A trio of Lightnings - Apologies to all British friends!

[Davetur]

I have always had a soft spot for the Lightning, built my first from Frog-Hasegawa when I was a teenager.

Not really a beautiful aircraft, but it transmits a sense of brute force... very much like a MiG-25 or an A-10.

Then the Trumpeter kit came, and I decided to build it.

Then the Airfix kit came, and being more accurate in shape, I decided to build it.

Then the Sword trainer came, and... why not?

So here they are.

 

 

 

The Trumpeter F.6. With Aires cockpit, Aires corrected exhausts, Xtradecal decals and Master pitot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Airfix F.6, OOP except Xtradecal decals, Master pitot and scratchbuilt cannon muzzle brakes. From a 1.25 mm steel tube with cuts made with a cutting wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sword T.5, OOB except the Master pitot, and the fin decal. The original was totally out of scale, so I used the one of the Airfix kit.

The resin seats and colored photoetched parts are from the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't get access to the forum for 1 day, so now finally I've been able to post pictures from Imgur.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Davetur
Correction of images

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Im sure they look great but im getting the photobucket extortion page.  

 

 I can see them now and i was correct they look great 👍 .

Edited December 28, 2017 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Davetur]

Edit

Edited December 26, 2017 by Davetur

[Davetur]

Now with pictures!

[Lord Riot]

These are absolutely superb!

[SimonT]

Yep, great stuff!

[invidia]

Great looking lightnings.

[Meteor74]

A very nice line-up you've modelled there. I like the way you've done the muzzle-brakes, it looks very effective for this scale. 

[ModellerUK]

Quite a collection there 

[Latinbear]

Stunning work! The green and grey is my favourite livery. 

[Meatbox8]

Hey!  No need to apologise.  A stunning trio of Frightenings.  The detail on the ejection seats and the muzzle brakes is great.

[Phone Phixer]

Top class collection. Great work.

[DAG058]

Beautiful triplets! How was the Sword kit to build?

[Mark Bottell]

They are FAB mate!!!!,well done.

[Davetur]

Thank you all for the nice words, guys!

1 hour ago, DAG058 said:

 

Beautiful triplets! How was the Sword kit to build?

The Sword kit was the second short run I've built (the first a Amodel Yak-28) but honestly I didn't find it so difficult to build. It takes a bit of patience to align everything properly (but I am a veeeery slow builder).

In some areas it has even finer detail then the Airfix kit, with which it surely shares the mold lines of the fuselage.

The only areas that needed a bit more of attention were the cockpit, in order to position it correctly, and the wings, since the attachment tabs are very short.

In order not to have surprises later, I drilled holes in the wings, and put two sections of steel paper clips (the big ones) in them, so that they would be joined through the fuselage.

 

 

 

This also allows to adjust the wing dihedral before commiting to glue.

Cheers

 

Davide

[Boman]

Very nice! 

 

I see the F-6's are from 5sq and 11sq, but what unit is the T from? 

[Davetur]

3 hours ago, Boman said:

Very nice! 

 

I see the F-6's are from 5sq and 11sq, but what unit is the T from? 

The kit instructions say  "Lightning Training Flight (LTF) RAF Alconbury 1987"

But there is also a photo that locates XV328 in Binbrook in 1985.

Airliners.net

XV328 has carried either a natural metal belly tank (the one in the Airliners picture) or a grey painted one, I choose the latter. Just to avoid masking, spraying... I'm a lazy guy, I know.

Davide

Edited December 28, 2017 by Davetur

[Bill.B]

Lovely jubbly!  All three aircraft are nicely done! 

[Boman]

Agree that the T looks to be from the Lightening Training Flight, operational from 75-87
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning#Military_operators

[Davetur]

40 minutes ago, Boman said:

Agree that the T looks to be from the Lightening Training Flight, operational from 75-87
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning#Military_operators

Glad I passed the exam!!!!!!

Cheers from an old modeller

[George Norman]

great set.

 

The Two seater is lovely, Bellissimo in fact!

 

well done.

[Pete1961]

Very nice. Loved watching these take off in pairs at  Gütersloh in the late 60’s.

[danosky]

There is something very special about the Lightning, the shape, the engines placement and the cockpit, specially the two-seater, which I think it more beautiful than the single seater. Excellent job!!!!

[Tomcat101]

They all look amazing.

[tweeky]

You done a great job on the x2 Fmk6`s and the Tmk5 but you need an FMk3 now.