TAM61127 1/48 F-35C LIGHTNING II
About this item
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II is a single-engine, single seater 5th Generation fighter developed with three distinct variants aimed to meet the needs of different U.S. service arms. Tamiya’s models of the A (2022) and B (2023) variants have proven to be fan favourites. This model of the C variant completes the series. The F35C variant is designed for catapult-assisted take-off, barrier arrested recovery operations from aircraft carriers. Compared to the F-35A, the F-35C features larger wings with foldable wingtip sections, larger control surfaces for improved low-speed control, stronger landing gear for the stresses of carrier arrested landings, a twin-wheel nose gear, and a stronger tailhook for use with carrier arrestor cables. The larger wing area allows for decreased landing speed while increasing both range and payload. This kit captures the planes low observability design including fine recreations of its Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) that is molded into fuselage surfaces. Fuselage parts are newly molded excluding canopy and weapons bay doors parts. Leading-edge and trailing-edge control surfaces are depicted down. Parts to render wheel chocks are also included. Features realistic renderings of pylons (F-35C's dedicated design) under wings and lower fuselage gun pod. (The gun pod is not attached if using RCS enhancers.) Realistic renderings of sections of the plane include, nose undersurface side details, Y- shaped air intakes, weapons bay inside details including depictions of wiring, cockpit and landing gear bays, engine nozzle (5-piece design), Martin-Baker US16E ejection seat, and of the RCS (radar cross section) enhancers affixed to top and bottom sections (two for each, four in total) during basic training exercises, but not in live action or more complex exercises Parts are included to give the modeller a choice of how the plane is completed and include wingtips that can be deployed or folded (can be interchanged after assembly), the air fuel probe on the right side of the noise may be deployed or stowed, the arresting hook door may be open or closed, the canopy can be open or closed ( can be interchanged after assembly, the weapons bay doors may be open or closed, plus the boarding ladder may be built deployed or stowed. The model can also be assembled in stealth mode (no external ordnance), air-to-air mode (missiles only), or beast mode (full ordnance). Kit includes various kinds of ordnance: AIM-9X Sidewinder x2, AIM-120C AMRAAM x2, GBU-12 Paveway II x4, and GBU-31 JDAM x2, decals to depict 6 marking options (4 from United States Navy and 2 from United States Marine Corps, masking stickers for the canopy and a realistically recreated seated pilot figure with Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD). Length: 327mm, wingspan: 273mm