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Trumpeter E.E Lightning F Mk 1. Finished.


ericg

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Really admire the ingenious solution to the vents. I will most definitely will be poaching that one for a few builds.

 

Nice to see the Lightning back on your bench and getting star treatment

 

Tony

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One of the issues with the kit that gets thrown around is that it is 5mm too short. I don't plan on changing the kit that much as the effort involved will greatly exceed that which will be noticed once the model is completed and on the shelf. I have however lengthened the kit a little bit though through the incorporation of the Aires Exhausts. These resin parts are really quite nice and are an useful upgrade to the kit parts. The outer part of the upgrade that the nozzles sit inside does not match the kit part and I think Aires have made that part match the real aircraft. Another issue with the Trumpeter kit is the very `pinched' in look of the rear part of the fuselage and this is where the problem of fitting the Aires part to the kit presents itself. In order to blend the Aires part into the kit, I decided to glue some plastic card to the rear fuselage to allow me to blend the 2 parts together over a greater distance allowing a more subtle transition. This has also lengthened the kit by 2.5mm which is 50% of the alleged shortness of the required fix. I will leave the other 2.5mm to the rivet counters.

 

I glued some 2.5mm plastic card to the rear fuselage, then hollowed it out to allow fitment of the Aires Exhaust assembly. I then filled the pinched in part between the two exhausts on the outer fuselage with a combo of plastic card, filler and mr surfacer. Using a combo of different sanders, I blended the whole lot together and here is the result.

 

E3BF6BCA-5A2E-4A36-B65D-30D298514869_zps

 

B16C5C8A-2E6F-40FE-832E-BF8227B1AC49_zps

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Looking great!  :thumbsup:

 

With regards to the fuselage length - whilst not a biggy - it can also be useful in moving the wings back in relation to the cockpit - which is more noticeable. Hence reason I've done the plug on mine and why it's added in the middle.

 

Iain

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Another ingenious solution Eric ! I had to sand the rear end of F.6 # 1 down to wafer thickness to get the Aires hourglass to fit.

 

Agree with Iain regarding the wings. They are too far forward. I am shifting them back by reducing wing tab size (or lengthening the fuse slots) and grinding away the rectangular mate points in wing or fuselage. Maybe just 2.5mm aft would do the trick ?

 

Tony

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Something else that I have also noticed is that the Trumpeter Lightning wing is too thick in root chord and the wing leading edge is too rounded - I will have to address these issues (and all of the other known issues) when I make mine :)

 

Derek

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Yup - been working on that - and that's what stopped further progress last year.

 

Early wings as moulded by Trumpeter are approx 30% thicker than F Mk 2A/F Mk 6 wings - the latter being pretty well spot on thickness-wise.

 

Apologies for thread creep!

 

Iain

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I had a look at the position of the wings and also come to the conclusion that they were just a little bit too far forward and also the leading edge of the wing is too rounded. Here is how I fixed both issues.

 

The Trumpeter plastic is thick enough to be able to re-profile the leading edge to shape and then simply rescribe the panel lines. It is a very simple fix to the kit and does not take too much time. Here is the difference in leading edge shape, modified on the left and original on the right. You will notice that the one on the left is much more slender.

 

75F77C9F-5E79-4EFF-B573-EA06C7D089FA_zps

 

Here is how I shifted the wing back. I thought that a 3mm rearward shift looked good as compared to the references that I had.

 

In order to beef up the fuselage, I drilled a couple of holes and inserted some plastic tube through the fuselage and glued them into position to form two spars that stop the fuselage from flexing inward. I have seen builds where bulkheads have been made to do the same thing. This is far easier, and has proven to be very strong.

 

In this picture, you can see that I have removed 3mm from the front of the wing root, and also ground out 3mm from the wing attachment slot.

 

B8DFF782-3755-4A5C-84A4-1828573B3479_zps

 

Here you can see the difference that this simple mod makes. I ran a very fine line around the original blunt leading edge in its original position, so the inside of the line represents almost exactly the outside skin of the wing. The reshaped wing no sits 3mm aft and the difference in the profile is obvious.

 

1F40598A-0B87-4388-BA1B-3D7DBF804A2C_zps

 

A subtle yet important change.

 

FA16F551-7510-42A2-B6A7-E6A72250F616_zps

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Amazing build and great tutorial ! Thanks Eric !

 

I love the Lightning, that's a very interesting and strange looking aircraft. What is also strange is that it's quite a long time that i want to get one, i've bought dozens of other kits since then, but i still dont have one in the stash.... Things are strange sometimes...

 

 

The story of the Lightning besides of the old Felixstowe makes me think about the scene in The final countdown, when zeros meet with F-14's. :)

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Amazing build and great tutorial ! Thanks Eric !

 

I love the Lightning, that's a very interesting and strange looking aircraft. What is also strange is that it's quite a long time that i want to get one, i've bought dozens of other kits since then, but i still dont have one in the stash.... Things are strange sometimes...

 

 

The story of the Lightning besides of the old Felixstowe makes me think about the scene in The final countdown, when zeros meet with F-14's. :)

 

I always loved the Lightning. I was delighted when I saw Trumpeter's one, then somewhat cooled down when I saw it the RSP, and finally got VERY cold feet when I saw all the issues the kit had.

 

I set myself a price limit of 50 Euros to get one, and when I had the opportunity, I finally fetched it. Still it requires some work, and both Eric's and Iain's great threads are treasure troves for the would-be modeller of the Frightning.

 

"Just" need to free some time now.

 

Keep it coming Eric !

 

Hubert.

 

Btw: there is a 1/33 paper model of the Lightning. A vac canopy for the model is available for a few Euros, in Poland. I got one, but did not take the time to match it against the drawings (the good ones, I mean, used by Heritage).

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Thanks gents.

 

What is wrong with the canopy guys?

 

I know the bottom sills are far too thin but anything else?

 

Eric

To me the canopy is the worst thing about the kit i can live with the 5mm too shortness, The stalky undercarriage ( altho i have addressed that perticular issue) and all other f#** ups trumpeter managed to incorporate into the kit. The canopy is way too wrong. I am in the process of addressing that problem too watch this space. Edited by daveoh
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Thanks for the input.

 

Has anyone got any pics of the real aircraft that easily show how the shape of the canopy in the kit is wrong as compared to the real one? Want to see if I can come up with a solution.

 

Eric

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