1/48 Airfix English Electric Lightning F6

by Simon Wallis

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After completing an F-104C I decided to go build a British made hot rod: the EE. Lightning!!!

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I build my Lightning out of the box. The kit was bought on eBay, and some undercarriage parts were broken or missing which necessitated me building an in-flight model. I am looking for some clear Perspex tube to fit into the exhausts to mount the kit, but as long as I am delicate it manages to sit okay on a flat surface. If anyone has any idea where I can get some of this Perspex in the UK , please let me know! Fit on the kit is quite good. I didn’t have problems with warped wings – as some people have experienced – but I was real careful putting them together anyway. Cockpit is poor, but you can’t see into it anyway with the fat/huge pilot figure included.

The kit decals were used and were thin, but stiff and showed a bit of silvering even on the decal sheet before being used. Perhaps it was age on a second hand kit. However the size of the kit decal sheet is impressive and gives loads of interesting options. Well done Airfix! I chose a scheme that offered both bare metal underneath with a typical RAF grey-green camouflage on top. Alclad 2 and Xtracolour enamels were used. I weathered using chalk pastels for the first time.

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You can go fly one of these in South Africa if you have the cash: $$$. I don’t (…yet). (Below-right photo from the RAF website).

Simon

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Photos and text © by Simon Wallis