It took a while, but finally the gun bay and Vulcan cannon are done. Eduard’s photo etch really comes into its own here. For the first time since starting this kit I have a completely empty fret - I used every bit of PE provided. With a few extra items scratch built, I now have the best I could do. The photos show up some filling and refining that’s needed, and also remind me that I have a couple of missing details to add on the M61, but basically this is it. It’s not an exact replica - I had to compromise so I didn’t go mad or attempt things beyond my skill - but in keeping with the theme of this build, I gave it my best shot. I’m excited to move on to the next step.

Here’s the gun bay with and without the M61 dropped in place.






Happy modelling guys.

Wow, the Vulcan looks impressive. Great work.



Jelger

Steve,
On a scale of 1-10, it's a solid 10 Your PE work is some of the best I've ever seen.
Joel

Holey smokes, Steve!
That's just tremendous. The only problem is that it almost obligates a person to leave it open.

Still...

Just awesome.

Gaz

Hey Guys,

Wow, its an early Christmas present to get so much praise. Thanks so much for taking the time to say what you did.

Gaz, you're right, its got to be an open gun bay. Having spent so much time getting it this far I couldn't close it up now.

Thanks again, and happy modelling,

Steve.

Ladies and gentleman, I present the next step - the front landing gear and wheel bay. The approach is the same as that taken for the rear. I’m removing softly moulded detail so I can replace it with better PE or scratch built parts. The one exception is the roof of the wheel bay. This area is deeply recessed in the model and will be partly covered by other components so I’m living with the basic detail.



The side walls are not so lucky and had the attention of scalpel, chisel and sand paper. Here we go…



By the way, I took a photo of the original part to keep as a reference. In the process I stumbled on a nifty technique to take a life size shot so the photo is a sort of blue print. It only works with parts that are mirrored like the sidewalls here. With the camera on, I put one part on the screen of my phone and then prepared to take a shot of the other. By zooming or moving the phone I could get the subject perfectly covered by the first part sitting on my phone screen. Snap, et voila - a life size shot. Now I have something to help me get the details in the right position (or not if they were wrong to start with).

The landing gear strut is not one of Italeri’s finest works. The detail is very soft. There are also heavy bur lines and a deepish ejector pin mark. I looked and thought ‘Nope. It’s got to go’. Scratch building a new one is pretty simple (or at least it feels that way now I have some practice under my belt). The basic components are plastic strip in three diameters. I’m sorry but I don’t know the exact measurements - I just rummaged about until I found pieces that were the same diameter as the basic parts of the strut.



First I drilled out the centre of the larger rods to match the diameter of the inner piston (the bit that does the sliding in and out on the real thing). Then I cut a larger ring at the base to the right size and slipped it over the piston. Next the upper thinner diameter part was slipped on. Crikey, there were more things sliding in more places than a dodgy movie, and the end result was more satisfying.



If I had it to hand I would have used brass rod for the inner piston, simply to add strength, but I don’t have the right size. I did a little test and these short sections of plastic rod should be strong enough, especially with the core all one piece. Fingers crossed it all works out.

I started working on some extra details by slicing thin segments of rod. It’s hard to get a consistent diameter but perseverance paid off in the end. These are the rejects.



So far so good.

Happy modelling guys.

The trick with scratch building - or so it seems to me - is to break everything down into simple forms, and work slowly and methodically. If ever you’ve watched a youtube video showing how an illustrator draws a complex character from basic shapes you’ll get what I mean.

With the basics of the front landing gear in place, it is time to start building up the details. The piece that holds the wheel has been salvaged from the kit part. I cut it from the rest of the leg, drilled right through and inserted the piston to get as much strength and alignment as I could before applying glue (extra thin) and cutting off the excess.



After 24 hours drying time I set about adding some home made locating points for the PE bracket, and also adding the bands circling the leg. Those parts are made from old wine bottle tops, and yes I have a lot of supplies. There’s something satisfying about the crisp cleanness of these parts compared to the vague blobs in the kit. Oh, you can also see where I drilled through the leg to insert a cross-bar that will fix the leg in place. Unlike a lot of landing gear the F-104’s front leg doesn’t touch the roof of the wheel well. It pivots on the cross-bar that attaches directly to each side-wall of the bay, dangling down like a capital letter ’T’.

Who says our hobby isn’t educational? :-)



Happy modelling guys.

Nice clean work, that's how it's done.

I really need to gather the nerve to scratch more parts than I do. I rely on paint far too often to bring out details that are soft on the kit parts.

I just never seem to have enough of the right sized styrene.

Nice work on the gun bay Steve! The Vulcan and Eduard etch have come together very nicely with your added touches. Looking forward to seeing the front wheel bay develop with your extras.

cheers
Michael

Hi Matt and Michael,

Matt, my advice is give it a try, and keep the original part if you can, just in case. Oh, and be prepared for failure. I reckon at least half the parts I make are discarded and then re-made.

I know what you mean about the right size plastic. I invested in bunch of stuff to work on another project. Ironically I never started it, but the supplies have served me well for ages. Evergreen is the brand name to look for.

Michael, thanks very much, slowly but surely it will emerge. I hope!

Have a great day guys,

Steve.

Steve,
While I'm a car modeler these days, I follow your builds religiously. I find your build blogs entertaining, and written in a easy to understand & follow style. As a huge bonus, your detailing and scratch building methods are exactly what this old timer can use in my detailing these days.

Joel

Hello Joel,
I was wondering about you. I hope you are enjoying the car modelling and I'm very happy to have you looking in. If my posts help in some way then I'm even happier.
Have a great day,
Steve.

Steve,
Stop by any of my build blogs in the AutoModeler/car forum. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my builds.

Joel

Fantastic build to follow Andrew. I just started my TF and run into the same issues with the PE. Reading your report helps to correct my mistakes upfront!

Hello Tim,

I'm happy to help, and if you spot anything I missed, please feel free to post here if you want to.

Good luck with your build. I hope its fun.

All the best,

Steve.

Integrity. Making promises that you keep. Living by a set of values. Some people say that those ideals are in short supply these days. I hope they are not. So, it is bloomin’ irritating to go back on my word. I said I wouldn’t touch the roof of the front landing gear bay, but, well…. in the process of making room for an ill fitting photo etch part I mangled the moulded on pipes. The path of least resistance was to sand down the lot and make a plan to scratch replacement details. At least the PE fits now. This is it before the PE. No pipes now.



Before making more work for myself I started replacing some details on the side walls. Here’s where I got to. There’s quite a lot more to add.



And the front wheel strut is done. It looks a bit like a mongrel dog with the mix of scratch built parts, PE and kit parts. It’ll like primer I’m sure.





Happy modelling guys, and take care with those sharp tools, they cut just about anything you aim them at, and a fair few things you don’t :-)

I think it looks quite nice, Steve.

Thanks Gaz. I thought the same about my ex-wife once, but towards the end of our relationship I did wonder if she'd look better with a coat of primer on. Not sure what I am trying to say here so I'll shut up. :-)

Steve,
That's a great start to the front well.

Your comparison to your ex-wife kind of took me by surprise, as would she have looked better with the primer on or primer off? Never quite heard it booth that way before.

Joel

Hey Joel,

Happy Christmas. I hope you are having a great time. I'll be a gentleman and not disclose the best primer option. :-)

Was Santa kind to you?

Happy holidays,

Steve.

Happy 2019 everyone. I hope Santa was kind to you, and your New Year has started well. I’ve taken a week off and that means plenty of time to indulge my favourite hobby. As a result there has been good progress on the Starfighter’s front wheel well. Eduard PE plus some scratch building has got all the details in.

I’m much happier with this look than I was with the limited and two dimensional kit parts. I’m thinking that the best approach to painting will be getting it done before I assemble and fit it, so that’s probably next, although I’m still wondering about how best to fit the front wheel with strength.

Here’s the progress:





Happy modelling. We have 363 days of it left to enjoy this year, that might just be enough to finish this project :-)

Steve,
The start to the front wheel well certainly is to your usual high level of detailing.
Joel

Happy New Year, Joel!

Thanks very much. It might be a once in a lifetime experience to go this far. I really enjoy adding these details but boy does it make progress slow. I might need a better balance with my next kit but its onwards with this project.

Happy modelling,

Steve.

It seems like ages since I last posted, but that doesn’t mean the glue and sanders have been resting. All the details in the front wheel well are finished now. I had a little dilemma over the order in which to assemble and paint. In the end I decide on paint first simply because there are so many nooks and crannies deep in the wheel well. Cool, there is some airbrushing in my future.



As a break from all the small details I assembled the under-wing fuel tanks. In usual Italeri style there is pain and pleasure. The best bits are the nice shape and fine detail. The worst bit is the slight difference in size of each half, and the hard to align ports (not sure what to call them). Those shape differences leave filling and sanding work that needs to avoid both raised and recessed detail. All in all, it feels like an exam question for modellers.

I toyed with the idea of just sanding the bejesus out of the lot and replacing the lost detail. But, well… it’s such a rare thing to have fine detail on this kit that I just couldn’t do it. Instead I worked around it. You can see some of the problem areas left after a first round of sanding and scraping below. Seems like there is a need to employ those fine fellows Fillit and Sanders to get a good result. I’m planning a natural metal finish so I won’t get away with too many lumps and bumps.





Why is it, that despite this kit’s constant little niggles I’m enjoying it? I feel a bit like my dear Prime Minister Teresa May, in dogged pursuit of the almost unachievable but determined to see it through.

Happy modelling guys, and may your plastic be cooperative.

Steve,
The wheel well, strut, and parts look fantastic. Can't wait to see them painted and installed.

As for the two fuel tanks, you really did some number on the fit to get it near perfect, yet all the raised detail wasn't touched.

As for Prime Minister Teresa May, I'll trade you President Donald Trump heads up

Joel