Lightning T4 Matchbox Airfix cut 'n shut

[Miko]

Here's one for you Chris, what is the super significance of this photo regarding the Lightning . . .



Miko (doing quizzes now, apparently!)

[boatman]

well for a starters its got a refuelin probe an its a mk 6 i think an has it got cannons built in the fuel tank ?

[Miko]

This takes me back to the days of 'If you want it, then you have to make it' modelling...

Yep, exactly that

And if you wanted a bit of extra weight you went for the Aeroclub seats which were the business then....

These new fangled resin seats carry no weight for me! Ha!

Two seat A-7 Corsair and F-106 in the special scheme are two that I can remember building, both appeared in the early editions of Scale Aircraft Modelling,

Do you still have them? Photo's perhaps?

under the editorship of the late Alan Hall,

I subscribed to SAM until 2006, then I decided they just weren't what they used to be, I was only buying them through habit. I too missed the editorship of Alan Hall, and the builds of Ian Huntley and Mike McEvoy's 'tailpiece! I gave them away along with decades of Airfix magazine, I've kept the first 9 volumes of SAM, they were in a smaller format in those days, nice to reflect back and wallow in the nostalgia of simpler days gone by

and I appeared at A&E to get my forfinger sewn up after the scalpel slipped and made it way from the nail to the middle knuckle while carving the spine for the A-7.

Ouch!

Modelling injuries might make an interesting thread in 'chit chat', cautionary tales of hazards in scale model building!

A credit to you skills.

Thanks! Wait until you see my 1/72 Plastyk (made in Poland) A&AEE Gloster Javelin FAW 9 build photos

Miko (putting finishing touches to the what if F-22 scenario 2)

[Miko]

well for a starters its got a refuelin probe an its a mk 6 i think an has it got cannons built in the fuel tank ?

It is a mk6, and it does have a pair of ventral cannon,

A clue is the photo was taken at RAF Valley on 27th April 1988, but why was the photo taken

Miko (a bit cryptic)

[boatman]

bleedin heck Miko i wont know that please tell me oh fountain of knowalde lol
chrisb

[Lee Drennen]

This takes me back to the days of 'If you want it, then you have to make it' modelling...

Yes I’m still that way if I really want it. We got it to easy these days but I like it the technology we have now it could have came at a time when some us are aging and can’t do this intense scratchy like this.

[boatman]

PROBERLY THE LAST LIGHTNING FLIGHT ? because they dint fly much after the late 8o's

[Ian M]

Is that you in the photo miko

[Miko]

Is that you in the photo miko

Unfortunately not, it's Sqn Ldr Derek 'grinner' Smith

PROBERLY THE LAST LIGHTNING FLIGHT ? because they dint fly much after the late 8o's

Sort of, this photo was taken after the last ever firing of 'Redtop' missile, the following day the Lightning stood down from NATO handing over QRA to 56sqn at RAF Wattisham after 28 years service with the Royal Air Force.

The last flight of a Lightning in the UK was 23rd July 1992 where F6 XR724 returned home to RAF Binbrook. . . .

. . . and 'I' was there! unfortunately I can't find the photos I took that day!

XR724 is still at Binbrook owned by the 'The Lightning Association' who recently started the engines on the 27th April this year, 36 years to the day after it stood down from NATO

As you know, the Lightning continued to fly at Thunder City in Cape Town airport South Africa until 2009.

The ex Empire Test Pilot School T5 XS422 is currently in the US with the 'Anglo American Lightning Organisation' who fully intend to return her to the sky! So, the flying history of the Lightning may not be over just yet!

Miko (planning a Lightning build in my head right now!)

[Steve-the-Duck]

Miko (planning a Lightning build in my head right now!)

Just how close are you to proposing a Lightning GB? With the rest of us playing 'catch up'...

[Miko]

Just how close are you to proposing a Lightning GB? With the rest of us playing 'catch up'...

That never occured to me, I just assumed it had already been done

. . . but now you mention it! Ha!

Miko (conforming to experimental requirement ER103)

[Lee Drennen]

. . . but now you mention it! Ha!

Well that will give me a excuse to build a jet alright.