Review Mick Stephen
A new manufacturer is always a welcome sight in our modelling world, a recent new player in the game is Kitty Hawk Models from China. These folks are going after the big guys, diving straight into high pressure injection moulded subjects in 1:48 scale.
You’ll find a ‘Here Now’ review of the kit in SMN, so I won’t bore you with a repeat of the background and what’s in the box, let’s just get straight into the build.
Initial construction
The parts are individually numbered and are located by letter coded sprues A thru G, but a word of warning up front, there are quite a few numbering errors so dry fit everything before you glue. It’s not a difficult task to identify the correct part, but a wee bit disappointing when the kit appears so nice.
First job is a wash, the kit is moulded in dark gray plastic which feels good quality, but straight away you can tell everything will need a wash in soapy water to get rid of what I assume is releasing agent coating the surfaces.
Cockpit and seat
The cockpit tub is a one-piece affair, plenty of raised detail and a simple coat with primer and top colour of a light grey gives you the base to add the console details in black, colour the switches and a final wash to highlight the raised moulding.
The instrument panel gets similar treatment, but can be fitted later to aid masking. The full width glass cockpit panel is supplied as a decal, which needs just a little trimming after some Micro Sol and Set (decal softening solutions). The instrument cowl can be fitted later, so after a coat of black, set it aside.
With very few pictures available of the interior, accuracy at this stage is not a concern.
With the fit of the tub into the upper forward fuselage very good, only a prime and coat of NATO Black on the cockpit edges and rear bulkhead will suffice. Again raised detail is easily highlighted with some dry brushing and a wash.
The seat has five parts which tack together nicely, but watch out for a seam on the seat top, which needed a little filler and a pesky injector mark on the pilot’s personal oxygen and comms connector on the side of the seat.
After a prime and coat of NATO Black, the cushions and unique headrest can be picked out in a darker shade of black. The seat is a version of the Martin Baker Mk.16 specifically designed for the F35 with a special head restraint system to support the interactive helmet pilots of these aircraft utilize.
No harness or straps are supplied, so you can make your own out of Tamiya tape, or as I did, rob some from a BAe Typhoon set in PE, this set is Eduard’s pre-coloured offering.