F-35B

1/32 down to 1/48 makes quite a difference. Just be thankful you didn't jump down to 1/72...lol
 
I just finished a 1/72 Tamiya F35A Lightning II. It is a new release. The tooling on that kit is really amazing. It went together really easily. I will agree that 1/72 is a tough scale sometimes. Way too easy to lose parts via the tweezers catapult. But I like the finished size. Mostly because I do not a lot of room for displaying. The bay doors are molded in the fuselage closed. There were some really small parts. The landing gear was a breeze. The worse part of this build are the decals. Of course they are small also. The biggest problem was the ghosted grey ones, which you couldn't really see on the paper. Once you got the decal on the plane, then you could see what it actually was. But all in all, a great looking model that fit together amazingly.

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Nice job!
Did not try yet 1/72 scale, but I imagine how tricky it is for the small parts.. and I like your "tweezers catapult"! So true...
Thank you! I lost one of the pitot tubes on the nose of the F35. I was getting ready to put it in place and then heard the dreaded "ping" and never found it. Had to make one out of scrap sprue.
 
I did the exact same to the pitot tube of a 1/72 P40 a while back. Same outcome, stretched sprue made a new one...lol
 
I did the exact same to the pitot tube of a 1/72 P40 a while back. Same outcome, stretched sprue made a new one...lol
That's actually pretty ironic. It seems like every time something like that happens, I find another way to do the same without losing the piece. I plan to build Academy's 1/72 F15E Eagle Strike Eagle as soon as I finish my current build(1/12 Tamiya Yamaha YZF R1). For any really small parts on the F15, I plan to use an old pencil or something similar with reverse wrapped painter's tape. I will stick the part to that until it is in place or damn close to it. I use old plastic straws wrapped with reverse wrapped tape to hold small parts for painting. Works great. Build and learn. It is fun to learn something everyday at my age. That would be 70. Damn I'm old. LOL
 
I have started working over a box (usually the kits lid) when I work with small parts like the anti-aircraft guns on 1/700 ships or landing gear on 1/700 aircraft. It has saved me a few times
 
That's actually pretty ironic. It seems like every time something like that happens, I find another way to do the same without losing the piece. I plan to build Academy's 1/72 F15E Eagle Strike Eagle as soon as I finish my current build(1/12 Tamiya Yamaha YZF R1). For any really small parts on the F15, I plan to use an old pencil or something similar with reverse wrapped painter's tape. I will stick the part to that until it is in place or damn close to it. I use old plastic straws wrapped with reverse wrapped tape to hold small parts for painting. Works great. Build and learn. It is fun to learn something everyday at my age. That would be 70. Damn I'm old. LOL
Never too old to create great model builds. Pantherman
 
And working on cockpit and pilot. I usually do not put pilots into planes, however, planning to display the F-35 during a vertical landing, therefore needed the pilot.. Not easy to paint in so small scale. And wanted to check that the joysticks were at the right position. The decals in the cockpit are those provided with the kit; not as detailed as the 3D aftermarket ones, but good enough when canopy will be in place
Seat.jpgPilot.jpgPilot + Seat + Joystick.jpgFront + cockpit.jpg
 
I just finished a 1/72 Tamiya F35A Lightning II. It is a new release. The tooling on that kit is really amazing. It went together really easily. I will agree that 1/72 is a tough scale sometimes. Way too easy to lose parts via the tweezers catapult. But I like the finished size. Mostly because I do not a lot of room for displaying. The bay doors are molded in the fuselage closed. There were some really small parts. The landing gear was a breeze. The worse part of this build are the decals. Of course they are small also. The biggest problem was the ghosted grey ones, which you couldn't really see on the paper. Once you got the decal on the plane, then you could see what it actually was. But all in all, a great looking model that fit together amazingly.

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Excellent job! This is a kit I'm interested in...just gotta get through a couple models first.
 
Need to find a way to remove the shinny reflections of the decals. Will see when completed and with canopy in.
 
The F-35 coms with plenty options such as hatches/doors closed or not, etc.. and for the painting I was planning to glue these pieces temporarily and then remove and install the opened ones . Any recommendation on what type of "temporary" glue to use? One of those for clear parts?? Liquid mask???
 
The F-35 coms with plenty options such as hatches/doors closed or not, etc.. and for the painting I was planning to glue these pieces temporarily and then remove and install the opened ones . Any recommendation on what type of "temporary" glue to use? One of those for clear parts?? Liquid mask???
Couple of dabs of PVA (kids glue) usually works for me. Pantherman
 
Great, thanks to both of you. and very interesting threads. Will go with the PVA
 

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