T55 Lightning

[fatalbert]

Hiya everyone,hopeing someone may be able to help me out,i have an Odds & Ordinance two seat lightning conversion that is ment for the Trumpeter 1/72 lightning kit.Am erring towards a T55 but i hear that the Trumpeter kit is rather lacking in accuracy.So i thought can it be used on an airfix F6 kit.So the first question is has anyone actually used the Airfix kit with that particular conversion or would someone have an Airfix kit and a Trumpeter kit that they could compare fuselage dimensions with.

I know the belly tank on the trumpeter kit is too big but what about the fuselage forward of said tank,does it match the Airfix kit in that regard.I hope my ramblings make sence lol

Cheers for looking,

Neil

[Duncan B]

6 hours ago, fatalbert said:

Hiya everyone,hopeing someone may be able to help me out,i have an Odds & Ordinance two seat lightning conversion that is ment for the Trumpeter 1/72 lightning kit.Am erring towards a T55 but i hear that the Trumpeter kit is rather lacking in accuracy.So i thought can it be used on an airfix F6 kit.So the first question is has anyone actually used the Airfix kit with that particular conversion or would someone have an Airfix kit and a Trumpeter kit that they could compare fuselage dimensions with.

I know the belly tank on the trumpeter kit is too big but what about the fuselage forward of said tank,does it match the Airfix kit in that regard.I hope my ramblings make sence lol

Cheers for looking,

Neil

The Trumpeter kit has more problems than just the belly tank. The position of the wings is too high up on the fuselage so the undercarriage legs are overly long to compensate. The rear fuselage is too pinched where the exhausts exit (there are correction sets out there to correct this though, Aires for one). The fuselage is too short and requires a plug inserting behind the cockpit however your conversion set might deal with that one.

 

Duncan B

[tweeky]

Or 

Quote

1:72 scale T55

 

[fatalbert]

4 hours ago, Duncan B said:

The Trumpeter kit has more problems than just the belly tank. The position of the wings is too high up on the fuselage so the undercarriage legs are overly long to compensate. The rear fuselage is too pinched where the exhausts exit (there are correction sets out there to correct this though, Aires for one). The fuselage is too short and requires a plug inserting behind the cockpit however your conversion set might deal with that one.

 

Duncan B

Thanks Duncan,much appreciated,the Trumpeter kit sounds truly awful.Am pretty sure Airfix is the way to go,i think i may just have to bite the bullet and go for it lol.

[fatalbert]

2 hours ago, tweeky said:

Or 

 

Yeah,i know all about the Matchbox kit,we are old friends so to speak.I have converted several to T4 and T5 configeration using the original Airfix kit.But the Matchbox wings are terrible.Thanks anyway.🙂👍

[Hook]

How about mating the Airfix wings / belly tank to a Sword T.4/5?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[tweeky]

Sword T4/5 small ventral,  T55 large non jettison able large in three sections. 

[fatalbert]

I think it would be probably easier to put the new two seater nose on the airfix kit rather than change the fuel tank and wings on the Sword one.

[modelldoc]

And here build, light years before:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/15915218501/in/photolist-pY7gLX-qfuh3m-qfudk1-qdgwHL-qfnDYZ-fFVdP7-998oqz

 

modelldoc

[fatalbert]

6 hours ago, modelldoc said:

And here build, light years before:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/15915218501/in/photolist-pY7gLX-qfuh3m-qfudk1-qdgwHL-qfnDYZ-fFVdP7-998oqz

 

modelldoc

Nicely done sir

[Paws4thot]

On 04/05/2021 at 15:39, fatalbert said:

the new two seater nose on the airfix kit rather than change the fuel tank and wings

Absolutely, speaking as someone who once tried to convert a Matchbox T-55 to a T-4 using an Airfix tank (it was still the 1970s).

Edited May 5, 2021 by Paws4thot

[The wooksta V2.0]

I did a T5 with a Matchbox T55 and the Maintrack bellytank conversion. Still have the wreck somewhere.

[Hook]

Funny, isn't  it - the Matchbox export T.55 once was considered mostly suitable as a donor for converting the Airfix F.1A/3 to a RAF T.4/5, and with the advent of the Sword kits it is suddenly in vogue as a T.55 all by itself!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre