Adir PART 2
Israeli’s First Lightning
F-35 LIGHTNING II
By Yoav Efrati
The landing gear was painted white with the hydraulic tubing picked out in Humbrol 56 aluminium and 11 Silver shock struts. The separation line between the tyres and white hubs was deepened with a needle scriber and Xtracolour Tyre black used for the tyres
The instrument panel decal is larger than the panel’s recess and clear acetate cover, so it needs to be applied over them rather than between them. This is a view of the finished cockpit prior to installation. Since this was built, Eduard’s colour etch sets have become available
Reflective lenses were cemented inside upper fuselage clear part 9H, prior to closing up the fuselage halves
Kit No: 2506
Scale: 1/32
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Italeri The Hobby Company/MRC
This second part of my article on building Italeri’s 1/32 F-35A to depict Israel’s first F-35i Adir (dual meaning mighty and in slang a fabulous experience), includes my camouflage colour findings and deals with assembly challenges experienced after the fuselage and wings were put together.
F-35 Colours
Currently, all Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning 2s of all three versions and all operator nations have the common camouflage colour of FS595C- 36170. Italeri instructs the modeller to use FS36270 for the overall fuselage colour and FS36375 for the RAM areas, but these colours are incorrect. The Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) applied to access panel edges, intake lips, radome, vertical fin panels and various areas on the airframe is matt and reflects different grey colours under differing light intensity. No colour is specified for the RAM material, so for application on this model I considered using FS36231, FS36251, FS36270 and FS36375 for the RAM panel edge sealant areas.