Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 My second build for this GB. The Spanish Starfighters always looked very smart indeed. Grey fuselage, natural metal rear fuselage, white wings and very colourful roundels. Again, this is the Italeri (ex-Esci) kit and an Aires resin seat. However, I will be using a Carpena decal sheet. This is what you get in the box. This is a close-up of the seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostbase Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Will be good to see a Spanish Starfighter, I agree that it is a very attractive colour scheme yet very few modellers seem to choose this option. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted October 14, 2012 Author Share Posted October 14, 2012 (edited) I know that I seem to have been neglecting these builds, but that have been bumbling along quite happily in the background. I just haven't taken too many photos. So here's a bit of a catch-up. The cockpit was detailed slightly. This was done by building the cockpit sills from dymo tape. The cockpit was then sprayed Dark Gull Grey and the instrument panel decals added. This is the fuselage which has been cemented together and sanded. You will see most of these pictures duplicated in my other threads in this GB. Jumping forward quite some way. Rear fuselage sprayed with various shades of Alclad2. The upper wings are sprayed with Alclad2 white primer. The remainder of the airframe is Xtracrylix XA1138 FS16473 ADC Grey. Decals next weekend! Edited October 14, 2012 by Enzo Matrix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Nice and clean ! These Esci kits can be built quite fast ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Stickers in the process of being stuck on! The main markings are from a Carpena sheet. The decals are surprisingly thick. They are fine where they fit on a relatively flat surface, but they are a right pain on a curved surface. A curved surface such as the intakes, for example. The behave like a piece of cardboard. They simply will not conform to the surface! I tried using MicroSol. No joy. So then I used Klear as an adhesive. Still no joy. Next step was to use diluted Gator Glue. That held the decal down for about thirty seconds, then it sprang straight again. So, grasping at straws, I used some liquid cement applied to the edge of the decal and allowed to flood under by capillary action. That only served to crinkle the decals, which stayed resolutely straight! So I gave up. I grabbed some roundels from a Zotz sheet, which explains the slightly different proportions of the wing and fuselage roundels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 The different proportions are not too evident in the picture. Your esperience with the Carpena decals sounds very scary ! I've used some before and while they were rigid they were not as bad... now I'm worried as I bought more sheets in the meantime ! Glad you've sorted the problem and your model is progressing ! She looks beautiful. Small note on the Spanish Starfighters: Spain was the only user to never lose a single F-104 ! There have been several explanation for this: for sure the F-104 was use for a relatively limited time. Most important probably was however the fact that the aircraft was only used for high level interception duties while most other NATO countries flew a huge number of low level strike training missions, where the bad temper of the Starfighter did not forgive any slight mistake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 Spain was the only user to never lose a single F-104 ! Yep. And the ex-Spanish aircraft were passed on to Turkey. It would be interesting to build the same aircraft in Turkish markings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 Finished! Once again, not perfect. When you see the actual model, it's a bit lopsided. For some reason it looks as though there is a severe hydraulic leak on the starboard main gear leg, leading to a lean to stbd. I've managed to hide that in the photos. In fact the photos - for once - look far better than the model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex77 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 It really is a nice colourscheme the Spanish one! Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Once again, not perfect. When you see the actual model, it's a bit lopsided. For some reason it looks as though there is a severe hydraulic leak on the starboard main gear leg, leading to a lean to stbd. I've managed to hide that in the photos. In fact the photos - for once - look far better than the model. I've had the same problem before on the Esci kit, so I tend to believe that it has something to do with the kit Well done anyway on this and the others ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 (edited) OLE!! Nice choice of scheme and finish despite the problems you encountered. Edited November 5, 2012 by Paul J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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