SCALE MODEL NEWS

EAST MEETS WEST with this collaboration between Tamiya of Japan and Italeri of Italy. SMN report: Tamiya has taken the excellent 1:32 scale Italeri Lockheed Martin F-35A kit, and used it as the basis for a Limited Edition of the aircraft in Japanese military markings. As with most modern military aircraft, this F-35A has a monotone marking scheme, consisting of plain grey with a lighter grey-blue for the radome and assorted panels. Note that even the normally blood-red Japanese rising sun roundel has been reduced to a pale circle. The F-35A has them on the wings, and beside the air intakes on each side of the fuselage. The finished model is on the big side, measuring nearly a half-metre long, 19 inches to lovers of Imperial measurements. That's large enough, we reckon, to merit a diorama, even a minimal one. Perhaps a section of tarmac and a figure or two would do the job, if only to give a sense of scale. However, with or without a diorama, this F-35A will look the biz when displ...

THE LOCKHEED MARTIN F-35 LIGHTNING II has had a long, expensive, and troubled development. However, the stealth aircraft is finally heading to operational service. For model makers, that means building a kit of the twin-fin stealth machine. SMN report: There are several F-35s available, in various scales. The Academy F-35A version shown in the how-to videos ( below ) is moulded in what is still the most widely built model aircraft size, 1:72 scale. The Academy kit comes in multi-coloured plastic ( above ) which enables the company to claim that you can build one without needing paint. And that's OK for beginners, or for those who simply want a desk-top display model, but to have any form of realism, it's the traditional skills of careful painting and weathering that will transform a 'box of bits' into a decent scale model. As a stealth machine, the F-35A has internal bays for weapons carriage, thus keeping the radar-proof contours of the aircraft in working order. How...