MD530F Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Had a couple of these kits in the stash for a while. I'd already done the Airfix F2a and this will be the F1. Reference material. I've read on here people saying that the Sword Lightnings are too short. Putting the fuselage halves onto the Warpaint plans, it's actually slightly too long (probably by a foot IRL) Against the SAM book, the fuselage is the right length but not quite deep enough forward of the tank. Against the Airfix kit, it's virtually identical or near enough not to worry about. The mixed media. This will be my first time using PE so it will be an adventure. Decals seem pretty good but time will tell. Parts seem quite nicely detailed but of course the acid test will be how they fit together. Being limited run, there are no locating pins. The kit was released a year after the Airfix F2a and Sword have clearly taken a few hints. Plugs need a bit of cleaning up. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantherhawk27263 Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 I'm building the same kit, although I'm cheating and making mine an F.3 since they included the parts for it as well. I look forward to following your adventure with this kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 I've also got the F3 and two two seaters sitting there. Was kind of lucky that I was in the right place at the right time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 A bit more done although it's very cold here at the moment so I don't like spending too much time in the garage. Ground out the radar bullet a little and 'repaired' some of the nose wheel bay. Not perfect but you can barely see in there. First time for PE.. an exercise in frustration really. I guess it gets easier the more you do. I nearly didn't put the pedals in but I did it just to see if I could. Almost got the radar scope right and once it's painted, you probably won't be able to tell how terrible it is. I managed to loose on the of the bits designed to go under the combing to the fourth dimension that exists under the workbench but I'm not bothering to replace it. Radar bullet and shock cone all done with a little bit of tidy up to do but I think it'll be fine I then went 'off mission' a little and tried to fit the cannon ports. Being an F1, it only has the two guns. The part is pretty well shaped but the fuselage doesn't take into account the recess in the panel for the cannon so some surgery was required. Much better. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishbed Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 On 7/10/2022 at 7:17 AM, MD530F said: I've read on here people saying that the Sword Lightnings are too short. Putting the fuselage halves onto the Warpaint plans, it's actually slightly too long (probably by a foot IRL) Against the SAM book, the fuselage is the right length but not quite deep enough forward of the tank. Against the Airfix kit, it's virtually identical or near enough not to worry about. I've built all these and with a bit of care they build very nicely. Its the T4 and T5 that are a bit short in the nose. On mine I used the Quickboost nose ring (designed for the trumpeter kit) mounted a bit forward and filled the gap, so they matched the length of the single seaters. I moved the wheel well forward by 5mm to get the position right. Tim 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed-209 Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 My build of the t4 is nearly finished it looks ok till you look strait at it then you can see the fuselage is lopsided starboard side is slightly deeper than port but the wings are equal soi can live with it good luck with yours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 7 hours ago, Fishbed said: I've built all these and with a bit of care they build very nicely. Its the T4 and T5 that are a bit short in the nose. On mine I used the Quickboost nose ring (designed for the trumpeter kit) mounted a bit forward and filled the gap, so they matched the length of the single seaters. I moved the wheel well forward by 5mm to get the position right. Tim OK, that's interesting, I'll put them on the plans and have a look. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 5 hours ago, ed-209 said: My build of the t4 is nearly finished it looks ok till you look strait at it then you can see the fuselage is lopsided starboard side is slightly deeper than port but the wings are equal soi can live with it good luck with yours I'll have a look. I haven't taken any parts of the sprue on the Ts yet. Strange thing to go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 So, I thought I'd sit down and compare the three Lightning kits for length. Top: Airfix (F2A) Middle: Sword F1 (F3 is the same) Bottom: Sword T4/T5 Airfix on the Warpaint plans. Possible a touch too long but not bad Airfix on the SAM plans. Quite similar. Sword F1 on Warpaint plans... seems too long but on reflection, I didn't have the kit lined up perfectly on the plans. It is slightly too long though. Sword F1 on the SAM plans. A touch too long and fuselage depth questionable but pretty accurate. Now this is where the waters get a bit muddy... T4/T5 on the Warpaint plans... perfection. T4/T5 on the SAM plans. Didn't quite have it butted up against the plans so it is a touch short but still not terrible. Airfix on Sword. Allowing for the separate intake ring that Airfix has, they're identical. However... Sword on Sword... the T is noticeably shorter.... despite not being out THAT much on either set of plans... The rear of the fuselages were lined up... I haven't measured the length and compared it to the real thing because I can't find a measurement of the length of just the fuselage minus shock cone and engine exhausts (Why would there be this measurement anyway) but it appears that an error has crept into a set of plans somewhere. Is the issue big enough for me to faff about correcting? I doubt it. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 13, 2022 Author Share Posted July 13, 2022 The dremel is has certainly been paying for itself over the last few builds. Got the wing halves off the bulbous gates today and like the fuselage, enormous plugs preventing the two halves from closing. The moulding is actually pretty good. The only thing that you really need to do is remove the plugs and tidy up the edges. The gear bays require a little bit of work with the knife to get rid of some excess plastic but all pretty easy. Painted the shock cone. Pretty rough painting on the radar bullet but I didn't put effort in as it's hidden once the fuselage is together. Shock cone is a bit rough as I'll be needing to touch it up at the end. Fit isn't perfect around the gear bay but again, it's unlikely to be visible once it's all together. On the next one, I might try to reshape it a little to get a better join. The big issue is that it's near impossible to hold it in there by hand to check the fit. The main thing that I was concerned with is that the shock cone is in the middle of the intake. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planebuilder62 Posted July 13, 2022 Share Posted July 13, 2022 Hi there Have you tried using Blu tak to hold things in place to check the fit? Works for me every time. regards Toby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 13, 2022 Author Share Posted July 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Planebuilder62 said: Hi there Have you tried using Blu tak to hold things in place to check the fit? Works for me every time. regards Toby No I haven't but I haven't really thought about it that much either. Thanks for the tip though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 On 12/07/2022 at 02:13, Fishbed said: I've built all these and with a bit of care they build very nicely. Its the T4 and T5 that are a bit short in the nose. On mine I used the Quickboost nose ring (designed for the trumpeter kit) mounted a bit forward and filled the gap, so they matched the length of the single seaters. I moved the wheel well forward by 5mm to get the position right. Tim After this morning, I was thinking about getting one of those metal rings and shock cones for the next one. Does the Quickboost one fit easily enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 On 12/07/2022 at 04:21, ed-209 said: My build of the t4 is nearly finished it looks ok till you look strait at it then you can see the fuselage is lopsided starboard side is slightly deeper than port but the wings are equal soi can live with it good luck with yours Funnily enough, mine's the same. Can't notice it until you put the two halves together. Got it more or less sorted though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 Managed to make progress over the last few days. Put some plastic card along the joins to assist with putting the thing together. Managed to get the fuselage together with minimal fuss all things considered. It did have quite a step along the underside around the tank despite the spine being lined up perfectly. Got it more or less sorted with the file and sand paper and then got some Squadron filler on the join to fill it out a little. It's actually come up alright in the end. Used the Vallejo putty around the inside of the nose gear bay to fill the gaps which worked surprisingly well and attached the fill behind the cockpit. Tail went on OK although the part was actually warped. Didn't notice until I had it on the aircraft 🙄. No matter, a bit of hot water and it was straight again. Some more filler around the base of the fin and it's starting to look the part. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishbed Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 10 hours ago, MD530F said: After this morning, I was thinking about getting one of those metal rings and shock cones for the next one. Does the Quickboost one fit easily enough? As far as I remember (it was a couple of years ago, struggle to remember last week!) it fit OK. I'm sure I had some photos of it, but no luck finding them. did find this on the fone, not a great shot but should give you an idea - finished result (for T4) here Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 9 hours ago, Fishbed said: As far as I remember (it was a couple of years ago, struggle to remember last week!) it fit OK. I'm sure I had some photos of it, but no luck finding them. did find this on the fone, not a great shot but should give you an idea - finished result (for T4) here Tim OK, that's interesting. I might consider that for the Ts when I get to them. Your T4 looks splendid too 👌 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 Not a whole lot of progress over the last few days but I did manage to get a few things done. Shaved down the resin exhausts to fit into the fuselage better A lot better than they were originally... Insides painted and faces on. Not really too concerned with going any further than that, you can barely see them. Both wings together and getting cleaned up. The wing halves needed to be thinned around the edges as well as the injection plugs removed. Despite all of this, some parts just wouldn't form a good join so I had to break out the wet and dry. Mostly just for the join up against the aileron on the underside though. The flaps don't fit particularly well and it would've been nice if they'd been part of the wing seeing as they were almost never parked with them down. Getting there through. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planebuilder62 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 Dear MD Looking good. A thin plastic card shim inside the rear fuselage opening will spread that area out to avoid the step with the exhausts, but you probably know that already.👍 Regards Toby 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 57 minutes ago, Planebuilder62 said: Dear MD Looking good. A thin plastic card shim inside the rear fuselage opening will spread that area out to avoid the step with the exhausts, but you probably know that already.👍 Regards Toby I haven't finished with that just yet. When I place the exhaust properly, it's a lot better. The gap that does exist could probably be done with filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 4 hours ago, Planebuilder62 said: Dear MD Looking good. A thin plastic card shim inside the rear fuselage opening will spread that area out to avoid the step with the exhausts, but you probably know that already.👍 Regards Toby Ah, now that is a good idea, I did not even consider that on my three Sword Lightning builds that I have done, luckily I still have two more to do! Thanks for that, Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 23, 2022 Author Share Posted July 23, 2022 A bitof progress over the last few days. Exhaust in place and filled PE in undercarriage bay... which you can't really see 😆 and shim up against the flap. More or less together. One wing is a little bit twisted I think but I don't think it'll affect how the aircraft sits on the ground. Have to clean up the joins and fill a little around the tail planes. Found the gunsight in the end and eventually managed to attach the radar scope face. I'm pretty sure they had a hood over them but no matter 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantherhawk27263 Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 That is looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuraiwarrior Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 Nice build so far. I built mine a few years ago and was pleased with the final item. All the issues you had have a familiar ring to me, but preserve my friend, your efforts will be well rewarded. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD530F Posted July 25, 2022 Author Share Posted July 25, 2022 Thanks very much guys. I'm actually finding that this build is very low stress compared to battling the Airfix Harrier that I built last. The engineering on the Lightning is nice and simple 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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