ACADEMY KIT #12507 1/72 SCALE F-35A JSF REVIEW & BUILD
The Aircraft:
The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is the second 5th generation stealth fighter built by the United States of America, following the F-22 Raptor.
The F-35 Lightning II was developed by Lockheed Martin as the Prime Contractor along with Northrop Grumman and British Aerospace ins response to the US Air Force Joint Strike Fighter Program. The program began in November 1996 with a 5-year competition between Lockheed Martin and Boeing to determine the most capable and affordable preliminary aircraft design. Lockheed presented the X-35 and Boing presented the X-32. On October 26, 2001, 2001 the Pentagon announced that Lockheed-Martin had won contract to build the Joint Strike Fighter. The Air Force announced that on the basis of strengths, weaknesses and degrees of risk, that the Lockheed-Martin team was the winner.
The program was looking for a joint service strike aircraft to replace numerous aging 4th generation aircraft in the US inventory including the USAF F=16 Falcon, the USAF A-10 Warthog, the US Navy and US Marine F-18 Hornet, the US Marine AV-8B Harrier II, and similar aircraft from allied nations who partnered on the project.
This ended up requiring three variants of the aircraft, all to be built around the same basic air fram and a large majority of common parts and systems.
As a result, once the production aircraft was designated the F-35, is resulted in three aircraft designations:
F-35A Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) version for the US Air Force.
F=35B STOVL (Short Take-off, Vertical Landing) version for the US Marines.
F-35C CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off, Barrier Assisted Recovery) version for the US N.
Developing an airframe that could accommodate all three functions mandated that the aircraft could not be a purpose built air superiority fighter like the F-22A Raptor. But the program never sought that. It
sough an aircraft whose principle role was as a strike fighter that could very adequately defend itself if necessary, and could, as a secondary mission, preform air defense missions.
The aircraft is a blend of stealth technologies (both forming and materials), tremendous sensor fusion and situational awareness, agility, ordinance carrying capability, supersonic capability (Mach 1.6), and common parts and electronics for many of the missions of all three services. it is also a single seat, single engine aircraft.
This description is about the Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) F-35A Lightning II for the US Air Force and the air forces of numerous allied nations.
Specifically, expectations of the F-35A are that it will match the latest F-16 fighters in maneuverability and instantaneous and sustained high-g performance, that it will outperform the latest F-16 aircraft in stealth, payload, internal fuel range, avionics, operational effectiveness, supportability, and survivability. These are tall orders, but the F-35 is progressing towards meeting or exceeding all of them.
The aircraft is anticipated to be produced in large numbers over many years. The US Air Force anticipates a need for upwards of about 1,800 aircraft itself to replace the many F-16 aircraft still in service, and ultimately the A-10 aircraft as well. In addition, the US Navy and Marines will produce 800 or more of the F-35B and F-35C aircraft. As a result, the program will be the most expensive weapons/military program in history.
As such, it has come under, and continues to come under tremendous scrutiny, and has already become the most tested weapons system in US military history.
The first production F-35A aircraft rolled out of the production facility in Ft. Worth , Texas in February 2006, it ran up its engine for the first time in September 2006, and made it's first flight in December 2006. The testing on these aircraft has been very intensive and ongoing. Particularly in the sensor fusion area, the amount of software and its complexity rivals any aircraft program. The F-35A attained its maximum speed of Mach 1.6 in October 2011. The aircraft performed its first live weapons tests of both bombs and air to air missiles in October 2012. In 2013, pilot training for the F-35A began at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
The US Air Force has now taken deliver of over 100 aircraft and has stood up testing and evaluation squadrons in its support wings, and training squadrons in various fighter wings (like at Eglin).
The US Air Force has stated that the F-35A will reach Initial Operational Capability when the first operational squadron is equipped with 12-24 aircraft, and Airmen are trained, manned, and equipped to conduct basic Close Air Support (CAS), Interdiction, and limited Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD/DEAD) operations in a contested environment. The US Air Force expects to meet this condition between August and December 2016.
Aircraft General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 50.5 ft (15.67 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft (10.7 m)
Height: 14.2 ft (4.33 m)
Wing area: 460 ft² (42.7 m²)
Empty weight: 29,098 lb (13,199 kg)
Loaded weight: 49,540 lb (22,470 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 70,000 lbs (31,800 kg)
Power plant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofan
- Dry thrust: 28,000 lbf (125 kN)
- Thrust with afterburner: 43,000 lbf (191 kN)
Internal fuel capacity: 18,498 lb (8,382 kg)
Maximum speed: Mach 1.6+ (1,200 mph, 1,930 km/h) (tested to Mach 1.61)
Range: 1,200 nmi (2,220 km) on internal fuel
Combat radius: 613 nmi (1,135 km) on internal fuel
Wing loading: 107.7 lb/ft² (526 kg/m²; 745 kg/m² max loaded)
Thrust/weight:
- With full fuel: 0.87
- With 50% fuel: 1.07
Maximum g-load: 9 g
Armament:
1 × General Dynamics 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-22/A 4-barrel Gatling gun, internally mounted with 180 rounds
2 x Internal Bays with two pylons each, total internal capacity of 3,000 lbs (1,380 kg)
6 × external pylons on wings with a capacity of 15,000 lb (6,800 kg)
- Total weapons payload of 18,000 lb (8,100 kg)
Missiles:
Air-to-air: AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-9X Sidewinder, IRIS-T, MBDA Meteor
Air-to-surface: AGM-88 AARGM, AGM-158 JASSM, Brimstone missile / MBDA SPEAR, Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), Storm Shadow missile, SOM
Anti-ship: Joint Strike Missile (JSM), Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM)
Precision Guided Bombs:
Paveway laser-guided bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), AGM-154 JSOW, Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)
Bombs:
Mark 84 or Mark 83 or Mark 82 GP bombs, Mk.20 Rockeye II cluster bomb, Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) capable, B61 mod 12 nuclear bomb
The Kit:
There are numerous kits for F-35A Lightning II on the market. In looking at kits, I found that the Academy kit looked to be the best from my perspective.
I liked the features and options, the detail, the general quality of academy models, and the price.
For example, this kit comes with the parts molded in five different colors. They are a dark gray, lighter gray, white, black, and clear. Both weapons bays, the landing gear bays, and the interior of the jet intakes are already modeled in white. The engine nozzle, the cockpit, the tires, etc. come molded in black. The weapons and pylons are molded in lighter gray, and the aircraft fuselage and control surfaces are molded in dark gray (gunship gray).
One could build a very decent representation of the F-35A without using any paint...but I intend to use paint to better detail the aircraft.
In addition there are numerous weapons options (including JDAM munitions, AIM-9X sidewinder, and AIM-120 AMRRAM missiles. I intend to augment this for a full load out with a separate, after market, 1/72 scale weapons kit.
Altogether, there are seven frets of parts with about 120 parts. There is a really good instruction booklet that folds out showing the various building instructions intuitively. There is also a two-sided painting scheme for three different aircraft from various wings/squadrons.
All in all it looks like a really great kit to build.
Here's what it looked like out of the box:
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