Monday, October 7

Sprues, decals & masks add to Tamiya's test build of their new 48th scale F-35C...

Tamiya added sprue layouts, masks, decals, a feature list & the test kit build information of their new 1/48 scale Lockheed F-35C Lightning II kit. We have all the details so far in our preview...

Sprues, decals & masks add to Tamiya's test build of their new 48th scale F-35C...

LOCKHEED F-35C LIGHTNING II
From Tamia
1/48th scale
Length: 327mm, wingspan: 273mm.
Six marking choices are included in the box.
Seated pilot figure, masks included.
Available by December 2024
Price: $76 USD from Hobbylink Japan
The Subject - Lockheed's F-35C Lightning II
The F-35C is the first and world’s only long-range stealth strike fighter designed and built explicitly for Navy carrier operations. It’s configuration, embedded sensors, internal fuel and weapons capacity, aligned edges, and state of the art manufacturing processes all contribute to the F-35’s unique Very Low Observable stealth performance. This enables pilots to evade enemy detection and operate in anti-access and contested environments, improving lethality and survivability.

F-35C taking off the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson 
The Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA) radar, Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Electro Optical Targeting System (EOTS) and Helmet Mounted Display System allow the pilot to see everything in the battlespace with unprecedented situational awareness. The F-35 can operate as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance asset and battle manager, sharing information to all networked ground, sea and air assets in the battlespace. This ensures men and women in uniform can execute their mission and come home safe.

F35C Lightning II aircraft assigned to the “Argonauts”
The F-35C carries nearly 20,000 lbs of internal fuel and has a range of greater than 1,200 nm. The enables F-35C pilots to fly further and remain in a desired battlespace longer before refuelling is necessary. The design of the F-35C’s wings and landing gear make it suitable for catapult launches and fly-in arrestments aboard naval aircraft carriers.

The C-variants wingtips fold to allow for more room on the carrier’s deck while deployed.
The F-35C can reach speeds of 1.6 Mach (~1,200 mph) even with a full internal weapons load. With its fuel and internal weapons load, the F-35C can fly faster, with no drag associated with external tanks and weapons required for legacy fighters. 

An F-35 C Lightning II lands aboard USS Nimitz. 
The F-35C can carry more than 5,000 lbs of internal weapons, or more than 18,000 lbs of combined internal and external weapons. This allows the Navy to operate in stealth when necessary, or increase lethality with additional weapons externally when the air space is permissive. Naval Air Station Lemoore is home to the Navy’s Joint Strike Fighter Wing. The U.S. Marine Corps is also acquiring F-35C aircraft along with their F-35BSs.

F-35C Lightning II at-sea trials

The Kit: 
Following their 1/48th scale F-35A and F-35B kits, which became the flagships of Tamiya's 48th scale range last year, this new kit of the carrier-based F-35C in 1/48th scale looks sure to follow on in their footsteps. We have images of the sprue layouts, the completed test kit from many angles, and a feature list for this kit

Tamiya's Lightning II range is now complete with the A,B & C models.
Kit features:
Shown below you can see the test kit built up and the rivets high lightened (or darkened in this case) with a panel liner to show the details more clearly.

Once assembled, this 1/48th scale plastic model has a wingspan of 222mm, & a fuselage length of 326mm.
The low observability design is faithfully depicted. 
Fine recreations of Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) are moulded into fuselage surfaces. 
Separate assemblies of folded and extended wingtips can be interchanged - even after assembly. 
Choose deployed or retracted fuel probe. 
Flaps are depicted down for an accurate parked aircraft. 
The F-35C’s reinforced nose landing gear is recreated in style. 
Arresting hook doors can be depicted open or closed. 
Choose from open or closed weapons bay doors. Parts are included for two each of AIM-9X and AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles, plus four GBU-12 and two GBU-31 bombs. 
The optional gun pod is also recreated with accuracy. Choose an extended or retracted boarding ladder. 
Wheel chocks are included. 
The kit comes with a seated pilot figure, and 6 marking options plus canopy masks.

A mix of new, re-tooled & existing parts:
The exterior parts of the aircraft have undergone major changes from the F-35A and B types. I this case, they been completely newly-tooled to make this version. This kit also features the thick, sturdy landing gear struts, arresting hooks, and folding wingtips. Tamiya has given us helpful images of that parts are newly-tooled for this kit to differentiate them from the F-35A.

New parts made specifically for this 1/48 F-35C kit. You can see how much of a different airframe this is with mostly external parts being all-new in the kit.
The parts that are circled in red are new, on the older sprues, mostly a revised cockpit, pylons & optics
The same parts as ones used for our 1/48 F-35A kit. A lot of internal parts here which makes sense.
Masking stickers for painting and decals for making six variants of the F-35C are included - all in US Service. 
Masking parts for the canopy and stencils / common markings for all of the aircraft in the boxing.

This kit will be available around December.
For more information about this kit look at the Tamiya Website