Kangaroo

I was putting my recently purchased Lockheed F-35B VX-23 Marines model last night and I noticed a pretty big gap on the air frame just above the F-35's engine nozzle. I would say mine might be a tiny tiny bit more pronounced.

I'm not sure if I should send this back to where I bought it, or if it's just the tooling.

The thumbnails are a bit small, so you might want to click on the pics.
(please note I borrowed these pics from hawkone's site and SKF's review for the purpose of this thread only) Here is what I'm referring to:

Attached Thumbnails

     

jumpjoe

Going back to hawkone's site and looking at pictures of different releases at the same area. This looks like a tooling problem that was overlooked. If you hadn't point it out I wouldn't have noticed it.

Stein

I think the F-35 have been quite a failure as a project both in diecast and in real. Just have to accept what you got and keep it as part of your collection.

Kangaroo

Thanks guys!

I noticed that SKF, FortunateSon, tripoli, tomcatter (and Dan since he owns this model) had strong remarks about this plane when SKF posted his review. Would you like to share their opinion (please)?

ACpilot

My model does not have the gap that is on your copy.

That being said, it doesn't strike me as being all that noticeable.

Dan

17275

Isn't that space there to provide room for the exhaust to be pointed downward?

Then again, if that's your only remark to things being "a tiny tiny bit pronounced" on the F-35B, yours should be just fine...

Kangaroo

Oh, I actually meant it was a little bit worse than the photos.

It makes it kind of look toy-ish and cheap (not that the blisters help), so it does bother me...but I'm just trying to figure out if anyone else has this problem or have heard of it - and if they did anything about it (return it, fix it DIY, etc.).

Hkben

I have no HM 35 since the airplane itself is ugly which it is same to the model. If I were you, just return it and clean. Good luck.

tripoli

Beyond the bumps, the joint ring on the tail could have been along the fin area to hide it better. But worse, the tail nozzle is about 50% of the size it should be, the housing should be (in scale) flush to the frame. Looks horrible on the end and that is an easy fix if HM wanted to do so.
Looks like they took another model nozzle and just threw it on, pathetic.

, ,

HM has a hard time with the basic engines cans for some reason, quite a shame, ruins the look on many of their models.

__________________
Jeff

FortunateSon

Sorry was not able to check mine as it's packed away now in another location but will do so in a few months when I am there. My overall impression of the model is that compared to the HM F-35A, the additional doors, fans, and such go a long way to distract from the model's obvious and striking flaws. Didn't see any point in looking into it deeper as I was sure whatever I'd find wouldn't be pretty. The model is best viewed at a good distance anyway .

So,. while I can't say for certain about the situation in mine, the gap is clearly prominently visible on the final product pics on the hobbymaster collector website and on the pics done in house by TFM. It's also clearly visible on every other HM F-35B photo on the internet when the horizontal engine is installed. It might be that the manufacturing process made this gap more or less tight for certain individual items, but this is pretty unlikely; hm is usually quite consistent in their output.

That said, if this bothers you, it might be an easy fix with a bit of filler or glue and hobby paint or wash, though I personally wouldn't bother. i also doubt exchanging this at your retailer is worthwhile, though if you hate it enough, return might be an option.