A bit of an F.155T theme developing

[63cpe]

MMMMmmm, nice! Looks very good in the RAF uniform!

I've had struggles with the exhausts supplied in the box, looks kinda like an intake. Anyway it reminds me and inspires me to get mine done too! Maybe next year...

David aka 63CPE

[SPINNERS]

Good thread this with great builds! The various F.155T projects are fascinating to me.

[kitbasher]

English Electric/BAC P.8 Lightning F.3

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The Subject

The P.8 was effectively a heavily modified Lightning designed to F.155T.  English Electric had concluded that the only way of meeting the milestones required by F.155T and OR.329 was through incremental development of it's P.1 design (eventually the Lightning), the A.I.23 Airpass radar and the Blue Jay missiles intended for the P.1.  The most obvious differences to the P.1 was relocation of the main undercarriage from the wings to the fuselage (the latter requiring 'area-ruling' to accommodate the undercarriage) and wingtip-mounted missiles.

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The Kit

It's the Gannet 3-D printed English Electric P.8 kit, the first of Alistair's range I acquired, but the second one completed (the DH.117 overtook it).  I chose to augment it with resin items generously supplied by The Wooksta (see below).

A number of the Gannet kits have been built by forum members – Wooksta alone has built several P.8s.  They are simple kits any average model maker can put together with relative ease and enjoy sound results at the end.  Patience is essential, though – they're not 'shake and bake', a fair amount of rubbing down is needed to ensure the parts fit as intended.  Also be wary of the brittleness of the resin (more later).

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The Build

Originally intended to be a relatively quick (by my standards, not Dizzyfugu's!) build, it took rather longer to complete than anticipated. 

Building began by carefully removing the few parts there are from their sprues/runners/thingies.  As with all of the Gannet range, the parts were well printed, distinguished by very fine wing, tailplane and fin trailing edges.  The resin is very tough (it stands up well to thorough sanding) but some of the parts can be very brittle, so do take care at all stages of the build.  I fell foul of the brittleness of the resin a couple of times when removing parts, but nothing catastrophic.

I'd already decided to build an 'operational' P.8 and keep the name 'Lightning', plus had the necessary markings to hand.  In my alternative world the English Electric P.1 Lightning was an interim version (built in F.1 and F.2 marks) pending production of the definitive P.8 Lightning.  So by this reckoning the 'real world' P.1-based Lightning F.3 never materialised, the 'my'  F.3 being the first P.8 production mark.  If they could do stuff like that with the Spitfire and more recently the Harrier, why not in this case?

So then it was a case of rubbing down mating surfaces and opening up holes for wing location tabs.  This can be very time consuming and at times the location tab/slot work was a drudge.  This wasn't helped by numerous diversions – modelling and non-modelling - that conspired to slow the build to a stop on several occasions.  Progress was therefore slow but no fault of the kit, rather all mine.

During this phase I removed the kit's fin and replaced it with a resin square-topped item kindly supplied by The Wooksta, who also provided a 'real' Lightning F.1/F.2/F.3 belly tank and retractable refuelling probe.  The fin and drop tank were fitted at this stage.  And then the build went into hibernation.

When I returned to the build the wings needed fitting.  I never got the wing location tab/slot mix right, so in the end removed most of the tabs and essentially butt-joined the wings to the fuselage (note that the kit's fin and tailplanes are integral features of the rear fuselage part).  With the wings, belly tank and replacement fin firmly attached I fell foul of the brittleness of the resin when I dropped the model.  The carpet failed to soften the blow and off came a wingtip, both tailplane tips and half the nosewheel unit (this is moulded into the nose part).  The wings and tailplanes were repaired but part of the nosewheel leg was gobbled up by the carpet monster – aaargh! – but thankfully could be replaced by an Airfix Lightning F.1 item from the spares box.  A second accident caused the mainwheels to break off but again these were repaired. 

All of a sudden I had an almost complete P.8.  This was encouraging – PSR around the wing joints proceeded pretty quickly, and the resin refuelling probe was fitted.  I also added a pair of FROG Javelin FAW.9 underwing pylons from the spares box.  Positioning of these was informed by underwing pylon positions actually proposed/considered for the EE/BAC Lightning. 

Red Top missiles came from the spares box – judging by the plastic from two Matchbox Lightnings.  Which is odd, as I only ever had one (a T.55), which I gave away to someone's kid 30-odd years ago (I wish I still had it for a T.7 whif).  Not 100% happy with the missiles and will probably replace them as Airfix Lightning builds throw up spares and/or Freightdog re-release their resin Red Tops.

The canopy.  As with My DH.117 (A bit of an F.155T theme developing (whatifmodellers.com)) I decided not to work on the canopy and add cockpit detail, rather the glazing would be appropriately painted.

On to painting, then.  Colour scheme is overall natural metal (actually Xtracolor X038 High Speed Silver) plus a very shiny intake ring (Humbrol Hu11).  I could have used multiple metal paints to increase the contrast between various parts of the airframe, but having done that to no real effect with my Vickers 588 (Keeping It Simple - Vickers 588 (whatifmodellers.com)) I couldn't be bothered to repeat the exercise.

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The 'Lightning F.3' has been completed as XR719 'D' of 56 Squadron, RAF Wattisham, May 1965.  All markings are from Modeldecal Sheet 56.  The real XR719 was of course a Lightning F.3.

The finished build is I hope sufficiently different to The Wooksta's P.8 fleet so as to complement not duplicate his excellent builds.  I've grown to love the P.8's shape, preferring it to the 'real' Lightning, and would buy a couple if ever the type got the Airfix treatment.  Which, of course, it never will.

In the meantime, congrats again to Alistair at Gannet Scale models for his inspiring range of F.155T subjects.

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[TomZ]

Nice one, Dave!

TomZ

[Wardukw]

Yeah on both builds ..the 105 is just a big sleek beautiful bird and the Lighting ..pure power..love em both   

[Lost Cosmonauts]

Love it, thanks for taking it on and producing such a splendid model

[Pellson]

Magnificent job 

[comrade harps]

It's almost an egg plane! Kind of a Lightning with out-of-scale   bits.

[The Wooksta!]

It's alreet, I s'pose...

[kitbasher]

It's alreet, I s'pose...

Cheers Lee - couldn't have completed the build without your generous support.

[NARSES2]

The Arrow is a classic Dave    and the P.8 definitely has a "Egg" look to it 

[DogfighterZen]

Very nice builds!   

[The Wooksta!]

Not finished yet as the undercarriage still needs work, but my Arrow should be finished soon. I carved off the exhausts and replaced them with repurposed Meteor intakes.