discussion Airfix 1:72 Ee Lightning F.2a

[colin m]

So, I needed a quick plastic fix after Christmas and this is what dau' no.1 bought me. I did actually say no more models as the stash is growing exponentially. But as she really wanted to get me a model, she got me this.


I haven't bothered with a proper build thread, for that sort of thing, have a look at Rick's 1:72 Lightning, a much nicer and better detailed model all around.


This is being built generally OOB, as quickly as possible so I can get to the painting stage. This is where the fun will start.


The box. I'm going for the NMF version.


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The sides of this air intake had to be shaved a touch to close the fuselage up, just like Rick's !


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Apart form the above shaving, the fuselage goes together easily. Except my tail was bent!


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The jet exhaust is a three piece unit, nicely detailed.


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Some moulded wheel well detail, not bad for 1:72. The wings were now fitted, but were a little loose. Not a big problem, but just be careful with alignment.


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Now primed with cheap grey primer from 'Wilkos'


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And then, the undercoat. A lightning in gloss black. I like it, I could stop here and slap the decals on right now. The panel lines are not highlighted, it's just a natural effect of the gloss black.


But no, this is where the fun starts. Hopefully after posting this, it will get a coat of Alclad chrome. Now I have seen some early pictures of these aircraft in a nmf, but even for them, chrome is too much, but that's ok, as this layer is only going to act as a base coat. After the chrome is applied I'll then overcoat with other Alclad shades until the desired effect is achieved. What effect ? I don't know, I'll let you know when I get there ! This gloss black could do with polishing and touching up in other areas. But, being an imperfect finish, will help vary the tones of the NMF I think, we'll see.....


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Right then, time to poison the atmosphere.

 

[takeslousyphotos]

I like this so far Colin..... I'll be watching the rest of your build. I don`t normally touch aircraft as I always screw them up...... But I do like the lightning and you are doing a fine job of this one.

 

[rickoshea52]

I think the intake capping should be chrome anyway Colin. Looking forward to the Alclad finish.

 

[colin m]

I think the intake capping should be chrome anyway Colin. Looking forward to the Alclad finish.

Sure thing, that bit will be staying chrome. The rest will be - something else

 

[colin m]

So, here is my lightning in my hi-tec spray booth ready for spraying.


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And after a couple of coats of Chrome.


As I said earlier, the surface wasn't really good enough for a chrome finish ( I know this as I've sprayed Alclad chrome on a properly prepared piece before and the finish is near mirror like - amazing stuff) but that finish wouldn't be suitable for the Lightning. So this is ok, but you can see the dust has already settled. It will need careful cleaning before the next round.


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[papa 695]

Very nice Colin and like you said it looked great in the gloss black

 

[Guest]

Coming together quick and well.

 

[colin m]

Very nice Colin and like you said it looked great in the gloss black

I think there was a South African one in gloss black - I should have stopped at that point.............

 

[flyjoe180]

Very nice work so far Colin.

 

[colin m]

Well, weathering Alclad has to be one of the most tricky things I've ever tried. I can't say I'm totally happy with the result, but it looks ok 'in the flesh'. The weathering was achieved just by post shading using various shades of Alclad. You can imagine, spraying various shade of the same colour was a bit of a pain, sometimes I just had to follow the 'wet' line caused the paint landing on the model.


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Comments and ideas welcomed.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks good in the photos Colin. It looks slightly weathered, so the layers of Alclad have worked. That's really going to pop when the decals are applied.

 

[Guest]

Good job for now, cheers

 

[Robert1968]

Looks very nice Colin ( I've never worked with alclad before) you seem to have made the lightning strike lines pop out really well. Liking the subtle weathering.


Looking forward to seeing more.


Robert

 

[colin m]

Not much of an update, but it's now ready for decals. And there's loads of them, lots of tiny little ones.


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[yak face]

Nice work colin, i really must get round to doing a nat metal lightning soon, cheers tony

 

[Robert1968]

Love the look of this Colin ( I tried an all look to a P51 once ( disaster ) you really have made the metalwork and paint finish look awesome


Best of luck on decals


Robert

 

[BBdave]

Looks great I've never used alclad but love the finish folks get with it.


Dave

 

[PaulTRose]

thats looking really good

 

[Guest]

Great finish with the alclad, looks pretty realistic. Have fun with the decals

 

[PhilJ]

That's quality so far Colin, I'm a big fan of alclad too but haven't tackled a full NMF yet, I'm very eager too and I have a couple of ideas for a couple of planes.


In regards to your "weathering problems" not that anyone would have guessed, I wonder if after laying down a primer if you give it a Matt black coat first then masked some patches and laid some gloss black down then sprayed the alclad administration normal would this give a impression of weathering or would it just look patchy?


Might try it