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

[Fritag]

1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Insufficiently elite

 

Have you been speaking to my mum and dad, school teachers, flying instructors, superior officers, university lecturers and members of the judiciary that I have appeared in front of?  or was it just a lucky guess? 

 

1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

to fly a proper Naval aircraft...?

 

When all is said and done, the Phantom, iconic aircraft that it is, still laboured under the disadvantage of containing a navigator (who might be your flight commander or even squadron boss!) looking over your shoulder and being operated at medium or high level and over the sea.  It’s all very well being able to do Mach 2.  But there’s not much excitement in doing it at 30,000 feet.

 

Compare that with having no one looking over your shoulder and spending your working life at 450+ knots at 250’ (at times 100‘ ) through the valleys.

 

It wasn’t a very hard decision 

 

4 hours ago, giemme said:

I’m not clear here: you refused to fly Phantoms? And what was the rationale behind it, please? I'm not teasing you, I'm just curious to know the differences in role and/or your expectations. TIA

 

For the above reasons Giorgio  The RAF spent a few years deciding whether they could let you loose as a single seat mud-mover - if they decided they could, not many chose to opt for owt else 

 

 

 

[giemme]

2 hours ago, Fritag said:

Compare that with having no one looking over your shoulder and spending your working life at 450+ knots at 250’ (at times 100‘ ) through the valleys.

 

It wasn’t a very hard decision 

Ok, I can relate to that

2 hours ago, Fritag said:

The RAF spent a few years deciding whether they could let you loose as a single seat mud-mover - if they decided they could, not many chose to opt for owt else 

 

That also makes sense

 

Ciao 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

3 hours ago, Brandy said:

Proper, in that it had plank wings!

Come off it; this is Steve we’re talking about!  If he couldn't cope with a Navigator, he’d have had no chance with an Observer, 2nd pilot and Aircrewman...

 

[I’m still jealous of his F-16 time, though!]

 

 

[Brandy]

True, but you can't deny that you said the F-4 was "a proper Naval aircraft".

The F-4 was a plank wing. 

QED.

 

Ian  

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

2 hours ago, Brandy said:

True, but you can't deny that you said the F-4 was "a proper Naval aircraft".

The F-4 was a plank wing. 

QED.

 

Ian  

Having plank wings doesn’t make it impossible to be a decent aircraft.  Harder, certainly, but not impossible.  
 

 

And jets are for kids.

[TheBaron]

Once Elon Musk returns the  250 phone calls to his office about the working teleportation system I've built in the shed, all aircraft will become obsolete anyway.

 

His secretary must keep forgetting to put them through...

[perdu]

Staff

 

You just can't get the staff.

 

These planky things scare me, I mean if they have no rotors creating the lift bubble how and more importantly, why do they sometimes seem to work?

 

Scary...

[Biggles87]

Sorry G, forgot to answer the question about the Hasegawa Lightning. It wasn’t the best fitting kit I’d ever made with raised panel lines and a very sparse cockpit interior, but the shape was reasonable. Fortunately Modeldecal always supplied IP decals in their sheets so it was easy to make a panel and with a decent seat ( Aeroclub if I remember correctly ) and a closed canopy it didn’t look too bad.

 

John

[71chally]

I remember being horrified when I opened the Hasegawa Lightning box! 

Hasegawa could be a hard to get kit in Cornwall in the early '90s, unless you crossed the border for a special trip when they were a real treat to be able buy.  I was lured in by experiences with their other par excellence' kits, and that beautiful box art of the Lightning, only to be let down by this crude kit with raised details, poor fit and seemingly bad plastic.  I not long after discovered that it was the old late 1960s Frog kit.  

 

Not being a fast learner, I later fell into the same trap with the Hase F-105D!

 

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by 71chally

[Wez]

On 09/07/2020 at 13:16, 71chally said:

I remember being horrified when I opened the Hasegawa Lightning box! 

Hasegawa could be a hard to get kit in Cornwall in the early '90s, unless you crossed the border for a special trip when they were a real treat to be able buy.  I was lured in by experiences with their other par excellence' kits, and that beautiful box art of the Lightning, only to be let down by this crude kit with raised details, poor fit and seemingly bad plastic.  I not long after discovered that it was the old late 1960s Frog kit.  

 

Not being a fast learner, I later fell into the same trap with the Hase F-105D!

 

 

 

 

They were Hasegawa kits from the 1960's, not Frog kits. Frog re-boxed them and released them under their own label but first and foremost they were Hasegawa kits.

 

Hasegawa didn't suddenly appear as the pinnacle of perfection, they took a while to get there!

[DougC]

Slightly off-topic but no less important an observation..... "Fritag's aliiiiive!" (said in my best Brian Blessed voice).

 

Hawks. Pair. Advanced & Tactical Weapons Training. For the use of. Hint hint, nudge nudge.

[Terry1954]

12 minutes ago, DougC said:

Slightly off-topic but no less important an observation..... "Fritag's aliiiiive!" (said in my best Brian Blessed voice).

 

Hawks. Pair. Advanced & Tactical Weapons Training. For the use of. Hint hint, nudge nudge.

He comes and goes it seems............. but I do agree with your subtle hints ............. come on Steve @Fritag what of those Hawks, they must be in season again soon?

 

Terry

[stevehnz]

On 7/10/2020 at 12:16 AM, 71chally said:

Not being a fast learner, I later fell into the same trap with the Hase F-105D!

Frog kits or not, you're not the only member of that club. I'm just going to pretend that making up old & slightly grotty kits is more fun anyway.

Steve.

[giemme]

Hi everybody, time for an update

 

Base completed: I airbrushed the outer frame with Tamiya Gloss Black and sealed it with Tamiya Gloss Clear from a spray can

 

 

I will probably add some oil stains here and there, but only once the aircraft and crew positioning has been determined

 

Back tot the main aiframe: I airbrushed an overall coat of W&N Galeria Gloss Clear, mixed with a smear of Flat Clear. Then I airbrushed W&N Galeria Flat Clear on the windshield and the anti glare strip, plus the ailerons (all masked with the usual post-it notes to avoid overspray of the other metallic areas)

 

 

Then I removed the masking from the windshield, and some of the paint came off the frames ....  

 

 

Not sure why this happened, but I fixed it by brush

There was also some debris inside the windshield and cockpit

 

 

but that was easily removed with a moist fine tipped brush.

 

I then brush painted the sealant around the frames, using a mix of Lifecolor Sand Yellow and Flat Yellow, and refining the job with the flat side of a wooden nail cleaner

 

 

Same on the canopy

 

It looks much better in real life, but it anyway needs touch ups in places

 

I then reproduced some dirt on the wing roots and fumes from the various vents using a black pastel

 

 

 

 

 

 

and finally glued in the deicing device on the windshield (GG still wet here)

 

That's it for the WE, tomorrow I'll be off the seaside, so no modelling  

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

[Cookenbacher]

The two tone canopy rails with the sealant looks very real Giorgio.

[Spookytooth]

Looking very sharp and fast there G.

 

Have a great time at the beach good sir.

 

Simon.

[TheBaron]

Beautiful paintworking as always Giorgio. Hope you get a good day at the beach! 

[keefr22]

Lovely work G!

 

Don't get sunburnt...!!

 

K

[Biggles87]

Enjoy the seaside, I hope it’s not like Bournemouth!

 

John

[CedB]

Attention to detail - could you bottle that for me as well as some of your patience please?

 

Why?

 

I started reading the update and thought 'Oooh look, Giorgio has them same problem I have with the white showing around the canopy frame'.

Then "I then brush painted the sealant around the frames, using a mix of Lifecolor Sand Yellow and Flat Yellow, and refining the job with the flat side of a wooden nail cleaner."

 

Oh good grief, that bar's too high for me…

 

Great stuff Giorgio, and great base too  

[giemme]

On 11/07/2020 at 22:51, Cookenbacher said:

The two tone canopy rails with the sealant looks very real Giorgio.

Thanks Cookie, glad you like it   It needs a bit of refining, though - but I have to do it with fresh mind and fresh eyes  

On 11/07/2020 at 23:02, Spookytooth said:

Looking very sharp and fast there G.

 

Have a great time at the beach good sir.

 

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thanks!  I had, in fact  

On 11/07/2020 at 23:40, TheBaron said:

Beautiful paintworking as always Giorgio. Hope you get a good day at the beach! 

On 12/07/2020 at 00:27, keefr22 said:

Lovely work G!

 

Don't get sunburnt...!!

 

K

Thank you Tony and Keith   I did have a good day, I did get slightly sunburnt, and the day ended with a seafood based dinner. What's better than that?  

No, don't answer you naughty boys!  

 

On 12/07/2020 at 07:55, Biggles87 said:

Enjoy the seaside, I hope it’s not like Bournemouth!

 

John

My daughter went to Bournemouth last year, on a studying holiday! It was quite windy yesterday, still very enjoyable - not sure Bournemouth would be so enjoyable on a windy day ....  

On 12/07/2020 at 08:09, CedB said:

Attention to detail - could you bottle that for me as well as some of your patience please?

 

Why?

 

I started reading the update and thought 'Oooh look, Giorgio has them same problem I have with the white showing around the canopy frame'.

Then "I then brush painted the sealant around the frames, using a mix of Lifecolor Sand Yellow and Flat Yellow, and refining the job with the flat side of a wooden nail cleaner."

 

Oh good grief, that bar's too high for me…

 

Great stuff Giorgio, and great base too  

Don't be too hard to yourself, Ced   And thanks for the praise.  

 

Actually, I do have the same problem when I airbrush primer on the canopy before painting it with the final color. In this build (and a few others, IIRC), I went on straight with black. As you can see though, this led to some paint lifting after removing the masks; I think this has to do with Tamiya Gloss Black not sticking properly to prepped plastic - in this case it was Aqua Gloss coated, but also on the model I kept having black paint flaking off from the spine, where I airbrushed some primer to check for seams. On the tail fin, for instance, where I sprayed it on top of bare plastic, it bonded so well that it only came off using coarse sand paper.

 

As for bottling patience and attention to detail: you're the tools master, find me the right tools and you'll have a free lifetime provision ...  

 

Ciao

 

An

[Massimo]

Looking gorgeous!!!

Great job with that sealant!

Bravo Giorgio!!!!

[keefr22]

5 hours ago, giemme said:

No, don't answer you naughty boys!  

 

 

[The Spadgent]

Very swish. Hope the beach went well. 🏝

[VT Red Sox Fan]

I echo what everyone has been saying--the cockpit is awesome--I really like the different tones on the back cockpit.  Best, Erwin