BAC Lightning FGA.2

[The Wooksta!]

Inspired by Dave's rapid build of a Lightning and remembering I'd seen a drawing of an early mark reconfigured fro ground attack, I thought I may as well jump in with this.

I found the drawing elsewhere on my hard drive and it shows an F1-F1A-F2 with the missile pylons deleted and replaced with drop down unguided missile packs, extended cable ducts (F3 length) and the belly and strakes of an F6.  I have several dead NOVO fuselages and sets of Airfix F1A/F3 wings, is this doable?

Yes, yes it is.  The Airfix wings fit the Frog/Novo fuselage after some minor surgery to the locator tabs - more later - and I have enough Novo bits plus a resin fin to complete at least one airframe.

But the Frog kit is the same as the original Hasegawa release and all you get for a cockpit interior is a bulkhead,  a seat and a whole lot of nowt.  So it got busied up with some plastic card to make a basic cockpit tub, which is a billion percent better than what was there.  Glue in a lump of lead to keep the nose on the ground plus a few stays in case the glue isn't super enough, then the fuselage went together.  I can paint the cockpit from the outside as it's largely grey anyway. Once the seat is in and the thick canopy is on, you'll never know and I don't care.

Whilst it's drying, I sorted out the wings.  Quick clean up to remove the flash and click them together.  Add filler and leave to one side.

I'd already added filler to the fuselage, so it got a good sanding and it looks okay.  The trickiest bit is always the exhaust with a lot of blending to get it right.  There's some odd raised squares which need to go as they're just stencils, not actulal panels.

Back to the wings. I cut the tabs down to get them to fit in the correct position but they still weren't right.  The locator tab hole is too far down for the Airfix stubs, so I took off the top half and then put a spacer piece inside the wing position, then dropped the wings in.  Nigh on perfect!  They got glue in today and the filler applied.  Tailplanes went on too.

So, I'll get the sanding done over the weekend and add the fin.  Cue more filler and sanding.  I will also get some pix taken.


Scheme is DSG/DG over Aluminium and probably 43 Sqn markings.  I'm tempted with stationing it in Germany and adding the gold u/c legs for that extra JMN baiting.

[Gondor]

The unguided rockets and also a reconnaissance pod were options on the export versions so no reason why they would not have been proposed earlier in the aircrafts life and I am talking real life. Obviously we know that the RAF never followed a ground attack option for the Lightnings but this is whiff world after all.

Gondor

[NARSES2]

Interesting to see this Lee 

[The Wooksta!]

I've located the instructions - but not the resin - for the Freightdog FGA conversion and that mentions that the middle aircraft would have been closer to the F2A. That conflicts with the drawing I have that clearly shows the earlier F1 fin.  So I'm thinking that the upgrades were cut back in scope, to just the weapons and not the airframe - their Airships wanted the T-bird upgraded and get T4 and T5A and used the airframe upgrade cash for those instead.  IIRC, the T birds never got the F2A style upgrades as they couldn't be released from service, but if the T4s are retired and remanufactured, then I think it's feasible.

The latter means more work. Or maybe not.  Anyway, this bureaucratic wrangling and horse trading means my model is one of the cutback ones and thus correct.

Was the tank on the F6 detachable? The smaller one was. I'm curious to see if a cutting and shut T5A could be done at MU level - say they kept the big tanks when the F2As were scrapped and then fitted to the T5s when they were given a deep service.  A Matchbox T55 will take an Airfix wing, btw.

[Gondor]

Was the tank on the F6 detachable? The smaller one was. I'm curious to see if a cutting and shut T5A could be done at MU level - say they kept the big tanks when the F2As were scrapped and then fitted to the T5s when they were given a deep service.  A Matchbox T55 will take an Airfix wing, btw.

Yes, although I am not 100% sure of the top of my head if all of it was. As you know from the current Airfix kits the front secton certainly was as the gun pack was interchangeable for a fuel tank. Which versions you were able to do this on is another matter, I would certainly think that all the export single seaters were able to do this as well as the RAF aircraft at some point. I am sure that there is a cut-away drawing somewhere that shows how much tank was removable, it makes manufacturing sence to have it removable.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Next time we're at Coventry I'll take my tool kit and we can have a go at getting the tank off the Saudi one. 

[The Wooksta!]

I've found a useful photo of several Lightnings being scrapped at Binbrook in the late 80s.

The front half of the tank, the armed bit, goes deeper into the fuselage.  The aft bit, the tank proper, goes over the fuselage skin.  I've a feeling that the F2A mods could probably have been done at MU level.  I mean the tank doesn't look too difficult (sarcasm mode as it's a Lightning and changing an engine takes a week or more...) and the kinked leading edge is forward of anything structural.  Pull a T5 in for deep servicing, add the bits from an F2A once they've been scrapped and it should be possible.  Even if it was just the tank, I think the Lightning squadrons would have ripped an arm or two off.

Whilst I'm on about trainer Lightnings, one in the Red/Grey/White scheme would look very different too.