CT Modeller Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 (edited) Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II 421st Fighter Squadron ‘Black Widows’, 388th Fighter Wing Hill AFB, Utah, present day ORIGINALLY POSTED THIS SOME MONTHS AGO BUT JUST MADE USE OF THE SPRING SUNSHINE AND GOT SOME BETTER PHOTOS (Doesn't make it a better looking aircraft though, and you still can't see the Have Glass glitter, but it's there - honest) Brown tone = new photo. Blue tone = old photo. Don't ask me why! Like many other people, I regarded the F-35 as being too ugly to model. But things change! I was tempted to buy a 1/72 Academy kit at a reasonable price (£20 I think it was) at Yeovilton Air Day this year, and it just went in the stash. Meanwhile out of interest I did a bit of research on what shade of grey to use, etc, and at the same time a friend of mine sent some photos of a 421st FS aircraft at an airshow in Greece. One of the major things that removed my barrier to building one of these was the fact that production aircraft no longer have those RAM panels painted in a lighter grey, so none of that awkward masking, though there are still some subtle shades of grey on various panels. I also then discovered Mr Paints acrylic lacquer airbrush paints, and found that they do FS 36170 ‘Camouflage Grey’ and ‘Have Glass’ special matt varnish to give that metallic sparkle, so the fire was lit and off I went to build one of these: A pleasurable wander through Wolfpack Decals resulted in me buying sheet 72-125 which includes a 421st F-35A (it also includes a VFA-147 F-35C which got me looking forward to a 1/72 F-35C kit which surely can’t be too far away). Building this model made me realise how different the F-35 is from any other modern jet (except perhaps the F-22) with those weapon bays, facetted construction, sensors everywhere, lack of HUD, strange paint, etc and it was a great pleasure in the end to build it. Edited March 27, 2020 by CT Modeller 28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Fabulous build of an aircraft that I've yet to warm to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 (edited) Nice. Thanks for the info regarding the Mr. Paints varnish. Where do you get yours? Good to see some squadron markings creeping into the F-35 fleet. I'm holding out for some good Fleet Air Arm squadrons I am one of the few 'fans' of the F-35, looking to build a A, B and C version at some point. Probably use the 1/72 Hasegawa kit's though. Cheers. Edited December 1, 2019 by Smudge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Niiiice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmouredSprue Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Looks really nice indeed. After seeing one in a local air show recently I'm also tempted to build one. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeaton01 Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Must admit, I still find them jarring to look at, but that is a very nice model! Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 12 hours ago, Smudge said: Nice. Thanks for the info regarding the Mr. Paints varnish. Where do you get yours? Good to see some squadron markings creeping into the F-35 fleet. I'm holding out for some good Fleet Air Arm squadrons I am one of the few 'fans' of the F-35, looking to build a A, B and C version at some point. Probably use the 1/72 Hasegawa kit's though. Cheers. I bought my varnish direct from Mr Paints here: https://www.mrpaint.sk/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 6 hours ago, kapam said: Must admit, I still find them jarring to look at, but that is a very nice model! Well done! I agree - they are jarring to look at. If you just look at the nose area from just behind the air intakes forward they look cool though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Nice job. I think the F-35 looks brilliant and infinitely interesting, but then I'm biased 😎 I built a 1/48 one earlier this year and although a fan of MRP I thought their FS36170 was too light in colour (went for Colourcoats enamel in the end) but I really like your finish with the contrasting panels 👍 Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desert falcon Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Very clean F-35 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Looks great! Very nice tidy build that. I might make an F-35 one day when the RAF or RN decide to have squadron markings again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Nicely done, like it with the pylons on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now