Airfix English Electric Lightning F.1

Villiers de Vos
Nice reference photographs.

Jordan Giddins
I've made some progress on the Lightning build to the point of the initial paint stage. The CMK resin cockpit required some surgery to cut away enough space out of the intake trunking for it to sit correctly. None of this will be seen as it'll be fitted with the QMD resin FOD guard.

The wings are assembled and cleaned up and riveted plasticard inserted into the gear bays and some detailing on the sides and wire added for pipework.

The Dead Design decals provide masks for the canopy seals, which is a nice touch. I used the blanks to trace my own masks for the inside of the clear parts, which I'll spray LP65 with the rest of the cockpit parts.

It's now ready for priming and paint.

Jordan Giddins
With the temperature a bit cooler I managed to crack on with some painting. The first task was to prime everything with Mr Finishing Surfacer Black with SLT. I then used Mr Surfacer 1200 to check the wing joins.

LP65 Rubber Black was applied to the cockpit parts and the tyres. I then used some torn sponge to dot on some Mr Masking Sol R on the boarding ladder. Mr Finishing Surfacer White was used on the Firestreak's and to prime the ladder, FOD cover and on the canopy for the white seals. AK Real Colour RAF Interior Grey Green was used on the shock cone.

XF3 was used on the boarding ladder and XF7 on the FOD cover. AK Xtreme Metal Matt Aluminium was used on the the remaining parts. Burnt Metal and Jet Exhaust was dusted onto the cans and exhaust pipes. I dry brushed the parts with Abteilung Neutral Grey and Mr Metal Aluminium. Posca pens and Tamiya XF were used for the detail work and finally a wash of Ammo Interior wash. Some light chipping was added to thr boarding ladder with Mr Metal Aluminium on a piece of torn sponge.

I decided to dip the Firestreak's in XF7 for the covers, which seemed to work OK. Molotow chrome was applied to the pitot. A grimey oil wash was applied to the gear parts and wheel bays.

The acetate for the instrument panel parts were glued on with Kristal Klear. When the glue has set I'll trim off the excess. I've started assembling the cockpit using VMS Flexi CA. The masks were removed from the canopy parts and the larger masks applied to hopefully create the white seals.

Nose weight was added by filling the shock cone and intake with liquid gravity and clear PVA. The acetate was trimmed off the instrument panel and the Kristal Klear gave a glazed effect. The intake was put together and then I needed to decide where else to locate some additional nose weight so I managed to fit 15g under the cockpit tub.

I dry-fitted it all together to make sure it would all go together and the nose ring wouldn't foul anything. With the intake drying I moved on to building up the exhausts starting by adding some scored effects on the cans with a Tamiya palette. The exhaust was built up and installed as was the intake assembly with an additional 10g on the back for luck.

The halves were then closed up and the fit was generally OK. The rudder was installed and had a small gap, which needed filling.

Next the wings went on and fitted pretty well. The underside join had some gaps to fill. The air frame has now been filled and sanded largely with the help of the VMS Flexi Black CA. The tail planes are on and the last few small aerials etc. The windscreen is now on with some Kristal Klear the rear canopy I'll tack in place as it'll be displayed open. The FOD cover fits OK but I'll need to paint the rear as some of it will be visible.

Next will be more fettling and polishing and masking off the nose cone, exhausts and gear bays. It should then be ready for primer.

Mr James
Really impressive work so far Jordan. You're adding some very nice details and documenting it superbly. Looking forward to the end result. Dont spray it with X-11 like I did lol... 🙂

Jordan Giddins
Thanks, the plan is to base it with gloss black and then various Xtreme Metal Aluminium tones to break up the surface. My main concern will be masking so plenty of de-tacked tape will be needed!

Mr James
Good plan. I wish I'd known about better paint products at the time. I do like the look of a metal finish aircraft

Jordan Giddins
The Lightning was masked off and the airframe polished. It has now received a primer coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 with SLT. The next stage will be to apply satin black onto the anti-glare and canopy.

Jordan Giddins
The Lightning was primed with Mr Surfacer 1200 with SLT. The paint process began with priming the rear of the FOD cover with Mr Finishing Surfacer White and also gave the Firestreak's another coat. The FOD was sprayed XF7 as the edge will be visible once fitted. The anti-glare area, canopy and tail tip were then given a coat of XF69 and then masked off.

The entire airframe was then given a coat of LP1 with SLT and given a polish over with a Flory green and white polisher. Next a coat of AK Xtreme Metal Aluminium was applied, which went on very nicely.

To break up the surface I used AK Xtreme Metal Dark Aluminium, Duraluminium, Polished Aluminium and Matt Aluminium. The exhaust surround and cannon ports were sprayed Burnt Metal with a hint of jet exhaust. Its now unmasked and I need to decide to seal it with some AK Gauzy Agent. I might do this as the paint scratches very easily and I want the best surface I can for the Airfix decals.

Mr James
Very nice nmf paint job achieved

Jordan Giddins
Thanks.

The AK Gauzy Agent has been applied and has sealed the paintwork nicely and will hopefully provide a good surface for the markings to be applied.

Villiers de Vos
A very nice metal effect.

Jordan Giddins
The decals have been applied, which are a mix of the original kit supplied stencils and those supplied by Model Alliance. When these have fully bedded down with Microscale Micro Sol it will have a seal coat of AK Gauzy Shine Agent. I can then move onto the weathering stage, which will consist of a Flory clay panel line wash and streaking and staining with Abteilung oils.

Jordan Giddins
A Flory Dark Dirt wash was applied followed by streaking with various tones of neat Abteilung oils. Further heat effects were applied to the exhaust surround with a Tamiya weathering palette.

The remaining parts were fitted, which completed the build. Overall this was a great kit and a very enjoyable project.

Mr James
Beautifully done Jordan. You've achieved a wonderful metal finish with a great weathering. This is how I wanted my version to look like. Well done, great build