Progress on the Lightning - straight forward enough apart from the forward fuselage fit and the area around the jet pipes needs some work as the internal location 'lug' fouls everything. The location of the forward gear leg is a little imprecise - get it right and the 'seat' of the model is perfect; I've seen a couple on BM that don't look right at all because that front leg is wrongly located. After deliberating for ages over which finish to apply - the decal sheet is huge - I've gone for the natural metal and blue of 92 Squadron of RAF Germany, 1972. No Alcad for me I'm afraid, this is Halfords Aluminium straight from the can with a bit of a wash to bring out the nicely engraved and raised detail all along the fuselage.
The metallic finish has though come out a little 'grainy' over the grey primer so I've had to 're-do' with an old-fashioned paint job using Humbrol 'metallic' and highlighting a few panels with 'Rub n' Buff' which is very easy to work with..nearing completion and I'm starting to think that the cockpit is a little bare. I've added some canopy actuator tubes and rods but I wishing that I'd done more now as its all going to be quite visible with the canopy open..at least its not a tail sitter. Those airbrakes will probably be posed open.. heresy !
More Airfix goodness! I'm on a silver finish roll, I think - it was that Vampire T11 that did it! On another note, I've got a query on my blog about Norwegian He115s - can you help? You're the only person I can think that might know - unusually, the internet hasn't been much use.
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