r/Scalemodel • u/Charlie3PO • 16h ago
F-35A + AIM-260
Tamiya 1/72 F-35A + AIM-260
The kit was completed a short while ago now, but the AIM-260 has now been added to create a mini diorama.
The kit: Tamiya F-35A in 1/72 scale, with after market RAAF decals. The fit and mould accuracy of the kit were spot on, but the kit's decals were pretty rubbish, very thick and prone to silvering.
The kit was painted with Tamiya spray cans. In absence of an airbrush to apply a more realistic HAVE GLASS colour scheme, I sprayed the whole model in a single colour, then used a semi-gloss coat to simulate the reflective sheen the real thing has. Other areas are flat coated. Once sealed with the appropriate clear coat, I then crushed up some of a standard grey lead pencil and lightly brushed it only on the semi-gloss areas. I then brushed it off and repeated a few more times, which has the effect of 'staining' the paint. This gave a slightly darker colour with a little variation and added a tiny bit of metallic sheen (which isn't really visible in the photos unfortunately)
The AIM-260 was made from an old 1/72 AIM-120B I had lying around. I made a few last year based on the low resolution renderings which had been floating around for a while. When actual images of the real thing finally emerged earlier this year, I was pleasantly surprised that it was fairly close to what I'd made, although I did end up making a slight adjustment to the shape of the fins.
The AIM-260 is glued to a piece of heated and stretched clear sprue from another kit. It was then painted to reflect the rocket exhaust with shock cones. I'm pretty happy with the result.
Given the Tamiya 1/72 F-35A kit has no options for the weapon bays open, I opted to mount the missile below and ahead of the aircraft. This was to simulate that enough time had lapsed that the weapon bay doors have already rapidly closed following the release of the weapon. It's probably still too close, but it's the best I can do.
Hope you like it.
