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Lightning, foiled, in 48th scale.


GuildAero

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Hi all, not large scale, but large model, a 1/48th scale Lightning F1.

For me there is no other. I love the straight wing and pointy fin.  

My wife bought me this from ebay out of the blue and I got it yesterday midday.

 

Couldn't resist starting it straight away, so painted the cockpit and pilot.  No fancy a/m stuff for me.  Can't see it and can't justify it.  Got the pilot in by cutting behind his knees to straighten his legs.  Painted the tiger badges on his helmet and sleeves.

 

Glued all the air duct stuff in and sealed up the fuselage with little trouble.

Also squeezed Flying Officer Kite down in his seat and glued the canopy shut against him!

 

Also sealed all the holes so that dust couldn't get in the cockpit when I scraped the seams down and sanded smooth.

 

After that was done I started the foiling with Sellotape aluminium and kitchen foil, changing it round to suggest grain, etc.

I also made a wee tool for suggesting the rivets on panels. I had a small watch wheel with teeth at the right spacing, so put it in a brass frame. It works a treat too. Better pics tomorrow if I can get outside. My camera is crap indoors and close up.

 

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The belly tank colour is just a strange reflection. Note the panel with the NACA duct and rivets put on with the little tool I made.

 

Cheers,

Martin

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Truth is, Jim, with a pilot figure in, you can see almost nothing of the cockpit, so there's no point in blowing the family silver on aftermarket stuff.  The decal is no good either as it's the wrong shade of grey even for later marks and useless for an F1 which is all matt black. Once the front fairing is glued in, you can't even see the IP and with the pilot on the bang seat, very little of that can be seen, so even the little I did with dry brushing and detailing was a waste!

And there is no point in painting all the air duct inside or out as they can't be seen either. I did the front bit of the inlet in dull silver and the radome in interior green Testors, but the rest is hidden.  I don't look at models with one of those things they shove up yer bum for a gander, so why they mould impeller blades on a part 6 inches inside I know not.

 

Once the fuse halves are glued up I started foiling, only stopping to scrape and sand the seams down.  In terms of fit it's a superb kit.

 

Cheers,

Martin

Edited by GuildAero
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In the sunshine I was able to get better photos, showing the pilot with his tiger heads painted on and better shots of the detail foiling.

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Difficult to photograph in bright Sunshine!  This is a combination of Sellotape aluminium and kitchen foil. the kitchen foil is glued with gold leaf size from ebay for a whole 2 pounds something a tub, free post!

 

Martin

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Hubble bubble, toilet trouble, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.

In my witch's pot this afternoon, lots of eggshells and two bits of foil and sure enough they got darker and darker until they reached plausible jet pipe levels!

It works!  Keys are to hold it down in the breeze.

 

005_zpsckoby56r.jpg

 

More once I've put it on.

 

Martin

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Gaz, 

I read somewhere that eggshells are the trick.  Apparently, the albumen on the shells contains a sulphurous compound that makes the foil go a yellowy, bronzey kind of shade.  I had also heard about the use of metals like pennies, but that did nothing. Maybe the metal has to go in with the eggshells.

I can't experiment too much as the egg on toast I had to use up the eggs, with some left over beans had me firing gas bombs like there was no tomorrow, with beans as the propellant for eggy projectile.  It seems such experiments are only allowed in future when the Mrs. goes shopping with the daughter.

 

Of course having foiled the jet pipes in the stuff the superb fit of the double tail pipe fairing on the Airfix kit wouldn't go over the extra thickness of the foil, so it had to be trimmed carefully and even then it hardly shows, but now I have to cover the tailpipe fairing too, so the difference will be very much on show. Should have that done later today.

 

Cheers,

Martin

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Thanks, Jim,

I hope it'll be worth it when it's all done.  My granddaughter thinks I'm mad, because I was just sniffing her pens in case they were spirit based, but alas they're water based and won't colour the ally foil!  It's good to worry your grandchildren.

 

Martin

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Thanks, Jim,

I hope it'll be worth it when it's all done. My granddaughter thinks I'm mad, because I was just sniffing her pens in case they were spirit based, but alas they're water based and won't colour the ally foil! It's good to worry your grandchildren.

 

Martin

Haven't got grandkids yet but my kids think I'm crazy. Does that count?

 

Jim

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Oh yes, Jim. Start with embarrassing your kids and then making grandchildren cringe is easy and even more fun.  You start by sniffing their pens and then by the time you've shown them a foiled Lightning to explain your behaviour they have an altogether new respect for the "Old fart".

 

Cheers,

Martin

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