Hello all,
here are some shots of my Italeri 1/72 F-104. This is the old Esci model, reboxed with a new seat and an Orpheus recon pod, plus a beautiful decal sheet featuring markings for 4 Italian aircrafts, one German and one Dutch.
The dutch one is D-6654, and the instructions show an overall grey aircraft, but the same markings can be used to depict it in the camo livery, which is very similar to the German one (I should have puttied the gun fairing but I don't mind)
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000374930.html

I painted the model with Tamiya and Gunze acrylics. The weathering has been carried out with heavily diluted black sprayed at low pressure over the panel lines (Gunze colours are semi-gloss, this technique worked much better after spraying a matt coat).
This is a nice and cheap model, easier than the Hasegawa one though less detailed and with the cockpit being too shallow.
BTW, I think I have seen a photo of a Dutch aircraft with the wingtip tanks painted in overall dayglo orange. This would be a nice touch of colour. Can anybody confirm and perhaps post a photo?
Feedback appreciated!
Hope you like it!

Looking good there! Russell

Hi Giacomo
Looking very good, those panel lines look excellent, very subtle.
keep up the good work.
All the best
tim

Very nice paintjob! Many of the 1/72 Esci kits are absolutely great. A bit bare in the cockpit maybe but often with excellent surface detail that must have been decades before their time!

Do you have the kit details (Italeri article number)? I would need that recce-pod!

Edit: I found Tim's review so now I know which kit it is!



Magnus

Giacomo, did you rescribe the panel lines or were they like this in the kit ? Very nice paint job.

Thanks guys!
Magnus, it's a really nice kit, the only problem being the shallow canopy. It's Italeri's new boxing (#1296), with decals for four Italian (NATO camo), one Dutch (gray) and one German (splinter camo) aircrafts plus a small sprue with MB seat and recce pod (not that great though). The old boxing features decals for Italy, NL, Germany and Belgium.
Naseby, yes, the panels were like this, no need to rescribe at all! Only the airbrakes posed some trouble, but I decided not to scribe them as they are almost invisible on the real a/c.

I found this 'dramatic' photo of a KLu F-104G Starfighter on Airliners.net (photo copyright Marinus Dirk Tabak):

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Netherlands---Air/Lockheed-%28Fokker%29-F-104G/2008198/L/

I think your paintwork matches that of the real one pretty good. Looking forward to see more.



Jelger

Nice pic indeed and a good piece of reference, thanks!
The model is in stand-by now, it's too cold here these days (not as cold as in the NL ) and I have to wait for warmer days as I don't have a dedicated working space.
The next thing I'll do is painting the radome, the intake lips and the panels, I'll keep you updated!
Cheers!

Hang in there Giacomo, I want to see this one finished!



Magnus

For sure!
Cheers!

Your Starfighter look great so far Giacomo. Those old 1/72 ESCI kits are fun builds; good fit, nice detail, good decals and CHEAP.

Hi everyone!
Spring has come and warmer climate too, so it's time for some modelling!
This weekend I finally finished painting the F-104.
Lots of masking tape and patience needed but I'm very satisfied.
As you can see I opted to replace the usual and boring grey/green auxiliary tanks on the wingtips with carrots, so it will look even more Dutch and will also provide a lot of vitamins!


The red strip around the rear fuselage and the white line on the tail are also painted, although Italeri provided decals for them. Same for the olive green anti-glare area on the nose cone


Canopy, painted a couple of months ago, needed some touching-up. The Lockheed C-1 (or C-2???) bang seat is a spare from the Hasegawa kit, whose base needed some grinding in order to fit in the cockpit. I'll make a cushion and will try to make some harnessing too, though it looks very complicated


The only downside is the pitot tube: I was removing it from the sprue and the thin and delicate pin for installation broke up. I kept it but I might decide to scratchbuild a new one with some needles or a guitar string. Don't know if I'll get a turned brass replacement as I don't know how it will fit and I don't want to ruin the paintjob.
Also the gloss coat is on (acrylic Tamiya X-22, very thinned and sprayed at a low pressur from a close distance but I still can't get a mirror-like finish) and will decal it soon. I will make some preliminary testing, but has anybody experienced trouble with Mr. Mark Softer over Italeri decals?
Thanks for watching and for any feedback!

BTW, here is my latest purchase and first ever short run. the stash is already big but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it in the shop!
http://www.amv-lilliput.org/recensioni/mc200/mc200.htm

No spring in Stockholm, I have ice-skated 21 km today !

Beautiful job Giacomo, and ain't it practical that there are two bang seats in every Hasegawa Starfighter !

Mr Mark Softer will most probably ruin the decals and possibly attack the paint as well. Try it on some scrap piece of plastic painted with the same paints you have used on the kit and a spare decal. I tried using the stuff several times a few years ago, with disastrous results.

The only setting solution I use nowadays is Micro Set. Using really hot water for the decals and a puddle of Set on the model before placing them works fine without any undue risks.



Magnus

And with carrots we can better see your progress.

Great to see things come along nicely. Good idea to spray as much as possible instead of using decals. This will often give a better effect.

The 322 squadron (Polley Grey; Action, not words) is the Klu oldest squadron that also fought during wo2. It is based on Leeuwarden AFB, which is +/- 30km from were I lived. I can't remember their Starfighters as I was too young, but for sure remember their F-16s dogfighting in the air and performing bombing runs on the target practice area on the island of Terschelling. Well, my mind wanders with memories.....



Jelger

Beautiful work there. Russell

Thank you guys!

Hello all,
still needs a couple of touch-ups and the smaller parts to be glued in place




As mentioned before, the decals are the ones provided in the kit. They performed nicely even with a strong beast like Mr. Mark Softer. Unfortunately white decals didn't cover the dark camo scheme thoroughly, so I needed to cover the roundels with spares from the Revell Hunter kit. Maybe the blue is a bit darker than what I could see from the photos but they are fine.
The model received a coat of Promodeller/Flory Models dark grey wash to highlight the panels and some quick coats of Gunze acrylic matt clear.
I rebuilt the pitot with an electric guitar D string as seen on a French website and achieved a satisfying result and need to paint the red stripes. The canvas visible in the front part of the cockpit is toilet paper sunk in a mix of white glue, water and acrylic khaki colour cut in shape when dry.
I'll post photos of the finished model once it is completed and will enter it in the MoM competition. I guess it will not be the winner but what counts is participating!
I plan to build my next F-104 in my favourite AMI livery (Hasegawa this time)
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/cenciotti/Crisponi/JP-06b_F104G_3_crisponi.jpg

In the meantime I started a P-47 Razorback, you can see some photos here
http://p47.kitmaker.net/forums/206861&page=1#1735736

Once finished, the next box I'll open is Zvezda's MiG-21 bis which I want to paint with Finnish markings.
Thanks for watching!

Ciao Giacomo,

great Spillone you have here!
The Italeri Kit is very nice indeed. And you did a great job to finish it!

I am looking to see your next F-104 G in AMI markings here in the forum. I always liked the grey/green scheme with the big white numbers and large roundels.

On a recent model show I stumbled over a nice book covering the Starfighter in AMI service with great photos... unfortunately I cannot remember the title...

Regards,

Sebastian

Hi Sebastian,
and thanks for the kudos!
I must say I'm really satisfied with this kit. If only the canopy was better!
Maybe you are referring to the book called "Italian Starfighters" by David Cenciotti (who runs a nice website as well: theaviationist.com)
http://theaviationist.com/2010/03/10/italian-starfighters-ita/#.UYwATrVWw20

I have it and I can tell you it's a great book!

Awesome job. Museum quality.

I drove the "Follow Me" truck at Miramar in 79 when a NASA Starfighter landed there. I made it my business to put that plane to bed that night. A beautiful airplane. Truly a manned missile.

Winter

Giacomo,

Beautiful "Zipper!" An intriguing fighter with unrealized potential. Those wingtip carrots are striking.

I don't agree. That plane was flown by half the free world. They made a huge amount of them at Lockheed. I think only the McDonell Douglas F4 Phantom was made in larger numbers in the modern age. The General Dynamic F16 may have come close.

They flew them till they rotted out of the sky. A superb aircraft that filled a billet between the F86 and the F5. Internationally I mean.

Winter

Hi Giacomo,



Yep... I experienced the same with my Esci-F-104 built some years ago, it is visible on the photo I think:


Regarding the book:




Jaaah! That´s exactly what I meant! Thanks a lot! How long do we have until christmas? I NEED this book!

BTW, I think I have already posted it somewhere here in the forum, but I do it again. A really nice website of an former German F-104 and F-4 pilot who built a picture database with every German F-104 (that explains the name 916 starfighter as the Bundeswehr exactly purchased 916 F-104s)

http://www.916-starfighter.de/

You also find alot of pictures of AMI and Dutch Starfighters as well and other helpful photos and information.


Regarding the Starfighter´s history in the NATO airforces I think we can start an own thread here... There would be a lot to talk about !


Regards,

Sebastian

Thanks everyone!
Sebastian, thanks for the link, I knew that site and it's great for reference.
As for the book, if it's too soon for Christmas this retailer has it on sale at €28 instead of €45!
http://aviolibri.it/risultati_eng.php?titolo=true&autore=&argomento=&descrizione=&all=&ricerca=starfighters&page=1&ordina=&dettaglio=8226

Giacomo, just read through your entire build thread. Just an outstanding build. Paint and decaling are perfect. The dark grey wash used to highlight the panel lines looks so much better then the usual black, as it adds just enough color depth yet not so dark as to look like a checkerboard effect.
Joel