Another Hotrod for the Badger Air Militia

[billn53]

I recently built a couple of supersonic "hotrods" flown by the Wisconsin Air National Guard. They were a Meng F-102 Delta Dagger, with markings circa 1972 after winning the William Tell competition, and a Hasegawa F-16C done up in markings commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Wisconsin ANG, in 1998:

 

 

 

A quarter-century separates those two aircraft, and I realized that it will soon be another 25-years since the F-16 carried those anniversary markings. Then, I learned that in 2023 the Wisconsin ANG will transition to the F-35A Lightning II. I decided to round-out my little collection by adding a F-35 in hypothetical markings of the "Badger Air Militia"

 

I will be building Academy's F-35A with a smattering of aftermarket:

 

 

 

 

 

For decals, I will use kit items supplemented with decals from Furball Aero-Design's "F-35 Anthology" sheet:

 

 

 

To make this uniquely a Wisconsin ANG bird, I decided to add tail markings as currently flown on the 115th Fighter Wing's F-16s:

 

 

 

I actually printed up some decals with the above markings, but then I discovered this sheet from Wolfpack Decals:

 

 

 

The above are better than what I could achieve, so I'll go with those and keep my homemade items as backup.

 

Let's take a peek inside the box:

 

Two main sprues in gray plastic:

 

 

 

A white sprue with the weapons bay, landing gear bays, and air intakes, plus a black sprue for the cockpit, nozzle, and other items. The canopy is molded in a single piece in very clear plastic.

 

 

There are also two identical sprues with a variety of weapons:

 

 

 

The kit's decal sheet looks nice, but I've had mixed results with decals from recent Academy releases, so I'm glad I have other options available.
 

 

The instruction manual appears to be excellent:

 

 

 

Before starting work, I gave my bench a good cleanup. I've completed four builds recently with only minor housekeeping in between, so the work area was in great need of tidying-up.

 

 

 

I skipped right over Steps 1 and 2, and began with the cockpit. I built up the kit ejection seat and prepped the cockpit tub for some Eduard PE. I gave both a base coat of dark gull gray using Hataka Orange-line lacquers. This is the first time I've used these paints, and they behaved very well in the airbrush.

 

   

 

It should be an interesting build!

 

 

[billn53]

Most of today's effort has been working on the ejection seat and cockpit.

 

This is what the F-35's ejection seat looks like:

 

 

 

The kit's bang seat is a pretty good match, with exception of the seat cushions and headrest, which are too thin and the wrong shape. I used Apoxie Sculpt to re-work these items:

 

 

 

After painting, the seat now looks more like the real McCoy:

 

 

 

It should look even better after I add the harnesses and Eduard PE details.

 

Moving on to the cockpit, here's a pic of the pilot's office:

 

 

 

Note the wide aspect main display. The Eduard set includes a pre-painted display, but to my eye it didn't look at all realistic. I decided to have my display turned off, which I simulated by putting a piece of black decal over Eduard's graphics:

 

 

 

Here is my cockpit with the rest of the Eduard PE added, and my ejection seat temporarily sitting in place:

 

 

 

Last item for today's report... with the cockpit well on its way to completion (Step 3), I decided to play catch-up and do Steps 1 & 2 of the kit instructions. I installed the weapon bay in the fuselage lower half, which also includes the main gear bays (Step 1). Although molded in white plastic, I went ahead and gave the main landing gear bays and their associated parts a coat of Tamiya white primer:

 

 

In Step 2, the intake trunks are installed. Unfortunately, the trunk pieces needed some putty to fill in a couple of depressions:

 

 

 

The design of the intake assembly is quite ingenious. The intake parts fit into the lower fuselage half like so:

 

 

 

And then part B14 is added to complete the assembly:

 

 

 

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll finish up the ejection seat and get it installed in the cockpit. Then, I'll add the intake trunking, nose gear bay, and cockpit to the lower fuselage half. At that point, I'll be able to join the upper and lower fuselage halves together.

[billn53]

I was up before daybreak this morning, so after my first cup of coffee put some productive time in at the bench.

 

I finished up the ejection seat, adding the Eduard PE harnesses and details for the parachute container behind the headrest:

 

   

 

I glued the cockpit on top of the nose gear bay, and then installed them in the fuselage lower half. I also finished assembling the intake trunk pieces.

 

 

 

The nose gear bay fits precisely in the lower fuselage, with no possibility for error. However, care must be taken when installing intake part B14 not to create a step at the forward fuselage join:

 

 

 

Before gluing the fuselage halves together, one must decide whether to open up holes for the optional wing pylons and/or the radar reflectors on top and bottom of the fuselage:

 

     

 

Other than the very long glue line involved, assembling the two fuselage halves posed no problems and (except one item, described below) the joins were very tight.

 

 

 

The only gap issues were at the front of the two air inlets:

 

 

 

A bit of stretched sprue, glued into the gap, made quick work of correcting this problem:

 

 

 

Here are a couple pics showing the cockpit after closing the fuselage:

 

   

 

I really should have waited to install the seat, as it protrudes over the fuselage and is just asking for something to break off. To mitigate against this, I taped a chunk of sponge in the cockpit:

 

 

 

I want my F-35 to be posed in its "clean" configuration, so I glued in place the weapon bay covers that Academy thoughtfully provides. These fit very well, but can be made to fit even better with a bit of fettling. After gluing them in place, I used tape to compress the fuselage a bit and further reduce the gaps along the two covers:

 

 

 

Here is the result. A few hairline gaps (easily filled) but otherwise, a perfect fit!

 

 

 

That's it for now. This build is moving along much faster than I had expected. Let me know what you think, please.

 

[alt-92]

Looks to be a nice kit to do, so following this for reference.  

Maybe it'll help with my aversion to this particular type 

[billn53]

29 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Looks to be a nice kit to do, so following this for reference.  

Maybe it'll help with my aversion to this particular type 

I’m not especially fond of the F-35, either (so why do I have three more in my stash?)

 

[billn53]

I puttied and sanded all the minor seams on the fuselage, so now the fuselage is nearly ready for painting. My immediate goal is to install the canopy before priming and painting the aircraft. The F-35's canopy is tinted, which I will accomplish in the same manner as I did for my Wisconsin F-16, i.e., with thinned Tamiya smoke. However, the F-35's canopy appears to have a bit of a yellowish tint, so I've ordered a bottle of Tamiya clear yellow which I will apply after the main smoke color is in place. 

 

 

 

In preparation for adding the canopy, I painted the canopy sill and sunshade with Tamiya Nato Black, as well as the recess below the nose where the clear sensor glazing with go:

 

 

 

The tail fins' fit is very flush to the upper fuselage, so I'll finish them separately and install after the fuselage is painted. I did find that the slot for the fin locating tab is overly wide, allowing the fins to be misaligned when installing, so I added some styrene shim to give a tighter fit:

 

 

 

The elevons needed a bit of fettling to give a tight seam, but other than that they went on A-Okay. In the photo below, I've temporarily fit the fins in place, without any glue, which would not have been possible before adding the shims.

 

  

 

Lastly, I installed the four Luneburg radar reflectors. The actual reflectors are removable, and serve two purposes. First, they enhance the F-35's radar return to make the aircraft more visible to Air Traffic Control radar. Second, by "de-stealthing" the F-35, they hide the aircraft's true radar cross section from foreign intelligence collection. You can read more about the F-35's Luneburg reflectors here:

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/f-35-luneberg-radar-cross-section-russia-estonia-2017-5

 

 

 

 

 

I've accomplished about as much as I can with the fuselage, until I get the canopy in place. While waiting for my Tamiya clear yellow to arrive, I will next focus on the landing gear.

 

[billn53]

It is taking a bit longer than expected for the clear yellow to arrive (should be here tomorrow), but I've not been idle.

 

First up are the landing gear. Here is a pic of the F-35's nose gear. Note the prominent landing light.

 

 

 

and, here is mine:

 

 

 

To give shine to the landing light, I returned to one of my favorite products from the pharmacy's cosmetics section:

 

 

 

Here are the rest of the landing gear, with a bit of Eduard PE added:

 

 

 

Res Kit's wheels painted and attached to the gear legs:

 

 

Next, I added a bit of detail to the Electro-Optic Targeting Sensor (EOTS) under the nose:

 

 

 

 

 

Again using my nail jewel lenses, I added two of the smallest to the kit's EOTS, and gave them a bit of color with Tamiya clear orange:

 

   

 

Here is how it looks with the EOTS's transparent window installed:

 

 

 

Finally, I did a fit check with the canopy and the story is not good. First, the ejection seat was sitting too high. I was able to extract the seat and, with a bit of work, was able to lower it enough to remove the interference with the canopy. Even with the lowered seat, the canopy did not fit correctly. If I pressed the front in place, the rear would rise up, and vice-versa. I ended up having to trim cockpit sun shade, which was hitting the front of the canopy:

 

 

 

Eventually, with some fettling of the canopy itself, I was able to get a reasonable fit:

 

 

 

All is not perfect with the canopy, however. Although the plastic is very clear, I discovered a couple of bubbles in the molding. There is no way to get rid of these, and unfortunately they stand out against the cockpit's dark colors:

 

 

 

Maybe, after I tint the canopy, the bubbles will be less noticeable. Hope springs eternal!

[billn53]

My clear yellow arrived today and I went straight on to tinting my F-35's canopy. Here it is after tinting with Tamiya smoke, followed by a light spray of clear yellow:

 

 

 

I used the technique described in the video below, with one deviation. In the video, the smoke and clear yellow are thinned with Tamiya X-20A acrylic thinner. After spraying the tint colors, the canopy appears cloudy, which is corrected by a dip in Future. I followed that exact procedure when I tinted my F-16's canopy. For this build, however, I used Mr Color Leveling Thinner (50:50) instead. I've found that leveling thinner prevents the canopy from becoming cloudy, thus making the final Future dip unnecessary.

 

 

 

After tinting, I did some additional fit checks and discovered I needed to trim a bit more away from the instrument panel sun shade.

 

   

 

Satisfied that the fit was as good as I was going to get it, I glued the canopy in place:

 

 

 

I'll let the canopy glue dry overnight, fill in any gaps around the cockpit sill, and mask the canopy. Once that's done, it'll be time to prime this bird!

[billn53]

Following to my plan, I masked the canopy:

 

 

 

and primed with Mr Surfacer 1500, thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner:

 

 

 

Inspection after priming revealed I needed to do some more putty work around the canopy edge:

 

 

 

That sorted, I next applied the base color coat using Tamiya LP-13 IJN gray (Sasebo Arsenal) as stand in for FS36170. The F-35's color has been a difficult one for our hobby's paint manufacturers to get right. There is an excellent survey and review here:

 

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/303049-obsession-with-fs-36170-who-got-it-right/

 

but, I decided to go with the Tamiya lacquer because I like how it turned out in this excellent F-35 build:

 

https://www.scalespot.com/onthebench/f35a-meng/build.htm

 

Anyway, here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

The most current F-35 paint schemes avoid the need to mask all the RAM-covered panel lines:

 

 

 

but, there are still a number of lighter gray panels, etc. to be painted, as seen in this profile:

 

 

 

While waiting for the dark gray base coat to fully cure, I went ahead and finished up the tail fins (which I'll install at the very end of the build). These should add some much needed color to an otherwise gray aircraft:

 

 

 

I'm getting close to the finish line, now. Thanks for viewing!

 

[Chemguy3000]

That is going to look amazing with the bright red tail fins. I love the badgers too!

 

David

[billn53]

9 hours ago, Chemguy3000 said:

That is going to look amazing with the bright red tail fins. I love the badgers too!

 

David

As a current Alabama resident, I could have gone with these "red tails' instead. But, I didn't come to 'bama voluntarily, and I don't plan on staying here for very much longer 😉

 

 

 

 

(The Alabama ANG is also slated to get F-35s)

 

[billn53]

I've finished painting the lighter gray panels, including the canopy and nose. This was a somewhat tedious job, but everything was straight-lines... no sawtooth masking required, thank heaven!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a few areas in need of touch-up:

 

This section of the wing leading edge should be light gray

 

Minor paint seepage below the canopy edge

 

 

Overspray into the port air intake:

 

 

There area also a couple of small panels over the gun that should be painted dark gray or black. Nothing difficult, just some more details that need attending to.

 

 

 

Next steps (after correcting the above items) are to gloss-coat and apply decals.

[billn53]

Today's subject has been the engine nozzle and afterburner can. 

 

Let's start with a comparison between Academy's nozzle, and the resin nozzle from KA Models:

 

 

 

The kit's nozzle is nice, but not nearly as detailed as the aftermarket one.

 

The afterburner can is molded as a single piece, including the turbine fan. This make it difficult to detail the turbine, so I cut it off for better access.

 

 

 

I just grabbed a some rattlecans off my shelf to paint the nozzle and afterburner can interiors. Nothing fancy here:

 

 

 

After doing a wash to bring out the details, I glued the pieces together:

 

 

 

I gave more effort to the nozzle exterior, painting it with AK Interactive Xtreme Metals (gun metal, burnt metal, and pale burnt metal). I hand painted the petal ends with Floquil bright silver, then did a wash between the petals for detail:

 

 

 

Here is a photo of the real McCoy, which I used as my reference:

 

 

 

That's all for today. My goal for tomorrow is to get the decals on.

 

 

[neil5208]

This one is going together quickly Bill, whats next on the bench?

[billn53]

5 hours ago, neil5208 said:

... whats next on the bench?

A very good question. I'm thinking of continuing the Wisconsin theme with this kit:

 

 

 

using these decals:

 

 

to model this:

 

 

 

 

 

- Bill

[neil5208]

Painted or polished aluminium?

[billn53]

Aluminum, I’ll probably use the Xtreme Metal paints (same as I used on my Hustler)

[billn53]

Decals are on! Here is how my build looks now:

 

 

 

Note the bottles of MarkFit (Strong) decal setting solution, and the nuclear bomb of setting solutions, Walthers SolvaSet. The Academy decals in this kit do fine on flat surfaces, but resist any sort of curve. They are not as bad as the decals that came with my Academy F-4J build, if they had been, I would have tossed them in the can!

 

Here are some of the markings that needed a wee bit of "convincing" to conform to the F-35's curves:

 

 

 

I would have finished much earlier, save for the numerous (30-plus) "No Step" decals. Someone at Lockheed really must have wanted to ensure no one stepped on this little black panel, because it has No Step stenciled on all four sides!

 

  

 

I'll let the decals settle overnight, and tomorrow I'll tackle the challenge of creating the unique Have Glass sheen so typical of the F-35. More on that, later.

 

One last item for this report -- I wasn't happy with the color of my engine nozzle (too bright, compared to the real thing), so re-painted it in a darker shade (Humbrol MetalCote "Polished Steel", with some Xtreme Metal "Burnt Metal" and "Pale Burnt Metal" added for a bit of color). I think the result looks much nicer:

 

 

 

That's it for now!

[billn53]

Heading for home plate now! 

 

For the Have Glass sheen, I used the method described in the  ScaleSpot build article at https://www.scalespot.com/onthebench/f35a-meng/build.htm , namely, a mix of 10% Mr Color silver and 90% clear semi-gloss, thinned heavily with Mr Leveling Thinner (about 5:1 in my case). After adding the sheen coat, I finished up with a coat of Tamiya semi-gloss clear. I think it turned out pretty well...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I've unmasked the canopy and added the tail fins and engine nozzle. All that's left to call this one done is to install the landing gear and two small pitot tube at the nose.

[billn53]

All done! I'll be posting a RFI tomorrow, in the meantime, here are a few teasers to tide you over:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eleven days start-to-finish. That's almost a record for me!

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking good there ! 

[Andwil]

Fabulous looking F-35.  I reckon you got the level of sheen about right, although it’s tricky and looks quite different in different lights:

 

 

 

 

Even quite Matt in some lights:

 

 

AW

[Mikey-1980]

Fantastic build to read through and follow.

 

Made this mornings work avoidance so much more enjoyable!

 

[billn53]

RFI is up, check it out!