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English Electric Lightning F.2A. 1/72 Airfix


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8 minutes ago, Hairtrigger said:

Yes, fuselage painted black 33 Humbol first, then built up the metallic finish with thin coats of 11 Humbrol ....

[sighs...chucks assorted expensive natural metal finish products in the bin...]

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Wonderful effort and such a cool scheme. I'd say the Lightning always deserves to be displayed in flight. 

I've got two of these kits on the go at the moment and I'm brush painting too; you've certainly set the benchmark 😎

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13 hours ago, Hairtrigger said:

Yes, fuselage painted black 33 Humbol first, then built up the metallic finish with thin coats of 11 Humbrol ....


I prefer Humbrol Metalcotes, but there is something deliciously satisfying about applying it with a brush! Heres my 1/48 effort! Fantastic Lighting Sir!

 

Benspacer.png

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Further metallic finish 

 

As, it's a decent size for a 1/72 kit, it did cross my mind for all of 1 minute to try using tin foil...   I remember my dad back in the 70s using Kit Kat tin foil on a Airfix 1/72 Flying Fortress it looked fantastic when finished, but from memory took him ages to get it right...

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On 12/09/2021 at 17:26, Hairtrigger said:

Yes, fuselage painted black 33 Humbol first, then built up the metallic finish with thin coats of 11 Humbrol ....

 

Wow!  You've truly set the bar there - that finish is fantastic.  I've got a silver F.6 to do and was wondering how to go about it.  I brush painted a silver Vampire a while back and it came out OK, but just a bit uninspiring.  This gives me hope 👍

 

Al.

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5 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

I hope that's very stably attached! The pitot looks like it just wants to break of the model is knocked off the stand

Strong magnets...   One in fuselage the other glued onto the Airfix stand...   No unsightly holes needed to be made ...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Please can you explain to a (colour-blind newbie) why you painted black under the silver topcoats? I have to know, because your result is simply stunning, and this is a "trick"/technique I had never thought of. Also, are those magnets "rare-earth" magnets? They are absolutely brilliant, and as strong as you could possibly want.

 

Congratulations in bringing such a beautiful Lightning to show us all!

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11 hours ago, Charles H said:

Please can you explain to a (colour-blind newbie) why you painted black under the silver topcoats? I have to know, because your result is simply stunning, and this is a "trick"/technique I had never thought of. Also, are those magnets "rare-earth" magnets? They are absolutely brilliant, and as strong as you could possibly want.

 

Congratulations in bringing such a beautiful Lightning to show us all!

I picked the technique off others of using a undercoat of matt black likely from this site ?   I'd tried a dark grey on a Mustang, but not as good as black...  Does seem to work great with silver gives a depth to the finish.   When applying the silver build up with very thinned down coats to get the finish you want.

Magnets Neodymium 1.5mm X 20x6 via @mazon very inexpensive really PK of 10 and very strong..

Hope that helps..  Cheers.

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Thanks, Hairtrigger. I feel very privileged to get wonderful advice from you and many others here. Even being colour-blind, I can easily see the rich depth of your silver finish. I worked in a laboratory for 25 years, doing organ bath pharmacology, and used small, incredibly strong magnets like yours, of different sizes. Did you get the model stand in the kit, or aftermarket, please? I haven't seen a kit including a stand for a while, but I am just a "born again" newbie modeler. I've also learned the wisdom of many thinned down coats, when brush painting.

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10 hours ago, Charles H said:

Thanks, Hairtrigger. I feel very privileged to get wonderful advice from you and many others here. Even being colour-blind, I can easily see the rich depth of your silver finish. I worked in a laboratory for 25 years, doing organ bath pharmacology, and used small, incredibly strong magnets like yours, of different sizes. Did you get the model stand in the kit, or aftermarket, please? I haven't seen a kit including a stand for a while, but I am just a "born again" newbie modeler. I've also learned the wisdom of many thinned down coats, when brush painting.

The stand is a Airfix aftermarket you get them in a pack mixed 1/72 and 1/48 scale.  I used a 1/48 stand as the 1/72 looked too small and didn't offer as much support for the model.   The same type of stand Airfix used to supply back in the day ....  

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