Repaint of P1B XA847 (shiniest repaint I've done)

[TheCameronPerson 48]

I was just looking through some repaints of the various Lightnings available and realised that a period that's been ignored slightly is the early development batch Lightnings namely the P1B, seeing as the P1B is very similar to the Lightning F1 I thought I'd make use of the paintkit.

 

Bit of background on the P1B. It followed on from the English Electric P1A (would've thought it) which was the first ever "proof of concept" if you like, but these two prototypes were limited to around mach 1.53 due to it's aerodynamics and somewhat underpowered Sapphire engines with unreliable reheat. The P1.B was in effect the aircraft that entered entered RAF service in 1959 as such it's usually regarded as being the "first" Lightning. XA847 was special due to her being the first of three

P1.Bs and being the first British aircraft to pass Mach 2 which it did in 1958. She was powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon mk209 (F1s had the Avon mk210) but lacked a weapons system and radar. After her flying career she was retained for a series of trials such as being fitted with a strange fin and spine configuration that never flew operationally and then being used in gravel bed arrestor trials. She ended up being retired to the RAF Museum at Hendon where she was swapped in 1988 for the F6 XS925 which took her place (nice little display too if you get the chance to go). After Hendon she was bought by the scrapman and she found herself at Marine Salvage in Portsmouth with a few other Lightnings (two other Lightnings that were sent here are now live; XS422 and ZF579), luckily her importance was realised and she was saved. As far as I know she remains in storage in a dismantled state somewhere in Suffolk, this makes her the last surviving P1.B.

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I've painted her as she appeared in 1957 when she first received her ventral tank when she was described as being highly polished and having a "mirror finish", I've tried to show this as much as possible. For those who have never seen a "polished Lightning" here's a picture of an ongoing restoration by Jet Art Aviation.

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And here's XA847 in FSX..

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Once again thanks to @Eivin Stenso for his time in testing the repaint and setting up the screenshots. As usual all of this screenshots can be found within a folder included with the download. Here's the link for the file over at simviation, enjoy.

 

https://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=Cameron+Slater&x=18&y=11

 

Ps. I've run out of ideas for repaints so if you have any suggestions please feel free to pop them down here.

[wingman5 149]

3 hours ago, TheCameronPerson said:

 

Ps. I've run out of ideas for repaints so if you have any suggestions please feel free to pop them down here.

Hi Cameron

  Oh you will have lots more scope with the T5 ! .( that reminds me I'd better look to creating a pain kit)

       Nice job with the P1b ,  and yes they could be (and were!) brought up to a mirror finish , 

 The new formatting for the reflections will give even more scope .

 D

  

 

[TheCameronPerson 48]

16 hours ago, wingman5 said:

 

  Oh you will have lots more scope with the T5 ! 

  

 

Well it's funny you should say that because I've dug out a repaint I did a few months ago in prep for the T5..

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Obviously doesn't look the same on the F3 as it does on the T5 but at least I've done some the layers so I can transfer them and it'll save me some time

Cameron.

 

[dhazelgrove 42]

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Shiny!!

 

Dave

 

[Henk Schuitemaker 4]

2 hours ago, TheCameronPerson said:

Well it's funny you should say that because I've dug out a repaint I did a few months ago in prep for the T5..

Obviously doesn't look the same on the F3 as it does on the T5 but at least I've done some the layers so I can transfer them and it'll save me some time

Cameron.

 

Dave R has already painted Cranfield T.5 XS458 - at least it was there in the last beta build we got to test.

[TheCameronPerson 48]

It's fine I've got a back up.. luckily Russell is in the habit of painting his T5 in more than one interesting paint scheme during its time at Cranfield

 

C.

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[Eivin Stenso 17]

I'm amazed by all the good looking paint schemes they came up with for the Lightning. 

[000BIGMAC000 2]

Dave does that mean the F6 might be brought up to T5 sta deeds for matetials!?

[wingman5 149]

Hi Rick

 I have deliberated over this ... and at the moment the answer keeps coming up no .

It would involve changing all the modeldefs and re exporting , and changes to all the wing, fuselage, fin and ventral textures on all the models  ( irrespective if they are polished or painted)  and so the whole thing .would need retesting before it could be offered for sale again , and if I were to do it , all existing repaints would be redundant .

 The texture changes  have little effect on the majority of the existing textures ( only two are polished ) and  not much benefit is seen in FSX or earlier P3d versions , and although WE might like our ally polished , others don't , so all in all the cons ouweigh the pros.  Anyway if I did the F6 how long do you think it would be before someone posted "what about the F3 " ?

 

 D