SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE! Bringing a QRA alert to your workbench with our first product release of 2026, a cold war favourite, the 1:48 scale English Electric Lightning F.6.
Flying at its formidable supersonic speed to the Airfix lineup, the 1:48 scale English Electric Lightning F.6 is back on the main apron with 3 fresh schemes to choose from. Ranking at skill level 3, this kit was first released as a new mould back in 1998 and still impresses many with its detail from a kit of its era. The F.6 variant was last seen in the Airfix range back in 2012, with this current release featuring a scheme from RAF Binbrook, 1977, as featured on the box front. The kit features poseable airbrakes, option for the canopy to be open or closed, optional IFR probe, over wing fuel tanks, with a weapons option of either Redtop or Firestreak sidewinders. Once built, the kit measures 350mm in length and 220mm in width, featuring 153 parts in total.
Entering RAF squadron service in 1960, the Lightning represented a quantum leap in capability and performance over the RAF's previous interceptor jets, offering Mach 2+ performance as well as a phenomenal rate of climb. Until its retirement in the 1980s, the Lightning had few rivals for outright speed and climbing ability, however it did have some shortcomings, most notably its lack of range as well as its limited armament of just two air-to-air missiles.
The F3 Lightning introduced an enlarged ventral tank with later versions also being equipped with overwing tanks, improving the range of the Lightning further. These versions deleted the nose guns of the earlier variants, thus reducing the ability of the Lightning pilots to get in close to their opponents. They also did nothing to overcome its missile deficiency, with the Lightning still having to rely on just two missiles. The Lightning was eventually replaced in 1988, superseded by the more capable and more heavily armed Tornado, but a number survive today in museums, a reminder of one of the RAF's fastest fighter jets of all time.
Kit #A09178A English Electric Lightning F.6 is available now from Airfix - Price: £49.99
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