konbini

Many thanks for your kind words. You’ll love the kit. Dear all, A bit of a late one for me. Been away from my desk. Good news is I got some spray time in and went in and bit the bullet for the main paint job. The grey is the Tamiya recommended mix, and I thought it came out ok. The LP paints were thinned slighted with mrcolor levelling thinner. I’d say 4:1, 3:1 paint to thinner. after everything was dry I sprayed on a mrcolor thinned x22 tamiya clear in preparation for the next stage, decals. I expect that wont be an easy task. I’ll keep everyone posted

Lovely care and great work. Keen to see more. 🙂

I am planning (for now) to use the kit decals with my current F-35 build. Knowing it is Tamiya gives me a bit of confidence. For masks: as far as I know, there is one company already producing masks for the Tam F-35 and Eduard will release their own set soon. I will experiment with decals on lesser seen areas first.

Thanks! It's slowly coming together 🙂 Many thanks Bendinggrass! Always a work in progress for improvement. Ah! That is my rather poor and rushed result of spraying on a too thin a layer of primer. I used more PSI and paint for more coverage and some areas were not sprayed as well as I would have liked. Fortunately, I took slightly more care with the main color - however, there are still microfibers and dust stuck to whatever layer I paint and I dont think I am able to ever completely rid of them unless I sprayed in a clean room.

Many thanks markiii! Update time: Things are starting to get more exciting. I mustered the energy to rebuild the mirrors of the EOTS unit under the nose. The kit calls for plain silver paint but reference photos call for mirrors. I experimented with molotov paint, and athough they were very fabulous, I wanted a clean untarnished mirror (kind of like the real thing). So i stuck on scratch made ovals made from Hasegawa’s mirror film. next, I slapped on the weapons bay doors (for the closed version), ladder door, and masked the other bays. I

I noticed a few things from Eduard announced for the March lineup for the Tamiya F-35A namely the instrument panel, PE, masks, and what looks like weighted wheels. The masks certainly are interesting addition. I am still on the fence as to doing the spraying myself or trying out the decals for the RAM panels. Later I’ll try some kit RAM decals on a not so visible section. Both decals / self spraying takes time and skill and I do believe both would work out fantastically.

Hello All, Another update. This one took a while from research, prep, and execution. The main landing gear. Tamiya did a great job with representation, of course not all of the detail could make it on. I debated leaving as is, but after browsing reference photos I needed to do the gear some justice. Theres a lot going on and multiple busy lines of hydraulic lines. First step for me is to scratch build the foundations for the 3 main lines that cross over the landing gear scissor link. This includes where the lines get anchored on the top and bottom, as well

Many thanks Andy! The engineering of this kit makes it easier 🙂 Many thanks! Very tempted to chuck everything in a box and start shaking. Will probably come out very nicely.

Update time again: I glued the nose+ intake top and bottom halves together. Despite my best effort there was still some sandwork to be done on the seam as the edges are sharp and any imperfection will be obvious. I used some mr surfacer to help. Next, the moment everyones been waiting for: top and bottom half coming together. This was done slowly and deliberately, using a heck of a lot of clothes pins and Tamiya extra thin for the internal structures if possible and the quick setting extra thin cement for anything external to minimize scarring. I did mess up one part d

Update time: Back at home enough for an update. I tidied up the main gear bay here. Plumbing was moulded on already just like the weapons bay. Made my life easy. The rest of this large pieces forms the wing spare which supports the model weight when the gear is attached, and the upper fuselage. Well thought out by Tamiya. Next is a very satisfying click and glue together of the main gear bay, lower fuselage, and wing spar section. The fitting notches and nibs form a gapless fit that has no wiggle. Dry fitting with the upper fuselage had no surprises, i

Many thanks! Tamiya’s engineering certainly makes things easier. Updates to come. The f-35 may seem like lacking in detail but Tamiya proves it is up to developer and builder. thank you thank you, Much appreciated. The base was mr.color’s white surfacer, and shading/wash mostly with tamiya’s panel line washes. Many ribs and plumbing made it easier. 🙂

This kit just begs to be fondled and built. Im happy to share my findings here. Many thanks Mr. Happy, The intakes did take a while. The problem is the intakes are bendy, and theres 2 colors to deal with. A toothpick/thin rod with sandpaper stuck onto it was doable, but visibility while sanding was poor. Thanks for your kind words! Hard to believe the weapons bay is OOB. Of course it just takes a bit of patience painting everything.

Hello, its Update time: I put together the intakes and attached them to the forward lower fuselage. I sprayed Mr.Color Finisher white and the Tamiya grey mix on the separate parts before mating them together as masking the sections for painting post-mating (for me at least) would be close to impossible. I then layered/sanded the mated corners using Mr.Finisher for the white portions and sanding with sandpaper stuck on a toothpick. The grey areas were mostly fine as they were. I also finished the main weapons bay as well. Wiring and piping were alr

Indeed Andy, this kit clicks together at every stage. Fillers and wrestling at a minimum. Surprisingly (maybe not so surprising), the last few kits I have successfully completed are all Tamiya. Many thanks Mr. Happy, With borders open without quarantine worldwide it is easier to get home and fiddle with kits. You’ll love it markiii, Tamiya has really outdone itself lately. Ill do my best to highlight anything noteworthy in the meantime.