Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II
Overview
Following their release of the F-35A in 2022 and the F-35B in 2023, Tamiya has completed the trident of 1/48 scale Lightning II model kits with their release of the F-35C late last year. I found the engineering of this kit to be phenomenal with all parts fitting just as one would want. The 78 steps for the construction are spread across the 34-page instruction manual, and steps typically contain no more than six individual parts, which keep the building process simplified. While the number of parts and number of decals required more time than some builds, the joy of the construction always made the time pass quickly. I would highly recommend this kit to any modeler with some experience looking to add the US Navy variant of the Lightning II to their collection.
The F-35C
The Lockheed Martin F-35C is a fifth-generation aircraft that came from the 2001 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) competition X-35 that was selected over the Boeing X-32. The F-35C is the variant flown by the US Navy and US Marine Corps aboard Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers. While the F-35C shares its engine with the F-35A, the wing surface area and landing gear have been enhanced for shipboard operations. The F-35C can hold an additional fuel load of approximately 700kg (1543 pounds), thereby allowing a range of over 1200 nautical miles without refueling. The plane can fly at speeds of up to approximately Mach 1.6 with a maximum g-force load of 7.5. In addition to internal weapons bays and up to six external weapons pylons, the plane can also carry an externally mounted GAU-22/A 25mm gun along with 220 rounds of ammunition.
The Kit
Upon opening the very full box, you will find each sprue individually wrapped in plastic. Being slightly different from the F-35A and B variants, Tamiya includes the following new parts in the F-35C release (according to information provided by Tamiya with my kit):
- Upper and Lower Fuselage
- A-Parts – new updated landing gear wheel well and cockpit tub parts
- B-Parts – new DAS (Distributed Aperture System) and Navigation Lights
- CC-Parts – new landing gear and vertical stabilizers
- DD-Parts – new gear assembly, gun pod, and stabilizers
- EE-Parts – new nose landing gear, doors, and tires
- All new decals
While most of the parts are molded in gray plastic, there are two small sprues (B and FF, which are connected) molded in clear plastic, and the two included canopies are molded in yellow-tinted plastic. There are also two metal wires that are used on the weapons bay doors, if posed open. There is a large decal sheet (printed in three shades of gray, and it contains the stencils, some of the panels, most of the squadron markings, and markings for the inside of the canopies), and a small decal sheet (printed in full color and contains cockpit markings, all weapon markings, flight helmet markings, and color squadron markings for VMFA-314).
Included in the box is also a sheet with masks for sensors, the nose gear light, and canopies (you must cut each mask out following the lines printed on the masking paper) as well as a foldout document on the Background Information of the F-35C, a sheet containing Tech Tips, a sheet with Important Information Concerning This Kit, two folded 16-3/4 inches by 23-1/2 inches full color sheets with stencil locations and squadron markings. My kit also contained a small sheet of paper within the instruction manual with a correction for step 6, which simply shows a change in decal #220.
Construction
The instruction manual begins with “Read Before Assembly”, then Recommended Tools, Paints Required, a Tech Tip for masking the canopies, and Assembly Options prior to starting Step 1 on page 4. Construction of the plane begins with the upper fuselage in steps 1 and 2, followed by the cockpit tub in step 3. The cockpit tub and refueling probe bay are installed in step 4, and it is not until steps 68 through 72 that the remainder of the cockpit is added.
On page 8 of the instructions, just prior to step 10, the three weapons load options are shown. These are the Stealth mode, Air-to-air mode, and Beast mode. Based on your decision, you will need to open holes in the lower fuselage, if applicable. There are also options within steps 2 and 11 to add RCS (RADAR Cross-Section) enhancers if you want to display them on your plane (I opted to leave them off).
Step 13 has two very full drawings showing how to paint the details within the weapons bay as Tamiya did a great job recreating the contents of this area. While GBU-12, Paveway II bombs, GBU-31 JDAMs, and an external gun pod are included, I built the air-to-air mode which only required two AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles and two AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles. By simply following the steps of the instructions, I had no issues with anything fitting in place during the construction.
If you build all the available parts, you will have options with the completed aircraft of showing an open or closed canopy as well as folded or extended wing tips with the ability to swap them back and forth. There are parts and decals that support the construction of both sets of wing tips, but I only opted to build the folded tips for this review. There are also enough missile launchers and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles to show them mounted on both sets of wing tips.
Construction Tips
If I were building the kit again, my first move would be to paint all the exterior parts with Tamiya LP-84 Camouflage Gray as starting with step 1, the instructions have you mask and paint individual panels. I typically assemble a plane by painting sub-assemblies like the cockpit along with wheel and weapons bays, then save the outer fuselage for after assembly is complete. With the number of edges and panels being called out for painting during the construction steps, it would be easier to have the base coat Camouflage Gray in place first.
The kit is designed with an additional block of plastic on the end of the nose gear, part CC15, to allow you to build the wheel well with the gear retracted, presumably to ease painting, and then cut this part off later in step 29 when installing the brace for the nose gear. I was not getting the right fit in my opinion, so I built the nose gear in the deployed position in step 6 and masked it when I was painting the exterior.
I recommend being patient and cautious when installing the outer weapons bay doors (step 45) and following the instructions for working on the forward end first. There are cutouts in the doors leading and rear edges that fit within cutouts in the fuselage. I did not have issues with getting mine to fit without any damage taking place, but I can see that some modelers may find it a little challenging.
Painting
The instructions call for 30 individual Tamiya Acrylic paints along with 9 Tamiya Lacquer paints (two of the lacquer paints have a spray can option). Most of my aircraft received Tamiya Lacquer LP-84, Camouflage Gray, and LP-85, Medium Air Gray for the exterior, Stynylrez Primer White for the internal weapons and landing gear bays, and Model Master Acryl Dark Gull Gray (FS 36231) for the cockpit tub. I was able to use some of my AK Acrylic Paint Markers on the details throughout construction and found them to be very convenient. After applying a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss to prepare for the decals, I later sealed the plane with Alclad Light Sheen after the decals were in place.
Hits
I find it hard to find enough superlatives to describe just how incredible this new kit from Tamiya is. The level of detail is fantastic, everything fits just like it should, and I needed no filler anywhere on the plane. The engineering is impressive as the inlet ducts to the engine are joined such that the seam cannot be seen once the parts are installed. Most of the parts that are installed on both sides of the aircraft have “L” and “R” molded in a location that will be hidden once installed, which will help to avoid mixing these parts up when set aside.
Having served aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), I had to go with the VMFA-314 Black Knights markings from their deployment on the ship in July 2022. The decals provide markings for all six active F-35C squadrons at the time of the kit release, which are as follows:
- VFA-86, Sidewinders (the latest squadron to reach active status in October 2024)
- VFA-125, Rough Riders (Fleet Replacement Squadron)
- VFA-97, Warhawks
- VFA-147, Argonauts (the first carrier qualified F-35C squadron)
- VMFA-311, Tomcats
- VMFA-314, Black Knights
Speaking of decals, Tamiya provides decals for some of the flight surface edges, airframe panels, and vertical stabilizers, which eliminates the need to mask and paint these areas in an additional shade of gray. The decals all fit well, especially those used to cover panels and the vertical stabilizers. While Micro Set and Micro Sol worked well on flat surfaces, I did use some Solvaset on decals covering panel lines on the wings and indentations on the vertical stabilizers.
Misses
The only miss that I could identify was probably my own fault. After I applied my gloss coat for the installation of the decals, I realized while looking at the Stencils page of the markings guides that I had neglected to paint four wing edges the required LP-85 Medium Air Gray. The individual steps within the instructions show painting several edges, applicable doors, and intake area this color, but did not show the edges I missed. I was able to simply mask off the areas and paint them as no decal needed to be applied over them.
Conclusion
Tamiya has once again produced a kit with incredible detail that is fun to build as everything fits very well. I would recommend this kit for modelers with some experience based on the need to mask and paint edges on some panels and flight surfaces. For my build, I spent about a week of my modeling time just installing the 222 decals, so having some patience and experience will again pay off.
My sincere thanks to the folks at Tamiya for providing this kit to IPMS/USA for review, and I appreciate the opportunity to perform this evaluation!

Comments
Overall
Scott - great build and review. You nailed it!
Thanks!
I appreciate the comment Doug!
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