Well Gang,
My new Trumpeter 1/32nd BAC lightning arrived recently and couldn’t wait to have a look at the kit.
This kit can be made as either a F.1A or a F.3 it can’t be made into a F6 as it has only a small under belly fuel tank, the F6 is a double fuel tank.
Vesion A - Lightning F.1A, XM174, N’56 sqd RAF Wattisham 1963 [red fin]
Version B - Lightning F3, XR711, N’111 sqd, RAF Wattesham 1965 [black/yellow fin] isn’t it strange how trumpeter have copied decal versions from Airfix, surely they could have been more original.
At first glance i thought wow WOW this is going to be a big one, so i did like any ony normal or insane modeller would do and rip all of the plastic bags to have a look at this monster. You get 11 complete sprues which contain all the goods, All the panel lines are recessed and detail is quite good.
First of all i’d like say that for £90 there seems to be a lack of PE in this kit and for a scale of this size i would have expected to see some, no evidence of seat belts neither, so some belts are to be sourced, anyone know if there are PE belts for the Revell 1/32nd Hunter ?if so they will do as i think both have the same M/Baker seat.
The seat is made up of 17 components so anyone who gets this model will love making up the seat.
In the cockpit which looks very detailed indeed there are no Decals for any of the cockpit details, you do get a black film part which goes behind a clear dash part, even airfix’s 1/48th Lightning has nice cockpit decals come on Trumpeter i did pay £90, call me bone but i think you can do a nice job with cockpit decals, i’ll have to find my fine brushes out LOL
Had a look at the rear exhaust rings in which every body is saying there completely the wrong ! To me the don’t look that bad so it won’t bother me at all.
The rear exhaust tubes are moulded as one whole round unit so painting these neatly will be a pain, Airfix’s Lightning are split down the middle so they can be painted with ease, just looking at the sprues i’m begining to think some parts are copied from the Airfix jobbie.
Most large Trumpeter kits i’ve seen have all steel undercarriage to take the weight of the finished model, well this kit has only the main undercarriage legs in steel, THE FRONT IS PLASTIC so i think this may well be a serious weak spot, seeing as there will be a ton of lead above it :roll:
Tyres are black rubber type.
The Main Wings where they attach to the fusalage are very tiny indeed and don’t look that strong at all and look to me that they will move like a pair of birds wings when you pick it up. Maybe they could have made ‘interlocking’ points like the ones fitted on 1/48th B17 Main Wings or even a main angled spar could have been added, infact i’ve put the two halves together and taped it all up securely and you can press the sides in
Flaps can move up/down but the aelrons are in a fixed position.
NOTE Trumpeter have now stopped sending out this model as a fault has been spotted on the fin flash and needs to be rectified by a new set of decals.
Box Art
Fuselage halfs, which really doesn’t have any internal bracing in the middle so i think stiffeners will have to be added here !
The ‘‘dodgy’’ rear exhausts.
Weak plastc legs are supplied but i’m not using them
Very nicely detailed Fire streak/Redtop missiles, i’ll still be making up the unused missiles and mounting them on a plinth.
F1 and F3 fin types are supplied.
wheel well/panel detail.
Spot the fault on the decals ??
Just to give you an idea just how big this is the other unfinished Lightning is the Airfix 1/48th kit.
Thanks for looking.