For those of you, like me, who read the English aircraft modeling press, the hype surrounding the release of these kits (there's also a 1/48 scale F.1/F.3 kit) has been amazing. Apparently this plane occupies a special place in the hearts of the Brits, although to me it's just another jet fighter. Oh well, they probably wouldn't understand my love for Voodoo's either! The English press has been very kind in their descriptions of these kits, most of which is deserved. Reasonable detail and good parts fit are the hallmarks of these kits.

Construction starts with the cockpit, which is really terrible. The detail is virtually non-existent and contains only the barest number of parts: a lame three piece seat, a lame instrument panel, and lame sidewall and console detail. And to think it's been described in one of the English magazines as "adequate". That's a real stretch. Decals are provided for the panel and sidewalls, but they're unusable. The major parts fit together reasonably well, especially the fuselage. Various optional parts are offered for the aircraft depending on whether or not guns were fitted, and also external cable run fairings must be added depending upon the version of the aircraft. As well, the large external underslung fuel tank is offered with or without guns fitted. The versions with guns suffer from poorly molded muzzle detail: It's almost impossible to tell if the guns are even there. The parts breakdown for the wings results in a somewhat awkward assembly process. The top of each wing is a solid piece but the underside is comprised of two parts. These are a main part which contains the trailing edges and undercarriage bay and a second part which is the underside of the leading edge. Alignment is tricky in getting all these to line up and set properly. As well, it makes it tough to capture the complicated contours of the leading edge properly. Looking at photos of the real plane shows how these are anything but straight! The horizontal and vertical stabilizers are all molded as solid pieces which fit well.

Surface detail is very good, being finely scribed. Detail in the landing gear bays is totally non-existent (even worse than the cockpit!). There are a lot of little antennae, fairings, scoops, etc that must be attached to the outside of the fuselage. This is because the basic fuselage parts are used in both kits and the various marks of Lightnings have different equipment fits which results in the many small parts that may or may not be needed. Interestingly enough these little parts all have separate part numbers, even though they're all the same. This results in a very complicated looking set of instructions. Clear parts are all very well molded and very clear.

The nose ring and jet nozzles all have weird little plastic "knobs" molded to them which must be cut off. I'm not sure why they're there, as other manufacturers don't seem to need them. The fit of the assembled tailpipe assembly to the rear fuselage is exemplary: no other company could do better. The decal sheet is very large and totally unusable. This is a shame as markings are provided for six different machines in a variety of markings and paint jobs, with something to appeal to almost everybody. But, the decals are thick, very flat (i.e. non glossy), and unresponsive to setting solutions. You'll want to go to the aftermarket to finish your Lightning.

All in all, this is a kit that builds into an impressive model of what must have been an impressive full sized airplane. Unfortunately, the basic structure of this kit is the only part that's up to modern standards. The detail and finishing parts, such as the cockpit and decals, so important to the overall appeal of a model are just not up to a reasonable standard. One English magazine ended their review with the comment " buy, buy, buy", when they should have said "Why, why, why". Why no cockpit detail? Why unusable decals? Why the wing parts breakdown? Lightning lovers will probably love this kit. Me, I enjoyed it, but wondered why Airfix don't go the extra distance to do a really nice job.