Unleash The Beast (Mode)

[RupertTheBear]

Hi folks,

first things first - happy Easter everyone! 🐰🥚

Today on the menu is Italeri's F-35B Lightning II in its fierce Beast Mode configuration in 1/48th scale, my latest finished kit.
Bought it last year after seeing the USAF F-35A demo during an airshow in Belgium. It impressed me so much I just had to have at least one Lightning II in my collection but I like it so much I aim to get the whole range. 

The kit itself is not bad but IMO a bit overpriced compared to Tamiya's F-35A which only costs around 20€ more than this one and even if I haven't build that one yet, it's safe to say it will be better in a number of ways. The Italeri kit is nicely detailed in many areas (Cockpit, landing gear, weapon bays, some surface details) and is kinda winging it in others (engine nozzle, other surface details) but it goes together very well and features a great many options. Sure, this also comes down to the F-35B variant, which is the one with STOVL capability. I chose to open every hatch, bay and intake possible to make it look like a Transformer.  The kit also comes with some extra ordnance and weapon carts you can put next to it.
Speaking of ordnance - there is plenty but the options are rather limited. You can either go for a stealth clean look or a full Beast Mode loadout with 6 pylons under the wings packed with 4 bombs (either JDAMs or Paveways) and 2 AIM-9X. The internal weapon bays can be filled with 2 AIM-120 AMRAAM and 2 again either JDAMs or Paveways and an optional underbelly gun pod. I went for the 4 Paveways and 2 Sidewinders under the wings and 2 JDAMs and 2 AMRAAM in the bays and ditched the gun pod.

The build was quite easy going despite the rather complex nature of the plane itself. The problem is the masking afterwards. There is a lot of stuff that needs to go into the fuselage before the lower and upper halves go together and unfortunately a lot has to be painted in what I like to call gods cruelest joke - white.  
The masking and painting were the most time consuming aspects of this build. I used Tamiya's white for the internal bays, Hataka's Have Glass Grey and several Vallejo greys (and brushes this time) for all the surface details, followed by some Tamiya gloss varnish. Washes were done as usual with Vallejo and Ammo washes. 
The decals were fantastic. Printed by Cartograf on a very thin film and crisp as hell. Even the smaller stencils are still readable. They were easy to work with and a responded very well to decal softener. 
In the end the whole thing was sealed with gloss varnish. 

All in all it was a fun kit and I'm quite pleased with the result (although I made a few mistakes while painting which I noticed too late to be corrected) and I learned a few lessons for any future F-35 project and how I'm going to tackle a few things next time to make it even more enjoyable.

I also found the box of the PC sim JSF - from 1997. That puts it into perspective how long the Joint Strike Fighter program is going on and me being in my early 30's now, it took almost my entire lifetime from start (around 1993) to introducing the plane into service (2015 to 2019 depending on the variant and their respective users). The time, money, thinking, testing and developing that went into these machines is simply incredible.
























































That's it for now. Wish you a happy Easter weekend and thanks for watching (and reading) 

[binbrook87]

Great work! 👍

[RupertTheBear]

1 hour ago, binbrook87 said:

Great work! 👍

Thanks 

[FG2Si]

Nicely done! It looks great in Beast mode. 

 

I have the Tamiya kit which I picked up when my LHS made me an offer I couldn't refuse. 

 

Carl

[Darwinism]

Excellent work!  I’m just finishing off the Tamiya version that I thoroughly recommend you try next.

[Tomcat101]

Fantastic build.  So much going on with that kit.  Looks amazing. 

[RupertTheBear]

13 hours ago, FG2Si said:

Nicely done! It looks great in Beast mode. 

 

I have the Tamiya kit which I picked up when my LHS made me an offer I couldn't refuse. 

 

Carl

Thank you! 
Yeah this will probably be my next purchase but I'm waiting for a nice offer, too. 

11 hours ago, Darwinism said:

Excellent work!  I’m just finishing off the Tamiya version that I thoroughly recommend you try next.

Thanks! 
Can't wait to see yours!
It is on my wish list, just waiting for a nice offer to pounce. 
I also wonder who will be the first to either release a newly tooled F-35C in 1/48th or dig up the KH tooling. Sadly it seems there isn't much going on in that department yet.

[RupertTheBear]

11 hours ago, Tomcat101 said:

Fantastic build.  So much going on with that kit.  Looks amazing. 

Thanks! 

Yeah I love that busy look of the F-35B. I also watch movies of the real thing to go from CTOL to VTOL. The transition is so entertaining and how the whole appearance of the plance changes in seconds.