Kitty Hawk F-35B 1:48

Conclusion

This is an imposing model of what will become the mainstay of our armed forces for years to come, as a first attempt Kitty Hawk have done well with a nicely engineered kit, reasonable accuracy and attention to detail. The cockpit is a little bland and disappointing, requiring the pilot figure to brighten up ‘the office’, but the internal bays are good representations. I do not doubt the availability of aftermarket accessories will also flourish as this is a super detailer’s heaven.

There were too many injection marks in too prominent places for my liking, which took up a lot of time to fix. It was also disappointing that with such a well engineered and fitting kit that the instructions held some pretty basic errors that could easily have been caught by simply reviewing before going to press, room for improvement there.

Although I ultimately enjoyed the build, the amount of masking for the stealth panels ended up a daunting task which would put me off repeating this again in a hurry. I have no doubt the F35 will become a common subject from the mainstream manufacturers as it enters service across the world, it will be interesting to see how an Airfix, Hasegawa or Trumpeter stack up to Kitty Hawk’s first to market.

Well done Kittyhawk.

SMN Quick summary star rating out of 5

Gallery

Below are a series of images of the completed model. Click on a thumbnail to see the enlarged image.

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