1:48 Martin Baker Mk.4 BRC for the Airfix BAC/EE Lightning and Other Aircrafts (3D-Printed)

Into the cockpit of a British interceptor

The English Electric Lightning was the only supersonic fighter that Britain took from design to series service by its own efforts. It looked like nothing else in the world: a pair of engines stacked one above the other in the fuselage, a wing with a sharply swept leading edge, and a front end entirely filled by a circular air intake with a cone in the middle. Its rate of climb was such that it reached altitudes other types could not touch, and it counted as an instrument with a single task, namely to intercept an intruder as early and as high as possible. At the cost of a very short range, British squadrons operated it for almost three decades, and a few examples also went to the Middle East.

The seat as a separate part

The item carries the designation Mk.4 BRC and is produced by printing, which shows in the fineness of the small parts, a fineness a cast mold would not hold at this size. Besides the Lightning from the Airfix kit, according to the name it can also be used in other aircraft that carried the same seat.

What to be ready for

Printed parts tend to be more fragile than they look, and when removing the remnants of the supports a sharp cut serves better than snapping them off. Try the seating in the cockpit tub dry, while both halves of the fuselage are still loose.

The Lightning cockpit in miniature

The inside of an interceptor is cramped and the seat takes up almost the whole space between the sides. Anyone who builds the model with the canopy raised gets a view of almost nothing else, so it pays to devote time to seating it precisely and to its height. Offer the part up dry and check whether the headrest does not foul the frame of the canopy.