1/72 Italeri RAF F35B Lightning II

Gallery Article by Whoper Choper on Jan 2 2013

Silly Week 2014

 

 

I decided to build my F35-B in Royal Air Force scheme. The United Kingdom accepted the first international F-35 which was delivered in a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew a 1.4-hour inaugural flight of F-35B BK-2 (serial number ZM136) from NAS Fort Worth JRB on July 11, 2012. The model was built straight out of the box. I omitted the jet engine and built the internal exhaust can using aftermarket so that when you look at it from the back you can see the afterburner. Sine there are no RAF decals available in low visibility tone down … , I decided to make them myself and print them on my Inkjet printer. 

 

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Painting the F35-B is somewhat of a dilemma since the camouflage has a reflective qualities on its finish due to the radar absorbing paint which is clearly in the pics The camo seems to change depending on the source of the light surrounding it. Using photographs I tried as best to duplicate that sheen on the model. Experimenting with a few color paint option for the F-35 and what seems to work well for me is the following technique....
If you have an Iphone download the following APPs "iModelKit" v1.30. It is free. There is an option called "Paint mixer" where you are able to download a picture and by using the color chart, try to match the picture to any of the listed popular color chart paint chip. I found that a mixture of MM master enamels FS36076 (Engine Grey) #2034, (aluminum non buff) #1418 and, a drop of FS35164 (Intermediate Blue) #1720 seem to come very close. You be the judge!

THE COLOR MIX IS AS FOLLOW:

  • 12 parts engine grey 67%

  • 6 parts aluminum or 32%

  • 1 part intermediate blue 5%

There was no weathering applied since the F35-B is just about to enter service and is maintained at a high degree of readiness. 

Parts went together very well with a minimum of filling required. The research to build this particular RAF aircraft was a big part of doing this built. I am convinced the RAF will make good use of its capability.
Andre Dionne from Timmins, Ont. Canada

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Photos and text © by Whoper Choper