F-35 I (Adir) in 1/48

docsudy said:
Wow another kit!!! Likes good so far. Who make us the kit ? Tamiya
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This one is from Meng, I've built a couple of their kits this year and have been fairly impressed, this is the first aircraft from that manufacturer though. Quality is good, as is fit, perhaps a step behind the mighty "T" but not a big step, and only if you mean the newer ones like the F-14 or F-4 or P-38, which are in a class by themselves frankly.

One reason I chose this one over the Tamiya is that the RAM tape on the Tamiya version are decals. Ewww!

Not that using masks is my idea of a dream date, it is not THAT bad. I still feel like I made the right choice on painted RAM versus decaled RAM.

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Both pics are obviously WIPs, but this is definitely easier, Tamiya decals leave room for improvement (since their engineering it tops), but painted details just look better IMO.
 
As I'm a relative newbie, I never heard of the manufacturer Meng. I'll have to look them up online. Good to know that they're a good manufacturer of good models. I'm currently building the trumpeter 1/32nd scale version of the SBD 3, flown by Dick Best at the Battle of Midway. As it is my first trumpeter model, I can see the quality of the plastic compared to Tamiya is a bit softer and has a bit more flash on it. But it's still a well made model. I will say however, Tamia has it in spades when you consider their instructions compared to trumpeter. I must spend at least a good half hour each time when I'm at the bench. Just trying to figure out what part goes where. Anyways, thanks for writing back. Your model looks good. Keep on doing it. Show me your progress pictures if you wouldn't mind after you get through painting. Hey by the way where you from.? I'm from Wisconsin near Milwaukee. It's really cold here right now about 12°
All the best

Gary
 
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I've completed the sections that were not part of the mask-set, as best I could. It was not hard just time consuming so it took a few days. For that reason I decided to just finish the top side. I do not want the tape to sit there for weeks. The shape of the plane allow this to be pretty easy without overspray concerns.

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As mentioned previously, the kit from "Galaxy" was to fit a Meng F-35A (there's a kit #) but does not perfectly fit the F-35I. Some of the issues were visible and corrected, some were obscured and will have to be addressed separately. I'm going to put a layer of clear on top so that my tape does not molest the light gray.

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Above is an example of one of my mistakes. That missing spot on the one on the left was covered by a strip of tape and I simply did not see it.
 
Forgive my ignorance, but does RAM refer to radar absorbing materials, or some other technology?
Having worked in telecom tech, I got used to every other word being some acronym, but it will take a lot of Googling to get up to speed in this new domain!
 
Check the dates on these posts, this kit was in my closet of stalled projects for a while. The RAM was really hard. Well, maybe not hard as in difficult, just hard as in boring and tedious.

Since posting I masked the entire underside and sprayed the light gray. When I pulled off the tape I found I had used a darker shade of gray than I did on the top side.

Doing more research (looking at pictures) I found that many F-35s have nearly invisible RAM, and others show a lot of variety in the color. I think the paint used on these is pretty special (possibly color-shifting or variable reflection?) and hard to duplicate on a model. So I embraces the variances in my RAM painting. I also went back over much of it with very thin layers of the base color to tone down the contrast.

Then attached the landing gear and canopy, plus a few fiddly bits and calling this done.

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You might notice the marker lights at the wingtips are missing. I hope to find them over the next few weeks as I clear my list of kits in-progress out.


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Edbert said:
You might notice the marker lights at the wingtips are missing. I hope to find them over the next few weeks as I clear my list of kits in-progress out.
Click to expand...
...and that did not take long, also found the missing headlight :)

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Edbert said:
the paint used on these is pretty special (possibly color-shifting or variable reflection?)
Click to expand...
You are correct. As for the color shifting, the technical term is "metamerism." Paint manufacturers spent decades and probably millions of $ trying to eliminate it in some of their paints. Then someone realized that it enhanced camouflage, and many paints used by the USAF gray schemes are metameric to some degree at least since the ~1980s. Now, metamerism is popular in automotive finishes. I bet there are ancient paint chemists spinning in their graves. :D

Beautiful build!
 


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