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


giemme

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That's a beautiful model you have going there, in spite of the difficulties. You recover from those very well. Hats off to you!

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Ok, you ask for comments, here they come:

At first, I really, really enjoy your buildthread. Especially your solution of the instrumentpanelcoaming is absolutely stunning! Your silverfinish looks really nice and beautiful flawless.

 

BUT ( I know, every word in a sentence before a but has no worth), the Lightning has some very distinctive shaded panels in its naturemetalfinish. The intakering, for exsample, is one of these and you nailed it. The other panels, which you chose, are absolutely wrong. You can check this easely in every reference. Maybe I had post this earlyer.  Anyway, thats my comment. Beside this, I hope my Sword Lightning T4/5 will come out like yours.

Sincerely, Taylor from Germany

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2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

All looking good there G.

Those walkway decals looked a pain.

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

So true, Simon... :frantic: :D Thanks mate :thumbsup: 

2 hours ago, SAT69 said:

That's a beautiful model you have going there, in spite of the difficulties. You recover from those very well. Hats off to you!

Cheers SAT69, thanks :thumbsup: 

1 hour ago, Taylor Durbon said:

Ok, you ask for comments, here they come:

At first, I really, really enjoy your buildthread. Especially your solution of the instrumentpanelcoaming is absolutely stunning! Your silverfinish looks really nice and beautiful flawless.

 

BUT ( I know, every word in a sentence before a but has no worth), the Lightning has some very distinctive shaded panels in its naturemetalfinish. The intakering, for exsample, is one of these and you nailed it. The other panels, which you chose, are absolutely wrong. You can check this easely in every reference. Maybe I had post this earlyer.  Anyway, thats my comment. Beside this, I hope my Sword Lightning T4/5 will come out like yours.

Sincerely, Taylor from Germany

Taylor, thank you for you comment, I appreciate it. Allow me to disagree on the "absolutely wrong" statement, though: I did look at a number of pictures of NMF Lightnings before starting the painting stage (and also during that), and besides the nose ring, I couldn't really find a defined pattern for tone variations. Some where just totally dull, some extremely patchy, some factory new, some badly weathered. Some showed the ailerons in a sort of aluminium dope finish, some other shiny; bottom line, not many of these were T4s. The only pic I could find of the airframe I'm modelling is this (sorry, I can't remember where I found it, so I'll remove it if asked by the owner)

RAF-in-Combat.com_Lightning-T-4-31

 

so my plan was to reproduce the tone variations in the tail, around the airbrakes and at the wing root as I spotted them here (admittedly with a lot of approximation, or compromise if you prefer: I chose to mask following the easier panel lines), knowing that they may have been caused by the light source of this pic but also not wanting to leave a uniform finish as just sprayed, because it looked too toy-like. There are also some darker panels below the wing line in that pic, but my plan is to render them using washes/filters. So, for the overall look, you'll have to bear with me till the end of the build, because it's going to be quite different from what you see now; however, I'll be happy to stand corrected on the references you mention although, as you say, I'm far beyond the point where I could attempt any correction now.

 

Ciao

 

Ciao

 

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13 hours ago, giemme said:

So I changed my mind about the walkway lines, also because they are way too thin to get a decent result with masking and spraying at this scale; here they are, in decals form

decals4

 

They confirmed all my hatred for this kind of stuff, and I already regret I used them, but the roundels should take most of the attention out of them ... hopefully :) 

 

Also, I don't think their layout is entirely correct, especially the line running closer to the wing trailing edge: the decal there stops at a few millimetres from the wing to fuselage join, and it just seems odd. Any idea anyone?

🤔 hmmm The gentleman doth protest too much. 🤣🤣

you love em really.  Seriously though they look great. Add a spot of paint if you think they’re too short but don’t be ashamed of a decal line now and again. 🙌 keep remembering the Typhoon decals and it won’t seem so bad. 🤣

Great work Giorgio. 👍
 

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Me agree too! Nowt wrong with 'em G - you can always say the  paint was starting to wear off due to prolonged Mach 2 training flights!

 

12 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

I especially like the rudder position,

 

But the poor student pilot wouldn't when he got the bar bill 'fine' for neglecting to insert the control lock during his post flight checks....!! 🤣

 

Keith

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18 hours ago, perdu said:

Great work G, getting to be fabulouser and fabulouser.

Cheers Bill, you are too kind - thank you :thumbsup:

16 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

That looks so great Giorgio - I especially like the rudder position, makes it seem more 'lived in' so to speak.

That was the idea, glad you like it! :thumbsup:

7 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

🤔 hmmm The gentleman doth protest too much. 🤣🤣

you love em really.  Seriously though they look great. Add a spot of paint if you think they’re too short but don’t be ashamed of a decal line now and again. 🙌 keep remembering the Typhoon decals and it won’t seem so bad. 🤣

Great work Giorgio. 👍
 

Thanks Johnny! :D :thumbsup:  Sure, I can fix them with some paint, but I'd just like to have an idea on how they are actually supposed to look like. The transfers sheet has two more line segments that are not mentioned in the instructions and their length doesn't match with anything on the wings ... :confused:

7 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I agree, they look pretty good to me too.

 

John

Cheers, John, thanks you :thumbsup: I still hate them, though... :D 

3 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Me agree too! Nowt wrong with 'em G - you can always say the  paint was starting to wear off due to prolonged Mach 2 training flights!

 

 

But the poor student pilot wouldn't when he got the bar bill 'fine' for neglecting to insert the control lock during his post flight checks....!! 🤣

 

Keith

:D Thank Keith :thumbsup:  If my memory doesn't fail me, the few pics I saw with a displaced rudder are of trainers - you might have a point here :D 

 

Ciao

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1 hour ago, giemme said:

the few pics I saw with a displaced rudder are of trainers - you might have a point here

 

Been there, done that G....!! (not in anything more exciting than a Bulldog, but the pain in the wallet is much the same!  :) )

 

K

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Great job Mister G !!

the walkway were also a pain in the A... on my Airfix Lightning !!

But still, and it's pure lazyness, I keep on using these poor despised decals...:rofl2:

I can't wait to see your Mach master in the RFI zone !!

Sincerely.

CC

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On 31/05/2020 at 18:19, keefr22 said:

 

Been there, done that G....!! (not in anything more exciting than a Bulldog, but the pain in the wallet is much the same!  :) )

 

K

:rofl: I bet it was, K :shrug: :D 

On 31/05/2020 at 18:43, corsaircorp said:

Great job Mister G !!

the walkway were also a pain in the A... on my Airfix Lightning !!

But still, and it's pure lazyness, I keep on using these poor despised decals...:rofl2:

I can't wait to see your Mach master in the RFI zone !!

Sincerely.

CC

Thanks CC 👍 More pain with decals, see below.

 

Here goes: I went on posing all decals and stencils on port side

 

decals6

 

Then I did the same for starboard, and I had a horrible time: half of the stencils bent upon removing from their backing paper, the fuselage roundel+lightning broke in three different places, the large fin decal trapped a debris in it and left a black spot upon removing it.... :wall: 

 

 

decals7

 

here's the black spot

decals8

 

Here you can see some touch ups needed on the fuselage lightning

decals9

 

A chunk of black paint came off the top of one of the antennae mountings

decals10

 

The bottom side came out not too bad, though

decals11

 

First attempt a touching up the black spot, by brush

decals12

 

Not good. The pics hide a lot; it looked OK when freshly painted, then when I sprayed an Aqua Gloss coat on top of it became darker then the surrounding area. I think I'll have to spray over with yellow.

 

Meanwhile, any ideas on the weathering of this AC? I saw some pics of the underneath, one in particular of a Red Arrow airframe, in which it looked rather filthy under the belly and aft of the main U/C bays. Would a trainer be kept tidier? Any thoughts highly appreciated

 

Ciao

 

Edited by giemme
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Another great save Giorgio !!

Some kits need to be rescued time and again.

Flory grimme will look good, then the exhaust stain at the APU exit !

Just my token, and what I did on mine !

Sincerely.

CC

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Those pesky little stencil decals are a right pain G . I totally agree there.

 

Touch ups, yeah, most builds need a spot or two.

 

As for weathering, I am with the above, Flory wash /panel liner etc.

Just use your head.

 

I am sure it will turn out alright.

 

Simon.

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14 hours ago, giemme said:

saw some pics of the underneath, one in particular of a Red Arrow airframe,

 

Eh, what? When did the Dead Sparrows use the Frightning? I missed that, must have been a sight to see.....!! 😜

 

14 hours ago, giemme said:

in which it looked rather filthy under the belly and aft of the main U/C bays. Would a trainer be kept tidier? Any thoughts highly appreciated

 

Never had the chance to get up close to the underside of either a fighter or trainer G, but I would guess the T-birds would be much the same - they might even have been worse as I'd guess they might have been used more than the fighters as they'd have been used for conversion training, check fights, continuation flights for pilots on desk flying tours etc....

 

'Tis just a guess though :)

 

Keith

 

edit - forget to say despite their best efforts to ruin your day you made those stickers behave well and I'm sure any problem areas will soon be gone!

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16 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Eh, what? When did the Dead Sparrows use the Frightning? I missed that, must have been a sight to see.....!! 😜

 

 

Never had the chance to get up close to the underside of either a fighter or trainer G, but I would guess the T-birds would be much the same - they might even have been worse as I'd guess they might have been used more than the fighters as they'd have been used for conversion training, check fights, continuation flights for pilots on desk flying tours etc....

 

'Tis just a guess though :)

 

Keith

 

edit - forget to say despite their best efforts to ruin your day you made those stickers behave well and I'm sure any problem areas will soon be gone!

I wonder if Giorgio is talking about a 56 Sqn trainer, didn't some Frightenings carry a large red Arrow emblem around the nose roundel?

 

I'm sure it was 56

 

Typical of me, I will dump this here then go for a look.

 

Have to do it this way, my elderly tablet multi-tasks even less happily than me...

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6 minutes ago, perdu said:

I wonder if Giorgio is talking about a 56 Sqn trainer,

 

Without looking I think 56 had red/white chequer bars flanking their Phoenix badge on the fuselage , red wing leading edges and red/white check fin - at least the single seaters in the display team did (and what a sight they must have been!)

 

Not sure about the Tubs, so I'll have to go look now too....!!

 

K

 

I'm pretty sure G didn't see a Sparrows jet though...!! :)

 

Edit as memory changed about the fuselage markings.

 

 

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13 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Another great save Giorgio !!

Some kits need to be rescued time and again.

Flory grimme will look good, then the exhaust stain at the APU exit !

Just my token, and what I did on mine !

Sincerely.

CC

Thanks CC, much appreciated :thumbsup: 

12 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Good job wading through all those stencil transfers Giorgio - they look very clean from here.

Thanks Cookie :thumbsup:  IN the end, they're so tiny that you'd need a good magnifier to see where they folded over ... :wink: :D 

11 hours ago, phantom61 said:

Giorgio,

the stencils give finesse to the model ...

 

you are the wizard of small corrections ...

 

 

good job...

 

ciao 

Silvano

Thanks Silvano :thumbsup: The correction on the fin led to more trouble though, see below .... :shrug: 

2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Those pesky little stencil decals are a right pain G . I totally agree there.

 

Touch ups, yeah, most builds need a spot or two.

 

As for weathering, I am with the above, Flory wash /panel liner etc.

Just use your head.

 

I am sure it will turn out alright.

 

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thank you for your input too :thumbsup:

42 minutes ago, CedB said:

Fighting you to the end eh?

Looks like you're beating it though Giorgio :) 

Indeed :D Not quite sorted though, see below

26 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Eh, what? When did the Dead Sparrows use the Frightning? I missed that, must have been a sight to see.....!! 😜

 

 

Never had the chance to get up close to the underside of either a fighter or trainer G, but I would guess the T-birds would be much the same - they might even have been worse as I'd guess they might have been used more than the fighters as they'd have been used for conversion training, check fights, continuation flights for pilots on desk flying tours etc....

 

'Tis just a guess though :)

 

Keith

 

edit - forget to say despite their best efforts to ruin your day you made those stickers behave well and I'm sure any problem areas will soon be gone!

11 minutes ago, perdu said:

I wonder if Giorgio is talking about a 56 Sqn trainer, didn't some Frightenings carry a large red Arrow emblem around the nose roundel?

 

I'm sure it was 56

 

Typical of me, I will dump this here then go for a look.

 

Have to do it this way, my elderly tablet multi-tasks even less happily than me...

Sorry guys, my bad, I meant the Firebirds

https://aerobaticteams.net/en/teams/i62/Firebirds.html

 

Thanks for the heads up on the weathering, Keith :thumbsup:

 

Now: no pics, but a second attempt at touching up the fin decal on starboard side led to an even greater mess: I tried to spray over some Tamiya Flat Yellow locally, but it showed too much difference with the rest of the fin decal. SO now the plan is to mask the squadron badge and the Z, spray Tamiya Gloss Black and then over with Tamiya Flat Yellow. Just in case this doesn't work, does anybody know where I can get spare decals from this kit? Actually, as a first step I'd just need a good image of them, so that I can cut my own mask for it. TIA

 

Ciao

 

Edited by giemme
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OK just checked, 56 sqn Lightning's carried a red forward pointing arrow ahead of the nose roundel for a while after the red and white checks were discontinued

I bet that caused lots of squadron based angst for a while

I was privileged to accompany my ATC squadron cadets to Wattisham when 56, 23 and 111 were on base

 

There was always some dirty staining around the back, lower end, not so much otherwise

 

Flight line crews kept their birds very nicely when they could

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1 minute ago, perdu said:

Nose checks discontinued when the entire vertical tail received checkers

 

Are you reading Dick Ward's 'Lightning Squadrons' book too Bill?!

 

I really shouldn't rely on my memory for anything these days, I was more right with my first unedited reply than after I altered it!!

 

Anyway, G isn't really bothered about 56....!! :)

 

K

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Not actually reading a book Keith but the interweb has tentacles every where

And pictures that jog a recalcitrant memory cell or two

 

G did bring up red Arrows after all, I was just playing at being Hercule Poisson for fun

 

How else would anyone associate the Sparrows and Lightning's?

I asked my shrivelled grey cell...

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