. I have had a great interest in the Lightning for a long time, in fact ever since 1970 when I was lucky enough to sit in the cockpit of a 74 Squadron Lightning at RAF Tengah in Singapore, when I visited the base with my Scout troup. I have built loads since, but only recently managed to get a reasonable metal finish on the Airfix F2A I did for the Lightning Group Build last year. I used Metalcote spray can for that, but will try something else this time. I will be starting tomorrow, it is drying off now after the obligatory wash. See you soon! Ray 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Moff Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Nice choice... I built the Sword T5 for the STGB last year...enjoyed it, bit of a challenge for an amateur like me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Cool subject choice and a colourful one at that. Seems the instrument panel is that of a T.5 but we won't tell anyone if you don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 Hello all. This build is being used as an 'antidote' to the Coastal Steamer I am also doing for this GB, and it has been needed these last few days. I have hit a wall with SS Ophir, I am stuck with the foc'stle deck, and with having a series of severe headaches have not felt up to doing the ship. So, I decided to try something simpler...this. I mentioned in the intro post that this is the first time I have tried photo-etch on/in an aircraft, and this is the result of my first attempts: I had fun seeing it, and thanked goodness it was pre-painted. There is NO way I could emulate this stuff with a paintbrush! I bent some of the stuff round a probe I have, but one of the blue lap belts had its paint lift. Thankfully it did not peel off, but only lifted from one end. I solved it with a tiny dab of Glu'N'Glaze and pressed it down with the point of a scalpel, and it stuck back wonderfully. I had previously lost one of the beige shoulder straps in my beige carpet in the model room, but very little escapes eagle-eyed Ray... I am hoping that I can get the seats fitted into the main cockpit tub without pinging off any of the belts, firing handles and whatnots later. This is where they will go later on I have not found any evidence of foot pedals or the like in the etch that I need to fit, which is a relief. Then it was the instrument panel. Again a first, this time the first for a laminate panel for me. I was not sure how to stick it, PVA or CA? I went with CA in the end along with some zip kicker, and it seems okay. On the panel, there are two round bits which act as a key for the two etched panels so that helped with alignment, but then you attach two tubular bits to the round bits, then a round etch piece to the end result. Well, the moulded round bits looked like they would need a fair bit of cleaning up so I used some white round rod cut to size instead as it was simpler, so I can safely say I have done some scratchbuilding on this too! Hopefully you can see why I did this: Well, that is it for now, thanks for looking, and sorry this has taken a while to get started. On a positive note, I am amazed at the quality the etch produced, and I am even more amazed at the brilliant results other folks get using this stuff as I have found out how difficult it is to get it positioned accurately. Cheers, Ray 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Looking good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Great start Ray. I made this kit for the Lightning STGB and it goes together fairly easily, you just need to take your time and a little extra care with the fit. One thing I remember having to do was to shorten the cable ducts on the outside of the fuselage. Here's a photo to show how much I removed.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Off to a fine start there Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrish Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 How's the build coming along Ray? I'm just about to start my own Sword two-seat Lightning and am keen to see how you get on. Any advice on how to achieve a good metallic finish with a hairy brush? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 How's the build coming along Ray? I'm just about to start my own Sword two-seat Lightning and am keen to see how you get on. Any advice on how to achieve a good metallic finish with a hairy brush? Hi Chrish, this has gone on the back burner for the time being I am afraid. I have an idea in mind for an experiment with the NMF. It involves Mr Hobby Mr Metal Color paint. The idea is to shake like mad the paint jar, use an OLD brush (which has seen better days and is splayed out), then load the brush with paint from the LID only, then vigorously rub it onto UNPRIMED plastic in smallish areas at a time. When dry, it can then be buffed. I got the idea from http://www.essmc.org...tal_Finish.html I hope the link works. I tried this out with a Lightning nose ring and it worked a treat, see http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234970309-airfix-172-f2a-92-sqn/page-2(go to reply28) but I was going to use this build to see it it worked for the whole plane. I used Humbrol Metalcote spray for the main finish on that build. Cheers, Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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