Next comes the weapons bay and in my opinion, this is the most impressive part of the kit and it would be criminal if you used the closed-door option as the detail is just amazing. What you see in the pictures is all from the box with just some careful painting and a light wash to bring out the detail.
The main wheel bays were painted up at the same time as these attach to the weapons bay in the next stage of construction.
The lower fuselage is split into two sections, unlike the upper section which is a one-piece moulding. The weapons bay, the rear wheel bays and exhaust, plus the exhaust pipe are fitted firstly into the rear section. The front section and intakes can then be attached to the rear section. This is quite a complex assembly but the fit is just amazing and glue is only required to ensure that everything stays together – you could actually assemble this whole model without the need for glue that fit is that good.
Before you attach the upper and lower fuselage halves together you need to decide on some of the options in the kit such as the Norwegian drogue chute attachment on the upper rear spine and the radar reflection enhancers which are regularly seen on peacetime ops to allow air traffic to track these aircraft with their radar systems. I did fit the chute assembly as this is unique to the Norwegian aircraft but opted to omit the radar enhancer.
The two fuselage halves can then be mated and the tail units added along with the leading-edge slats. The flaps can be added later as these can either be retracted of extended. The kit contains two canopies so you can alternate between the open and closed position. The closed canopy can be temporarily attached to the airframe to mask off the cockpit as can the closed weapons bay doors to mask off the bays. The kit contains a masking set which needs cutting out which is standard for Tamiya and these do work well but I purchased a masking set from Neware which saved me having to cut out the Tamiya masks and it also had the advantage of having interior masks for the canopy. These masks are really useful as they provide masks for all the minor glazed areas, the only mask part that isn’t included, in both sets, is for the wing tip lights due to the shape than won’t allow normal masking tape to conform to. I used self-adhesive bare metal foil to mask these as it is far more malleable than tape and conforms to the light bulge.
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Paul Ainsworth says
Hello,Dave – A masterful build as always.The photo slideshow speaks for itself.
The Tamiya F-35 certainly is a ‘state of the art’ kit with a price tag to match and you’ve done great justice to it and the real subject.
Best Regards,
Paul.
davecoward says
Hi Paul, thanks for the comments. Your right about it being expensive but you do get what your pay for with Tamiya kits and as an exercise in ‘how to produce a kit’ Tamiya’s kits just set the standard that everyone else tries to follow – just my opinion ;-)
Rob Ruscoe says
Hi Dave. Not normally into these modern jets. These days it seems ‘if it doesn’t look right, the computers will make it fly right’ mantra has taken over. Having said that, you’re build is just outstanding and I congratulate you on what you have achieved with this build.
Rob R
Willi Meyhoff Garcia says
spectacular build! absolutely brilliant, even for a “boring” grey subject!
How would you say the Have glass finish look like, compared to the real thing? MRP says to use a specific paint underneath, if I remember right, to make the effect as close as they can get it, to the original paint (as far as you can get by eye), and I was wondering how the reflection looks like from those different angles. Hope the question makes sense!
davecoward says
Hi Willi,
I’ve seen the real thing and its finish changes with both the angles you look at it and the weather conditions. I don’t think the MRP have glass varnish gives the really metallic finish you see in some photos when in the sun but it’s more of a subdued finish that you see on the more weathered aircraft or on a dull day. It doesn’t really change as the real finish does with perspective and light. I don’t recall MRP advising on any special paint underneath the varnish as I just used the recommended base paint FS colours.
Dave