Built pretty much straight from the box this Lighting is finished in the markings of 74 Squadron, circa 1961. It represents serial no. XM135 the first Lightning to enter squadron service with the RAF and is now preserved at Duxford. It was in this aircraft that Wing Commander W Holden, the senior technical officer at RAF Lynham made an unintentional flight when he inadvertently engaged reheat while running engine tests on the airfield's main runway. Despite his lack of experience (The only plane he had flown before this was the DeHavilland Chipmunk basic trainer) he managed to land the Lightning with only minor damage on his fourth attempt after making three abortive approaches to the runway, a considerable feat of cool headedness!
Click link to hear an interview with Wing Cdr. W "Taffy" Holden on YouTube.
The metallic finish has been achieved using Alclad, using chrome for the intake ring, nose probe and other highly polished areas with a variety of shades of aluminum for different panels. I find Alclad to be the best medium for representing bare metal on models, so long as the instructions are followed a good result can always be obtained. Preparation is the all important factor both in terms of actual surface of the plastic (or whatever medium you are working in) and the priming prior to application, different shades require their own priming - for example chrome needs to be undercoated with gloss black enamel - the instructions on the bottle give the relevant details.
Petition on Facebook for Airfix to re-issue the 1/48 Lightings.
This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
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