Hey Aeroscale! I just picked up my Academy 1:72 scale F-35A, one of my all time favorite AC. To start this build off, how does everyone think I should display my weapons- First day scenario, all internal, stealth, or, weapons on the wings, no stealth, air superiority already achieved? Thanks for your input, and I hope you follow the build!

I hate to be cheeky but the f35 is one of your all time faves?? Are you sure you don't mean Su-35.

Its all about the exceedingly ugly but totally effective A-10 for favourite aircraft I'm afraid lol However Logan, I'd go for weapons out, make the thing stand out with all its death hanging off every port possible lol

I would go for external payload. he F-35 will contribute little to achieving air superiority anyway.

That payload will then erase the most touted quality of the F-35(being stealth) but at least it will move some dirt.

Thanks guys! I think I will go with the external payload. And yes, the F-35 is one of my all time favorites, I'm certain. It took two of my other favorite aircraft, the F-16 and the F-22(I'm a big Lockheed guy ), and mixed them together. Affordable, to a degree, with an astounding weapons employment capability, not to mention STOVL. Mock all you want, the F-35 is an amazing AC, and will perform as so. Look at the F-4. Designed for every role, and for every branch, and it turned out to be one of the greatest planes of all time.

I vote for external. Of course there's nothing like modeling a A-10 or A-6 with full loads out.

Joel

I'd go all stealth, since that's more "modern" and in keeping with the plane's strengths. But that's just me.




Agree with you on the -16 and -22. Still frustrates me that we stopped the F-22 due to cost. It had a high per unit cost because of the initial production setup investment. The more we built, the cheaper they would have become. I'm afraid at some point in the future we'll regret the decision to only build 189.

Anyway...good luck with the build. Should be a fun subject.

I was told there would be a build in this thread

You're right, the F-22 should have been continued. And, now, with all of the tooling gone, we will never get another one. Shame.
And sorry, I've been really busy with schoolwork this week, I haven't gotten a chance to get everything started quite yet. Expect to start by Friday/Saturday.

The F-35 must be good or us Brits would not have bought them. And we invented vertical take off dont ya know
Look forward to seeing the plastic version for now.
Pete

You make a good point - despite not needing to perform the role of air superiority fighter and losing its stealth with an external payload, the VSTOL or VTOL in this case works well in modern times when building an airfield isn't practical or even possible in some cases.

Finally, the build has started! I'm going to start off with the box and some sprue shots, and I'll show you the cockpit later today!

The box art is a little boring, but attractive.

For 1/72 scale, some of the lines are pretty thick and deep, I hope this looks better with some paint on.

I was disappointed in the clear canopy, I was hoping it would have the yellow-ish tint of the real plane. Does anyone know how to give it the light tint, while keeping it see through?

Ah, nothing like watching a little Top Gun while building!

Again, I'll post pictures of the office later, and keep you posted as I go through the build!

Alclad makes the transparent gold/oilslick finish for cockpit glass.

Sorry for not posting earlier, I couldn't get these photos to upload. I really wish I were better at painting cockpits, I just don't have the steady hands to get the tiny paintjobs required. What size of brush does everyone else use for the small painting?


And I've just started putting the fuselage together, and I can already tell that there'll be a lot of seam filling to be done.

I have the major fuselage assembly completed, and the first layer of gunship gray painted all over. I am in the process of painting the lighter gray stripes and zig zags all over the plane, and it is NOT going well. The paint isn't going on very smoothly, and I can't get the brush streaks to go away. If I paint all of the gray lines, and then respray gunship gray over the top of the whole thing, will the contrast from the lighter gray be different enough to see?

If you mask the lighter zig-zag lines, then you'll be fine.

I'm just not very good at masking, especially these small lines. I also only have the lighter gray in a brush, and have to do it by hand, as I don't have an airbrush. In all honesty, I may just claim some "artistic license," spray the whole thing gunship gray, and call it good. Plus, the kit comes with three decal options, so I can complete the model all gray, and then, if I get an airbrush after it's complete, I can re-do the entire paintjob and decal set with more precision.

So here are some of the photos of the paintjob.

It's what I call an "at a distance" model... meaning, at a distance of twenty feet away, you might say, "Hey, that kinda looks like a plane."

Closer view, showing just how bad these lines are.


I'm also no longer doing external weapons. Upon closer examination, I realized that this kit requires you to drill your own holes, which I am not comfortable with doing myself.

So yeah, I resprayed the whole thing.

This whole build is just full of disappointments. It's probably had more setbacks than the actual F-35 program itself(ba-dum-bum-pshh...). I am just hoping beyond hope that this model turns out okay in the end, and that I didn't waste the money I spent on it...

Layer upon layer of paint, that will never become a great end result.

I would recommend removing all the paint, polish the model with 6000 grain (tamiya sanding paper) and start all over again.

For the lightgrey area's, masking seems like the only option to do a decent job. With Tamiya masking tape this is a piece of cake.

Thanks for the tip!

Logan,
I'm trying to follow your build progression, but it really jumps around. As to painting, I'm assuming that you used a rattle can for the base gray, then a paint brush for the light gray zig lag lines.

The dark gray is a little thick, and just by rubbing it out with a polishing compound or even toothpaste will do wonders. As for the zig zag lines, they can be done with a brush, but not with the procedure you used. Free hand results in uneven and wavy lines, that shouldn't appear in a scale effect. The paint is too thick, and you applied it too heavily, as the end results is a what you termed a distance viewed aircraft.

As others have said, just take your time and use Tamiya tape. measure and cut pieces. You'll be amazed at what you can accomplish that way.

Now you need to seal the inner edges of the tape so that the paint doesn't work it's way under the edge, which is a real issue with hand painting. For this simply hand brush on a few coats of Pledge/Future. If you feel that it's too thick for a smooth layer, just cut it 25% with Windex or Simple Green. When dry, you can hand paint on the light gray.

To hand paint on the light gray, it needs to be thin. Cut it 50/50 with the proper thinning medium for the paint you're using. Lay the paint on with a smooth stroke in just one direction. Don't recover it. Let it dry. It will self level since there isn't much paint. Then another coat, let dry. If there is any brush strokes, then polish them out, then another coat. Repeat till you get the coverage you want.

Remove the tape. There will be a ridge line. YOu need to remove that ridge line and at the same time polish out the paint. For this I use my Micro Mesh pads: 4,000 through 12,00 grit. The end result should be what a air brushed line looks like.

Yes, it takes a lot longer, but it's the end results that count. Hand painting can't be rushed. I've seen videos by Japanese masters that have hand painted complete 1/32 scale aircraft including all the markings, and it's 100% perfect.

Joel

Haha sounds like I've got a lot of stuff that I need to order! Tamiya.com, here I come!

And sorry I'm so sporadic with my posts, trying to work in time between school, homework, and sports, it gets a little hard to fit in the modelling and posting!

So this is the final model, with stand and Lockheed Martin memorabilia. You will notice that I was not able to follow all of the hints that you have all gave me, and this is because of the strict budget I was working on. I set a $50 dollar limit on this build, 35 of which went to the kit itself, and another 10 on paints. So, I was not able to buy Tamiya tapes, or any equivalents. I really did want to follow your advice, because I've seen all of your work, and I have much to learn from you. But with my budget and time constraints(Basketball is just getting started...) this was the best I could do.




I armed the -35 with 2x AIM-120 AMRAAMs, and 2x GBU-31 JDAMs.


I got the Lockheed memorabilia from the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, on a trip to their Ft. Worth facility. I was personally invited to come down and discuss a plane I designed in Jr. High, and got to meet the former CEO and a few engineers. It was a very exciting experience.




So, that's the model. If you would like to hear more about my Lockheed story and trip, I can tell you, it's just a rather long story, and didn't want to go through the time of typing it if no one was going to care. Thanks for stopping by!