It's fast! It's British! It's a Lightning!

[71chally]

1 hour ago, rob85 said:

I think this is a good choice 😃

rocket ship style.

 

Rob

I actually display my Airfix 48th Lightnings like that, they sit on their tails nicely balanced and take up far less room, one of them looks odd going vertical with the gear down and the canopy open though!

[Biggles87]

13 hours ago, keefr22 said:

.    (I've only just learnt feet and inches...!!)

 

K

 

That’s OK you’ll probably be using them again soon.  

[keefr22]

3 hours ago, giemme said:

I haven't ruled that out completely, but in that case I should represent it a almost pristine, no weathering at all - not a bad thing per se, just one aspect to consider

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....!! 

 

(please )

 

K

 

Scratchbuilding a T4 panel is going to be a walk in the park to you Giorgio - plastic overlay on the back of the etch panel - sorted!

[giemme]

Just now, keefr22 said:

Scratchbuilding a T4 panel is going to be a walk in the park to you Giorgio - plastic overlay on the back of the etch panel - sorted!

You are a tempting devil, you know that, right?

 

   

[Biggles87]

 

59 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....!! 

 

(

 

Proper NMF please, but still pristine. I have a picture somewhere of a very shiny 111sqdn two seater, I’ll try to find it.

 

John

[CedB]

3 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

16 hours ago, keefr22 said:

.    (I've only just learnt feet and inches...!!)

 

K

 

That’s OK you’ll probably be using them again soon.  

Yes please! Back to something that divides by more than 2 and 5!

Oh, and doesn't it make scale conversion easier?

Like 1’ at 1/72 = 1/6”. 
So much easier...

 

Signed

Dinosaur of Bath  

[giemme]

Hi everybody! A quick update, with a foreword: I took these pics before all the great info about the IP were posted, and it was merely a dry fit test of the main parts.

 

Anyhow: intake cone/radome/thing

 

Not bad; BTW, this is my first short run kit, so no alignment pegs etc, and no part numbers on the sprues. Fit is better than any Italeri model I've built so far - tell me about "mainstream" companies... - and the part numers are on the sprue scheme included in the instructions. Being all consecutive on the same tree, they are far easier to identify than the crazy numering system Revell used on their Eurofighter, to name one!

 

Rant off, on with the pics

Exhausts and seats separated from their casting blocks and refined - pretty easy, the resin wasn't too hard

 

Tub dryfit

 

I think I will separate the control sticks from their blocks, for ease of paint and cockpit masking

 

The IP placement looked quite uncertain (again, I did not have any reference when I took these pics)

 

Fuselage

 

 

Not the right place for the IP, for sure - and the tub is too wide in some places, preventing the fuselage halves to join. I'll have to investigate that further

 

The coaming will probably fit properly, once the fuselage halves join

 

The exhausts fit is pretty good, though

 

 

BTW @keefr22 I did measure the fuselage from nose to tail (without the resin exhausts) and it's 19.4mm (and a tad more), so it looks like I have the correct parts.

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

Edited February 14, 2020 by giemme

[keefr22]

57 minutes ago, giemme said:

so it looks like I have the correct parts

 

Strange perhaps they've retooled the parts? Good news anyway!

 

K

 

Edit - just wondering where on the fuselage you measured G? I tried to measure as centrally as possible with the ruler just touching the rear bottom of the slot for the wing. If measured higher the slope of the rear fuselage where the top jetpipe fits will make the measurement longer. (and I measured just the plastic fuselage without the resin jetpipes fitted)

[Wez]

53 minutes ago, giemme said:

BTW @keefr22 I did measure the fuselage from nose to tail (without the resin exhausts) and it's 19.4mm (and a tad more), so it looks like I have the correct parts.

I hope so, mine arrived today!

3 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

Strange perhaps they've retooled the parts? Good news anyway!

Perhaps.

 

Plenty of choice with this model, I just need to see how Giorgio overcomes his instrument panel dilemma.

[The Spadgent]

Looks rather nice with those resin parts too.🤩

Johnny.

[TonkaGuy]

Love the lightning, especially the T bird! 

[stever219]

On 2/11/2020 at 9:31 AM, rob85 said:

Am I missing something? (Probably) what’s wrong with just modelling the restored T5 XS458 In the 111 squadron colours it’s shown in... you would still be modelling a real aircraft and would save yourself some work?

One thing that you should be aware of Giorgio if you do decide to model XS458 as she now is, she has 92 Squadron colours on the port side augmented with the crests of all of the squadrons that flew Lightnings.  You ought to be able to find images of her on the Thunder and Lightnings website.  I’m trying to save a few bob just now but your excursion into this kit is weakening my resolve.....

[Wez]

14 minutes ago, stever219 said:

I’m trying to save a few bob just now but your excursion into this kit is weakening my resolve.....

It crushed mine!

[HOUSTON]

Dennis is to blame. 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by HOUSTON

[HOUSTON]

 

Giorgio,

 

EXCELLENT  workmanship. 

great build and even better , something I like and seen taxi-ing at BRUNTINGTHORPE. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

edit; when I posted one comment ; the Menacing Dennis would not budge the summit button so I kept pressing till it showed... hence so many edits.

 

MY BAD moderators., 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by HOUSTON

[HOUSTON]

Dennis the menace is responsible for not  being able to post. 

so deleting extras.

Sorry All.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by HOUSTON

[bbudde]

Hello Giorgio. Nice work on that. Although iI don't like that type  the two seater looks much, much better than the single seater. Still very archaic . The paint scheme will make the difference, I think.

Cheers

[giemme]

On 13/02/2020 at 18:52, keefr22 said:

 

Strange perhaps they've retooled the parts? Good news anyway!

 

K

 

Edit - just wondering where on the fuselage you measured G? I tried to measure as centrally as possible with the ruler just touching the rear bottom of the slot for the wing. If measured higher the slope of the rear fuselage where the top jetpipe fits will make the measurement longer. (and I measured just the plastic fuselage without the resin jetpipes fitted)

Keith, I tried measuring the fuselage again, following your description, so if got that correctly

 

it ends up like this

 

that is 19.3mm and a tad. What do you think?

 

On 13/02/2020 at 18:57, Wez said:

Plenty of choice with this model, I just need to see how Giorgio overcomes his instrument panel dilemma.

I've just made a start in studying it, but I've first done more dryfitting, see below

On 13/02/2020 at 19:26, The Spadgent said:

Looks rather nice with those resin parts too.🤩

Johnny.

Thanks J, resin parts are a nice plus in this kit  

On 13/02/2020 at 19:41, TonkaGuy said:

Love the lightning, especially the T bird! 

Cheers TonkaGuy, I hope I'll be able to make her justice  

On 13/02/2020 at 20:31, stever219 said:

One thing that you should be aware of Giorgio if you do decide to model XS458 as she now is, she has 92 Squadron colours on the port side augmented with the crests of all of the squadrons that flew Lightnings.  You ought to be able to find images of her on the Thunder and Lightnings website.  I’m trying to save a few bob just now but your excursion into this kit is weakening my resolve.....

On 13/02/2020 at 20:45, Wez said:

It crushed mine!

Oh come on you too, this kit sells by itself, you shouldn't blame me ...    

 

12 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

 

Giorgio,

 

EXCELLENT  workmanship. 

great build and even better , something I like and seen taxi-ing at BRUNTINGTHORPE. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Houston   Must have been quite a sight!

11 hours ago, bbudde said:

Hello Giorgio. Nice work on that. Although iI don't like that type  the two seater looks much, much better than the single seater. Still very archaic . The paint scheme will make the difference, I think.

Cheers

Thanks Benedikt, and welcome on board  

 

As I mentioned earlier, I've just started tackling the IP issue, but before that I did some more dryfitting. The tub required some shaving/scraping on the sides, to properly fit inside the fuselage. I first tested the bottom part

 

 

and then the back side, which required trimming on the lower part of the sides

 

There are some ejector marks inside the fuselage, as you can see in next pic; I removed the two closer to the intake, since they were quite visible

 

Then I superglued a few 0.5mm styrene strips inside one of the halves, to help with the alignment 

 

The windshield and canopy had received a bath in Aqua Gloss a few days ago, and I then dry fit the windshield to the fuselage

 

As you can see, it's definitely wider than the fuselage. Let's try with the tub in

 

The tub tends to keep the front fuselage halves apart, but this way the windshield fit is spot on. I think I'll just put a plastic shim in the gap and blend everything in accordingly

 

Looks like I found a correct location for the IP too

 

This is it for the day - all comments welcome. Meanwhile, I'll keep pondering on the IP...

 

Ciao

 

[CedB]

Wow, now that's what I call gaps  

Looks like it's going to be painful G.

[keefr22]

32 minutes ago, giemme said:

Keith, I tried measuring the fuselage again, following your description, so if got that correctly

 

I measured mine along the outside of the fuselage Giorgio, so I've just dug it out again and measuring in the same position you have I still get it to measure just under 19.1cm, so it does look like they may have modified the mould - happy days!!

 

And I'm with you on shimming that gap , I'll follow that plan when I get round to mine!

 

Keith

[bbudde]

1 hour ago, giemme said:

and welcome on board  

 

Ahh well, maybe as a swimsuit, but thanks for inviting me for this one!

Cheers Benedikt

[giemme]

9 hours ago, CedB said:

Wow, now that's what I call gaps  

Looks like it's going to be painful G.

Actually, the real gap is only the front one - all the others you see in the pics just need gentle pressure to disappear. Not too bad, I suppose  

9 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

I measured mine along the outside of the fuselage Giorgio, so I've just dug it out again and measuring in the same position you have I still get it to measure just under 19.1cm, so it does look like they may have modified the mould - happy days!!

 

And I'm with you on shimming that gap , I'll follow that plan when I get round to mine!

 

Keith

Thanks Keith  I thought of the shim because I don't want to glue the windshield in by forcing it narrower than it is, too many chances of breaking it

Ciao

[TheBaron]

Looks challenging in places G but your patient methodology will overcome these temporary obstacles.

 

Was going to ask would adding shim affect the circular profile of the nose forward of the cockpit but from your photo I'm seeing it's only that angled gap just in front of the windshield that needs it?

[71chally]

Interesting that gap, I don't recall having that on my kit, I certainly didn't shim it and my windshield fitted ok.   I wonder if it's as Keith says, the mold has been modified?

Hopefully you will sort it though Giorgio.

[giemme]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Looks challenging in places G but your patient methodology will overcome these temporary obstacles.

 

Was going to ask would adding shim affect the circular profile of the nose forward of the cockpit but from your photo I'm seeing it's only that angled gap just in front of the windshield that needs it?

Thanks Tony   Exactly, the gap ends right after the nearest edge of the tape strip holding the fuselage halves together - the intake profile will thus remain unaltered (hopefully  )

21 minutes ago, 71chally said:

Interesting that gap, I don't recall having that on my kit, I certainly didn't shim it and my windshield fitted ok.   I wonder if it's as Keith says, the mold has been modified?

Hopefully you will sort it though Giorgio.

I actually saw that gap on at least another build, I can't recall where right now (very likely here on BM, while I was searching for more details about the IP). The guy that was building it forced the gap closed, but I didn't read further (I hadn't done my windshield dry fit test yet, so I had no reason to go further really ...)

 

Ciao