Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Projects featured in this gallery are:

- English Electric Lightning F.Mk.6, Grand Phoenix / Airfix 1:48
- Eurofighter Typhoon F2, Revell 1:48
- Fairey Swordfish Mk.II, Tamiya 1:48
- English Electric Canberra TT Mk.18, Classic Airframes 1:48
- Hawker Hunter FMk.6, Revell 1:32
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I, Tamiya 1:48
- McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR-2, Hasegawa 1:48
- Gloster Gladiator, Roden 1:48
- Jet Provost TMk.5A, Aeroclub 1:48


English Electric Lightning FMk.6 74 Sqn RAF.

Grand Phoenix / Airfix 1:48 scale

The project is detailed below with some build shots and explanations, but it is just finished (5 Aug 08), so here are some pics of the finished Lightning. Where you see two...the one with the ladder belongs to Tom Potter from our new club in South Lincs.






























This is probably one of the projects I've been waiting longest to do. As you've probably seen elsewhere on this site I have the awesome Echelon EE Lightning in 1:32 on long-term build, but I needed a quicker fix than that now.

Hopefully this is something like the finished project looks? You decide...





The project will have removable "Overburger" wing tanks and I'm going to try and get that variously-shaded natural metal look - we'll see!? My plan is to base the silver on the Alclad II metallic range over a grey or gloss black primer - watch this space for progress on that one.

Plenty of pics and captions follow to explain what I'm doing as and when we get to the painting stage.

Decals
These come from the excellent (no, stunning!) Cutting Edge decal sheets. In this instance English Electric Lightning - Part 3 (CED48077)





References
Here are some good references...I've built up lots of others, but these are a good start for a variety of finishes to get that important minds-eye image of what I'll be working towards over the coming weeks...










Cockpit,
Here are some of the cockpit shots illustrating the Cutting Edge resin cockpit. I already had this so used it here, but you get plenty of good resin and etch in the Grand Phoenix / Airfix offering. I used one of these sets beforeand they are excellent - fitting well into the Airfix fuselage.



The cockpit grey has come out a bit dark here, although on the FMk.6 the grey cockpit colour is very similar to Hannants Xtracolor Interior Grey (used on most USAF modern jets), with a few drops of RAF Barley Grey.














Wings
I was trying to fit some CMK resin wheel wells but as you can see here, you need to be very careful with the product you buy. I have two boxed sets and one (seen here)



...had wells moulded much too thick for the thin wing and even if the moulding block is removed they simply don't come close to fitting. However...in the other box I had, the resin parts supplied are much thinner and completely new items that are a much better fit. they still need a little sanding to fit, but they go in ok, so check this out if you have any?

The plastic wheel wells moulded into the kit wings need to be removed with side cutters and sanded.



Engines
The Grand Phoenix engine replacements work very well. There are some nice etched engine faces for the Rolls Royce Avons, plus some very delicate afterburner rings that sit just inside the kit exhaust housing - all very neat.







The multiple wing sections need careful preparation, sanding and polishing to take the wheel well inserts to an acceptable level. But...you can get there in the end without too much trouble.



A key feature of the natural polished metal Lightnings is the highly polished intake ring. This is a separate part and will need sanding to fair it nicely into the front fuselage. By leaving it off until much later, the Airpass radar and bullet fairing can be inserted towards the end of construction. Note the characteristic 'olive' green coclour and weathered appearance of the fairing. \the 'silver' here is Citadel Colour, Bolt Gun Metal hand painted. This will provide contrast to the lighter, brighter main fuselage colour later on.

Your painting will hardly be seen once the bullet is fitted and so you can easliy risk hand painting it to speed up the build process.



Tamiya gloss black is a very good base coat for the Alclad 'silver' paint that will be built up over the next week or so in light coats. The black should help to generate that depth to the silver that is in fact natural metal. It will be at least 2-3 days before I even think of applying the first coat of Alclad. This should allow the acrylic paint to harden off fully.

The black paint was sprayed here at about 16 psi and was well thinned and applied quite 'wet'.



The gloss black has been left for a couple of days to harden off completely and the fin masked for the No.74 Squadron machine I am making. Note the thin natural metal leading edge that's been left exposed.



Next comes the interesting part....the first coat with Alclad II Highly Polished Aluminium. The 'silver' that you use needs to reflect the aircraft as it was at a specific period in time (well, that's my view anyway!). So the natural metal look I am after reflects F.6 XR769/'B' in 1970 when visiting RAF Tengah, Singapore.



Once a second coat is added, about 10 mins after the first, the effect that you want can be built up. I think the 'overburger' tanks have come out especially well - looking quite natural metal to me.



Further weathering begins with the addision of light coats of Alclad Pale Burnt Metal around the rear of the airframe and along some of the recesses. Hard to see here, but noticeable on the actual model. Incredibly, soon it will be time for the decals and further weathering!



I just love the huge belly fuel tank of the F.6 variant - should look stunning when the aircraft sits, squat, on its tricycle undercarriage? Note the absence of the gun pack on the 74 Squadron F.6s at the time. Thoughtfully both options are included in the Airfix kit.



In case you are wondering...there's been no polishing to this point, all that work was done before the gloss black went on. Even then, I only used the nail polishers described elsewhere on the site and you may have read in my articles for the mags.




Eurofighter Typhoon F2 Revell 1:48 scale No.3 Squadron RAF Coningsby 2007













Not the subject of this project, but I just love the image!

Here are a couple of new images of the actual Eurofighter Typhoon F2 featured in my build. Seen at the end of 2006.





This has been a really enjoyable project. A full build / review article is scheduled for Tamiya Model Magazine International (TMMI) in July 2007, so you'll be able to get the full lowdown then.

Overall this is a good kit and exceptional value for money. It's not without its problems, fit in some areas, notably the jet pipe area, air brake and engine intake have taken quite a bit of fiddling about with cyano acting as a filler and some rescribing.




The main wing root join isn't too bad, but still needs filling. I've used cyano here and when dry it is sanded with a nail file and finally polished with the excellent Mastercasters pads.


The kit airbrake is a nightmare if you want to install it closed. Basically it doesn't fit! So, with careful sanding it eventually went in and then needed filling all around the join and rescribing. The end result is good, but need to decide whether the work is warranted.


The canopy mirrors are fashioned from an old chrome-coated platic christmas decoration - us scale modellers are resourceful, if nothing else!?





















Fairey Swordfish Mk II, Tamiya 1:48 scale


Here's the next one - just finished. Some of you may have seen a few of my own images on www.britmodeller.com ? A full build and review should appear in Model Airplane International (MAI) in due course...

















I've used fine fishing line for the 4 external control lines on the real side of each fuselage half. They've been painted silver so that they become just visible, yet still look refined? At least that's the idea!


Note the D-Day stripes on the underside of the wings and on the fuselage have thin black demarcation lines - all the stripes were sprayed with Xtracolor. A tip is to use a slightly brighter 'white' for the stripes so that they look as they have been painted on after the main white fuselage colour - which would have happened in practice. I used a slightly off-white for the main fuselage.


Mr Mark Setter decal setting solution is fantastic stuff - much better than some of the well known decal wetting solutions. The decals have really gone down well and easily over all the raised detail on the fuselage sides!







This really is a stunning model from Tamiya. There's so much modelling in the box...Don't be put off by the price, there are many hours of fun to be had here!


English Electric Canberra TT Mk.18, Classic Airframes 1:48













The clear parts fit well and Tamiya masking tape can be used here to protect them during spraying. Some of the panel lines need to be rescribed when the separate nose section is attached - but it all lines up well.


The wheel wells are resin inserts and they fit extremely snugly within the wing halves - you can see the lovely detail inside.


The Olfa P-Cutter is an excellent scribing tool...easy to handle and use. I use Dymo tape to act as a rule, which is great because it doesn't slip, unlike a steel rule.


A serious amount of nose weight is needed to keep the nose gear on the tarmac! Just put in as much as you can - there's plenty of room. You may need to support the finished model off its undercarriage when not displaying otherwise the undercarriage 'banana' effect may kick in!!


The wing training edges need to be sanded to get a more realistic thin section. Sanding on their inside edges before joining avoids unnecessary damage to the upper and lower outer surfaces.


Here the characteristic black-yellow Target Tug markings have been applied. Note the curved scheme demarcation lines


Note here how the Barley Grey upper surface scheme wraps around the leading edge of the tailplanes


Tamiya tape is used to begin masking the 100 Sqn unit markings on the fin


The yellow checker board is masked ready for the dark blue paint


Tamiya tape masks are cut.These will be used to create the pale blue backing for the scull and crossbones


Masking and painting is now complete for the 100 Sqn unit markings on the fin. Just the scull and crossbones decal to go


Top of left wing showing antennae and walkway locations


Underside weathering using pastels and Post-It notes - reference to real photographs is essential for realism


The kit decals go down very well over the gloss enamel finish


Six small panels on top of the fuselage need to be sprayed black


Antennae on top wing inboard of engine nacelle - port wing only


Pastel chalk dust (dark greys mainly) are used here, applied with a small stubby brush, to get the final weathered effect


Classic Airframes box art for the English Electric Canberra TT Mk.18






Here's 4 images of the real aircraft when seen at the IAT in later 1980s











Revell Hawker Hunter F Mk.6, 92 Sqn RAF in 1:32 scale

If you've visited before, thanks, but I have now reworked the images so that they are crisper, sharper and show more detail. Hope you like them?

As many of you know, I have a very soft spot for the Hawker Hunter. It must surely be one of the most stylish jets of the early jet era, if not, of all time? Revell originally released the FGA Mk.9 and this has been followed by the Mk.6. You may have seen my build article in Model Airplane International a few months ago, so I don't want to go over it all again here. Save to say that quite a few people have asked my to publish some additional images here and so that's what follows. I hope you like the build?

The Revell kit is simple and good quality, with just about everything fitting together well. Even Neil (alias FGR-2) has completed a superb example in overall wrap around scheme (see www.Britmodeller.com).






























Tamiya Spitfire Mk.1
A good friend of mine, John Gillies and I go back a long time now. A long time ago John talked of his father and that he was a Battle of Britain fighter pilot. Sadly John's father was shot down and killed after only a few weeks.

This project is for John and is based around the inspiration gained from the accompanying photos of John's father actually sitting in his Spit.














I always wanted an RAF F-4 in my collection and this was my first attempt - at least two others are planned for some time in the future!

How about that for a box-top image...? It sold me the kit!











Here are some of the build up pics...
The Aires set for the RAF Phantom wasn't available when I built this kit and it was a nightmare to get the resin to fit the fuselage - I just hope that the one intended for the kit fits better? It can't be any worse!!! The resin set does sport some nice detail though. I used Airwaves resin seats for the British Martin Baker Mk 7s.










The seats are nearly finished - just some fine detail and a wash with Tamiya Smoke X-19 to go...






Humbrol Metalcote Polished Steel and Gunmetal are used for the distinctive titanium areas at the rear of the Phantom


Some of the rivets are enganced using a 0.3mm pin vice bit and drill


The parachute housing is opened and detailed






Flightpath's AIM-9L's certainly look the part when finished, but they are so overengineered that resin would just be so much better for the modeller?


Humbrol Metlcote Polished Steel is ideal to replicate the metallic forward section of each AIM-9L. It is buffed using a cotton bud until you get the desired finish - go easy though...













Roden Gloster Gladiator 1:48
The Roden kit is very good - especially for a limited run injection moulded kit. The elevators are a very tight fit to the wings and can be set at whatever angle you wish - a nice touch. I used the Eduard etched set and everything goes together very well.