Next we come to the decals and the whole reason for buying this particular release: the special anniversary tail markings. Gone are the days when Hasegawa prints white markings as cream colored ones. The whites here are white and very opaque.
So I was happily putting on the decals until I noticed that the painted panels and the decals were different shades of gray. Checking the instructions, Hasegawa called for H306 Gray FS36270 when it should be FS36231 in real life.
So I did a color swatch painted with H306, which is clearly a closer match to the decals. I couldn’t ignore this alone so I had to repaint the ‘wrong’ panels somehow.
Out came the Aizu masking tape and I carefully masked around the decals.
I ended up with one mistake and tore and lifted a small piece of decal.
After repaint it looks…. same-ish? Alas, I had to follow the instructions.
The two grays are actually subtly different when apart but is quite obvious when side-by-side.
After that the decals went on without a hitch. I find the result too stark compared to what I’ve seen of photos of this particular F-35.
At the bottom the decals had to conform around compound curves which required very careful positioning and a generous amount of Mark Softer.
At this time I noticed that I had missed out on painting part of the canopy frame. Since I couldn’t unsee it It’s out with the masking tape again.
Note how the canopy doesn’t quite fit snugly. It wasn’t like this in the initial dryfit so I believe it’s the internal canopy brace that caused this.
Once the decals were done I finally attached the Luneberg lense enhancers. These are always attached for a ‘peacetime’ F-35 to increase its radar signature.
There’s also a pair on the belly.
I’m finally on the final stages of this build.
I decided to skip the panel wash as all the land-based F-35s I’ve seen are very clean but I did want to try to replicate the Have Glass V finish that’s standard on it. Basically, Have Glass adds a metallic sheen to the whole aircraft.
I loaded my airbrush with Aqueous H110 Semi Gloss Clear and added one drop of AMMO Metal Color Silver. I went with a 10:1 ratio and started carefully spraying all over the kit. So far so good.
I then proceeded with the bottom…
Which quickly went sideways. There were larger than expected silver flecks. This is most obvious on the wings. I decided to set this problem aside first and tackle the other stuff.
The tint for the canopy turned out to be dark enough.
The masking of the EOTS turned out very well with only very minimal cleaning needed.
I then attached the main landing gear. These were white metal so I used CA glue.
The nose gear was straightforward although the gear doors needed some finagling to fit right.
After that it was back to the Have Glass problem. In my moment of infinite (not) wisdom, I tried to rub off the offending silver flecks with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner and of course (OF COURSE) I managed to ruin the finish instead. I even took off a bit of the JASDF roundel. In my defence, I thought that Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner would only take the AMMO paint (which is an acrylic) off but not the main color (which is alcohol based).
So I had to go back and sand and polish the area down and repaint everything including fixing the roundel with some careful handpainting.
I then decided to leave it well enough alone and chalk it up to experience and call this build unsatisfactorily done: I’ll do better when the B and C comes down the pipeline.
Build Log
Pt.1 – Construction | Pt.2 – Construction | Pt.3 – Painting | Pt. 4 – Finishing
