F-35A Lightning II | 1-48 | Meng

Post by **Parker** » Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:35 am

And its on like Donkey Kong.

Onward & upward.

Just arrived this afternoon. I'll make a start on it soon.

Stay safe everyone.

- P

Post by **ForeverPlasticKits** » Thu Dec 10, 2020 8:22 pm

Have fun building it, it seems to be very detailed looking at some kit reviews!

Post by **BigWall** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 12:10 am

Nice looking kit. Have fun building it!

Post by **aur0ra145** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:56 am

Sweet! I didn't even know Meng made one of these.

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:58 am

aur0ra145 wrote: Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:56 am Sweet! I didn't even know Meng made one of these.

Same here, looking forward to seeing this one come together

Post by **Tomcat64** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 11:35 am

Kevthemodeller wrote: Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:58 am
aur0ra145 wrote: Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:56 am Sweet! I didn't even know Meng made one of these.
Same here, looking forward to seeing this one come together

Count me in too - really intrigued to see how this one goes

Post by **Parker** » Sat Dec 12, 2020 4:57 am

Suffice to say, panel liner will not be used!

And, just looking at a few reviews, this paint job may be a bit tricky.
A LOT of masking required for the RAM tape. I’ll be purchasing the masking kit.

Post by **Parker** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:05 am

And so it begins!

Cockpit.

- P

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 11:02 am

Off to a good start lovely cockpit detail

Post by **Parker** » Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:40 pm

Some progress...

weapons bays & landing gear bays.

inlet ducts.

painting more white bits

and installing weapons bay and front landing bay

So far no obvious issues, pretty good kit tbh.

Hope you all had a great new year.
Stay safe everyone.
Wear a mask.

-P

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Wed Jan 06, 2021 4:41 pm

Looking good

Post by **Parker** » Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:17 pm

Got lot more done yesterday...

Cockpit details..

Upper and lower fuselage glued.

Work will continue today.

-P

Post by **BigWall** » Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:24 am

Nice! The cockpit looks great!

Post by **Parker** » Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:20 am

Cheers Joe, hope you’re well.

Post by **Parker** » Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:21 am

Today’s progress...

Wings on.
Cockpit done and closed & masked.
First coat of paint.

Post by **Parker** » Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:22 am

Post by **Parker** » Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:34 am

Very easy kit to work with. Everything fits really well. Generally I’m a bit heavy handed, sausage fingers, with kits but this has been a breeze.

I’ll give it a few more coats top and bottom then start on the more detailed parts (bombs, bay doors, landing gear).

I’ll need to put my specs on for the painting of the bombs, they’re quite small.

The only hurdle that I can see ahead is all the bomb & landing bay doors. There’s quite a few attachments that may prove fiddly.

Post by **Parker** » Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:06 pm

An update.

I’ve completed the main painting. Initially the dark grey I used when applied wasn’t dark enough so I re did it adding a drop of black. It worked pretty well and the F35 now looks more stealthy grey.

I spent a few hours last night masking so I can complete the painting of the wing/tail edges. Not sure which lighter grey to go with so did a bit of experimenting on the spoons. The jury is out at the moment as I’m not sure to go with a lighter grey or darker grey. Most images I can see show a lighter grey but I’m not entirely sold on it.

Also, I will not be doing all the RAM tape. That just looks like a massive headache! There’s plenty of images of the F35 without the RAM tape to I’m going with that look.

Once the wing/tail edges are finished I’ll move on the bombs.

The end is in sight.

There’ll be absolutely no panel liner applied!

Stay safe everyone.

- P

Post by **BigWall** » Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:06 pm

It's looking very nice Parker!

Post by **Parker** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:12 am

cheers mate.

Post by **Parker** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:53 pm

First coat of the light grey (decided on H53) on the wing/tail edges. I think I’ll need to go darker.

- P

Post by **Tomcat64** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:50 am

Nice progress mate - let's see how many shades of grey you can get into this

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Fri Jan 22, 2021 4:00 pm

Coming along very nicely

Post by **Parker** » Fri Jan 22, 2021 8:39 pm

Tomcat64 wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:50 am Nice progress mate - let's see how many shades of grey you can get into this

So far about 6 shades. 44 to go

Post by **Parker** » Wed Jan 27, 2021 2:13 am

Update.

50 shades of grey has been completed and I’m now moving on to the bombs, landing gear and bay doors.

I’ve made the error of painting all the fiddly bits of the landing gear & bay doors white prior to gluing so its been a bit of issue. I really need to start reading the instructions more carefully before ploughing ahead and painting the tiny bits whilst they’re on the sprue.

messy wheel

Anyway. Learning whilst doing.

Quite a lot of touch ups required. WEATHERING!

Stay safe everyone.

-P

Post by **BigWall** » Thu Jan 28, 2021 12:46 am

Very nice! Nothing wrong with touch ups and we're all learning as we're stumbling along.

Post by **Parker** » Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:37 am

Hi all!

Hope you're all well.

So its been a while since I posted an update but I managed to get a few hours in over the weekend and yesterday evening.

Front and rear landing gear on.
Bombs attached.
Landing and bomb bay door hinges attached.
Some decals.

For various reasons, I drifted away from the F35. But decided to crack on over the weekend/yesterday. I needed a distraction. Those various reasons include needing to focus on home life, my little dude (just turned 4) has been a bit of a handful of late. Work is doing my nut in at the moment, blah blah, blah.

PICS...

...and successfully applied the smallest decals ive ever done... NO STEP

In the coming week(s) I'll be getting free form jazz with the weathering and disguise all the painting blemishes.

Stay tuned.

Stay safe everyone.
Wear a mask.

-P

Post by **BigWall** » Wed Feb 17, 2021 10:14 pm

It's looking great Parker! I was just thinking that I haven't seen an update from you in a while.

Post by **Parker** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:56 am

cheers Joe. Lost the mojo for a couple of weeks, but back on the horse now.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:07 pm

That's coming along really nicely mate - lovely clean paint job up top, and the stress work on the exhaust nozzle looks great!

Post by **Parker** » Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:27 am

An update.

All decals applied. Except the ridiculously small NO STEP decals that were required on the wings. I managed to get them placed near the exhaust nozzle, but the rest just turned into a needle in a haystack floating in water. It got away from me.

Honestly, I tried, but this hobby was started to relieve stress, not cause it. So, INTO THE BIN!

Clear coat has been applied and I’ll make a start on the weathering/streaking this evening.

Hope you’re all well.

-P

Post by **Parker** » Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:31 am

After the weathering/streaking I still need to attach the bomb bay & landing gear doors, a couple of missiles and a few other smaller they-will-certainly-get-knocked-off bits.

The finish line is in sight!

Post by **BigWall** » Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:54 pm

It's looking great! Way to keep this one chill!

Post by **MrBowcat** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:12 pm

That's looking really nice.

I don't blame you for skipping masking up the ram tape. I did it once, never again.

Post by **Parker** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:18 pm

first steps of the weathering.

Quite a few painting blemishes to conceal.

Cheers all.
P

Post by **Parker** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 4:38 am

Going to get back into this this evening.
Updates to follow.

Post by **Parker** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 3:14 am

An update. The final update.

I’m calling the F35 done.

Overall a very easy model to construct, no real dramas, and tbh a very boring model. Possibly the reason why I lost the mojo towards the end of the build, just easy & boring. A stunning plane no doubt, but as a model… dull. With the older planes I’m able to better paint a picture in my mind of its story, where it served, but the F35 gave me nothing. There's still a couple of paint blemishes that I could've worked a bit more on, but....

I’m happy with the cockpit, and more so the fact that I managed, for the fist time, to not get glue on the ‘glass’. And the exhaust nozzle came up pretty good, imo.

I still need to improve my attention to detail with the panel gaps, I might actually have to start using putty/filler. I’ve resisted so far on the basis that I know I’ll make a mess of it but I guess I need to start somewhere.

Anyhoo. Pics below.

Thanks for looking in.

Cheers all.
-P

Post by **BigWall** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 3:29 am

It looks great Parker! Sorry that your mojo builder kinda let you down but it really did come out well!

Post by **Kevthemodeller** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:40 am

Very nice

Some kits do sap the mojo at times, onwards and upwards, whats next?

Post by **RangerNeil** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 8:44 am

Finished item looks excellent - very well done indeed!!