EE/BAC Lightning F.6

[wadeocu]

You go boy!! I'll be following this one eagerly. Nice work thus far.

[Phartycr0c]

watching this one VERY closely John and looking forward to another great product.

Superb sofar m8,

What colour will you be going for?

[John Wolstenholme]

Superb sofar m8,

Hi Dave. That went straight over my head, until I said it quickly

What colour will you be going for?

This is what I'm aiming for, with o/w tanks.

Cheers

John

Edited December 7, 2008 by John Wolstenholme

[John Wolstenholme]

G'day. It is a relief to get the MGBs installed.

The wheel bays are finished (apart from 'weathering'), but leg bays cannot be completed until wings are attached to fuselage, hopefully getting the leg angles right.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jwolst/Lightning/12b.jpg

#1 0.5mm ‘false’ wall, otherwise there is too much wing skin overhang/detail too recessed.

#2 0.25 ‘false’ wall for mount door lock, otherwise it sits recessed under wing skin.

#3 2.5mm angle section all round to secure PE ‘roof’.

Prior to fitting the gear bays, the requisite areas of the lower wings were reduced in thickness to ~0.4mm, using a SM No10 blade and sanding, to give a more realistic skin thickness.

Port MLB fitted to lower wing.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jwolst/Lightning/13a.jpg

So it's back to vents etc on stbd side <_<

BFN

John

Forgot to add some notes to first photo. Old age!

Edited February 16, 2021 by John Wolstenholme
c

[eaglebeagle]

wow that looks good! good stuff, really interesting subject too, i've never contemplated building a lightning but your build makes me want to have a crack at it! i think i'd need a few more kits under my belt to do what your doing though.

cheers

Brad

[Thundervett]

Increadible work. Im sure many of us are learning from you. Please keep posting.

Trevor M

[FrankC]

More kudos from me - man that is fantastic work! I am gonna watch this one closely!

[janman]

Magnificent build! I really like the landing gear bays. Gonna follow this closely!

[Phartycr0c]

Nice subject choice John.

As a matter of interest, what decals are there around for this?

Dave

[John Wolstenholme]

Hi all. Brad, Trevor, Frank and Janman many thanks for your comments and interest.

Having got 21/27 'orifices' done on the stbd side, I felt in need of some digression therapy.

Overwing Tanks

#1 3mm strips of 0.5mm card set inside to aid alignment/fixing.

#2 Scribed to ‘separate’ tank from pylon.

#3 Sanded nose, so as to be distinctly flat.

#4 Seams on the tanks are very noticeable. Scribed and inlaid 0.2mm stretched sprue, applying solvent glue very sparingly.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jwolst/Lightning/14.jpg

A problem with this vacform component is that the edges of the pylon are rounded. To ensure a good fit to wing, I intend to add 0.25mm card to pylon mount and fill/sand to produce 'square edges'.

No getting away from the 'orifices'

BFN

John

Edited February 16, 2021 by John Wolstenholme
c

[John Wolstenholme]

As a matter of interest, what decals are there around for this?

Dave

Dave, I am using the decals that Frank Brown supplied with the kit. Otherwise you are into custom decals.

Regards

John

[Scotsman]

Sorry I missed the start of this one - once again we're sitting at the feet of the master :blink: ..

I've always wanted a 32nd scale Lightning , but when i could afford the kit , I didn't have enough skill to to it justice, and now , when I Still can't afford it - I realize , I still don't have the skill

I'll be watching this build with interest ...!

[John Wolstenholme]

Hi and thanks for dropping in.

Good to hear from you Scotsman. There is a long way to go, so it remains to be seen whether I have the skills!

Finally got all inlets/outlets completed on stbd side; I was mistaken, there are not 27, but 32 No. I decided I had to complete this aspect before starting anything else, as I don’t really want to come back to this!

Starboard Side

#1 Nearly blundered and made these port/stbd inlet positions symmetrical – they are displaced, as correctly marked.

#2 Fitted exhaust, then full mounting plate/flange from 5 thou card, filed out vent hole, then fitted ‘eyelid’ shaped from tube (thinned inside wall).

#3 Scribed around cable duct and ventral tanks to remove moulded-on look.

#4 Slightly different position and array of gun blister vent holes, relative to port.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jwolst/Lightning/15a.jpg

I now see that I am missing a rectangular ‘exhaust’ on port side at wing TE. The photos I looked at were in shadow in that area, so I failed to notice

BFN

John

Edited February 16, 2021 by John Wolstenholme
c

[nimrod77]

Absolutely stunning work mate! I am flabergasted by the amount of work and detail you are putting into this build. Truly inspiring. gush gush lol

Edited September 9, 2007 by nimrod77

[rigor]

wow nice work

[John Wolstenholme]

Hi rigor and nimrod. Finally decided to bite the (radar) bullet.

Intake, Radar Bullet & Nose Gear Bay

It is not often that the modelling god(s) smile on you, but it seems so with the 1:1 intake. It appears to be formed in halves with a raised central joining strip, so a 5 thou strip will accurately hide the seam.

By the nature of the construction of these 3 ‘elements’, they need to be dealt with in unison. However, after much deliberation I decided not to use the kit method because:

i) In order to ‘feather-in’/finish the intake to the s/steel inlet rim, the radar bullet is better off not being there.

ii) I am not optimistic about obtaining a good fit/finish of bullet pylon and NG bay, with bullet/intake and fuselage, respectively.

ii) Need to build a new, more detailed, NG bay.

I therefore elected to separate the nose gear bay (retained for reference) from the lower pylon mount, so as to fit the lower pylon in the intake and then cut through intake inside the pylon, which forms part of the NG bay. The bullet will be fitted upon completion of the intake, probably requiring a new upper mount.

#1 Gun camera(?) window. 2.8mm OD tube thinned wall inside, with 2.3 OD x 1mm (TWI) fitted inside to locate window.

#2 1mm card around periphery/filled (not a solid piece) to make base square and provide adjustment for central locating of bullet.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jwolst/Lightning/19c.jpg

#1 Vacform parts lack detail, inlet cone too small.

#2 F/Path PE parts. Inlet vanes are ‘square’, so discarded. Note: F/Path state the use of nickel-silver is for ease of use. Bend without annealing at your peril.

#3 Formed front face in circles stencil, using sellotape to prevent casing strip (0.75mm card, feathered at front edge) sticking. Inlet cone from scrap resin (10mm dia x 12mm) and new inlet vanes from 0.75mm card.

#4 Engine face, with 2mm dia starter exhaust. White internal fuselage former to be painted black.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jwolst/Lightning/18a.jpg

BFN

John

Edited February 16, 2021 by John Wolstenholme
c

[Gambler]

Gee John, you have your work cut out for you on this one!!!

Beautiful progress so far, and excellent pics with descriptions and notes.

Keep up the great work. :blink:

Cheers,

Jeff.

[Phartycr0c]

John,

Your attention to detail is outstanding. That intake is a revelation.

As a matter of interest, having never dealt with vac form before, 1. whats its availability and 2 how easy is it to work with?

I know the basic kits lack the detail but is that dependant on manufacturer or are vac form designed for the advanced modeller to scratch build details?

The reason I ask is that suddenly, a 1 32 lightning is looking possible?

Edited September 15, 2007 by Phartycr0c

[Hornet78]

:D :lol:

Keep it commin

Jim

[Impatient Pete]

Dang beautiful work!

Pete

[geedubelyer]

Lovely detail John. This is a very entertaining thread.

Keep at it please. It's a treat for sore eyes.

[doctorpepper]

i reiterate what i said in the hornet build...

you could start on a 1:1 jet anytime!

[John Wolstenholme]

Thanks to all for your comments, continued support and interest.

John,

As a matter of interest, having never dealt with vac form before, 1. whats its availability and 2 how easy is it to work with?

I know the basic kits lack the detail but is that dependant on manufacturer or are vac form designed for the advanced modeller to scratch build details?

Dave, this is my first experience of a vacform kit, but here are some observations:

- plastic is much softer than the injection moulded kits, so extra care is needed. Some

of the panel lines (fuselage) will need ‘over scribing’, as I don’t think they will show up very

well

- by the nature of the process they cannot produce the detail of injection moulding.

Also, edges which should be square are rounded, again due to the method of

forming.

- lot of time is spent preparing components, instead of just removing from sprue

- I tend to ‘beef up’ joints, to both reinforce and help with alignment.

As far as I know these kits are no longer available. I bought 5-6 years ago when Frank Brown had a few left.

Regards

John

[Timvkampen]

Thanks to all for your comments, continued support and interest.

Dave, this is my first experience of a vacform kit, but here are some observations:

- plastic is much softer than the injection moulded kits, so extra care is needed. Some

of the panel lines (fuselage) will need ‘over scribing’, as I don’t think they will show up very

well

- by the nature of the process they cannot produce the detail of injection moulding.

Also, edges which should be square are rounded, again due to the method of

forming.

- lot of time is spent preparing components, instead of just removing from sprue

- I tend to ‘beef up’ joints, to both reinforce and help with alignment.

As far as I know these kits are no longer available. I bought 5-6 years ago when Frank Brown had a few left.

Regards

John

John, can Frank Brown still be reached?

[John Wolstenholme]

John, can Frank Brown still be reached?

Tim, my understanding is that Frank no longer has any kits available. He is nearing 70 and there are family health issues and I think he may wish not to be contacted.

Regards

John