Subject: Re: BAC Lightning - for Singapore nat'l day
From: "Steve Bamford" <[email-masked]>
To: "Justin Davenport" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 03:50:05 -0700

----- Original Message -----
From: Justin Davenport <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 12:49 AM
Subject: BAC Lightning - for Singapore nat'l day

> 1/72nd scale Matchbox BAC Lightning F.6
>
> by Justin Davenport
> --------------------
>
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here
>
>
> As the Cold War dragged on through the fifties, the major powers were
> beginning to develop supersonic fighters.  At first, the North American
> F-100 Super Sabre and the Mikoyan Mig-19 led the way for fighters with
Mach
> 1 plus speeds to fly operationally in day to day squadron service.  Later,
> as results from X-plane research and operational lessons began to filter
to
> aircraft manufacturers, Mach 2 became a goal for the USAF, USN, RAF,
French,
> Russians, and others.  Initially, the new fighters on the drawing board
were
> designed to fly at Mach 2 plus speeds to intercept nuclear-armed bomber
> fleets before they could get close to the homeland.
>
> One of these fighters was designed by the British Aircraft Corporation and
> was called the Lightning.  The Lightning first flew in the mid 1950's and
> was about ready for squadron service when a "white paper" came out from
the
> British government in 1957.  This paper basically said that Britain
wouldn't
> need any more manned fighters because the threat to her homeland came from
> ICBM's.  Future fighter development would be canceled in favor of a
nuclear
> armed V-bomber deterrent and SAM's.  Later events would show this decision
> to be very flawed.
>
> The Lightning was spared the axe because it was just entering service.
But
> the white paper ensured that the Lightning would be the last indigenous
RAF
> fighter aircraft until the Tornado.  The Lightning served the RAF, Saudi,
> and Kuwaiti air forces for close to 30 years.  The type was developed over
> the years, and always served as an interceptor (as far as I know).  The
> Lightning flew with a radar in its intake cone, which also served to
> regulate air flow into the engine, and this radar was used in conjunction
> with Red Top and Firestreak air to air missiles (also British made).  The
> Lightning had two afterburning engines mounted in a unique configuration
in
> the tail, one atop the other, and also had overwing fuel tanks for ferry
> missions (due to the large landing gear wheel wells).  These were ejected
if
> necessary by explosive cartridges.  (I personally visualized the pilots
> doing a roll, then hitting the jettison button.  LOL).  Early Lightnings
had
> a round tipped tailfin, but that was changed to a square tailfin in the
> later versions, and the later versions also included probes for inflight
> refueling from Victor bombers converted to tankers.
>
> One squadron that operated the Lightning was 74 Squadron.  This squadron
was
> known for its "tiger" theme, and their Lightnings carried a tiger badge on
> the tail.  This squadron was sent to Singapore in the late sixties to help
> defend the city, and they were based at RAF Tengah until 1971 when they
> returned to the UK.
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 03.jpg
>
>   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg
> here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of
photo
> 04.jpg
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 05.jpg
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>
>
> THE MODEL
>
> My IPMS chapter president was holding a garage sale and I ended up walking
> away with a number of kits......including the Matchbox Lightning F6.  The
> Lightning has always been a fascinating plane for me, maybe because of its
> unique looks.  When I looked at the scheme and painting info on the back
of
> the box I initially was attracted to the dark green scheme.  However, as I
> kept pondering the matter, I posted my thoughts on ARC, and the more I
> looked at the 74 Squadron scheme, the more I liked it.  I finally decided
to
> do that scheme, with encouragement from ARC's Singapore contingent, and
got
> lots of help from some ARC'ers with links and info about this squadron.
> Many thanks to all of you.
>
> I began with the cockpit.  The kit cockpit has no detail, just a plastic
> tub, stick, seat, and pilot.  I used some cockpit pictures as a reference,
> and used Tamiya tape painted MM Acryl Aircraft Interior Black to provide
> consoles for the sides as well as some instrument panel squares.  The tub
> itself was painted gull gray, and I painted the "bang" seat as best I
could,
> then used Tamiya tape strips for the harnesses/belts.  But very little if
> any of that detail is visible behind the thick canopy glass, even when
> dipped in Future (which I always do for all clear parts these days).  I
> turned to rescribing the model, which has thick and obvious raised detail,
> but after some problems on one half of the fin, I gave up.  I didn't even
> get to the fuselage or wings - I didn't want to put too many scratches on
> the bird, because they'd show up well with Alclad!!!
>
> After the cockpit was glued in, I glued the fuselage halves, and then made
> the wings.  After gluing them and the elevators on, I found that some
filler
> was needed on the wing roots and nose areas along with the nose wheel
well.
> After I glued the nosepiece on, I found out I'd glued it the wrong way!!!
> That is, the spot where the long pitot tube goes would have fit on the top
> instead of the bottom.  Ah well.  I sanded down the top portion as best I
> could and glued the pitot tube on the bottom, it fit all right.  Then I
> glued on the overwing fuel tanks, which turned out to be a HUGE mistake,
as
> I'll explain in due course.  Finally, I painted the frames and window
> sealant (not a perfect job!) and glued it onto the airframe.  I got the
> plane ready for priming by brushing liquid mask on the entire canopy to
> protect it from the primer and Alclad/Tamiya metalizers.
>
>
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here
>
>
> THE PAINT JOB
>
> Everything went well at first.  I started with gray Tamiya primer, and
> sanded away some imperfections I saw.  I then used Tamiya Silver Leaf - I
> had been impressed by its performance with the Sabre's underwing tanks and
I
> figured "why not" - I wouldn't have to use the airbrush.  However, I was
> disappointed in the lack of shine - and I figured that had to be due to
the
> undercoat.  After all, the Sabre fuel tanks were gloss black before they
got
> the Silver Leaf treatment.  So I sprayed the Lightning gloss black.  That
> went well enough.  But then came some issues.  I sprayed on the Alclad,
but
> I used aluminum as I was out of polished aluminum.  So I masked off the
> areas on the aft and used Tamiya Silver Leaf on the rest of the bird after
> spraying the unmasked areas with gloss black.  Then I used polished
aluminum
> on some areas.  There were a few areas where the gloss black seeped under
> the masking tape so I sprayed more Alclad and used SNJ in some areas.  But
> the areas around the overwing tanks were a serious problem (not finished
> well enough, and had a gritty finish), and I ended up breaking the tanks
off
> when I took off the masking.  I finally got a decent BMF, then reglued the
> tanks and got to work on the landing gear and other items like missiles,
> which were fairly straightforward.  I used Microscale RAF roundels and kit
> decals for the squadron insignia, and the kit was finished all right, or
so
> I thought!
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 06.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 06.jpg
>
>   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 07.jpg
> here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of
photo
> 07.jpg
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 08.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 08.jpg
>
>
>
> THE MISALIGNED TANKS
>
> One month later, I took this bird to my local IPMS meeting.  To my
chagrin,
> I took a close look and found that the tanks were seriously misaligned -
one
> was more forward than the other!  I didn't want my bird to keep looking
like
> that, so I ended up trying to detach the tanks and pylons (which looked
> somewhat unsightly after having to apply lots of filler!) and ended up
> breaking the tanks and part of the pylon for good.  So I ended up with
pylon
> stumps which were even worse.  I'd just gotten a new Dremel tool, so I
used
> it to try to sand the surface smooth.  It sanded too far and made some
> grooves and cuts, so I had to use lots of Tamiya putty and sanding to make
> the surface semi-acceptable.  Now it sits on my shelf with the other
1/72nd
> birds, and since it's a tail sitter I'm using blue tack on the wheels to
> keep it down.  A white metal nose cone would be great for this kit, or
even
> a white metal nose gear or cockpit to keep the bird from putting its end
to
> the ground.  I like the Lightning better with overwing tanks but they had
to
> go in this case.
>
> CONCLUSION
>
> This was an interesting project.  I enjoyed it a lot, and learned a lot
> about the RAF's involvement in Singapore as well as about the Lightning
and
> the missiles that it used.  I liked seeing the picture of the maintenance
> tech standing on the Red Top like a surfer would his surfboard....the
pilot
> fires the missile....the tech rides the Red Top down the runway at Tengah
> and says "Surf's up dudes!!!"  :-)  And the picture of the squadron with
the
> tiger skin was cool.  Many thanks, again, to all of you who provided me
> information, I don't remember all the names, you know who you are.  As for
> my personal experiences with Singapore, I enjoyed a couple of layovers at
> Changi Airport when my family traveled overseas when I was young, and I
had
> very good experiences on Singapore Airlines.  This model is dedicated to
all
> the fine Britons and Singaporeans who frequent ARC.
>
> happy modeling
>
> Justin
>
> References:
>
> http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1999/11/stuff_eng_profile_74sqn2.htm
> http://www.springtime.co.uk/phantoms/74.html
> http://www.petejohnstone.co.uk/74squadron.htm
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 09.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 09.jpg
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 10.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 10.jpg
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 11.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 11.jpg
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 12.jpg
here.
>   Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
> 12.jpg
>
>
>
> Photos and text © 2003 by Justin Davenport
>
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