From
the JSF Website: “The selection of Lockheed Martin and Boeing for the
concept demonstration phase was made in early 1997. McDonnell Douglas was
eliminated and their team was dissolved. In the spring of 1997 Northrop
Grumman joined the Lockheed Martin team and at the 1997 Paris Airshow,
British Aerospace was added.
The
Concept Definition Phase of the program saw the name changed to Joint
Strike Fighter, with a mandate to develop flying demonstrators for
possible production.
Between
the CDP contract award in 1996 and the first flights in 2000, literally
thousands of meetings and technical reviews took place as the Boeing and
Lockheed teams worked towards finalizing the designs for their X
demonstrator aircraft and continued refining what would become their final
program proposals.
The
X-35A CTOL demonstrator successfully completed first flight on 24 October
2000, taking off at 9:06 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time from Palmdale. The
initial flight profile included check-outs of the on-board systems,
handling characteristics and down-link connections for the constant stream
of critical data-transfer to the flight-test technicians at Palmdale and
Edwards Air Force Base. The X-35 climbed quickly to an altitude of 10,000
feet, maintained an airspeed of 250 knots while accomplishing a series of
figure-eight maneuvers to demonstrate key handling qualities and to
validate design predictions.
The
X-35A CTOL program was completed on 22 November 2000 with all objectives
achieved or exceeded.
The
X-35A (aircraft 301) made its last flight to Palmdale, where it
immediately began conversion to the X-35B STOVL variant. The flight
LiftFan 3D had just arrived at Pratt & Whitney for acceptance testing
from Rolls Royce North America.
At
9:23 a.m. PST on 16 December 2000, Lockheed test pilot Joe Sweeney
launched the X-35C from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics plant in Palmdale,
Calif., and flew the plane for 27 minutes before touching down at Edwards Air
Force Base. The aircraft climbed to 10,000 feet and accelerated to 250 kt
(288 mph). Sweeney cycled the landing gear and performed aircraft
flying-qualities evaluations, including rolls, sideslips, and overall
systems checks. Primary differences from the X-35A include a larger wing
and control surfaces, the addition of ailerons and a special structure to
absorb high-impact landings. Two additional flights took place on 19
December in preparation for commencement of FCLP testing.
The
Lockheed Martin JSF team completed installation of the JSF X-35B’s
flight-ready propulsion system – including the shaft-driven lift fan and
engine – on May 12. Following these modifications, the aircraft was
towed to the hover pit and British Aerospace test pilot, Simon Hargreaves
began operating the flight-ready system in the aircraft on May 24.
On
23 June 2001 at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, the X-35B
conducted its first press-up, marking the first time in aviation history
that a shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system had lifted an aircraft into
the sky. On that day, Hargreaves took the aircraft up to 15-20 ft for
several minutes and then conducted a vertical landing. The following day,
Hargreaves again engaged the LiftFan propulsion system, and the plane rose
straight up to a stabilized position at an altitude of about 25 ft, while
Hargreaves checked to ensure the flight controls responded properly before
returning the plane gently to the ground.
On
06 August 2001, during the aircraft’s 66th and final test flight, Tom
Morgenfeld piloted the X-35B. The aircraft left the runway at Edwards AFB
at 1009 PST. Several test cards were performed and the aircraft was
ferried back to Palmdale for storage. The flight lasted 3.7 hours, during
which Morgenfeld went through six aerial refuelings. Six touch and go
landings were conducted at Palmdale before Morgenfeld brought the aircraft
to rest. At the end of its testing, the total amount of flight time on the
X-35B was 48.9 hours.
Following
the completion of their flight test periods, the X-35 demonstrator
aircraft were retired to museums. The X-35A/B is now in the permanent
collection of the Smithsonian Institution and is on display at the
Stephen
F.
Udvar-Hazy
Center
near the
Dulles
International
Airport
in
Virginia
. The X-35C is now in the permanent collection of the United States
Association for Naval Aviation and is on loan to the
Patuxent
River
Naval
Air
Museum
in
Lexington Park
,
Maryland
.”
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
Kit
Panda
Models was the first, and so far, the only scale model company to release
an X/F-35 in 1/48 scale. The
kit consists of seven trees for a total 71 parts. All of the parts are
very clean having no flash on the parts. The kit does, however, have a
light grainy surface.
The
first thing that I did notice about this kit is that it is almost part for
part, a scaled up 1/72 Italeri X-35. But it doesn’t have the
characteristics of a kit that has been scaled up, notably, the engraved
panel lines. The panel lines are very sharp and crisp. Unlike the Italeri
kit, this one has the internal weapons bays and the weapons to place in
them. The clear parts, the
canopy and the HUD glass are molded very clear and scratch free.
The
decals look to be okay for Belgium and Danish markings. I didn’t plan on using them, so they are going to
get put in the decal scrap bin.
The
instructions are in five steps for construction and painting instructions.
Kit
Construction
I
built this kit basically straight out of the box. I added on small box behind
the pilot seat.
The
fit of all the components is very good. With my kit, I probably could have
gotten away with no filling of any of the components and done some light sanding
around the joins and called it good.
The
cockpit is VERY basic and not correct at all! Once again OOB, I left it alone.
From what I’ve been told is that the Monogram F-117 cockpit fits in like a
champ. If I do another one, that is what I will do. The ejection seat leaves a
lot to be desired. It actually looks more like a Russian ejection seat and it
isn’t even close to the seat in the F-35, but once again, I did this OOB, so I
just left it.
Since
the version I was going to build is not a STOVL version, I closed and filled all
indication to the lift fan and doors. Now, if you want a STOVL version, keep
them open. I also opted for closing
the weapons bays. I honestly don’t know if they are correct anyway for either
an X-35 or an F-35. Unlike other kits, closing these door, posed no real
challenge. I put them in place and glued them from the inside out prior to
mating the two fuselage halves.
The
upper and lower fuselage halves already have the wings attached. I took this as
a plus on the kit. I didn’t have to worry about a seam where the wings join.
I
found that the aft engine doors require a little filling work, as did the
intakes.
Other
than those areas mentioned, this kit goes together quite well.
Paint
and Decals
I
liked the look of the F-35 roll out scheme, which appeared to be an overall
FS36118 Gunship Gray with FS36375 Light Ghost Gray nose radome. With that being
the case and proceeded to paint my aircraft, I did take some artistic license
with paint. I really didn’t care
for the racing stripes in the wing tips, so I left those off. I wanted to have a
“factory fresh” look to the aircraft. The landing gear, wells and inside of
the doors were painted white. The engine was painted using MM Metalizer
Gunmetal. I did paint the flat area behind the intakes black and the interior of
the intakes white.
The
decals are mainly an Aeromaster F-18 data sheet and decals from a left over 1/48
F-22 attempt that went horribly wrong. I placed the decals in there correct
locations according to F-35 photographs. I decided to put an Air Combat Command
badge on the tail.
After
painting and decaling, it looked good, but something was missing. The more I
looked at it; the more it looked like a dark gray blob sitting on the bench. I
decided to do some post shading to break up the expanse of gunship gray. I
don’t think it turned out too bad.
Conclusions
After
reading some reviews on this kit, I decided to jump in and buy one. I figured
for $15.00, what do I have to lose, right? This is NOT a bad kit. It goes
together very well. Not any worse than any Monogram kit, in some aspects better.
This is the only kit of this aircraft in 1/48 scale and in my opinion worth
every dime of it. I think I pick up the actual X-35B USAF and build a correct
X-35.
Steve
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images below to see larger images
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