Italeri F-35A RNethAF

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

Maybe you are wondering why there are almost no build threads of the 1/32 Italeri F-35A?

I think I know why.

 

Until recently, all the F-35 aircraft had a myriad of lighter grey lines of radar absorbent material (RAM) over their body.

Although Italeri provides a few masks, you still have a lot of masking to do by yourself, as the next pictures show:

 

Topview:

 

Bottom view:

 

The white masks in the topview is what Italeri provides, the rest has to be done by yourself...

Last week, I had a masking mojo, after having this model on the SOD for at least 6 months!

 

With this out of of the way, it was time to start a WIP.

 

It will begin in the past, I started this kit more than a year ago, in April 2017.

Soo, any good advice during the build cannot be incorporated anymore until I am up to date again!

 

Let's start.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

Edited December 27, 2018 by mgbooyv8
kit started in 2017, not 2018 ;)

[mgbooyv8]

Hi Guys,

 

I bought the Italeri F-35 almost immediately when it was out:

 

 

The box is crammed full with sprues. The tinted clear sprue and the etched metal set is packet separately:

 

 

If you like it I will post some sprue pics as well.

 

First I'm off to do some final christmas shopping.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

[Jack]

Masking looks pretty good, Peet.

[jamesv9820]

Finished mine a year ago now. With the help from the DN Models stencils 

 

 

[mgbooyv8]

4 hours ago, Jack said:

Masking looks pretty good, Peet.

 

Thanks Jack!

 

1 hour ago, jamesv9820 said:

Finished mine a year ago now. With the help from the DN Models stencils 
 

 

Hi James,

Your F-35 is looking very good!

 

I didn't know that a mask set existed. That would have saved me a lot of work!

For the others here's the link to the mask set of DN models:

 

https://dnmodels.com/product/ram-panels-paint-masks-f-35-italeri/

 

Well, many parts of the kit had ejector pin marks, which had to be filled.

Marred were the parts for the weapon bays, the wheel bays,

the parts next to the exhaust and the air intakes:

 

 

 

 

I only filled the visible ejector pin marks in the intakes.

Ofcourse, also all the weapon and wheel doors had ejector pin marks on their inside faces...

I marked the doors with their part number so they could be removed from the sprues for easy sanding:

 

All the internal parts were sprayed satin white (Revell 301)

 

 

While this lot was drying, wings and tailplanes were assembled:

 

Fit was fairly good. Seams were mostly present next to RAM tapes and were filled with acryl filler of Vallejo. This can be smoothed with a damp finger or cottonbud.

 

There is a fair amount of detail in the wheel- and weapons bays.

According to pictures I found online, the wire looms in the weapon bays are black and tied-up with light brown clips.

 

The wire looms were made black with a marker:

 

To be continued.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Marcel111]

Peter, nice to see an F-35 around here, you build looks great!

[themongoose]

Love the way you started this. I feel like you’re uncovering the model from under all the tape and making with each post after the intro!

[Out2gtcha]

Nice! I like the look of the bays a lot

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks guys!

 

After Christmas, it is time to contine the thread with activities of the past.

Where were we...

Oh, yeah, the intakes. I had hoped that the forward locator pins would not  be visible.

After gluing the intake halves together and drytitting them into the fuselage revealed this was not to be..

Some  awkward filing and sanding later I had them removed (well, good enough for government work ):

 

 

 

 

The white paint was touched-up later.

 

The two separate panels in front of the intakes were carefully glued into the lower fuselage half to minimize sanding:

 

 

It was decided to install the engine and close the fuselage, so only the visible parts were painted:

 

 

According to pictures of the engine on the net, the compressor face has an orange coating.

The inside face of the exhaust pipe has a white (ceramic?) coating.

The kit engine only has a final turbine stage and no afterburner part.

The latter is classified, apparently as a result of stealthy features. On the ground there is always a cover installed.

 

However, there is a video on the net of a F-35B taking off from a carrier. It contains a useful shot into the exhaust pipe. A screenshot is given below:

 

I think I found it on the F-16.net forum

The Eduard set contains something which resembles this afterburner layout.

 

However, I was lazy and decided I could live with the kit option:

 

 

Wheel-  and weapon bays in the next post.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

 

 

[otis252]

Great start! I wish one of the AM guys would do a replacement afterburner nozzle to replace the woefully undersized kit piece. Maybe one day.

Chuck

[mgbooyv8]

The wheel- and weapon bay panes got some detail painting.

Based on pictures of the  real thing on the net, I think the provided detail is more representative than factual, but it looks the part.

 

 

 

The bays were duly assembled.

Main gear bays:

 

 

Nose gear bay. The nose wheel strut has to be trapped between the side panels.

By omitting the dragbrace, it can be swinged into the bay to be out of the way during further assembly of the kit:

 

 

 

And finally the weapon bays:

 

 

Not my best work, but they will be filled with weapons, so the overall effect should be pleasing.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[mgbooyv8]

4 minutes ago, otis252 said:

Great start! I wish one of the AM guys would do a replacement afterburner nozzle to replace the woefully undersized kit piece. Maybe one day.

Chuck

 

Agree! Also, the kit exhaust nozzle is a pig to clean-up!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Fvdm]

The wheel and weapon bays look great!

[dustiepal]

Looking really good, thanks for the tip on the intakes.

 

Dave

[Out2gtcha]

Looks great! Someone did do an F-35 exhaust, PE IIRC, but I just dont remember who exactly.

 

There was a gent offering some replacement F-35 tail surfaces on LSP awhile back, and I recall he mentioned the guy who made the exhausts too.