F-35B Lightning II Italeri/Tamiya 1/72

[45DegreesModelling]

Hello everyone, 

 

I’ve just began building the F-35B from Italeri/Tamiya in 1/72 scale.

 

The box is well packaged and includes a few sprue’s along with a pilot figure which I won’t be using.

 

 

 

As I’m a member of the Naval services I’ll be incorporating the 809 NAS markings.

 

 

This kit was gifted to me by a friend who had already started the cockpit. I toyed with the idea of purchasing PE but decided against it as it had already been constructed. 
 

Nonetheless I gave it a prime, coat of XF1 then a dry brush with Mr Hobby H51. Afterwards I painted a few details and applied the decals. 
 

 

There is quite a few sub assembly engine parts and areas that need painting before the fuselage can be put together. I used Vallejo Black Gloss for any engine parts and Vallejo Grey for the neutral grey and white parts. I’m not a fan of the Vallejo primers but I’m trying to use them up!

 

 

Here is an image of the engine and exhaust in place. Quite a large portion will go unseen unfortunately.

 

 

The weapons bays were given a coat of XF2 and will be detail painted in the coming days.

 

 

And here she is so far.

 

 

 

I’ve ordered some canopy masks from Hannants which will make painting the radar tape easier. I’m not looking forward to masking the cockpit and air intake etc, but I know the result will be worth it.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Tom

[Andwil]

Looking great so far Tom.  F-35 weapons bay is mostly white, but filthy:

 

 

 

RAAF F-35A. (My photo)

 

AW

 

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Andwil
Added photo credit

[Web99]

This looks like a great start, keep us in the loop! 

[45DegreesModelling]

2 hours ago, Andwil said:

Looking great so far Tom.  F-35 weapons bay is mostly white, but filthy:

 

 

 

RAAF F-35A. (My photo)

 

AW

 

 

Thank you, yes I’ve given it some XF2, just need to paint some electrical wires and clips to add variety. I’ve looked at a few reference photos and it’s busy in those bays with details!

1 hour ago, Web99 said:

This looks like a great start, keep us in the loop! 

Will do!

[45DegreesModelling]

An update on the F35B:

 

With the fuselage together, I got to work on the weapons bays. After a coat of grey primer and XF2 White, I gave the main piping a coat of Vallejo 70.819 Iraqi Sand and the wire detail a touch of Vallejo 71.033 Yellow Orche. Once dry I gave the whole bay a wash of Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colour Black and rubbed away any excess. 
 

There was a few learning points with this and hand on heart, it isn’t my best work but it will be mostly hidden so I’m not loosing too much sleep.

 

 

The tail/rear wings were added next. I really like the low profile of the F35.

 

 

I then decided that before I began any sort of priming, I’d complete and organise all the sub assemblies which Includes armaments, landing gears and the bay doors… this took quite a lot of time. There was no issue with fitting, just a bit of sanding and construction.

 

 

And now she’s ready for a coat of primer… after I’ve done some masking of the cockpit, air intake and weapons bays! 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Tom

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by 45DegreesModelling
Paint detail added.

[45DegreesModelling]

Another update on the F35B:

 

With everything prepared I began masking the cockpit, air intake, landing gear bays, weapon bays etc… this took some time and was helped with Humbrol Maskol.

 

 

I finally got my hand on Mr Hobby Mr Finishing 1500 Black. I was extremely satisfied with the result, I don’t think I’ll be going back to Vallejo primer.

 

 

 

To add some variation under the surface I mottled the aircraft with XF2 White. I did this with all the sub assemblies as well.

 

Next I had opportunity to play around with the exhaust. I gave it a prime of Vallejo Black Gloss (Begrudgingly) then some X10 Gun Metal, XF56 Metallic Grey before carefully spraying the tip and edges with XF84 Dark Iron. When this had dried, I sprayed some X27 Clear Red and X23 Clear Blue in the areas where it would potentially heat stain. There was also a coat of XF2 White on the inside of the exhaust. This was all spontaneous to be honest and I was pretty happy with the result.

 

At this stage, all the armament has been given a coat of XF19 Sky Grey.

 

 

And all the sub assemblies are complete (barring decals and wash).

 

 

With all that done, I finally managed to spray the aircraft XF24 Dark Grey. I sprayed in light coats, careful not to cover up the pre shading too much.

 

 

I’ve managed to get quite a lot done this week and I’m happy with the progress. 
 

Thanks for reading.

 

Tom

 

 

[45DegreesModelling]

Small F35B update:

 

I gave the model another coat of XF24 Dark Grey.

 

 

Next came the masking for the radar tape. I purchased the Eduard masking set CX562… boy did this take a long time. It felt like an absolute chore but I eventually got it done.

 

 

And I’m glad I did as I was extremely happy with how it came out. I sprayed XF53 neutral grey for the radar tapes.

 

 

 

The Humbrol Maskol was brilliant for the awkward shapes when it came to masking.

 

 

 

And finally before spraying the model with X22 Clear, I made sure the armament was painted.

 

Im really enjoying this build, but I’ll be happy when it’s complete. If you got this far, thanks for reading.

Tom

[Pappy]

G'day Tom,

 

Very nice work going on here.

 

Two points  which are likely too late to correct but which may help others,

 

1. When underwing pylons are installed the three cover plates for each hard oint are removed, so to be accurate these raised plates should be sanded off before installing the corresponding  pylon

 

2. GBU-12s can have 'mismatched' guidance sections i.e. green with grey  as these two parts come as separate kits but the adapter collar (immediately behind the fwd steering fins) is included with the rear aerofoil kit, so this should be the same colour as the tail., so grey in this instance

 

The bombs IItaleri  have included in their 1/72 kit looks a lot better than the ones they supplied in the 1/48 kit which are complete rubbish!

 

Otherwise this is looking very tasty,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Pappy]

On 9/15/2022 at 2:19 PM, Andwil said:

Looking great so far Tom.  F-35 weapons bay is mostly white, but filthy:

 

 

 

RAAF F-35A. (My photo)

 

AW

 

 

 

I disagree about the filthy part.

 

The bays do look busy but I would not conclude that they are dirty. and ceratinly not if based on that picture. What I do see in that picture is that the cabling and plumbing details are not symmetrical and a mirror image of each other as most (all?) manufacturers depict this area.

 

I think that the electrical cable details being dark combined with the shadows are giving the impression of grime. I also don't understand where the grime would come from as hyd fluid is typically red (to make spotting leaks easier against a white painted bay) and the stores are released using compressed air. 

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Edited October 1, 2022 by Pappy

[nheather]

I’m not convinced that the weapons bays are filthy, suspect they are kept as clean as possible, the overall effect of dirtiness is more likely caused because there is a load of gubbins in the bay that is black or dark grey.

 

You can see this in the following photo.

 

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/f-35-has-secret-sidekick-lets-it-carry-extra-missiles-69656

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[45DegreesModelling]

13 hours ago, Pappy said:

G'day Tom,

 

Very nice work going on here.

 

Two points  which are likely too late to correct but which may help others,

 

1. When underwing pylons are installed the three cover plates for each hard oint are removed, so to be accurate these raised plates should be sanded off before installing the corresponding  pylon

 

2. GBU-12s can have 'mismatched' guidance sections i.e. green with grey  as these two parts come as separate kits but the adapter collar (immediately behind the fwd steering fins) is included with the rear aerofoil kit, so this should be the same colour as the tail., so grey in this instance

 

The bombs IItaleri  have included in their 1/72 kit looks a lot better than the ones they supplied in the 1/48 kit which are complete rubbish!

 

Otherwise this is looking very tasty,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

13 hours ago, Pappy said:

 

I disagree about the filthy part.

 

The bays do look busy but I would not conclude that they are dirty. and ceratinly not if based on that picture. What I do see in that picture is that the cabling and plumbing details are not symmetrical and a mirror image of each other as most (all?) manufacturers depict this area.

 

I think that the electrical cable details being dark combined with the shadows are giving the impression of grime. I also don't understand where the grime would come from as hyd fluid is typically red (to make spotting leaks easier against a white painted bay) and the stores are released using compressed air. 

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

10 hours ago, nheather said:

I’m not convinced that the weapons bays are filthy, suspect they are kept as clean as possible, the overall effect of dirtiness is more likely caused because there is a load of gubbins in the bay that is black or dark grey.

 

You can see this in the following photo.

 

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/f-35-has-secret-sidekick-lets-it-carry-extra-missiles-69656

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

Thank you for your feed back guys, it’s useful information to know, The Tamiya instructions don’t seem to be clear in these points. 
 

As the end is in sight there is a few things that I’d change in hindsight and one would be the grimey look in the weapons bay (I’d tone it down a bit) and also the colour of the radar tapes as the Royal Navy F35‘s don’t look to have a contrasting radar tape. 
 

Cheers,

 

Tom

[45DegreesModelling]

Final update on the aircraft.

 

Once I had completed the paint job I gave it a gloss coat in X22 clear and applied the decals before then re sealing them in with X22. I didn’t manage to get back to the bench for a week and when I did I discovered one of the decals had suffered badly from silvering.

 

 

As it was already looking pretty bad I thought I would try and rescue it anyway. I slit the decal with a sharp blade and carefully applied some Micro Sol and this seemed to do the trick. 
 

With that complete, I sealed the decal again and applied a dark wash and some oil paints. 
 

 

I have since made a Ready For Inspection post here so you can see the final images.

 

If you’d like to see my build video then you can do so.

 

Thanks for reading and following if you got this far.

 

Tom

 

 

[Bejay53]

Speaking of clean or dirty, how do you keep your workspace and spray booth so clean?

just jealous.

[45DegreesModelling]

10 hours ago, Bejay53 said:

Speaking of clean or dirty, how do you keep your workspace and spray booth so clean?

just jealous.

I recently re laid some vinyl in my booth, prob why it’s a bit clean at the moment, the bench I always give a organise and clean after each model and sometimes in between!