Scale aviation modeller international

this are common to many

modellers, and we’ll rely on

reference material elsewhere,

but there is little available on

the production F-35 to date.

The instructions show a

basically all-black cockpit,

but I wanted to show off the

interior details, so in my cockpit

I painted the tub a light grey

and the surrounding consoles

and ejection seat black.

The canopy included is the

clearest styrene I’ve ever seen, I

actually lost it once before I masked

it off because it simply blended

into my desk. It was so clear that

I didn’t feel the need to pose the

canopy open, since the detail would

be clearly visible with it closed.

The weapons and gear bays

are assembled on their own and

then attached inside the main

lower fuselage. This allows for a

detailed interior, as each section

comes with a flat base to which

you add the sidewalls, all of

which has some nice detail.

The main weapons bays also

have a few other parts to be added.

On the real F-35 there is a lot of

plumbing running through these

bays, and I played with the idea of

adding even more extra wiring as

seen in my reference photographs.

But in the end I decided to only use

what is supplied in the kit. And I

was glad that I made this decision,

as once I added the weapons, I

found that most of the interior

detail was totally invisible.

The inlet duct assembly

22 • NOVEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

020-25-FEAT-Lightning-1118.indd 22 12/10/2018 15:56