English Electric Lightning F.1A, 1/72, Airfix

[Stupot]

English Electric Lightning F.1A

Hi everyone,

This is the old Airfix Lightning F.1A. I’ve made a few scratchbuilt additions to the kit such as the aerials, pitot tube and cockpit and I also added an aeroclub seat from my spares box. The canopy is the original one but I cut it in two so that it could be displayed in the open position. The model was brush painted with Humbrol enamels and varnishes with the exception of the missiles which were done with a rattle can from Halfords. The kits decals were used as well but I added a few from the spares box too.

Hope you enjoy the photos…













Thanks for looking!
Stu

[MarkyM607]

Very nice!, just built this recently, wish I'd made more of an effort!!. Particularly like the head on view. So smooth on the silver NMF finish!.

[Zee28]

Stu, that is truly excellent work on this old classic. Brush painted???? You've got to be kidding me, that finish is superb!

Neat work on the yellow line in the canopy framing, that is extremely hard to do nicely in 1/72 but you've pulled it off brilliantly.

Decals are cool too.

Zee

[DavidWomby]

Lovely. Great to see these old models built to such high standards.

David

[Eric Mc]

Lovely - my favourite variant too.

[Chuck E]

That's brilliant. The old kits weren't so bad after all.

[ShaunW]

Top notch Stu, that is really nice, a much better brush painted job than I could ever manage! 111 Squadron (I think!) markings as well, with the classic lightning flash on the nose, just as I remember the box art for this kit back in the 70's. Just goes to show, it doesn't have to be the latest kit to produce a very nice model.

[martin hale]

That's an impressive job from such an old kit!

Martin

[Ratch]

Good job

[gengriz]

Lovely !

[CementNotGlue]

That's a superb construction. The differing polished panels not being overdone.
I still have my original '70s one on which I thought I could get away without painting it! Just working on a way to lift and replace the same decals if anyone has this experience. Or is it too tricky?

The only inherent fault is with the blunt nose cone.
I particularly like your fuselage cannon holes.
C.N.G.

[JamesPerrin]

A great way for the old kit to bow out.

[Clashcityrocker]

Great work on what is a very basic kit. I think mine was a snap fit?

Nigel

[Barry]

Very smooth! Looks great!

[Stupot]

Thanks everyone,

Great work on what is a very basic kit. I think mine was a snap fit?

Nigel

Hi Nigel, This was the snap fit version and one of the first things I did was to remove all of those features. A close look at the canopy sides still gives this away.

That's a superb construction. The differing polished panels not being overdone.
I still have my original '70s one on which I thought I could get away without painting it! Just working on a way to lift and replace the same decals if anyone has this experience. Or is it too tricky?

The only inherent fault is with the blunt nose cone.
I particularly like your fuselage cannon holes.
C.N.G.

Thanks, The cannons looked quite bad when I started but I tried to clean them up as best as I could. I also used a drill to add a few other details on the fuselage.

I had to use a lot of filler on this old kit especially at the nose,tail and airbrakes where I used a pencil to restore the detail. The nose cone is a little blunt but I decided to leave it as it didn't look too bad in the end. One thing I did do was to thin the jet exhausts and undercarriage doors which I think really improves the look.

Good look with the decals C.N.G. Hopefully you will get them off but there are plenty of aftermarket options out there too.

Thanks again!