Eduard F-104g (Dutch) NATOfighter

[13odobson]

My first build on the forum, Eduards F-104G "NATOfighter" - a starfighter to you and me! I will be building the Dutch varient, of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, flown by famous Dutch pilot "Capt. Hans van der Werf" - partly because of the decals (I love the shark teeth nose art!) and its more colourful and interesting design. Detailed in box reviews can be found elsewhere but I can say the plastic is of a high quality, with no injection flow issues or other. PE and Resin is very nice, and decals to be expected of cartograf. More to follow. 

[13odobson]

Only a couple hours on the F-104 today, but good progress made. Starting on the tub and resin work,  seat and ejection seat guide rails sawed from their casting, and sanded down. Tub prepared for Photo etch with sanding etc, and foot pedals added - all be it completely wrong (I lost the gentle touch!) Then airbrushed with tamiya medium and light grey- although I wish I could better match the true colour  And then applying Eduard's beautiful colour printed photo etch set to the tub. The level of detail is really nice, and saves detailed paintwork which always takes longer than it should. Finally the forward panel assembly, which is a highlight of the photo etched parts for me.  

Next up is finishing painting the tub, and then onto bigger and better parts of the kit - while I debate canopy open or closed. I'm leaning towards open to show of the finished cockpit. 

Edited April 24, 2017 by 13odobson

[Finchley Bantam]

Hi - Iooking good so far. As it happens I'm currently building the same kit, I'm a bit further along the process, putting on the decals now. I see you've built the IP - just a heads up... fit it to the fuselage before you join the two halves together. It just doesn't slot in later as shown on the instructions. I'll have to snip off the control column and throttle lever to fit mine. Very frustrating!! Anyway, everything else goes together like a dream, it's a great kit and I've had fun building mine, I hope you do to.

[13odobson]

3 hours ago, Finchley Bantam said:

Hi - Iooking good so far. As it happens I'm currently building the same kit, I'm a bit further along the process, putting on the decals now. I see you've built the IP - just a heads up... fit it to the fuselage before you join the two halves together. It just doesn't slot in later as shown on the instructions. I'll have to snip off the control column and throttle lever to fit mine. Very frustrating!! Anyway, everything else goes together like a dream, it's a great kit and I've had fun building mine, I hope you do to.

Thanks for the heads up! I've heard great things about the kit otherwise. its unfortunate about the IP though, especially with the thought eduard put in, but it's on hasegawa's end. I don't think they have changed the moulds since something like 95 

[13odobson]

Day 2... kit progressing a lot faster than expected. Detail on the afterburner ring seemed too thick.so I thinned it down with a knife. and then used a piece of wire to create the central ring. painting was then done by hand. I brush painted both the turbine and exhaust / nozzle in revell gun metal. Then dry brushed an enamel aluminium colour to create a weathered look. I'm pleased with the overall effect, especially on the visible nozzle. 

 

Then onto assembly of the main landing gear bay, detailing of which is impressive for OOB. Hasegawa also includes rubbery shock absorbers for the landing gear, which seems novel to me, but simple to install so no complaints here. Finishing up on the cockpit by painting control stick and throttle lever. I installed the forward IP (Thanks for the tip Finchley!) before gluing the cockpit, gear bay and exhaust into the airframe. Two halves then joined and left overnight. Fit of both pieces was very good in general, with a little tension having to be applied around the gear bay to stop gaps. Doubting I will need any putty to smooth over but we will see tomorrow! 

[13odobson]

Project on hold for 1 week due to school exams. Have progress ready to upload so will try to update in due course. 

[Martian]

Nice looking cockpit!

 

Martian

[matteo44]

F-104 was a myth for the Italian Aviation and I like this plane!

 

Good job on the cockpit!

 

 

[13odobson]

Apologies for the delay, exams now finished so I can get back to work. Wil try to make this brief as it's mostly plastic construction. 

 

Intakes and rear cockpit masked and brush painted in matte black. 

Then applied to fuselage. Ths tailplane and exhaust nozzle where then fitted, with sanding needed to get the tailplane and vert. stabiliser perpendicular. Getting the nozzle inside the fuselage was also a challenge, and I regret not installing it when joining the fuselage halves...although I managed it in the end. Then wing assembly stated. wings completed. Images to follow.