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Time to make another WIP post I will probably forget about lol. I have a really old (for my standards, so like 4 years old) Lightning that really needs some TLC. Made it many years ago when I was still new to the hobby. My plan is to restore and convert it to F.6 XS903 (this plan has since been altered and I'm converting it to and F.2 instead) I stripped the paint, I'm sure my neighbours were confused with what I was doing lol. The result was quite good. I then moved onto reworking the interior. I was looking forward to fixing the ejection seat, that was in a pretty sad state. Ready for scratchbuilding and details I am very happy with the result. Outdated photo but I have started putting everything back together, the fit is quite awful, as expected, and there will be a lot of gaps to fill. Expect more updates soon...

I have the Dmold corrected item, had a look at it and thought: "so nearly round" I want to try my hand at turning one in alu and 'deforming' it to the right shape (will be hard, as it Is and elusive non circle) does anybody have four view drawings of the ring (front, back, side, top)? it would help in determining if it would be worthwhile.

Hobby 2000 from Poland is to rebox the Dragon/Cyberhobby 1/72nd Lockheed P-38 Lightning kit. - ref.72041 - Lockheed P-38J Lightning - Europe 1944 - Limited Edition https://ksmodel.pl/sklep/szczegoly/hobby-2000-72041-p-38j-lightning-europe-1944-limited-edition-1-72-24284/ - ref. 72042 - Lockheed P-38J Lightning - Pacific 1944 - Limited Edition https://ksmodel.pl/sklep/szczegoly/hobby-2000-72042-p-38j-lightning-pacific-1944-limited-edition-1-72-24285/ - ref. 72043 - Lockheed P-38M Night Lightning - Limited Edition https://ksmodel.pl/sklep/szczegoly/hobby-2000-72043-p-38m-night-lightning-limited-edition-1-72-24286/ V.P.

Evening all, Here is my most recent completed build - the excellent 1/48 P-38G Lightning from Tamiya. This is a well known kit so I won't go into much detail about it, but suffice to say it is near perfect, and probably the best kit I've built. Tamiya have done an excellent job designing a kit which is easy to build, goes together well with no gaps, allows for strong location of landing gear/gear doors and has great detail. It's a shame that their decals are so thick. However, that is where Exito Decals come in with this: The set has been reviewed right here on Britmodeller already: Without repeating what Mike has already said, the Exito decals are well printed (by Cartograf! so expect good things) and offer some unique albeit racy marking options. I chose the 3rd option, Lt. Edgar L. Yarberrys P-38G of the 48th FS as used in Tunisia in June 1943. This allowed me to use the nose art in the decal set, and play around with some interesting weathering options given the desert conditions. Without further waffling, here's the build I think this is my best build so far (very few mistakes which is pretty good for me ) and I'm tempted to get another P-38 already, though I may wait for the almost inevitable P-38J or L from Tamiya. I used Gunze/Mr Color C304 for the OD, and MRP Neutral Grey for the...er, netural grey. Is C304 the right shade? I don't know - it seems a close match to the spray can Tamiya recommend in their instructions, and to some reference photos of restored P-38s I've seen, but is probably a little light for the OD used, but hey, maybe the Tunisian sun has bleached it? Aside from these, I used MRP signal red, MRP black, Tamiya flat yellow, Tamiya LP-11 silver, MRP interior green and Tamiya Nato black for the rest of the build. To give a sense of random fading/weathering, I pre-shaded the model prior to the base colours, and then used Abteilung 502 oils for further panel to panel variation. I used a few different sepia, umber, grey and sand shades to add some random fading similar to what is visible in period photos. Panel lining was done with Ammo blue-grey wash (over an X-22 gloss coat), but a lot of areas with heavy traffic were redone with Abt. 502 Starship filth thinned with VMS universal weathering carrier (standard). The exhaust staining is heavily thinned MRP tan and this is the only part I am not too happy with as it looks a little too light, but I can't change it now so it stays! The Exito decals went down well, yet again reaffirming my faith in anything printed by Cartograf! Speaking of, Exito don't provide all the stencils, and I didn't fancy using the Tamiya decals (I used one in the cockpit and it took some work to conform to a slight curve) so I used some stencil decals from Fundekals, also printed by Cartograf which were also excellent. Although the real P-38 (and Tamiyas decal placement guide) have a lot of stencils marked out on the underside, I didn't apply all of them because I'm lazy and not all would be visible. The Tamiya kit requires the gun barrels to be added early in the build, but I would almost certainly snap them off, so I used a Quickboost set which allows the barrels to be added later. The Quickboost set is well detailed, fits well (unlike a lot of resin replacements) and means no snapped barrels, so given it's low price it's a win for me! Also visible here are the Eduard resin wheels which I used because the Tamiya main wheels are supplied in 2 halves and I would ruin the tread cleaning them up. As a plus, the Eduard ones are bulged nicely. The weathering was done with oils over an X-22 gloss coat, and once that was sealed, watercolour pencils from AK and Faber-Castell. The "Babe" in question...Lt. Yarberry had nice taste This was the only decal where the carrier film didn't disappear that well and is still a little visible but not the end of the world. The trademark chipping on the wing roots was done with Tamiya LP-11 silver and AK heavy chipping fluid. The toughness of the Gunze C304 lacquer meant a lot of work was needed to chip it, but that just meant I had more control of where I was chipping. I sprayed, chipped and resprayed the wings a couple of times trying to get this right. The same method was used to chip the nose and engine covers especially at the panel lines where the crew would handle them during maintenance. The leading edge paint chips were done with Humbrol masking fluid applied with a sponge over the LP-11. Also visible here are the HGW belts - my first attempt at using them, and whilst they look excellent, I am not sure the effort is worth it in 1/48 - at least HGW provide enough spare buckles! The staining on the props/cowls was done with oils and pencils. The turbos were painted with a mix of Tamiya dark iron, silver and JGSDF brown, and weathered with thinned MRP lacquers and oils. Another look at the nose art The landing gear and bays were all done with LP-11, which is a great silver paint; it sprays extremely well and is very tough once try - must be why it's always out of stock in the UK. The tyres are Tamiya Nato black, and the weathering is again Abt. 502 oils, Ammo washes and pencils. I added radio wiring with Plusmodel 0.2mm lead wire to add some detail to the radio bay. Also visible is a bit of the Quinta studio 3D cockpit decals. Again these were something I used for the first time and they look excellent (although a little grainy), but in the case of the P-38 so little is visible once built that they aren't worth it - if the kit you're building is more visible then go for it though! Also visible are some of the Fundekals stencils. Something I struggle with is shiny oleo cylinders. Silver paints don't give the necessary shine, buffing a small area is difficult and although it was shiny, the Uschi chrome polishing powder seemed to lose it's lustre quickly. So I used a Molotow chrome marker refill, applied with a brush and this gives a very shiny, smooth finish. Given how hard it is to see the underside of the centre section, I didn't concentrate weathering here, focusing instead on the more visible areas. I applied some sand oils behind the gear as if it was thrown up by the wheels. The rest of the grey underside was weathered with oils again. The staining is again oils and pencils. The decals settled in very well over the surface detail That's it then - sorry for the rather large images, but I also upgraded my camera to the awesome Nikon D850 and whilst it's great the images are quite large! Anyway, thank you all for looking! Cheers,

Hello everyone, I finally finished a model on Britmodeller! Here is the WIP post: I proudly present my 1:72 EE Lightning F.6 Overall, I am happy with how it turned out, took me a good year to finish it because it was an on and off project lol. Hope you guys enjoy it too.

Model Number 5 - best build by far - cannot express how good this kit is - it was a little expensive, but the reviews were right - easily the best fitting model so far, the detail is insane and you can barely see any seams between the panels, in-fact there was very little glue needed the fit was that good. Very clever how the kit is put together overall, Tamiya really seem to have thought about the method of construction - there was serious engineering put into this! an absolute joy to build. Not a bad effort, but overall I wasn't that happy with the finish - this is of course no detriment to Tamiya - the model is excellent, its my crappy paint job - just think i dint know when to stop, i may retouch this one at some-point.

I’ve wanted to make a grey Lightning for a while, and finally got round to doing so. This is the 1/48 Airfix kit, which went together pretty well apart from the left wing being a bit warped, which after some bending, filling, sanding and more bending hopefully doesn’t show too much. All comments and suggestions for improvements welcome! And a huge thank you to @bar side for the extra decals.

Hi comrades! Here is my Lightning F.53 in ground attack configuration. RSAF was the only air force to use Lightnings in real combat. The build is here: Used aftermarket is decals (Model Alliance), Reskit MATRA pods, Master pitot, Aires resin ejection seat, wheel wells and exhaust, Eduard brass, New Ware masks. The pilons and other additions was scratch built. Thanks for looking

Hello! I've actually almost finished this kit so most of this is just recap. It all started with a masking tape seatbelt and a dream about a year ago now... Aaaaand of course a model too... I was very much looking forward to making it as Lightnings are one of my favourite aircraft and I have only built one before it and that one turned out baaaad (pics of both together later). I decided to go for the Metallic RAF Luqa/Cyprus 1974 decal scheme So, as I was saying, I started with the seat, I added a bunch of stuff using card, bluetack (cursed ik, would do it differently in hindsight) and masking tape, I think it turned out good for 1:72! I would like to thank shortCummins for some excellent reference images on his wonderful 1:48 build I then built the aircraft (I don't have any pictures of the process or the cockpit but it was mundane anyway). There were some fit issues, especially at the bulge, but I will get to that later. I then brushpainted it using citadel stormhost silver Looks a bit nasty at this point it gets better later don't worry. I then neatened up the front I then thought, hey, it might be a cool idea to add panelling. So I did. here's a side view of it in-progress wings I then made the gear and other parts as sub-assemblies. I then started putting everything together and decalled the tanks. I somehow lost the "hud" so I scratchbuilt one. I think it turned out good. Here it is with and without tanks at that point. It's starting to take shape! Here it is next to aforementioned old lightning: I have a feeling this one will look much better I also fixed the fit issues on the "bulge" by puttying it and giving it a good sand. It's time for decals! And here it is now! I still have quite a lot to do... approx 30 stencils, some more paint (nose gear doors for example) and weathering. It's going well though, however I did cock up both front decals. Oh well, I tried to fix it. I don't know if I'll be able to update soon though, school is going to be really extreme after the Easter holidays. Hope you guys enjoyed it so far! See you later!

P-38F/G/H 3D SPACE Cockpit Sets (3DL48009, 3DL48010 & 3DL48011 for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard SPACE Tamiya’s new P-38 Lightning in 1:48 was a welcome release, as the old Academy kit is getting long in the tooth now and needed a successor. It’s a lovely kit, but some new-fangled detail sets can always improve on styrene injection moulded parts at this scale (and many others too). Now we have a trio of 3D Printed instrument panels with Photo-Etch (PE) accessories to use instead of either the kit parts or traditional PE. The Instrument Panels are 3D Printed with relatively new technology resin “inks” onto a carrier paper, with depth replicated by successive layers in different colours as appropriate. Instrument faces are also overcoated with a clear gloss-coat to give them a shine and replicate the glass. The other details are supplied on a fret of PE brass that has been nickel-plated and pre-painted with detail and colour. Eduard's new SPACE sets arrive in a flat resealable package, with different branding and a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are wrapped around. P-38F SPACE 3D Printed Cockpit Set (3DL48009) The 3D Printed sheet contains a brand-new one-piece instrument panel with glossy dial faces plus a number of dials, black box faces and a few small placards. The PE set has a set of four-point seatbelts; rudder pedals; support for the canopy interior glass panel; control column dial; skins for various boxes around the cockpit; overhaul of the twin throttle-quadrants and other instruments on the sidewalls. A little filling and scraping off of moulded-in detail will be required to fit some parts, but nothing taxing. P-38G SPACE 3D Printed Cockpit Set (3DL48010) At first glance this set is identical to the P-38F set above, but if you look really hard at the panel, there are a couple of dials in the main panel that are different, and some changes to the side consoles. Let it not be said that Eduard don't differentiate between the smallest details. You might also have noticed that the PE sheets are the same for all three sets. P-38H SPACE 3D Printed Cockpit Set (3DL48011) This one also looks identical to the P-38F and G sets above, but closer inspection reveals that there are a couple of dials in the main panel that are different, and the side panels have reverted back to more closely resemble the earlier F. Conclusion 3D Printed panels are very impressive, and Eduard’s method really lends itself to these WWII birds, so the resulting panels are believable, simple and realistic, backed up by the PE extras that give you a little more depth around the rest of the cockpit. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Had this mostly built gathering dust on the shelf for a couple of years. If it wasn't for the fact that this was mostly built up, it was too advanced in build to enter into the Interceptors GB but since as I'd just done the MiG, I thought it was only right that I should complete its western counterpart Finally got it done & at last got to grips with Alclad as opposed to the Vallejo Metal Colour on the MiG. Added another pic of them both side by side for size comparison & comparison between the metal finishes. So this is the Sword kit which is a short run kit & should be treated as such. The seam lines on the underside were a pain to ensure that they didn't show up after priming. There was a lot of filling & priming involved but the underside join still faintly shows through. Sword provides a resin insert for the two Avon exhausts which are quite nice only once in, they're not a perfect fit. Either a fine shim inbetween the fuselage halves is needed, or a little bit of filler around the resin is needed. Talking about the resin exhaust, would have been good if they had produced a resin nose ring. The kit halves around the nose were short shot, so it would have taken some sprue filler to correct that, so I added the Quickboost resin nose ring for the Trumpeter kit which fitted exactly & improved on the overall length of the model. I also find that Sword kits in 1/72 have very shallow fine panel lines, so I usually give them a going over to slightly deepen them. Decals are a mix of the kit decals & used some stencil data from the Airfix F.6, only those that applied, similar to what went on the F.3. Thankfully the Sword tail fin markings actually fit the tail fin which was a bonus as a lot of the time with large dcals, they're not always exact in dimensions. Everything else is just out of the box. First success using Alclad over their gloss black base. Used some Vallejo Metal Colour for picking out some individual panels. Used Ammo Mig red for the spine, custom mix Klear gloss & Ammo PLW. English Electric Lightning F.3 XR719 D Wattisham Summer 1965 And a couple for size comparison. Thanks for looking! Martin

Italeri is to release a new tool 1/48th Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II kit - ref. 2810 Not a bad news considering the only other available 1/48th F-35B kit is the Kitty Hawk one. Now we'll just need a better F-35C. Source: https://www.italeri.com/uploads/news/AY8p8Mc4VebT1GVJ5SVhR0wRFuvMlyG6nbu5dgSD.pdf Box art V.P.

P-38H Gun Barrels (648596 for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard Brassin After the launch of Tamiya’s new P-38F Lightning in 1:48, a limited edition of the P-38H in a special box has arrived, drawing in more modellers to their excellent kit. Here comes the aftermarket! As usual with Eduard's smaller Brassin sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package similar to their PE sets but with different branding, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. This set contains barrels for the nose of your kit that are drop-in replacements once you have removed a couple of moulded-in pips inside the kit’s nose cone part. There are four barrels on a spacer part that ensures correct arrangement, which slides in through the top four holes in the nose, with a further short barrel that has a moulded-in collar to obtain the correct projection for the lower gun. Each barrel has a tiny “bubble-catcher” tube added to the tip, so ensure you cut thos off before installation, and you should note that the barrels aren’t hollow, but in this scale it is hardly visible, and you can always drill them out if you feel the need. The cooling jackets are perforated and there is the correct step-in where the jacket ends and the very tip of the muzzle is exposed. Casting is excellent as usual, and this quick upgrade to the detail should improve your model incrementally at low cost, which is exactly the intent. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Finding myself in a weird situation of wondering if my Airfix Lightning F.2A has *enough* stencils.. 🤪 I accidentally got hold of the starter kit from flea bay last week and when I looked at the decal sheet immediately thought it was very small. I have compared it to the F.6 I also "accidentally" acquired a while back and it seems to have a lot more. Does anyone know if the F2A had less stencils or is this a result of the F2A being a cut down starter kit? Or maybe the green camo scheme makes the stencilling less visible.. Typing this also makes me realise I appear to have a "stash", something I swore wasn't going to happen this time round as I was only going to build a Phantom and a Tornado for old time's sake. Oops... Al.

Hello guys! While I am in qarantina,-at work place (1150 kms away from home) I am not able to paint my kits So, I left my 1:72 Airfix B-17G aside and focused on my 1:48 P-38J. There are lots of negative commends about the kit but I wanted to give it a chance. Mine was moulded in 1993 therefore I found out that my decals are dead! I didnt decide which paint (OD-NG or metallic) yet. I am open to any ideas I intend to use Eduard's zoom set at cockpit. first; my poor B-17g (fortress mk.III) waiting its fate... sexy box art. So far, dry fits seem ok. Some modellers say 'it is ok when you dry fit the booms, but the party starts when you glue in the wheelbays' so I am a bit scared. I stolen wheels from Tamiya's kit. Tamiya is slighty bigger and looks much better.

Another Ebay purchase. Not my favourite aircraft growing up, but like the new Lightning its grown on me, plus I think the box art for this one looks amazing. Normally i have a mooch around on scalemates and on here for reviews and builds for any pit falls to lookout for or aftermarket needed, but for this one I went in blind. Having just built 2 airfix buccs, and in the past the jaguar and tornado gr1 I wasn't really expecting much, but that was fine, planning on just a quick out the box built after stalling trying to build the revell gr4 farewell tornado. Box Art and Sprue shots, Cockpit was just sprayed with Tamiya medium sea grey and kit decals used for the instrument panels, seat looks pretty good out the box, sprayed black and dry brushed with silver, and put the pilot in to save time messing around with harness straps. Engine and intake area fitted nicely and was pretty impressed with the detail and fit of the kit, but its been an enjoyable change just to sit down in one evening and be able to reach this stage with out any faffing about. Pilot doesn't fit into the seat, so removed the base of the cushion, and sanded down the base of the seat a little. Rest of it came together pretty quickly, no need for any filler, no flash and very little sanding needed to tidy up the parts once off the sprue. Still undecided on the final paint scheme, but leaning more to a wrap around camo with silver/grey undersides.

F-5A Recon Lightning Conversion Set (4399 for Tamiya) 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a fast aircraft, and when stripped of unnecessary weight and combat equipment it was faster still. Lockheed developed the F-4 as a reconnaissance airframe with a new nose to house the cameras where the guns had been, plus the necessary controls and avionics to perform the task. The F-5A was a P-38G conversion, with 181 airframes made. The Set This set arrives in one of CMK’s yellow card boxes, with six grey resin parts on four casting blocks, seven clear resin parts for the camera windows, a sheet of decals and even some masks for the camera windows. The two largest parts make up the new nose, which entails cutting a small section from the two fuselage nacelle parts, which are shown on the accompanying instructions. Before gluing the new nose in place, the window apertures should be de-flashed and the crystal-clear resin windows glued in place, then the nose cone added. Later in the build a small antenna is fitted to a pit on the upper nose behind the faired over gun troughs. Inside the cockpit is a new more rounded control yoke, and an instrument to fit inside the centre cockpit. Another yoke is included on the casting block, but this is unused. Markings There were only 20 of the type made, with two on the decal sheet. F-5A 4213965 "Shark", 12th PRS, Florennes, Belgium 1944 F-5A, Groupe de Reconnaissance 11/33 "Saviie" , white 80 maned Jeane, Sardinia 1944 The decals are well-printed with good register, sharpness and colour density, and you will need to complete the decals with the kit supplied stencils, as this set includes only the national markings and individualisations. Conclusion An interesting set that will fill a gap in the market that will either be missed by Tamiya, or arrive sometime before the heat-death of the universe knowing their glacial release schedule. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

P-38 Lightning Brass Undercarriage (for Tamiya) 1:48 Aerocraft Models To the joy and surprise of modellers Tamiya recently gave us a new tool of the iconic twin boom Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Ali at Aerocraft had the same feeling, and has been busy at work creating this set to replace the kit parts in tough brass to alleviate our concerns. The set arrives in an unassuming ziplok bag, with three parts inside, all made from brass. With two main gear legs and the nose leg. Preparation of the brass parts will involve removal of the casting gate with a file or a motor-tool at very low speed. The moulding marks on the top and bottom of the part should be similarly easy to remove using a small file with sanding sticks used to smooth it out once the task is complete. Conclusion This set not expensive by any stretch of the imagination, and guarantees resilient gear legs for years to come, providing you use either super-glue or epoxy to attach it to the plastic. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Evening all, Just pondering my next build since I'm nearly at the end of my vampire and only then got a Tornado to go. Given my cold war fascination, it really needs to be a lightning, and nothing says cold war more than a Gutersloh F.2A. I see Airfix do one, seemingly in two versions, one being a "starter kit". My question is, are the two kits the same? From what I've seen it looks like the starter kit just has only one option for markings - the green one, which is fine by me. And is it a decent kit? Cheers, Al

I am a little bit surprised this this aircraft hasn't been brought up earlier for another STGB. I mean the first one way back in 2015 and even then I surprised there hadn't been an STGB for it already. She is a bit of a forgotten aircraft and is over shadowed by the Mustang & Thunderbolt, but it was a very important aircraft with over 10,000 being built. It did everything during the war with claims that 90% of all aerial film taken over Europe was from a P-38. But it was in the Pacific that it was most successful in the hands of America's top aces, Bong, McGuire and MacDonald. So why not build one....or 2 or 3 or be like Enzo and build a squadron! Plus with Tamiya's new jewel and possible/probable variants there's now no reason not to. ...and da list: 1, trickyrich - Host 2, TEMPESTMK5 3, Corsairfoxfouruncle 4, dnl42 5, gingerbob 6, JohnT 7, GREG DESTEC 8, stevehnz 9, franky boy 10, peterairfix 11, Arniec 12, Beazer 13, rafalbert 14, jrlx 15, torbjorn 16, grufsnik 17, John Masters 18, JOCKNEY 19, diases 20, almac 21, kir 22, Dansk 23, Andwil 24, Scargsy 25, alt-92 26, Hockeyboy7627, 27, wellzy 28, Ozzy 29, Alan P 30, AdrianMF 31, Wez 32, 33, 34, 35,

As far as I know, the RAF never intended to use its Lightnings for ground attack missions. The underwing pylons were normally an exclusive feature of the multi-role export model, the F.53. For marketing purposes BAC used the F.53s with the registrations G-AXEE and G-AWON that were on display at Farnborough and Le Bourget trying to convince potential customers. There are plenty of photos of these aircraft, sometimes carrying a bewildering amount of MATRA and Microcell rockets in the fuselage, under and above the wings. Both aircraft were later delivered to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. However, there are also photos of what seem to be standard F.6s on display at Air Shows with the underwing pylons of the multi role version. Such aircraft are XP697, XS903 and XS934. The last two even carried squadron markings of No. 5 and No. 11 Sqn, so it looks like BAC borrowed them from RAF squadron service for marketing. So I wonder whether every RAF F.6 could carry underwing pylons although they probably never did so in squadron service? Any thoughts?

I built this oob from the old 1997 Airfix kit, which I thought despite its age went together pretty well. The famous 'Tigers' of 74 Sqn were the first to fly the mighty Lightning, and the only unit to operate the first F1 version. Flying from Coltishall under the command of Sqn Ldr (later Grp Capt) Peter Botterill, the squadron's aircraft began receiving black fins soon after entering service, and formed the Tigers aerobatic team that displayed at Farnborough and other venues in the early 1960s. This is Sqn Ldr Botterill's aircraft, XM143/A. All comments and suggestions more than welcome. Keep safe out there.

Dear Colleagues Here is the founding father or is it the patron saint of Britmodeller, the EE Lightning! This is the Airfix kit boosted with Aires exhausts, Eduard PE, Quickboost air scoops, Pavla cockpit and Master pitot tube (which speared my finger on one occasion). Can't say it was an easy build regarding fit. The F2A was only to be found in 19 and 92 squadrons based in Germany and only 31 aircraft existed. They were operated by 19 squadron at RAF Gutersloh until 1976. I didn't want to do exactly the same aircraft as the Airfix markings so found a photo on the internet of this bird and used the Extradecal decal extras set for Lightnings The figure gives you an idea of the size of the beast Hope you like it? Andrew

I dip in and out of modelling and it's been ages since I last built anything. My wife bought me the new Tamiya P-38 kit for Christmas and I wanted to start building the moment I opened the box. The kit is so well engineered that it's easy to build with no filler anywhere! I feel like I've had to learn how to use the airbrush again but the Vallejo ModelAir and Tamiya acrylics are very forgiving. As other builders have said, the kit decals are quite thick - which also meant they stood up to me moving them round a lot! - but they settle in with softener. There is a bit of silvering on the tiny stencils but I can live with that. I tried using hairspray for the first time to get the wear on the wings around the cockpit - perhaps a bit much given the lack of wear on the rest of the aircraft. I used oils to accent the panel lines and to give a bit of depth to the colours (using dots of colours and then pulling them over the model with a tiny amount of thinners on a wide brush). Overall I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out. Photos are done on the workbench so not brilliant... I'll do something better ones when the weather is good enough for decent light. Comments welcome!

After the F-35A (link) Academy is to release in 2020 a 1/72nd Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II kit - ref. 12569 Source: http://academy.co.kr/1aden/site/01_academy_kor/notice/2020_catalog.pdf V.P.