January 2025

Lockheed Martin F-35C

Link to Website Index:

Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II

VFA-101 “Grim Reapers”, US Navy

Eglin Joint Base, Florida, 2015

Orange Model 1/72

Link to Website Index:

Text & Images  © www.gengriz.co.uk (unless otherwise indicated)

The F-35C (Lightning II) is the conventional carrier-based variant of the F-35 family.  Despite a very high level of commonality with the other variants, its significantly larger folding wing, arrestor hook and nose wheel catapult attachments, as well as twin nose-wheel and larger control surfaces give it better control at lower carrier landing speeds and its range and/or payload are higher than the A and B variants.

The US Navy and US Marines are currently (and seem set to remain) the sole operators of the F-35C variant, with 235 on order. Full Operational Capability (FOC) was declared in February 2019, with USMC F-35Cs  of VMFA 314 embarked in USS Abraham Lincoln, undertaking the first F-35C combat missions in November 2024, conducting multiple strikes on Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen.

VFA-101 was one of two F-35C squadrons established in 2012 as a Fleet Replacement Squadron, training pilots for the US Pacific Fleet.  It was de-established in 2019 and merged with VFA125 “Rough Raiders” at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California

Building the Orange Model F-35C Kit:

Completing my collection of all 3 variants of the F-35, I purchased this kit back in 2017 when it first became available.  Delivered directly from China, it cost £30, which seemed a lot back then, but was less than the £37 I paid for my Hasegawa F-35B. So far as I know, this is Orange Hobby’s first and only plastic kit (they have done some resin ships), so purchasing it required some faith and optimism.

Nevertheless, it looks good in the box, with plenty of parts and detail, including a small hangar deck tractor and three small brass etch sheets that include deck securing chains.  Underwing pylons are included, as is the centre line Terma F-35 Multi-Mission Pod (although designed for a gun, the same pod can now carry a variety of internal equipment).   As with most F-35 kits, the stealth taping is overdone, although not as bad as some other mainstream kits and easily tamed with a little sanding.  The kit plastic is very soft and an almost translucent silver grey, a colour that I find is very good for subsequent painting.  Accuracy seems good, especially given when this was produced.  Mould engineering seems fair, although there are some sprue attachment points that are difficult to remove without damaging the kit parts.

Assembly starts (as always) with the very good cockpit.  The 4-part ejector seat is excellent and the instrument panel fits securely in position under the top fuselage half (loose/vague fitting panels are one of my modelling pet hates).

After attaching the bomb and undercarriage bays, you add the intake ducting. This is nicely conceived but needs careful trimming and positioning to get it to fit correctly and keep a smooth joint where it meets the fuselage.  Finally, before joining the fuselage halves, you assemble the jet pipe, which includes turbine blades and a PE grid.  Unfortunately, the pipe itself has a very thick moulding sprue at one end that is awkward to remove (risking either a broken scalpel blade, or a cut finger!).  

Link to many more US Navy Aircraft on my Friends and Allies pages

Below:  All 3 F-35 variants in flight together (all pictures © Lockheed Martin/US Navy)

<<Link to previous month Link to Next Month >>

<<Link to previous month Link to Next Month >>

A dry fit of the top and bottom fuselage halves revealed, as I expected, that some of the internal parts (mainly the intakes) were preventing the two parts from fitting together, so at this point I stopped for a break to allow everything to cure before starting some forceful hacking and fettling!  

As I expected, the parts fouling the fit were the intake trunks, with the soft plastic making it relatively easy to thin these out slightly.  The locating pins are not well formed, which probably didn't help me here and despite my efforts, some filling of the edge will still be needed (as with all of my previous F-35 kits).

On joining the two halves, a different problem appeared, in that the port nose section seemed to have become misaligned and slightly bent out, leaving quite a large gap whatever I did.   I suspect that interference between the nose wheel bay and the cockpit part were at least some of the problem (online reviews suggest others have had the same issue and I have seen at least 1 sprue that seems to have a warp in it even before building; reapplying the glue/solvent then using one clamp to hold it in and another to push it together seems to have resolved the issue for now.

A little bit of filling and sanding left the main fuselage tidied up and ready for detail to be added along with some paint.

Assembly of the bomb bay doors is quite complex, but they fit together well and also fit firmly into place in their fixing points, which is better than my experience of other F-35 kits to date!  Detail within the bomb bay and doors is good and more than adequate for this scale.

Pictures of F-35Cs on the ground show that they rarely have their elevators level, so I cut a little of the locating tab off each part to allow me to angle them up.  In retrospect, I wish I had attempted the flaps as well.  

F-35s (of all varieties) have darkish grey surfaces with an almost metallic sheen to them.  This is very difficult to represent in 1/72 scale, so like my other kits I have used Humbrol 164 Dark Sea Grey as a reasonable (IMHO) alternative, with lighter mixed panels and a satin top coat.  For the stealth panel joints I ran across the kit's raised detail with some matt varnish, which makes them appear slightly lighter.  

The kit's provided armament includes two AIM120C AMRAAMs (the correct type, with cut back fins to allow them to fit in the bomb bay) plus two AIM-9X Sidewinders.   Although weapons pylons are provided, there are no stores for them, so I have raided my spares box to find some more modern US ground attack weapons in the form of 2 x GBU-31 JDAMs, 2 and 2 x GBU-38 JDAMs, both from the Academy F-35A. There is no provision in the kit for the 4 radar reflectors that are normally carried on the after fuselage in peacetime and this is a shame, as the decals cover options for development aircraft CF05 or 03, or a colourful aircraft from VFA 101, both of which are non- operational options so likely to carry the reflectors and unlikely to be fully armed, however for display purposes, I have gone for a full war load as best I can!    

The canopy is beautifully clear, is lightly tinted (maybe a little too light) and includes the MDC detonating cord lines that appear on the real thing.  The kit provides an option to fix it in the raised position, but this leaves it in a very vulnerable and delicate state.  I started off with it raised, but 24 hours later it was bumped and broke off.  Rather than reattaching it like this, I removed the fixing parts and fitted it closed.

Decals were a bit of a disappointment. Although nicely printed, they proved very hard to remove from their backing sheet and once applied were either impossible to move into position, or fell off of their own accord.  They are a little translucent too, meaning that the grey markings and stencils disappear entirely when applied - I gave up after only a few.

Background Image - US Navy Public Domain Photograph

So, how does Orange Hobby compare with the new italeri F-35C kit?  Well, I haven't seen Italeri's offering in the flesh, so my opinion can only be based around on-line reviews.  Costs seem to be similar, with Italeri perhaps a bit more expensive.  Parts breakdown is very similar, with Italeri having a nice option to lower the flaps, plus a much better selection of armament and decals.  Orange Hobby have the superb hangar tractor (possibly only in the early issues of the kit - later ones seem to have 2 resin AGM 158 missiles - US Storm Shadow equivalent -  instead), whilst Italeri have very nice bomb trolleys and suitable weapons.  Orange Hobby provide some nicely done brass etch, e.g. for the ejector seat harness, vice Italeri's decal harness.  

Both have tinted canopies, with Italeri's slightly darker and perhaps more accurate as a result. Orange Hobby's cockpit detail looks better to me.  Italeri include an extensive set of masks to enable painting of the RAM panels.   They also provide an engine (which of course, you can't see). I think Italeri's fine detail e.g. on the wing pylons, wheels and in the bomb/undercarriage bays, is better done but their engraved detail on things seems far too deep.  Unfortunately, and this is quite a major problem, just like their A and B model kits, the RAM panels are far too prominent, especially underneath the fuselage, much more so than Orange Hobby and will definitely need serious taming in some way.  

So, both reasonable kits, but with their own plusses and minuses.   If I was asked to choose, I would say I prefer the Orange Hobby version, mainly because of those RAM panels, but both will build well and make an interesting contrast on the shelf with the smaller A and B variants of the F-35!

Above: From left to right, F-35A (Academy), F-35B (Fujimi) and F-35C (Orange Hobby)

The included A/S32A Hangar Deck Tractor is an excellent little kit in its own right, with an extensive brass etch sheet to provide details.  These tiny tractors, in several variants, have been in use with the USN since the 1990s.  They are only used in confined spaces below decks and on the ship's lifts (including pushing on and off the deck).