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


giemme

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5 minutes ago, perdu said:

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

 

It was my guess too Bill, I was just playing the fool!

 

19 minutes ago, giemme said:

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. 

 

Sorry Giorgio, just checked my kits and I have the original separate boxings of the T4 & 5 which don't have a Treble One option. The F3 kit I have does have a 111 jet in it but as it's the later flat top fin the yellow area is a completely different shape, and I don't know if the badge is the same size.

 

Xtradecal have the jet you're building on their sheet X72201 :

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X72201?result-token=AMu9N

 

But of course that's one of the few aftermarket Lightning sheets I don't have....

 

Keith

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Oh hell. Sorry to hear about your decal And paint troubles. It didn’t look bad the first time around but I know how little inaccuracies can play on your mind in matters like this. You’ll come out on top though. I’ll keep everything crossed for you Giorgio.

 

Jont. 😇🤞

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On 03/06/2020 at 11:50, keefr22 said:

Sorry Giorgio, just checked my kits and I have the original separate boxings of the T4 & 5 which don't have a Treble One option. The F3 kit I have does have a 111 jet in it but as it's the later flat top fin the yellow area is a completely different shape, and I don't know if the badge is the same size.

 

Xtradecal have the jet you're building on their sheet X72201 :

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X72201?result-token=AMu9N

 

But of course that's one of the few aftermarket Lightning sheets I don't have....

 

Keith

Never mind Keith, very kind of you for checking :thumbsup:  I'm in to much worse trouble now, see below ... 

On 04/06/2020 at 00:01, The Spadgent said:

Oh hell. Sorry to hear about your decal And paint troubles. It didn’t look bad the first time around but I know how little inaccuracies can play on your mind in matters like this. You’ll come out on top though. I’ll keep everything crossed for you Giorgio.

 

Jont. 😇🤞

Thanks J, but clumsy me managed to add damage to the existing trouble 😞

 

Let's see: as I said I wasn't happy with the paint touch on the fin decal (it was far worse than what the pic showed: wrong color and too thick, showing a hole and edges where the original chunk of decal came off). So I tried a yellow spray-over with an approximate mask

decals13

 

but there was too much of a difference and showed a neat demarcation between paint and decal. So I decided to respray the whole yellow area, masking the badge; in fact, the plan was to mask the badge, spray gloss black, mask the "Z" and spray yellow. So I cut out a suitable circle mask from Oramask sheet, placed it, but when I removed the unwanted surrounding area, a large chunk of decal came off

decals14

 

:wall: :swear: :swear: :swear: ... and there were three good coats on Aqua Gloss on top of it ...

 

Anyway, I completed the masking like this

decals15

 

Then airbrushed Tamiya Gloss Black; once cured I placed the "Z" mask, again cut (by hand, had no time to use the cutter I have at work) form Oramask, placed it an when I removed the surrounding part, an even lager chunk of decal came off, luckily leaving the badge in place. So I went on spraying Tamiya Flat Yellow and here's the result

decals16

 

The Z needs touching up and so does the black areas because of a bit of overspray, but I'll do that once gloss coated. Fairly happy with that, I was going back from my spraying booth (AKA garage) to my workbench, and I dropped the model...

 

... on the garage concrete floor...

 

... a perfect nose dive....

 

Damage report: starboard wing came off (next pic shows after I glued it back in place

damage1

 

the tank fin came off too

damage2

 

and broke

damage4

 

The front fuselage, ahead of the wheel bay, cracked open - and the radome/wheel bay assembly broke loose too

damage3

 

For some unknown reason, a chunk of port side fin decal came off- at this point I thought: "This is a nightmare!! :frantic: "

 

All of this happened Thursday Night. I took Friday as an off day from modelling, to think if I wanted to try and salvage it, and then I decided to give it a go.

 

As I mentioned, I had immediately glued the wing back; I did the same with the front fuselage

damage6

 

The pitot mount got lost though, so I had to scratch build a new one. looking onto the spares box, I select this Harrier refueling probe as a starting point

IMG_20200606_165539

 

I cut out the right end, shaped with files and sandpaper, drilled the pitot peg mounting hole

damage7

 

Then I glued it in place and test fitted the pitot

damage11

 

 

damage10

 

That can do.

 

For the wing, brushed some PPP on the joint, discovering in the meantime that a seam cracked open also on the top spine, and port joint split a bit too

damage8

 

damage9

 

PPP has been smoothed down since, but only repaint will tell I did a good job.

 

I did glue back the tank fin though, and resprayed Tamiya Gloss Aluminium on the bottom here

damage12

 

and here

damage13

 

Huge seam! Rats, didn't see that coming... 

 

So off with the sanding tools again, then I filled in with sprue goo - it's now curing

damage15

 

I also started dealing with port side fin decal; I first tried brushing on Lifecolor Yellow, but with poor results, so I sanded it off

damage16

 

and decided to check if I had a matching yellow on the spare decal sheets from previous builds. I selected three candidates, testing them on the gloss black area of the painting mule to see which one matched better

damage17

 

I selected the right one, that came from an Academy kit (the 1/48 LA7), but obviously once in place, the added bit stood out like a lightning (aaargh!) in the night ...

damage18

 

I brush coated the whole fin with Aqua Gloss, flooding the area where the patch is, hoping to be able to blend it in via judicious sanding - I hope it works, but I'll start looking for spare decals anyway, firstly asking Sword if they can provide the whole sheet. 

 

Not everything went south, luckily; I managed to spray a flat coat (W&N Galeria) on the canopy, and removed the masking afterwards

IMG_20200606_160052

 

IMG_20200606_160103

 

Safely stored away, waiting for detail painting of the sealant around the frames, but I'll do that once I unmask the windshield too (if I can actually rescue the model, that is ...)

 

All comments welcome, as usual

 

Ciao

 

Edited by giemme
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You're a good man Giorgio! And you're saving the British taxpayers lots of money keeping this Lightning in service.

Impressive decal/paint work and structural repairs. Of course, I believe that you would be capable of building an entire Lightning from yogurt cups and beer cans with a little CA glue, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

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Some builds just seem to be accident prone and this one would test the patience of a saint but you are making a damn fine job of fixing all the problems.

 

AW

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10 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Oh bugger G. looks like a hole heap of fun coming up.

You have done well so far mate .

 

You should be able to save her.

 

Simon.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Simon :thumbsup:

9 hours ago, George Norman said:

Man alive bad luck, You an I must be related as thats exactly what happened to my one the other week! A Resin 1/72 though!

 

Sorry to hear you had trouble too, George. We do share the same name, as far as relations go... :D 

9 hours ago, Gondor44 said:

Youll be glad when this one is over and done with at this rate.

 

GOndor

Hopefully so, Gondor :thumbsup:

8 hours ago, CedB said:

What a recovery Giorgio! I’m glad you didn’t give up as she’s going to look amazing :) 

Thanks Ced :thumbsup: Still far from being done, though

8 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That is a great recovery but blue blazes, who needs that sort of nonsense? Full marks for your perseverance. 👍

Steve.

I dont', for sure :D Thanks Steve :thumbsup:

8 hours ago, basket said:

You're gonna MAKE it !!!!

 

16031506061017732314063423.jpg

:rofl: :rofl: Thanks basket  - very evocative pic :D 

6 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

You're a good man Giorgio! And you're saving the British taxpayers lots of money keeping this Lightning in service.

Impressive decal/paint work and structural repairs. Of course, I believe that you would be capable of building an entire Lightning from yogurt cups and beer cans with a little CA glue, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

:rofl: Thank you, Cookie - much appreciated :thumbsup: 

6 hours ago, Andwil said:

Some builds just seem to be accident prone and this one would test the patience of a saint but you are making a damn fine job of fixing all the problems.

 

AW

Thanks AW :thumbsup: - yes, this is testing my patience, and I'm no saint...

 

Ciao

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Giorgio send me your address please

P1010708.jpg

 

P1010709.jpg

 

We can test the efficiency of the Royal Mail and the Italian counterparts in lockout.

 

S'app me the details.

 

I have no interest in shiny Lightnings, you do.

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1 hour ago, Biggles87 said:

Oh dear G, and I thought I'd had problems with my Spitfire, but It looks like you're well on the way to a full recovery.

Hopefully so, John - I can see a brighter future after Bill's kind offer :) 

 

Ciao

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1 hour ago, tweeky said:

The wing walkway markings went to the leading edge not turning inboard as yours does. 

Not sure what you mean, tweeky; any chance you can post a scheme/ref pic to clarify matters? Thank you in advance

 

Ciao

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Catching up on here Giorgio, and I felt your pain with some of these challenges, but as ever you certainly know how to take a deep breath and go through recovery processes. Well done for that, and well done to Bill @perdu for his generous actions. The BM community spirit lives on!

 

Terry

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3 hours ago, giemme said:

Not sure what you mean, tweeky; any chance you can post a scheme/ref pic to clarify matters? Thank you in advance

 

Ciao

It seems to be my turn to help today G, how's this?

15916243039883715105760976732894.jpg

 

I have a Modeldecal sheet for a camo aircraft which show the curve can go as far as the fuselage side, be certain what the decal sheet calls for is the answer.

 

 

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10 minutes ago, perdu said:

I have a Modeldecal sheet for a camo aircraft which show the curve can go as far as the fuselage side, be certain what the decal sheet calls for is the answer.

Mr R L Ward never let us down as far as I recall!

 

Terry

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