Meng 1/48 F-35A Lightning II

[Jim R]

Hi Bob
That canopy tint looks good. I have seen a few attempts at tinting clear parts with very mixed results.
Jim

[Si Benson]

Hi Bob,
The pilot came out nicely, glad his arm surgery worked out. Canopy tint look good but I see what you about the odd finish. Hope a dip in Klear sorts it.

I vaguely recall someone adding colour to klear to achieve tint but can’t for the life of me remember where:thinking:

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers guys.

I decided to strip the tint off the canopy and try again. It's in a Tupperware drying, I'll have a look tomorrow and see how it looks.

I used X20A to thin it this time rather than MLT, hopefully that will produce a better result?

[Guest]

That canopy looked ok to me:disappointed2:, just shows .

[Mr Bowcat]

John, if you zoom in on the picture it's got an eggshell finish rather than perfectly clear. I had a look at attempt number 2 before I left for work this morning and although better it' still not perfect so I think it will still need a dip

[Mr Bowcat]

Hi guys.

I got engrossed in building this and forgot to take many photos.

I may have mentioned I wanted to pose this in flight (my first try at this) so I sanwiched some strips of plasticard together and glued them into the bottom of the airframe, then drilled a hole through. I wanted to be able remove the plane from the stand if I wanted, so tapped an M3 hole and cut the corresponding thread on some steel rod. this still needs to be tidied up and painted.

[ATTACH]347043[/ATTACH][ATTACH]347044[/ATTACH][ATTACH]347046[/ATTACH]

After that I glued the top and bottom together, added the various doors and the canopy.

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[flyjoe180]

Coming together well Bob, looking like a F-35 now

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Joe, yep the shape is starting to look right. I'm going to go round and check all the seams to make sure they are OK before I add any more bits. Sprayed some back primer around yesterday to help me find problems.

Incidentally, I saw that the RAF F-35B's took part in their first operational sorties yesterday. I believe they are based in Cyprus, where I am off to in August. I will be sure to keep my eyes open as I float around the pool.

[papa 695]

Nice work Bob

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Ian,

I sloshed some Mr Surfacer 500 around the seams yesterday and will clean of the excess tonight. From the looks of things there are very few gaps, and those that are there are small.

[Mr Bowcat]

Hi guys.

Finished putting this together and got it into primer. Still need to clean up the wing roots as there should be no seam.

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[papa 695]

It’s looking good Bob, think I may get one and do it in British markings.

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Ian.

Only problem there is the RAF's bought F-35B's and so far Meng have only released the A's. I expect other manufacturers might make the B though??

[papa 695]

Cheers Ian. :smiling3:

Only problem there is the RAF's bought F-35B's and so far Meng have only released the A's. I expect other manufacturers might make the B though??

Looks like a I'll have to wait a little then Bob.

[Guest]

Only problem there is the RAF's bought F-35B's and so far Meng have only released the A's. I expect other manufacturers might make the B though??

Are there external differences other than additional panels that open up for the vertical engine intake and exhaust? If not, then you could convert an F-35A kit by scribing a few panel lines.