DELTA WING LIGHTNING

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Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 1,261

I bought a couple of Airfix Lightning kits the other day and boy what a mistake , the fit and finish of these 'last of the line' kits is beyond the pail.

So one went into storage and one has become a kitbash attempt at a 'what if' delta wing Lightning, I first started by bringing the wings down lower and further to the rear of the fuselage.
Next went in plasticard fillets to make the delta shape, due to the new wing position the undercarriage became a headache so in the bin it went and there will be a stand made in due course.

The rear mounts for the tailerons were shaved down and smoothed out, the tailerons after some alteration have now become the cannards.

The model is basically in its whole state now and there will be some wet a dry sessions to smooth her out and then I will try and find some drop tanks and missiles to finish the look.

A few pics for now.....

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/4315/img2995oq1.jpg

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/3747/img2994dr7.jpg

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/448/img2993by4.jpg

I am no paint expert so for this kit I will try a coat of Hallfords undercoat and some Tamia spray silver.

I have tried the Halfords primer trick and the results are promising, some more filling and sanding to do then one more coat of primer.

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/5044/img3001tb8.jpg

Now to try and find some weapons and decals.

I finally managed to pull my finger out and get things finished, I would like to cobble a story together to go with her but I'm pretty much knackered so here goes.

After the success of the export Lightning’s to the Kuwait and Saudi nations the BAC pushed to develop the Lightning by extending range and weapons load, the wing was revised to a delta plan form incorporating a canard fore plane, this gave the Lightning unprecedented turning ability, also the larger wing gave an increased fuel capacity that almost doubled the Lightning’s range.

New weapons came in the form of the Black Shadow, a much improved and more reliable version of the Red Top missile which gave an all aspect attack capability against supersonic and stealth targets.

Later weapons additions came in the form of LGB's, Aim 9L sidewinders, runway denial munitions and BVR missiles, improvements in the radar system gave a look down ability and one of the best pulse doppler systems in the world, also revamped electronic defence systems and chaff and flare systems.

All these improvements made the Lightning a world beater leaving the likes of the F-15 trailing in a distant second place.

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/1479/deltawinglightning04ec7.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7906/deltawinglightning03nr9.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2556/deltawinglightning02av2.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/933/deltawinglightning01no4.jpg

Thats all for now folks, comments welcome.

John

Original post

Member for

17 years 4 months

Posts: 1,060

Hi John, had a look at all your model threads. The kits look great but I REALLY like this modded Frightning. I also note in the background of the first few photos a Trumpeter Gannet kit, is that built or going to be built? Hopefully the link below will take you to my Gannet. Bex

http://bexwh773.fotopic.net/p40699037.html

P.S: If u havent built it yet, I found the flaps to be a REAL git :eek:

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 1,261

Nice Gannet bex,

I have my fuselage together and wings are on, just trying to find the time at the moment :D .

John.

Member for

17 years 4 months

Posts: 1,060

Hopefully you will post pics of the Gannet when finished? (Please LoL) As the weather is appalling here, I have a Cranberry Mk8, the F4 & a COncorde to finish er once Ive dug them out of the junk pile thats my work table LoL. Oh just to be on the safe side to make sure they see ya Delta Frightning, drop Andy & Milton a PM to get their reaction to it. Bex