1:32 F-35A Lightning II RAM Panels Paint Masks Set for Trumpeter

A mosaic of absorbent fields on the skin

The radar absorbent coating turns the smooth surface of the Lightning II into a regular jigsaw of shapes. Around service doors, along the seams between panels and at the edges of the weapons bays lie fields that have a different tone and a different degree of matting from the surrounding gray. In oblique light they stand out very distinctly and photographs taken on the ramp capture them along the whole length of the fuselage and on the upper surface of the wing.

The A version and its role

The letter A belongs to the land-based variant with a conventional takeoff run, that is the most widespread of the three forms of the whole program. It carries its weapons inside the fuselage, has a 25 mm cannon built into the root of the left wing, and since the middle of the last decade one air force after another has been taking it over, among them a number of European ones.

Working with the stencils

The cutouts are shaped to the parts of the large kit from the Chinese company Trumpeter. You work on a dried base: the individual pieces are seated with tweezers, pressed to the surface with a finger, and a thin covering coat in a noticeably darker shade goes over them. Once peeled off, the edge stays sharp along its whole length, which is not achieved with a brush or with stuck-on tape.

The 1:32 scale gives the fuselage such an area that drawing out the difference in surface treatment really is worth it; on a smaller model it would be lost. Reaching for a pair of shades that differ in gloss rather than in color is recommended, because on the real machine it is a very fine transition. Anyone building the aircraft with the weapons bay doors open will appreciate that the shapes can be carried onto their inner side as well. The package covers this single layer of surface treatment and you will find nothing else for the build in it.