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EE Lightning - Echelon vacuform


mozart

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Max The Airfix is a nice kit and I have seen a few of these made up and they look really nice on the show tables.

 

Could always do it as a flying display - go on do it in the Non - LSP section you know you want too - it would be nice to see it come together and sit next to its bigger brother!

 

Happy Days - Taff :D

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1 minute ago, TaffyMan said:

Max The Airfix is a nice kit and I have seen a few of these made up and they look really nice on the show tables.

 

Could always do it as a flying display - go on do it in the Non - LSP section you know you want too - it would be nice to see it come together and sit next to its bigger brother!

 

Happy Days - Taff :D

Having the 1/48 one flying over isn’t a bad idea Taff, have to give that some thought. :coolio:

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On 4/8/2020 at 8:58 AM, mozart said:

What is it about Lightnings?!  On a whim I thought I might build a 1/48 scale Lightning in tandem with the Echelon one, it could act as a reference for some areas of the vac build perhaps and be posable in the background for RFI views. I know Airfix made a pretty accurate one a few years ago, but like the Trumpeter 1/32 Lightning they are as rare as hen’s teeth and damned expensive! I finally found three on eBay and all were in excess of £60.00 when postage was included. Way too much for an old man’s whim! 
 

 Very late to this party, but a couple of things.

The Airfix Lightnings are very good but suffer from an unfortunate broken backed look. I'm slightly surprised nobody has issued a resin correction set, even when the Eduard re-issue came out. (with apologies to the anonymous modeler whose work I've borrowed to illustrate).

44023419525_f8f7bef592_b.jpg

 

There's a Roly Beamont interview on Youtube where he brags about the discovery that the leading edge notch worked just as efficiently as a wing fence, but without the aerodynamic drag and the manufacturing drag and pfaff. He also mentions there's a small intake buried at the rear that was used to pressurise the fuel tanks. A small drilled hole would do although for finesse a square section mini needle file to finish is best. Also the little stiffening strut in there visible in one of your photos. Not something I could miss off as it was one of the hitherto undocumented little details I discovered (this was back in the pre-internet 1990s) when photographing the pole mounted Lightning by the roadside at Castle Motors at Liskeard just outside Plymouth on the Cornwall side. It will also make the pointy apex of the slot less prone to damage. Or it could be too minor to worry about.

 

49805287412_28fa5828f1_b.jpg

 

On the subject of canopies,  there's a guy (Hofnerbassman) on Hyperscale forums who offers a remoulding service. Might be worth checking out. If the other options don't pan out.

 

(Every time I think of the word “whim” I’m reminded of Spike Milligan and the Goon Show: “Why are you tied to that ironing board Neddy?” “It’s an old man’s whim.” “OK, why are you tied to that old man’s whim?  Innocent days. :D )

 

In which case you might like this one.

Man to vicar: 'i'd like to buy a church singing group'

Vicar: 'You mean a choir?

Man: Fine, OK. I'd like to acquire a church singing group.

 

Edited by Chek
quote mashed.
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Thank you Chek, SO glad you came along, the joke was very welcome but the photograph of the strengthener in the leading edge notch even more so!  All the pictures I've seen have been from an oblique angle, but yours is perfect.  I've done the starboard wing one but need to do the port, it's a surprisingly fiddly bit to put in after the event!

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It's good Dan, but the PE seat belts that come with it are a nightmare to put together.  I've spent about 5 hours so far and they are still not done, and probably not correct, but once "scrunched" up on the seat should look ok-ish!

 

Having opened out all the 'oles on the fuselage, I'm now thinking about what needs to be done to each.  I experimented yesterday with stretching some plastic tubing to get differing diameters, hit and miss to a certain extent.  I glued a short section in:

 

lC5VcP.jpg

 

then when dry started to shape it back:

 

STqac4.jpg

 

It needs to end up looking something like this so a bit more judicious trimming/shaping needed:

 

BRrPbb.jpg

 

The larger opening is more of a challenge but like Baldrick I have a cunning plan for that one!

Edited by mozart
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Work on the air turbine exhaust vent.  I warmed up the plastic tubing and opened it out by wangling a needle file around till I got something like the correct diameter.  Once set firmly a little trimming gave something like the proper shape...not perfect but good enough!

 

xNyzKC.jpg

 

WwxDDD.jpg

 

X2Obr9.jpg

 

VTZuA9.jpg

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10 hours ago, mozart said:

Work on the air turbine exhaust vent.  I warmed up the plastic tubing and opened it out by wangling a needle file around till I got something like the correct diameter.  Once set firmly a little trimming gave something like the proper shape...not perfect but good enough!

 

 

X2Obr9.jpg

 

VTZuA9.jpg

 

Oups, I should have wait for that sequence before closing my fuselage.....:BANGHEAD2::BANGHEAD2:

 

Dan.

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Thanks Taff :)  To be honest most of the scribing on the port fuselage side was done by the first owner of the kit, he’s made a pretty good job of it but when I was doing the exhaust vent yesterday I noticed that the air brake is virtually invisible where he had tried to correct a “mis-scribe” by sanding it. I think I need to make a template from the starboard one, flip it over and use that to re-scribe the port. 
Ticking along it is Taff, but rain thankfully forecast for next week so more modelling less gardening! :clap2:

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