1963 vintage Airfix E.E Lightning F.1A 1/72

[Pellson]

Having left the missile issue to one side for a bit, I went to unpack the old Airfix Lightning. And it is old. Really old. Look what I found inside a fuselage half.

You cannot view this attachment.

Checking Scalemates, they've got the same data there (unsurprisingly). The kit was actually originally issued seven years before I was born..
While at >>Scalemates<<, I however found that this particular kit was issued in 1978 which incidentally matches very well with the first Lightning I ever built - which obviously was one like this. So it's with a whiff of nostalgia I look under the lid, decorated with a pair of silver Lightnings chasing out of a sunset.

You cannot view this attachment.

Dryfitting a bit reveals that my memory of the kit wasn't wrong - the radar nose cone is not only way off - the inlet ring is too small. And that's really bad, actually, as the nose profile is a very prominent feature of a Lightning.
However, a previous owner kindly left a white metal replacement in the kit, so there is hope. Also, there's a replacement white metal exhaust, but it seems that's designed for the Matchbox Lightning F.6 kit.

*******

Fast forward an hour or so, and I've dug out an old Matchbox T.55 from the Stash^TM to see if those white metal pieces really are intended for the Matchbox kits, and they seem to be. And as that's the case, it seems better to use them there.
That on the other hand leaves some surplus pieces for the old banger of an Airfix, and believe it or not - you can actually file out a very nice radome from the original Matchbox part, and also, I need that Matchbox inlet ring to replace the too small Airfix piece.

Before we get to that, however, the Airfix fuselage will have to go together, and before that, some interior has to be sorted. As the Lightning was pretty dark inside, and the heavily framed canopy won't allow for that much visibility into the cockpit, I reckon a half decent seat will do, so let's raid the spare sortiment while the black paint is drying.

And it is actually quite rewarding to fiddle away on an old and inaccurate kit like this. It feels in a way less stressful than working on a perfectly fitting state of the art kit as the expectations seem lower. Or maybe I'm just daft..

[kerick]

Your daft and so am I!   
Those old kits can be just as much fun, even if I'm just pawing through the box.

[The Wooksta!]

Lightning cockpits were grey, only the prototypes were in black.

Other errors in the kit are the fin being too small and the main wheels are those of the prototype batch.  If you've one of the Sword kits, you can steal an earlier fin.

Aeroclub did a lot of upgrade bits for the Airfix Lightning, but all are difficult to find now.

Bang seat is the Martin Baker mk 4.  Should be resin ones available.

That kit has long been slated as inaccurate, less than basic, etc, but I've seen some good models done from it over the years.

This is one of mine, although having had some drastic surgery to get one of the really early proposals.

You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.

New cockpit tub (Hunter, but painted black for the era), olde bang seat, Aeroclub undercarriage, resin early fin, main gear doors and Sapphire exhausts, Whirlibird white metal wheels and an Su-9 canopy.  Plus a lot of plastic card, filler, superglue and baking soda.

[scautomoton]

Lightning cockpits were grey, only the prototypes were in black.

Not strictly true. F1, F1a, F2 and T4 were black interiors. They changed to grey from F3 onwards. Not sure about F52.

[Pellson]

Lightning cockpits were grey, only the prototypes were in black.

Other errors in the kit are the fin being too small and the main wheels are those of the prototype batch.  If you've one of the Sword kits, you can steal an earlier fin.

Aeroclub did a lot of upgrade bits for the Airfix Lightning, but all are difficult to find now.

Bang seat is the Martin Baker mk 4.  Should be resin ones available.

That kit has long been slated as inaccurate, less than basic, etc, but I've seen some good models done from it over the years.

Thanks, Lee. Appreciated, even if this exercise is more for my pure joy rather than building the perfect replica. F.i I'll keep the tub black as that camouflages the total lack of detail very well. bang seat - I've found something that's most likely supposed to be an MB Mk4, but it's an old kit seat (unknown kit, though), but it'll do nicely. It's way better than the original seat in any case.
I always build wheels up, so that's a non-issue, but that fin is more interesting. In what way is it too small? Too short, too low, or both? I'm considering a remedy, if it's easy. 

Handy comparison with a Matchbox F.6 fin:

You cannot view this attachment.

[scautomoton]

I always build wheels up, so that's a non-issue, but that fin is more interesting. In what way is it too small? Too short, too low, or both? I'm considering a remedy, if it's easy. 

Handy comparison with a Matchbox F.6 fin:

You cannot view this attachment.

Looking at a Sword T4/T5 kit I have, the difference between the two fins looks almost identical to your image, albeit your early fin is about 2mm shorter in height than the Sword.

[The Wooksta!]

I know when I was building Lightnings years back that I always used the F3 for F1/1a/2 as the fin in the retool was actually accurate - well, it matched the plan anyway- and I cut it down to match the F1 profile. And the F1 kit was hard to find.  Now, I have all the fins as moulds.

IIRC the chord is out and it's not tall enough.

Oh, and if you replace the Airfix fin with a Sword one, you have to scratch a part of the spine else it's too far forward.  Ask how I know...

[Pellson]

I know when I was building Lightnings years back that I always used the F3 for F1/1a/2 as the fin in the retool was actually accurate - well, it matched the plan anyway- and I cut it down to match the F1 profile. And the F1 kit was hard to find.  Now, I have all the fins as moulds.

IIRC the chord is out and it's not tall enough.

Oh, and if you replace the Airfix fin with a Sword one, you have to scratch a part of the spine else it's too far forward.  Ask how I know...

Thanks. That's good info.
I'll raise it a bit and be done with it, methinks. If I had a Sword kit, then I would probably have built that instead, but trying to just get away with a worse kit is, as said elsewhere, fun in its own way...

*********

Initially having planned this as a rather straightforward build, I've since come across this photo, actually showing the same airframe as Airfix has supplied decals for, XM192. It is most likely still a F.1A as it is missing the small intake on the spine, halfway between the cockpit and the fin, but interestingly, it very evidently features an inflight refuelling probe under the port wing, despite, according to the sources I've been able to find, these only were provided for with the F.2. Hmmm.. 



Re my plan, this shot however put things in a slightly different light, given my idea of extending the operational life of these early birds. And as there actually happens to be an old Matchbox Lightning probe, being surplus of my F7 build a few years ago, then that's just too much of a coincidence, methinks.. 

As a footnote, these probes seem to have been rather rarely used on most marks until the F.6 came along, as there are very few photos of any small-winged Lightning with a probe. Actually, not even the big winged F.2A's are very often photographed with a probe fitted. One wonders why, as fuel seems always to be on a Lighting pilot's mind.

[scautomoton]

XM192 was built as an F.1A and, according to the Tim McLelland book, was used as reference for the Airfix kit you are building!

[Old Wombat]

The kit's only a year younger than me.

Chris & Kit, on the other hand were already retired when it was made.  

[NARSES2]

The kit's only a year younger than me.

Chris & Kit, on the other hand were already retired when it was made.  

Oi you   

[Rheged]

The kit's only a year younger than me.

Chris & Kit, on the other hand were already retired when it was made.  

Oi you   

In the interests of accuracy, my guess is that in 1963 Kit was already  gainfully employed in British industry and Chris (and I)  were just starting secondary education.

[NARSES2]

The kit's only a year younger than me.

Chris & Kit, on the other hand were already retired when it was made.  

Oi you   

In the interests of accuracy, my guess is that in 1963 Kit was already  gainfully employed in British industry and Chris (and I)  were just starting secondary education.

Yup : July 63 I left Cyprus Primary School and in Sept 63 started Ashburton Secondary Modern for boys 

[The Wooksta!]

The IFR probe was bolt on - EE had actually designed something like the TSR2 and later Tornado retractable fuselage mounted one on the port side of the nose - and available from F1A onwards.  Treble one got three F1s as spare aircraft on loan and stuck them on QRA in the hope that they'd never be used as they didn't have IFR capability.

That's XM192 late in it's career when it was with the Target Facilities Flight at RAF Wattisham.  The markings are on a Modeldecal sheet but I can't recall which one.  I know I did it back in the day, along with a few other second line Lightnings.

The F2As didn't really need the IFR probes, being based in Germany with plenty of airfields to recover too. Don't forget that they had the full BFO tank underneath.

[PR19_Kit]

In the interests of accuracy, my guess is that in 1963 Kit was already  gainfully employed in British industry and Chris (and I)  were just starting secondary education.

I certainly was, having reached the giddy heights of  an R&D Technician, Senior Grade , in March that year, and I was working on getting my ONC Auto.