1/48 Airfix E.E. Lightning F6 |
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Gallery Article by by Karl W Branson |
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This is my 1/48 scale English Electric Lightning by
Airfix.
This
is my first recent attempt to build an aircraft kit for many years,
I
have spent a lot of my time scratch building Sci-fi subjects, but felt
the
need to take up building planes again, so off to my local model shop
I went and bought the Airfix Lightning kit, this is one of my all-time favourite
planes, a powerful looking beast, with styling typical of that era.
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Click on
images below to see larger images
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I built the kit pretty much
out of the box, loosely following the order of the instruction sheet. I
did find that the cockpit lacks some details, such as around the rear bulkhead,
so I scratch built more details as necessary. I decided to paint the
Lightning as one from No. 11 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, around 1988. I believe that
XR728 ( my model ) is in the handsof the
Lightning Preservation Group, at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire, and is in a
taxiable condition.
Apart from
this being my first attempt at an aircraft kit in some years, it was also my
first serious attempt at using my air-brush for a long time.
I did a
bit of practice on an old Saturn 5 rocket, then headed for my plane.
I used
Humbrol enamels to paint it, being careful not to spray too heavily.
When the
basic paint job was completed, I did a bit of experimentation with panel lines,
the easiest for me was to use a 0.3mm pencil and run over all of the lines with
it, fairly easy as they are recessed.
