Italeri 1/72 F-35 B Lightning II

[Guest]

Morning all.

Whilst my current project waits for everyone to get up so I can run the compressor, I thought I'd make a start on something else.

This is the new Italeri F-35 that comes in three schemes, one of which is the new HMS Elizabeth wing, which is what I'll be doing.
This is a facinating aircraft to me because of it's VTOL capabilities which is something that aptured my imagination as a child when I saw a harrier for the first time and I have a plan to capture that with this build.

Unusually for me too I am going to attempt some figure painting, so that should be an interesting experiment!

This is the 5th build since I last blogged one so I hope it's interesting enough to provoke some feedback, which is always welcomed and appreciated.

So far I have the four part seat glued and the four part tub assembled. I'll glue the tub in to the top half of the fuselage since the cockpit is very open and I'll be able to reach everything with the airbrush.

Box art:



Only four sprues. Canopy is smoked and a whole sprue for stores:



Where I am at:



Aftermarket pilots from PJ Productions. These are 90's RAF pilots, but at this scale and with no contemporary offerings I figured it would be close enough. Once I ruin the detail with ham-fisted painting it won't matter anyway!

[papa 695]

Will watch this one Chris, think I may get one too.

[Lee Drennen]

Chris. Nice choice I’ve been thinking of buying some old Italeri Wingys going to watch how this unfolds seated by Ian

[yak face]

Looks like a great kit chris , i’ll be watching . Are you going to get one of the special paint sets for the stealth aircraft. I know that hataka do the silvery grey ‘Have glass grey’ in their US grey set as ive got that one .

[Guest]

Thanks chaps, welcome aboard.

Tony - I was going to stick with Vallejo and below is the colours referred in the instructions with my best attempts to match a VMA colour by the FS reference. Are the Hataka's more accurate? Are they acrylic?

If anyone has any better suggestions for the colour matches I'd appreciate any opinions.

[yak face]

The Hataka red line series are acrylic and formulated for airbrush chris . I got the USAF /USN/ USMC greys paint set which has eight greys all used on modern us aircraft and includes the slightly metallic ‘ have glass grey’ used on f35s etc . I got my set off ebay for about £18 , not bad really , just over two quid a bottle . The advantage of these sets Is they contain all the specific colours you need for a particular scheme .
heres a screenshot of the one I got , hth cheers tony

[Guest]

Thanks Tony, I’ll check them out!

[Guest]

I've had a dig about and I thnk Valejo 71.097 is good for FS36118 Gunship Grey and 71.050 for FS36300 Light Ghost Grey, both of which I have!

Do you rate the hataka range?

One thing I think I will need is the eduard surface panel mask set.

[yak face]

Ive used them on a few builds recently and ive found them very good . They spray nicely straight from the bottle , but need a couple of thin coats as some of the colours can be a little translucent. They dry to a nice sheen and the newer bottles all come with a ball bearing inside to help with mixing . Cheers tony

[boatman]

HI i love my aircraft an there is not many i dont like but this F35 i just cant seem to take to as i cant understand why the cockpit leans forward when open an that big flap that open up on take off for the fan as its solid an must cause a certain amount of drag i would have thought it would have been a mesh like hatch so the air can pass through but please tell me im wrong on this an one single engine if it flames out then down it goes but a twin engine aircraft there is still one engine to keep the plane up in the air SORRY to be negative on this aircraft but thats how ive felt since the first time i see it but dont let me spoil your build carry on an i may take to it
chris

[Swagman 070]

Have this in my stash. Going to follow this build closely.
Steve

[Guest]

Thanks Tony. I'll keep that in mind and I'll maybe give them a go in the future.

Chris - I was the same at first but it's grown on me. That big flap covers the vertical thruster bit at the front and is presumabley only open during vertical maneouvres. Also it would arguably create more drag in standard flight if it were meshed. I'm no aircraft engineer though, I just build them how they are! There are plenty of old navy aircraft that are worse too, but there is elegance in ugliness!

Steve - I'll do my best not to put you off! So far so good. The tub and seat fit very well and the tub slotted right in to place without any bother at all. Italeri have a patchy reputation but I'm hoping this is different.

Eduard masks ordered...along with a 'bulker' that I'll have to sneak past the missus...

[Guest]

This arrived and should make the painting simpler...:flushed:

At least easier than masking manually!

[Swagman 070]

Thanks Tony. I'll keep that in mind and I'll maybe give them a go in the future.

Chris - I was the same at first but it's grown on me. That big flap covers the vertical thruster bit at the front and is presumabley only open during vertical maneouvres. Also it would arguably create more drag in standard flight if it were meshed. I'm no aircraft engineer though, I just build them how they are! There are plenty of old navy aircraft that are worse too, but there is elegance in ugliness!

Steve - I'll do my best not to put you off! So far so good. The tub and seat fit very well and the tub slotted right in to place without any bother at all. Italeri have a patchy reputation but I'm hoping this is different.

Eduard masks ordered...along with a 'bulker' that I'll have to sneak past the missus...

Cheers Chris, Not a big fan of their kits either!

[Guest]

'Back in the day' they were one of the few manufacturers that the little (now long gone) model shop in my home town would stock that offered all the helicopters I wanted to build so I used to build loads of Italeri, along with Hasegawa US Navy kits. I remember the fit being terrible, having to spend lots of time cleaning off flash and seams and the decals taking an absolute age to release from the backing.