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MODEL: Lockheed F-35A Lightning II
BRAND: Hasegawa
SCALE: 1/72
KIT NUMBER: 02565
NUMBER OF PARTS: 69
NEW MODEL: no, reissue of kit E42 (now with JASDF decals)
PRICE: approximately 39 euros in the Netherlands (22 euros in Japan itself)
IN BOX REVIEW
The Lockheed F-35A, popularly known as the JSF Stealth Fighter, needs no further introduction. The Royal Netherlands Air Force also has the F-35A in service and additional aircraft have recently been ordered. For more information, check out the NedMil web pages on our IPMS website here….
THE MODEL
Hasegawa has re-released their 1/72 F-35A kit E42 from 2014 early 2024 but now as kit 02465 with other decals: and that for just one Japanese grey Air Force scheme for a JASDF F-35A of 3 Air Wing at Misawa air base with a nice tail. This edition has only 69 parts in 7 sprues in grey hard plastic. The kit has no armament parts, no pylons and no weapons bay. It can only be built in bare "stealth mode". However, you can also show the model in flight because there are extra closed door parts included and you will even find a large transparent stand in the box to display it on. The other transparent sprue is for an untinted cockpit canopy and a fairing.
Note: the Hasegawa kit edition 02315 released in the year 2020 is also identical as kit E42 but contains extra sprues as this edition is for a “beast mode” with external weaponry model also has decals for a KLu F-35A.
The kit instructions are fine with about 9 steps with colour indications in Gunze Sangyo Mr.Hobby paints. For the F-35 stealth gray Hasegawa simply suggests a neutral gray Gunze H13 but of course that has to be the special Federal Standard FS36170 gray. (this is for sale from e.d. White Ensign WEM ACUS41, Vallejo 71.280 or AKAN 72071). What you see regading RAM panels can differ quite a bit per F-35. On the later F-35 photos they are less and less visible.
The Hasegawa kit has rather smooth surfaces with very lightly engraved (so not raised) RAM panels where mainly decals are supposed to suggest these RAM panels. But this approach still gives a good result.
The wheel wells are a bit bare but the landing gear is neat. The intake tunnels are nice with even an engine fan but you can't see anything of it because of the curved intake parts. The cockpit is fine with a neat ejection seat and with a neat pilot figure. You have the option to apply the fairings that make the F-35 visible in peacetime also the radar.
The cockpit canopy can also be set opened but two support braces on the side are missing. Inside the cockpit canopy is a separate internal frame which makes painting easy. However, in this kit edition the canopy is untinted so a thin transparent layer of "smoke" tint over it can make it more convincing. (some editions of the same Hasegawa kit also had a tinted canopy). There is a seam over the canopy that needs to be polished away.
CONCLUSION
Several 1/72 F-35A kits have been released in recent years, with varying levels of detail. In particular, the way in which the characteristic RAM panels were depicted differed per kit. For example, the Italeri kit released in 2013 was rather crude. The Hasegawa kit E42 in 1/72 scale was the most accurate, but the RAM panels were virtually absent and suggested with decals. At that time, much of the F-35 was still secret, so the model manufacturers had to do some guesswork as to what was inside and what the inside of the exhaust looked like. But the measured F-35A 1/72 model length 218 mm and wingspan 148 mm are correct. This kit is fine, but Hasegawa issue 02465 only has decals for a JASDF scheme; for Royal Netherlands Air Force (KLu) decals, look for the Hasegawa kit issue 02315 with “beast mode” released in 2019.
REVIEWER: Meindert de Vreeze
NOTE: In March 2025 Revell released a 1/72 F-35A which also included KLu decals, look for a first Revell kit in box review here…..
deze eerste indruk werd op de IPMS.NL website gepubliceerd 30 maart 2025