Shipbucket

not 100% sure of the process but i've read the stealth coating is baked into the surface components before final assembly. this is to ease maintenance and make the material less susceptible to damage than the F22 Raptor, also fixings and fasteners are not coated again to ease maintenance and reduce repair times following panel removal compared to the F22. supposedly the effect on it's low observability are minimal.... so i'm not sure if the aircraft are painted or the colour is that of the baked on stealth coating....... areas that are covered afterwards have better materials that dry a lot faster than those on previous stealth aircraft

quote from wiki
The program's maintenance concept is for any F-35 to be maintained in any F-35 maintenance facility and that all F-35 parts in all bases will be globally tracked and shared as needed.[336] The commonality between the different variants has allowed the USMC to create their first aircraft maintenance Field Training Detachment to directly apply the lessons of the USAF to their F-35 maintenance operations.[337] The aircraft has been designed for ease of maintenance, with 95% of all field replaceable parts "one deep" where nothing else has to be removed to get to the part in question. For instance the ejection seat can be replaced without removing the canopy, the use of low-maintenance electro-hydrostatic actuators instead of hydraulic systems and an all-composite skin without the fragile coatings found on earlier stealth aircraft.[338]

The F-35 has received good reviews from pilots and maintainers, suggesting it is performing better than its predecessors did at a similar stage of development. The stealth type has proved relatively stable from a maintenance standpoint. Part of the improvement is attributed to better maintenance training, as F-35 maintainers have received far more extensive instruction at this early stage of the program than on the F-22 Raptor. The F-35's stealth coatings are much easier to work with than those used on the Raptor. Cure times for coating repairs are lower and many of the fasteners and access panels are not coated, further reducing the workload for maintenance crews. Some of the F-35's radar-absorbent materials are baked into the jet's composite skin, which means its stealthy signature is not easily degraded.[339] It is still harder to maintain (due to its stealth) than fourth-generation aircraft.[340]

Hello.

The F-35 is widely reported to be painted in FS36170 "Camouflage Grey." Converted RGB values are 109, 109, 106 for CIE Illuminant/Observer standard D65/10. I suggest using this as the lightest shade on the drawing.

Cheers.

I'll split off the ranting and raving posts into the previous Klags thread...

Anyway, Klag has been permanently banned already, and creating a new account to avoid a ban is against the rules (clearly). He was already IP banned, but as with any forum it's always possible to get around that by using a proxy. Rest assured that we will keep banning his gimmick accounts and moving his posts as they appear!

Let's get back to the subject at hand: discussing the F-35 drawing.

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USN components, camouflage colors, & reference links (World War II only)

Thank you.

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Sergeant in the US Marine Corps
MV-22 Osprey Avionics Technician

"Just consider me the forum's resident V-22 expert."

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My Completed Work!!!