1/48 E.E. Lightning T.4 - 74sqn

[Notdoneyet]

While I was waiting for some goodies to arrive for the Tornado F.3 I'm (almost) building for the Tornado GB, I pulled a 1/48 Airfix Lightning F.1/2/3 and NeOmega/Aeroclub conversion out of the stash, spotted this lovely little scheme (T.4 XM974 of 74sqn on Aviation Picture Hanger) and before I could help myself parts were removed from sprues and the butchery commenced.

Fitting the Aeroclub nose is very straightforward, 3 cuts per fuselage side and a splosh of C.A. and you're done.

You will note on the above photo that I'm part way through rescribing the Aeroclub nose parts and have removed part of the cockpit surround in order to fit the exquisitely cast NeOmega cockpit some of which is below:-

While I was in "butchery mode" out came a set of Aires wheel wells and the Dremmel. A few hours and lots of plastic shavings later I was left with this (x2):-

"How thin do the wing skins have to be to fit the main gear bays?" I hear you ask, well, they have to be this thin :-

That's assuming you thin the top of the Aires wells so they are paper thin too. However, the detail they provide is worth it IMHO :-

Now that the butchery is (mostly) completed it's time to complete the rescribing and splash some paint on the cockpit.

All comments and critiques welcomed.

Thanks for looking,

Ian

Edited March 22, 2009 by Notdoneyet

[bexwh773]

And I thought Id shaved my Phantom on the thin side, but that wing is very thin..........

So, Ians got a Frightning on the go & at the ready

Bex

[Dave Gibson]

As always, looking good Ian.

I don't think I'll sleep tonight as I will be walking that road with the Dremel in the not too distant future.

Keep up the good work,

Dave.

[zipper]

Fantastic! A 74 Sqn T-Bird, I have been looking for images of a Tiger T-Bird so I can start mine, did they have any T.5's in 74 Sqn marking or were they T4's?

Looking really good so far, I will be keeping an eye on this one

[rdxtnt]

Hi Ian,

Good work so far and a great subject you've chosen. I'm interested in how you filled the panel lines on the new nose before you rescribed it. Can I ask what you used to fill the old lines? I was thinking of maybe using normal filler when I get around to attempting mine but was a bit worried about it crumbling as I rescribed over it. Did you have any problems?

Gary.

[Davec_24]

Oooh, a 74 Squadron one... there's something about that black fin and spine that looks rather nice to me, I think my Lightning F1 may just turn out in those colours (minus the T-Bird yellow stipes, of course!). Looking nice so far, I'll be watching this one.

[Mark Worboys]

Hi Ian,

Excellent start, the resin parts are superb compared to the white metal offerings of the original Areoclub conversion.

I don't know if you had relised that Areoclub have got their panel line all wrong on the "T" bird, it appears that they have based theirs on a F6 fuselage.

I had already assembled mine before I had realised, right old pain trying to re scribe. Ian Allen Aircraft Special on the "Lightning" by Roger Linsay has excellent line drawings of both the T4 & T5 in 1/72 scale.

Sorry.

Mark

[Notdoneyet]

Many thanks for all of the feedback peeps

Fantastic! A 74 Sqn T-Bird, I have been looking for images of a Tiger T-Bird so I can start mine, did they have any T.5's in 74 Sqn marking or were they T4's?

Looking really good so far, I will be keeping an eye on this one

zipper,

There is a 74sqn T5 profile in On Target Profile 13 : English Electric Lightning in Worldwide Service - it's all NMF with small fin tiger face emblem and small bars next to the nose roundel, serial is XS416/T

Hi Ian,

Good work so far and a great subject you've chosen. I'm interested in how you filled the panel lines on the new nose before you rescribed it. Can I ask what you used to fill the old lines? I was thinking of maybe using normal filler when I get around to attempting mine but was a bit worried about it crumbling as I rescribed over it. Did you have any problems?

Gary.

Gary,

I use thin CA run into the existing panel line with a small bore plastic tube (actually some stretched cotton bud tubing) - works very well, dries in seconds, sands easily shortly after drying and doesn't chip or crumble when you scribe it.

Hi Ian,

Excellent start, the resin parts are superb compared to the white metal offerings of the original Areoclub conversion.

I don't know if you had relised that Areoclub have got their panel line all wrong on the "T" bird, it appears that they have based theirs on a F6 fuselage.

I had already assembled mine before I had realised, right old pain trying to re scribe. Ian Allen Aircraft Special on the "Lightning" by Roger Linsay has excellent line drawings of both the T4 & T5 in 1/72 scale.

Sorry.

Mark

Mark,

No need to apologise, feedback like this is one of the reasons I post WIP builds. I didn't know that the Aeroclub panel lines were incorrect and my rescribing was intended to sharpen up the lines on the Aeroclub parts which are a little "soft" and don't match the very crisp Airfix reditions of panel lines. Thanks for the "heads up" I'll check the panel lines match photos or (if all else fails) against the plans in the SAM Datafile.

Cheers,

Ian

[rdxtnt]

I use thin CA run into the existing panel line with a small bore plastic tube (actually some stretched cotton bud tubing) - works very well, dries in seconds, sands easily shortly after drying and doesn't chip or crumble when you scribe it.

Aah, thanks for that Ian. I'll give that a try when I get around to mine. It looks to have worked well. Good luck with the rest of the build, looking forward to further progress

Gary.

[Nev]

Wow, that Neomega tub is far superior to the Aeroclub one (although the conversion itself is excellent).

This is shaping up nicely

[Mark Worboys]

Many thanks for all of the feedback peeps

zipper,

There is a 74sqn T5 profile in On Target Profile 13 : English Electric Lightning in Worldwide Service - it's all NMF with small fin tiger face emblem and small bars next to the nose roundel, serial is XS416/T

Gary,

I use thin CA run into the existing panel line with a small bore plastic tube (actually some stretched cotton bud tubing) - works very well, dries in seconds, sands easily shortly after drying and doesn't chip or crumble when you scribe it.

Mark,

No need to apologise, feedback like this is one of the reasons I post WIP builds. I didn't know that the Aeroclub panel lines were incorrect and my rescribing was intended to sharpen up the lines on the Aeroclub parts which are a little "soft" and don't match the very crisp Airfix reditions of panel lines. Thanks for the "heads up" I'll check the panel lines match photos or (if all else fails) against the plans in the SAM Datafile.

Cheers,

Ian

Ian, I can scan and PM you the drawings if you require.

Regards

Mark

[Dr_Fester]

Looking very good Ian as usual. Serious work to get the resin to fit but looks the business.

Cheers

Doc

[Notdoneyet]

Thanks again for the comments they are most appreciated.

After a small hiatus caused by some more snow shovelling (8 feet of it so far this winter) and some plumbing I've had a chance to do some more on the T.4.

Wheel wells were painted with Alclad Aluminium and fitted to the wings and given an oil wash :-

NeOmega cockpit parts were given a base of flat black and then sprayed with NATO black and then drybrushed with sky grey. I added a couple of Mike Grant instrument decals and picked out knobs, switches and warning lights with grey, silver, transparent red and transparent yellow :-

I still need to add the rubber glare screens to the radar displays before fitting the coaming.

After a little light Dremelling and some sanding the parts fitted the Aeroclub nose beautifully :-

The Lightning cognicenti will have noticed that the NeOmega parts are more representative of a T.5 cockpit than a T.4 - however, once it is all buttoned up with the seats in place it will be difficult to tell - well that's my story and I'm sticking to it

Next up will be nailing the fuselage together and adding the wings.

As ever all comments and critiques welcomed.

Thanks for looking,

Ian

[Skii]

Thats lovely - you've really captured the look of a post war jet cockpit, very nice and subtle touches that will make a difference

[Alan P]

Very nice painting and dry-brushing/shading/wash effects Ian

[Calum]

Nice work Ian

[periklis_sale]

amazing work my friend!!!!

[Notdoneyet]

Many thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated

Thats lovely - you've really captured the look of a post war jet cockpit, very nice and subtle touches that will make a difference

Skii,

Many thanks, that is precisely what I was trying to achieve. It was hard to resist the temptation to randomly scatter red and yellow knobs everywhere to "brighten things up" but the T.4 'pit was a pretty black place.

Very nice painting and dry-brushing/shading/wash effects Ian

Al,

I have much to learn, I omitted the obligatory phrase "to make the details 'pop'" in my description

Some progress has been made on the T.4. The fuselage has been buttoned up and the cockpit coaming installed. I also added some stowed radar glare shields that I made from some sprue "nubbins" - the NeOmega set includes these but in the extended position :-

I have also added the 5 part internal framing to the canopy - the detail is beautifully moulded :-

After that I added the front screen (with it's NeOmega framing) to the fuselage and then it was on to adding the wings and tail fin. So now she is beginning to look like a Lightning :-

Next up will be some filling and sanding of wing/fuselage joins and then it will be time to spray the tail and spine black and prepare the rest for ........................ "the great foil experiment"

As always comments and criticism is welcomed.

Ian

[Skii]

Ooooh that inner canopy framing is dreamy

Fantastic work Ian

[Vincenzo]

I congratulate you Ian for the excellent painting of the cockpit and the remarkable effect of wear on the pedals.

I had never considered this model but looking at you, I have taught!!

[AnonymousAA72]

Looking seriously impressive so far Ian - keeping an eye on this one!!!

[Alan P]

Foiling! Great!

While not an expert in the field, i've had some good results with kitchen foil, so if you need any help/advice/shoulder to cry on feel free PM me

Al

[Notdoneyet]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Foiling! Great!

While not an expert in the field, i've had some good results with kitchen foil, so if you need any help/advice/shoulder to cry on feel free PM me

Al

Al,

Thanks for the offer I'm sure I will need some help/advice/shoulder to cry on in the very near future. I'll be going the kitchen foil route with this (see below) on the basis that my last use of it was also quite successful ........ the Christmas turkey turned out very nicely last year

Some little progress to report.

The fin, spine and antiglare panel have been sprayed Tamiya NATO black and the fin and spine glossed with Future/Klear :-

Armed with the following tools (or should that be ingredients?) I have commenced the foiling ........... must resist épée joke .... must resist ........

I found the gold leaf adhesive at a local art/crafts shop - it is basically white glue which I thin with IPA and it goes on very smoothly with no brush marks. So tackling the difficult bits first I foiled the chrome piece of the tail ring and the nose ring. My first attempt with the nose ring was perfect but I screwed up the riveting so five further attempts were needed to get to here :-

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - they look much better than the Alclad chrome versions on my other 2 Lightnings. Next up will be the covering of the airframe - I hope that 125 feet of foil will be enough .....

Comments and critique welcomed.

Ian

[Skii]

Oooh this'll be interesting

[Nev]

Well those wheel wells and cockpit are outstanding, and the folded up radar rubbery things is a lovely touch. That canopy internal detail is also excellent.

Having seen all of that, I have every faith you can pull off the bacofoil paintjob!