Sword 1/72 EE Lightning T.4/5 - RAF Cold War Fighters part 2

[boatman]

Stalled somewhat on this - I'm having a lot of difficulty with the decals! They look fine on the backing sheet, but there are a few nasty problems - the larger roundels etc, are OK. I'm finding that the 'film' holding the decal onto the backing sheet is very patchy, some you can put in the water tray & the thing floats off in a few seconds - the next you have to soak for about 5 minutes. Coupled with that, they are very fragile....................
I can only put one or two on at a time, as I'm getting exasperated! There are black lines outlining the wing walk areas, and I'm certain that these are going to give me grief!
Dave

WELL Dave when i did my lightning an had to do them wing walk black line i just put the whole decale in warm water an waited a few mins then lifted the whole backing card with the W/W line on it an gently slid it off with a cock tail stick the long black 1/48 th decal onto the wing an postioned it in the corect place an they all went on ok so hope it works for you Dave
chris

[Dave Ward]

The problem is with the patchiness - with a long piece, you'll get one end free almost immediately, then the other end refuses to let go & with the decal being fragile, that causes a jigsaw puzzle to reassemble
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Rapidly approaching completion..............

Just a few bits to add - the prominent nose probe ( won't last ), the missiles, and the stand in canopy. Next pictures will be in the completed section.
It has been a real tussle with the decals I've managed about 10% of the stencils - the rest either I couldn't get to release from the backing paper, came off straight away, or were too small for me to handle ( or see! ). It came very close to a test flight into the bin several times! I managed to resist this, but it has consequently taken a lot longer than it should!
Dave

[Ian M]

Looking very sharp Dave. I too have a soft sport for the frightening.

Fun fact. At a training camp, might have been red flag RAF lighting went up against US F-16, yes they're that old. F16 pilot over the radio. " Hej guys, slow down a bit you're making us look bad".
RAF responded by going nose up at full throttle. Lol

[boatman]

Looking very sharp Dave. I too have a soft sport for the frightening.

Fun fact. At a training camp, might have been red flag RAF lighting went up against US F-16, yes they're that old. F16 pilot over the radio. " Hej guys, slow down a bit you're making us look bad".
RAF responded by going nose up at full throttle. Lol

YES Ian I QUITE BELIEVE THAT as ive seen that no end of times up at coltishall as i can remeber my dad comin home from work as he was heavy duty crane driver an he said that the amreicans liked the lightning come to that i never heard a bad word about them only trouble was i was told dont know if it was true but for every hr of flight time they needed up to 90 hrs of serviceing on the ground but a fab earoplane way ahead of its time
chris

[Dave Ward]

The Lightning was a pure interceptor - nothing else. It had such short legs that any interception had to be supported by in flight refueling ( The overwing tanks were used for ferrying only ). Much like the Mig-25, it was fast in a straight line, but turning wasn't it's strong point. Only having two missiles meant that a raid of a dozen or so more Tu-95 Bears would soon have swamped the defences. It was a short lived answer to a problem that lasted far longer than it should have, due to political & financial shortcomings.
Dave

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely Dave, despite all the decal issues.

ATB.

Andrew

[Airborne01]

In Nicosia airport, with the UN, Lightnings used to beat up the airfield almost daily and ultimately stand on their tailpipes - most impressive!!
Stevel

[Dave Ward]

Finished

https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/sword-1-72-ee-lightning-t-4-5-raf-cold-war-fighters-part-2-done.38490/