azureglo Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 Watching the excellent Ken Burns Vietnam doc on iPlayer and I perused camouflaged F-104C's being readied for missions and looking woefully unsuitable for the job. A quick rummage found an Italeri and Revell F104 A/C in the gentleman's scale. Seeing as the Revell box looks un-loved, I'll go for my 3rd STGB of 2017 with that. Lovely surface detailing and lots of tiny clear lights (that won't be used as I found a an easy way to do clear lights using a UV setting adhesive). I'm going to tart up the seat with some leftover over etch and random bits then clone the cockpit decals from the Italeri kit so it'll be pretty much OOB. I'll have my second go at freehand camo as last year;s MIG 15 seemed to turn out OK. Decals have been taped to the workroom window to bleach them as they look a bit yellow. Naturally it'll be the 'Nam Camo bird using the kit decals as I I'm too much of a wuss to do NMF. I though this may be a re-box of the ESCI kit but the sprues look totally different to that and Italeri ones, it seems fairly rare so I'm guessing its from the time of their wonder Mig21F that was subsequently re-issued with a stingy decal sheet. Anyway it'll be nice not to build another yet Hobbyboss easykit and do some real modelling! And now the obligatory sprue shots: Cheers Anil 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 Good choice ! This is Revell's own mould, and a very good one. It's almost on par with the hasegawa kit, the canopy is the only part not as good. To be honest the two kits are so similar that I've often wondered if someone at Revell was inspired by the Japanese kit when they made this... in any case, Hasegawa never did a 1/72 C, so this is the best kit of this variant in this scale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted October 31, 2017 Author Share Posted October 31, 2017 18 hours ago, Giorgio N said: Good choice ! This is Revell's own mould, and a very good one. It's almost on par with the hasegawa kit, the canopy is the only part not as good. To be honest the two kits are so similar that I've often wondered if someone at Revell was inspired by the Japanese kit when they made this... in any case, Hasegawa never did a 1/72 C, so this is the best kit of this variant in this scale @Giorgio N I've just done some googling and you are on the money, it seems this is quite a rare little beastie, especially on Fleabay...I'm wondering whether its better to mangle the widely available and less desirable Italeri new release instead? Maybe this one can go in my "retirement stash" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 3 minutes ago, azureglo said: @Giorgio N I've just done some googling and you are on the money, it seems this is quite a rare little beastie, especially on Fleabay...I'm wondering whether its better to mangle the widely available and less describable Italeri new release instead? Maybe this one can go in my "retirement stash" It is indeed relatively rare, and I'm still wondering if they did the right thing in letting one slip away from that site last month... sold for €20 including delivery, I should have probably bought it. I already have one in the stash (Monogram box but it's the same mould) but another wouldn't hurt... Personally I think that regardless of rarity, kits are made to be built, if you feel you can do do a good job on this one, go for it ! Your other models here show that you sure can. These are not particularly difficult kits to build, the only area to be careful is the front-rear fuselage section assembly. This kit also includes the various RWR antennas used on Vietnam based aircrafts... or better, includes the correct ones for the rear fuselage but an incorrect one under the nose. Mind, these antennas were not used from the very beginning so it's possible to see pictures of camouflaged aircrafts without antennas. The same were removed when the aircrafts returned to the US, meaning more pictures of camo birds with no antennas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 A change of plan/kit: after @Giorgio N's revelation about the Revell kit,I could not bring myself to mangle this gorgeous rarity until my dubious skills have improved so it goes into the "retirement stash". Step forward Italy's finest: The requisite 'Nam scheme is in there and the decals are fine condition despite wintering in damp garage, got this honey for mere £3.99 in one of Plastic Pastimes wonderful Fleabay auctions so no rare and expensive plastic will be be harmed. Oh and this of course means that Revell will announce the re-release of the F-104 thus destroying my profit ambitions as cruelly as they did to @Procopius and his hoard of Hunters... Anil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 If such things trouble you, a few accuracy issues with the Revellogram 1/72 F-104C are covered in this thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Procopius said: If such things trouble you, a few accuracy issues with the Revellogram 1/72 F-104C are covered in this thread. Accuracy? You are dealing with someone who touched up paint chips on a priceless Supermarine Schneider Cup racer using Humbrol model paint...no rivet, misplaced panel line or FS number will ever cause me to lose sleep. My "maintenance" on the Spit 24 would cause heart attacks in most rivet counters to boot. These are little plastic models so I go with with @dancho's philosophy of being laid back re accuracy. On the other hand I draw the line at Starfix. Cheers Anil Edited November 2, 2017 by azureglo removed rather inflammatory and unnecessary remarks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 A thought, I think my last post was more than a bit patronizing, especially to folk who take this hobby seriously, including those who have offered to help me rectify Italeri's rather cavalier interpretation of what an F-104C is: Truth is I'm at that stage of modelling that if I complete something with no seam lines, smudged paint or glue smears, its a major victory. So checking for accuracy etc, is the least of my worries as I try not spill Mr Hobby cement and superglue over the entire thing, if I ever get any good at building models like some of the amazingly talented and skilled folk here, I'm pretty sure I'll want to make sure what has taken me many hours is accurate! For now I just hope it turns out with the right number wings and wheels...and apologies to anyone I may have offended (and any surviving employees of Supermarine Limited) Anil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 13 minutes ago, azureglo said: A thought, I think my last post was more than a bit patronizing, especially to folk who take this hobby seriously, including those who have offered to help me rectify Italeri's rather cavalier interpretation of what an F-104C is: Truth is I'm at that stage of modelling that if I complete something with no seam lines, smudged paint or glue smears, its a major victory. Oh, no worries, I wasn't offended. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted November 3, 2017 Author Share Posted November 3, 2017 @Giorgio N Its obvious you are to Starfighters what Edgar Brooks was to Spitfires , the go-to-man. I'm going for OOB so will live with the Italeri's inaccuracies (thanks for the very generous wheel offer). That said I do have a question about the load outs, I intend to to do it with two wing tip tanks and 2 Sidewinders, do the missiles mount on the dubious looking bellyrack or wing pylons? Cheers Anil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 8 minutes ago, azureglo said: @Giorgio N Its obvious you are to Starfighters what Edgar Brooks was to Spitfires , the go-to-man. I'm going for OOB so will live with the Italeri's inaccuracies (thanks for the very generous wheel offer). That said I do have a question about the load outs, I intend to to do it with two wing tip tanks and 2 Sidewinders, do the missiles mount on the dubious looking bellyrack or wing pylons? Cheers Anil Don't want to sound shy or whatever, but I'm not really in the same cathegory as Edgar, he was a totally different kind of expert ! He spent hours crawling through primary sources to dig bits of information that nobody else had bothered with before and thanks to his love for MItchell's masterpiece, he greatly expanded the knowledge on the Spitfires for enthusiasts and modellers alike. As a Spitfire fan, I feel I owe him a lot. Me, I'm just a collector of secondary sources and all my knowledge comes from others who took the challenge of checking primary sources and putting the information together for people like me to enjoy. Said that, the Sidewinder on the 104C could for sure be mounted on the underbelly catamaran and on the wingtips. I don't know if the wing pylons could carry them (as was common on the G), in any case I've never seen a picture of a C with underwing mounted sidewinders. The ventral missiles were not popular in service, added drag and as the missiles were very close to the groung they risked damage to the IR sensor. For this reason the missiles were only ever carried on the wingtips when in real operations. In vietnam a typical load was missiles at the wingtips and tanks under the wing. For shorter range missions, they had missiles on the wingtips only and nothing under the wing. For completeness, I should mention that by the time the F-104Cs in Vietnam received camouflage, the main mission was ground attack and the typical load for an aircraft in that thatre was tanks on the wingtips and one M117 under each wing pylon.. A lot of pictures of these Starfighters can be found on the IFS website under the various articles on the 104 in combat in Vietnam http://www.i-f-s.nl/f-104s-in-combat/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 You are too modest, Giorgio! You have steered me correctly many times now. Azureglo - a Revell C... excellent! I have one in the pile (plus a Hasegawa TF and a G/S) .... I just need time and to get through my current jobs first! . Good luck! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 @RidgeRunner It turns out I have another one of the Revell kits still wrapped in cellophane in my stash according to my records. Perhaps if my attempt with this succeeds, a NMF may be added and I can feed the great god of eBay with shrink wrapped one too. Now I have to get my butt in gear & build this one first. A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Good luck mate. When I get to do mine it'll be camo Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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