Trumpeter's Lightning comprises only 170 parts - a surprisingly low count for such a big model - but the kit captures the complex fuselage surface with crisply engraved details and
lots of rivets.
You get the option of building either an F.1A with the rounded tail and nose guns, or the F.3 variant with the larger squared-off vertical fin and no nose guns.
Trumpeter had to concede some details to provide the F-3 variant. "Cable ducts" on the fuselage are too short and the dorsal scoop is missing. Both versions should have an air refueling probe, but none is included.
The landing gear bays are nicely detailed with good-looking landing gear doors. Markings are included for both variants.
Apparently, there was a mistake on the decal sheet - the dark blue for the tail markings was printed in yellow - but another, corrected set is included.
You can drop the flaps, open the speed brakes, and pose the canopy open. Also included are a pair of Red Top and Fire-streak air-to-air missiles.
The ejection seat looks OK but lacks seat belts - quite noticeable in this scale. The instruction sheet comprises only 10 steps - but no detailed instructions for painting the interior! A two-sided sheet shows exterior colors and decal placement; I searched the Internet for interior colors.
Assembly was fairly easy, and for such a big model, the fit was very good; I used just a bit of filler on the fuselage seams and leading edges. I chose white-metal main landing gear instead of the injection-molded parts. The instructions don't mention it, but I installed weights in front of the cockpit and in the intake shock cone to ensure the plane would not be a tail-sitter.
For exterior colors, I decanted Tamiya's excellent spray-can gloss lacquers for my airbrush. After masking off areas to be painted red, I sprayed gloss white (TS-26). When that was dry, I followed with a coat of Italian red (TS-8). I let that cure overnight, then masked the red areas and sprayed gloss aluminum silver (TS-17) straight from the can. This gave me just the look I was after - and the paint dries really fast! I then gave the whole model a very thin sludge wash of equal parts burnt umber and flat black acrylic paints.
Decals were problem-free, needing only a little Micro Sol to settle some of the larger ones into panel lines and rivets. Oddly, there were only enough markings for one missile each - even though the aircraft would never carry both types of missiles. The wing walkway stripes were too long, and the yellow canopy outline did not fit quite right and needed prodding.
The only real construction problem I had was attaching the main landing-gear doors. They do not parallel the airframe as they should, and they're off by a fair amount. The plastic gear legs could be cut apart and repositioned to correct this shortcoming, but with metal landing gear there really wasn't much I could do.
Attachments for the elevators were insubstantial - small, molded pins went into a hole on each side of the fuselage but didn't touch much. I glued them to the sides of the fuselage for a stronger bond.
Still, for a kit this big the build was relatively trouble-free. Trumpeter has produced just the right amount of detail without overengineering. The scale looks good, with thin, sharp trailing edges on the wings, and length, width, and height each within a scale foot of published dimensions.
I spent about 25 hours on my Lightning, less than I would have expected with a gloss aluminum finish. I would recommend it to intermediate-level modelers.
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