KittyHawk F-35B Lightning In Box Review

[Craig Sargent]

Had two sitting on the doorstep this morning courtesy of Lucky Model (less than a week from order to delivery!).

Parts come in plastic bags (unsealed except for the clear parts which are sealed).

On first impressions, looks like a nice kit. Now down to the nitty gritty and observations (pics to follow later).

Parts are moulded in very dark grey styrene with a texture/feel reminiscent of that used by Monogram when they first released the AV-8B, MiG-29, etc. There are 6 sprues of parts, with the upper fuselage, lower fuselage and lower nose as separate parts with no sprues attached.

Upper fuselage has raised panel lines and a mix of raised and recessed rivets?! That was the first "surprise" on opening the kit. There are no other parts in the kit with raised panel lines, so not sure why this is the case. There are 4 injection points on the upper fuselage that will need cleaning up. The RAM panels are raised, but not as prominent as the Hasegawa F-22. While they will still be too pronounced for some, I can live with them - they may get a light sand while I am removing the raised panel lines.

Next surprise is the engine. While it is nicely detailed (but with room for more), on looking at the parts and instructions, there is no option to build this kit other than with the engine swivelled through 90 degrees, pointing at the ground and ready for VTO/L and the forward engine bay open. As I want mine on the ground, this is going to need some surgery.

Edit: Just discovered the parts for the raised engine are in the kit, but strangely not mentioned anywhere in the instructions/assembly sequence??!!

Cockpit consists of a 6 part ejection seat, throttle, stick, tub instrument panel with fine raised details, and a very nice decal for the centre instrument "glass" - although this is really only relevant if the jet was powered on. Tub has raised detail for the side consoles, but as to accuracy, need to check against reference pics first.

Full length intakes, back to the engine face, which will be fun to fill the seams on, and they have mild ejector pin marks on the inside too.

Full set of weapons pylons and weapons bay are included with a pair of AMRAAM (AIM-120B/C flavour with the clipped fins) and a pair of AIM-9X. Strangely, apart from the Sidewinder pylons, none of the others are shown in the assembly sequence, just a front on drawing of the jet at the end showing fitment of the AIM-9 and AIM-120 with the other weapons pylons fitted and a note saying "*GBU-32, GBU-38 are not include." (sic - grammar error from instructions).

Wheel hubs are fictitious and don't look anything like that on the current low-run production jets in use at Eglin. Hopefully we'll see something in resin pretty quick.

Ejector pin marks are prominent on the insides of the gear bay doors and weapons bay doors. Thankfully there is not much detail around tehm so should be fairly easily removed.

The exhaust nozzle is quite nicely done with fine detail inside and out. Unfortunately, on the kit I have opened, the tips have been crushed due to the way the parts sat in the box and the shipping. They will have to be very carefully straightened out.

Separate leading and trailing edge flaps and clear wingtip light inserts will help add some realism to the posed jet.

Decals come on three sheets (two main and an addendum with a new instrument panel decal) and have already been previewed elsewhere. They are very nicely printed - one with the low viz greys and one for the more "colourful" WHIF and dev/test jet (BF-01). There is a clear film over the decals to protect them - a nice touch.

[Kelly Quirk]

Excellent write up, thanks Craig!

[Craig Sargent]

Couple more observations:

Look forward to seeing yours progress Kelly

Pilot is included and also not mentioned in the instructions. Has the correct flight suit and virtual cockpit enabled helmet (albeit a little on the basic side, but still useable).

Large internal frame for the canopy is moulded as part of the canopy meaning it will be hard to accurately represent this correctly. I plan to try and sand/polish it out and scratchbuild a new one. This is actually quite a major in terms of the kit representation of the real aircraft and one which will be hard to ignore given the size of the glasshouse that is the cockpit on this jet.

[Craig Sargent]

Another thing to make you go hmmm. The main weapons bays have lots of detail "doohickies" to install to busy them up, including some pipework, but for the weapons themselves, there is only a pair of 5mm (1/4") long pins in each bay which I am guessing you simply glue the bombs to. No pylons, no sway braces. The instructions seem to have been rushed to get the kit out, as there is a GBU shaped white space in the instructions in the middle of all views of those same weapons bays.

[Craig Sargent]

Having had a quiet lunchtime, I can add some more.

The plastic as suspected is quite soft and if not carefull will tear easily.

Now the good and the bad. The main upper fuselage barn door will fit very well in the closed position. However, you need to seriously thin the door, or, as I have done, cut away the underlying structure to get it to fit.

[Viper Enforcer]

Not too bad on the raised LO, though still needs filling down. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem, especially with the softer plastic. Not sure what’s up with the raised panel line too; not on the real jet.

I found the Exhaust nozzle exterior to be decent, but the interior detail is a little lacking and what’s there is not that accurate. A basis to work from or wait for Aires.

The cockpit in the real jet is not all that busy, but a better job could have been done on the consoles and IP. Ditto the gimmicky IP decal; powered up only. The seat looks ok, but this is one that needs to be bounced against some good refs.

Just as I called out from the test shot photos a while back; the wheels are terribly inaccurate. I have the correct wheel data, though it’s going to be a while before we get to them.

Good review and a decent F-35 so far. I need to take my sample down to the F-35 CTF in the near future and check out the contours and shape.

Mike

[Craig Sargent]

Let's start with the positives. I have assembled the engine and engine door parts for a model the engine up and doors closed. The fit is excellent, but you do need to do some careful trimming where the doors meet the fuselage to minimise the gap. I have not had to use any putty or filler, so that is very good to see. The upper fuselage fan door and intake bypass doors also fit very well, but I did have to cut away all the structure underneath. The key here is to dry fit and test often before committing to glue. Hopefully the rest of the doors fit as well.

As nice as the kit is, there are a few more issues I've found since I started building it and comparing it to images of the aircraft from VMFAT-501 (the scheme I intend to use on my builds).

Compare the lower fuselage part (image by Mike @ Britmodeller)


On the starboard rear of the aircraft, there is a large raised area with a hot air exhaust (dark area in the photo here just above the national insignia). The corresponding panel on the kit is plain and flat. This will need some work with styrene/putty to add. It's noticeable also because the exhaust causes a dirty great black spot to appear on the fuselage near the engine.


Also the two large vents on the centreline, between the weapons bays are not there, as seen in this pic.


There are some streamlined boxes sitting on top and bottom of the fuselage just in front of the tailfins, and engine, which may be similar to the ones used on the F-117 to increase radar signature during peacetime operations, but these are not present in the kit either. Should be reasonably easy to add.


Found an item worthy of note in the instructions. In step 19, the AMRAAM launcher doors, when attaching them to the fuselage, put them on the opposite side to where they sit on the assembly diagram. F21 and G17 on the starboard side (right side of the diagram) and F20 and G18 on the port side (left side of the diagram). As I am building the kit with the doors closed, have just fitted those two doors and test fitting them on the side they are shown in the diagram, they do not fit. On the opposite side, they are a perfect fit.

[Craig Sargent]

Ok, don't expect this one to progress rapidly, or get updated too often. This is primarily me seeing how all the doors fitted in the closed position. I will be awaiting the release of some resin for the cockpit before continuing too much further. I have a real interest in this aircraft, because it is the latest to be flown by VMFAT-501 who started life as VMF-451 back in WWII and who I have a collection in 1/48 of every aircraft the squadron ever flew.

Pics taken in bad lighting at work on my office desk.

Forward fan door and intake bypass doors closed. Fit is pretty good, but I did have to cut away the fuselage structure underneath the doors and test fit to ensure a good fit. Happy with those. Annoyed about the raised panel lines I have to rescribe on the upper fuselage.


Dogteeth panels added to the engine donut. The pale grey lines on the left and right sides of the fuselage are where I have started to remove and recess rivets. Here you can see the raised panel lines (the panels running in a T in front of the engine and the two hexagonal panels.


Bottom doors (weapons bay, engine bay, vectoring nozzles and forward main gear bay) fitted. The 'blobs' of super glue are not spills, but to fill sink marks in the parts.


Close up of the lower doors fitted, showing how well (with a little work) they fit.


Inside shot of fitted doors.


Finally the engine nozzle temporarily taped in place. Looking at pics I am suspicious that this may be too small in diameter. There is quite a large gap around it that will require some work to prevent seeing into the fuselage.

[Skull Leader]

I'm gonna take a stab and guess that because the kit was probably "meant" to be displayed with the engine in the lowered position, little concern was taken to see that the diameter fit with the rear fuselage in the upright position.

[Craig Sargent]

Hard to say, because all the parts are there to build it with the engine raised, just not called out.

Then again, I have just been made aware of something else I overlooked. There are no paint call-outs in the instructions, only on the final 3-view color schemes.

The whole thing just feels very rushed - "let's get it to market and get some revenue".

[Sparkchaser]

What is the LO stuff on this jet and F-22? On the actual aircraft is the LO stuff raised as depicted on this model and the Hasegawa F-22. I have been up close to the F-22 and never saw stuff like that also it is clear in the pictures above that the LO is a different color from the actual paint but can't really tell if it is raised from the surface. If this raised stuff does not exist it is a big foul on the Hasegawa F-22 and this F-35 kit. I know there is alot of discussion on the F-22 kit and I never proposed these questions until now.

[Viper Enforcer]

Having been on the Raptor program, I can say that the raised LO is indeed on the production and most EMD aircraft. Without getting into too much detail, it’s laid on the edges of commonly opened access doors and panels, though can be laid on fixe skin joints as well. The problem in both the case of the Hasegawa 48th F-22 and the KH F-35, is that they are quite exaggerated. Looking at the aft fuselage and the aft booms on the KH F-35, the raised LO is quite overdone. Over larger surface areas, it doesn’t seem as bad.

Typically on the Raptor, the raised LO areas are painted same in with the standard finish. The F-35 has what we call a tape jobs. Similar to the F-16 SUFA and Block 60, raised areas of sealant or LO are overlaid with a light gray coating. The sealant and LO raised areas on the F-35 are actually more subdued or thinner than those on the Raptor. So in retrospect, the raised LO surface detail on the KW F-35 is as exaggerated as the Hasegawa F-22, despite being a little less pronounced compared.

Hasegawa and KH were right in the depiction of the raised LO, but again they just exaggerated the detail too much.

[Sparkchaser]

I see so does that make the Academy kit incorrect with no LO on the surface? Thanks for the explanation.

[Viper Enforcer]

Yes and no. It's one of those gray areas (no pun) so to speak. No raised LO does not necessarily make the Academy F-22 inaccurate, especially of doing one of the non-LO EMD jets. We’re talking about surface detail, which for the modern F-16 or F-18 model kit the surface detail can be raised or recessed. Which is more accurate; most times it’s the recessed, though on the F-16 I can point out slightly raised lines where recessed panel lines should be. This is a result of the “form-a-gasket” sealant, where the panel line gap is filled during the process. Over time this bead either breaks away or is eliminated after a few R & Is.

Another area to point out in the F-16’s LE stab cap; large stab of course. The panel line / joint of the stab LE cap is filled in by B ½ Sealant and about a 2 inch area over the fasteners and joint are masked off and a fillet is laid over. Sometimes barrier tape is used for the fillet over sealant, but this is typical for brand new jets.

The Academy 48th F-22 is really no less accurate for not having raised LO surface detail, than the Hasegawa kit is for having them way too exaggerated. Take your pick; you can either have the model with exaggerated LO to sand down, or tediously mask off and spray the LO areas onto one that doesn’t. Besides, the Academy kit has more “significant” accuracy issues to be concerned about than just the LO.

Mike V

[hornet78]

Looks like I;m waiting for a Hasegawa/Tamia kit and i think I'll be waiting for quite awhile :-(

Jim

[Sparkchaser]

Is LO a sealent that is applied over panel seams? This must be some of the rumors i heard about de-paneling the these 2 jets. Not sure if they are true, would suck to remove a panel and then find out it was the wrong panel that needed removed. I remember the time I inventoried my tool box after putting the LE PDU panel back on a 16 forgot the panel number and when doing the inventory realized my flashlight was still in the bottom of the panel. I was pissed that night

[Viper Enforcer]

Not really as sealant is specifically for sealing and/or making gaskets for panels. The non-LO Raptors in most cases use sealant for panels that would otherwise have LO material to fill and fair it in.

For a full LO panel to removed, a plot drawing is needed to lay over the panel in order to pick out the fasteners. It can be a tedious job. Without getting into specifics, the removal and installation/recovery process of a LO panel can take days.

[Skull Leader]

Originally Posted by Viper Enforcer

Not really as sealant is specifically for sealing and/or making gaskets for panels. The non-LO Raptors in most cases use sealant for panels that would otherwise have LO material to fill and fair it in.

For a full LO panel to removed, a plot drawing is needed to lay over the panel in order to pick out the fasteners. It can be a tedious job. Without getting into specifics, the removal and installation/recovery process of a LO panel can take days.

I may be getting the totally wrong picture here, but it really makes it sound like Raptor maintenance is a nightmare bordering on a greek tragedy. I'm sure the airframers have it down to a science by this point, but it seems like an incredibly unwieldly practice...

[Viper Enforcer]

In some respects, Raptor maintenance can be a major undertaking, though that usually involves LO recovery. In other respects, it's better. I've managed a dual Engine Change in one; something you just don't do with other jets. An Enigne R & I is a lot easier and quicker too, than teh Viper.

[jaws]

All--

Take a good look at the LG struts in post #7 images, the struts are not all gloss white, they are bare metal (steel) in certain areas. I've noticed this on the F-35B images I've seen lately.