Jump to content

English Electric Lightning F.3 Sword 1/72


Recommended Posts

Had this mostly built gathering dust on the shelf for a couple of years.

If it wasn't for the fact that this was mostly built up, it was too advanced in build to enter into the Interceptors GB but since as I'd just done the MiG, I thought it was only right that I should complete its western counterpart

Finally got it done & at last got to grips with Alclad as opposed to the Vallejo Metal Colour on the MiG. Added another pic of them both side by side for size comparison & comparison between the metal finishes.

So this is the Sword kit which is a short run kit & should be treated as such. The seam lines on the underside were a pain to ensure that they didn't show up after priming. There was a lot of filling & priming involved but the underside join still faintly shows through.

Sword provides a resin insert for the two Avon exhausts which are quite nice only once in, they're not a perfect fit. Either a fine shim inbetween the fuselage halves is needed, or a little bit of filler around the resin is needed.

Talking about the resin exhaust, would have been good if they had produced a resin nose ring. The kit halves around the nose were short shot, so it would have taken some sprue filler to correct that, so I added the Quickboost resin nose ring for the Trumpeter kit which fitted exactly & improved on the overall length of the model.

I also find that Sword kits in 1/72 have very shallow fine panel lines, so I usually give them a going over to slightly deepen them.

Decals are a mix of the kit decals & used some stencil data from the Airfix F.6, only those that applied, similar to what went on the F.3.

Thankfully the Sword tail fin markings actually fit the tail fin which was a bonus as a lot of the time with large dcals, they're not always exact in dimensions. Everything else is just out of the box.

First success using Alclad over their gloss black base. Used some Vallejo Metal Colour for picking out some individual panels. Used Ammo Mig red for the spine, custom mix Klear gloss & Ammo PLW.

 

English Electric Lightning F.3 XR719 D Wattisham Summer 1965

51035834963_ae59e2b212_k.jpg

51036670567_9e05591d69_k.jpg

51036670512_d980a4334a_k.jpg

51036670397_e892799331_k.jpg

51036563926_22a00c16fa_k.jpg

51036563861_4085eb0aba_k.jpg

51036563706_3fa94a163b_k.jpg

And a couple for size comparison.

51036674266_a8e86a4454_k.jpg

51035949898_b238f133dc_k.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Martin

  • Like 69
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Booty003 said:

My word,  that is a real beauty.  Flawless finish and I bet that looks lovely on display.

I have to agree. That's one sharp looking Lightning.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, VG 33 said:

Very nice NMF aircraft which could be placed next to my recent Mirage III B.

 

Thank you for sharing.

Patrick

Cheers mate, yep really liked that Mirage IIIB of yours. Must get that some time, but got to work out which scheme to do it in. Will definitely be another metal one!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, ijs302 said:

you can't beat a nice frightning ,nice nmf i just can't seem to get that right but i can't use alclas because of the fumes 

Cheers! I've been mostly using the Vallejo Metal Colour range up until now & I'd highly recommend those if you don't want to use Alclad.

I purchased some Alclad six years ago & this is my first proper go with it. I just thought I've had that paint for ages & I might as well use it properly.

I do have to confess that I ended up giving parts of the fuselage a dusting of the Vallejo Airframe Aluminium on top of the Alclad as in my opinion, the Alclad seemed too bright for the scale. That might have been because I used the gloss black underneath. Next time I will use a grey primer.

 

Martin

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Plasticbasher said:

Fantastic! Both great replicas of iconic aircraft. The size comparison is interesting too.

Cheers mate, that's another reason why I only build in one scale. Bit of a 60's theme going on as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for sharing this build Martin. I must say I think the lightning is my favourite jet aircraft. Yours looks superb! 

Nice to note you choose a 56 Squadron example! My uncle Peter flew Tempest Vs with 56 in early 1945. I'm doing one of his aircraft in 1:32 .. Up the Firebirds I say! Regards, Andy

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Booty003 said:

My word,  that is a real beauty.  Flawless finish and I bet that looks lovely on display.

Thanks Booty003 I am rather pleased with it. Does inspire more metal themed jets!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

Thank you for sharing this build Martin. I must say I think the lightning is my favourite jet aircraft. Yours looks superb! 

Nice to note you choose a 56 Squadron example! My uncle Peter flew Tempest Vs with 56 in early 1945. I'm doing one of his aircraft in 1:32 .. Up the Firebirds I say! Regards, Andy

Many thanks Andy, for me this scheme has to be the ultimate profile for the Lightning in all it's permutations. I read that it drew a lot of fierce reactions from upon high which is a shame. Love the sound of your Tempest build look forward to checking that out. Awesome aircraft. Hopefully we'll see one flying one day.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Waow !! The fight was though but you finally tamed this beast !!

That's a great result Martin !!

Congratulations !!

The MiG look great too, nice cold war foes !!

Sincerely.

CC

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Martin, what a great finish, and the scheme which does the Lightning proud too!

 

Thanks also for the tip about adding a shim at the back end, I have built three Sword Lightnings (T4, F1, and F3) and have never thought about that, despite not being happy with the result, I still have two more to go.

 

Thanks for brightening my day,

 

Ray

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...