1:72 F-35 Lightning II (B Version) `U.S.NAVY VX-23 Test of taking off and landing on KAGA´

Trials that wrote history

The B version of the Lightning II can land vertically and take off from a short run, which makes it the only modern combat machine usable from decks without a catapult. The Japanese carrier Kaga therefore had its deck reworked so that it could operate with the aircraft, and the trial flights were handled by pilots of the US Navy test squadron VX-23. It was the return of fixed-wing machines to the deck of a Japanese ship after many decades, and it is precisely this episode that the package recalls.

The model in the box

The contents are a set of parts, jigs and decals. A finished machine comes about from them only through the work of the builder, who separates the parts, glues them, sands the joints and lays on the paint. Scale 1:72 means a sensible size for the finished aircraft, so it fits into a display case and beside the other machines of the same collection.

• An aircraft in the version with vertical landing capability, scale 1:72
• The markings of a US Navy test squadron
• The subject is trials of takeoffs and landings on a Japanese deck
• Paints and glue are not supplied

Go through the instructions to the end before building, because with machines with an openable lift bay the decision whether to leave it exposed is made early. Gray finishes on modern fighters benefit from shading the individual panels slightly, otherwise the surface looks flat. A flat varnish at the end unifies the decals with the surface.

The finishes of machines of test units tend to be noticeably more colorful than those of line squadrons. Measuring marks, prominent numbers and colored bands for tracking the attitude of the machine on camera appear on them. When building, it is therefore worth giving the decals more time than usual, because it is they that turn an otherwise gray aircraft into an unmistakable example.