Review

This offering from Meng Model of an RF-35 I ADIR Israeli Air Force in 1/48th scale arrives in a sturdy card tray with separate card top. The contents are for the most part individually bagged and so well protected, even the decals or sealed in a bag. An examination of the sprues reveals nothing of concern with the mouldings being clean with reasonable sized gates and good access for parts removal. So what has Meng done with this 5th gen fighter in Israeli use done?

The office of this release has me guessing as while there are some images of the cockpit online I have not found one of very good clarity as yet. The main flight console appears to be a flat screen displaying the information to the pilot with decals to replicate that information. The detail down each side of the pilot seems to be a weak point in the model as regards the finer detail that should be present, but I am not surprised as access to the aircraft must have some restrictions in place. The seat provided does look to be a good representation of the real thing and once all of the parts come together you have a pleasing seat with harness detail. 

The internal structures present in this release are another area where Meng has done a reasonable effort, but from what I can see there is room for improvement. By this I mean that Meng has replicated the major aspects and some of the cable detail and it is the cable missing that a modeller may wish to add. The wheel bays are an area of the F-35 that I could not find any good pictures of which surprised me. I can tell you that Black Dog has a suitable scaled offering on the market, but I am unable to vouch for their accuracy or completeness. The air intake tunnels are well tackled here as the take you back to the first compressor fan and so far enough for my satisfaction.

The external features of the model do seem to be a very good match for the real thing and in this aircraft it means proud detail. There does not appear to be any recessed panel detail which is a surprise for me, but I wonder if the proud detail makes the aircraft smoother reducing friction or helps to bounce radar beams in different directions reducing the aircrafts radar cross section. The wings are provided with a separate leading edge and flight control surfaces. All of the tail surfaces are set, not that this bothers me in this case. The canopy is a nice inclusion in that you are provided with both a clear and a tinted canopy which is a great touch in my books

Weapons for this release are visually appealing as you get the SPICE1000 with the option to show the wings extended after launch if wished. Then we have been provide with AIM-9X and Python 5 missiles for the internal weapons bays there is the AIM-120 and GBU-31-V1. Meng has covered to detailing of these weapons at the end of the instruction booklet. 

Meng has provided two finishing options for this release along with a set of masks for the canopy and so on. The finishing options are:

The 140th “Golden Eagle” Squadron, Israeli Air Force.

The 116th “Southern Lion” Squadron, Israeli Air Force.

Conclusion

This offering from Meng in 1/48th scale in use with the Israeli Air Force in 1/48th scale looks good to me for the most part. The cockpit interior and internal weapons bay does look to be missing detail when judged against online images, that missing detail I can forgive to some extent as it is not clearly viewed and access to the aircraft by the company was I suspect restricted. The internal weapons bay do have a good degree of accurate detail but again there is a lot of cable and pipe detail missing. The exterior of the model looks good to me and I do not expect too many complaints coming is about it in that regard. The weapons selection is likely to be well received as it is an interesting mix of items and I was particularly pleased to see the choice of a clear or tinted canopy.