Hook

Graag gedaan! Incidentally, she is now preserved at a Dutch museum, but in a rather spurious paint scheme. Cheers, Andre

Couldn't agree more! Cannon cover - yes, see here. EL-70C only, the EL-73 supplemented rather than replaced the earlier ECM system and was only fitted to 112 Luftwaffe F-104G's, while the EL-70C equipped 150. HTH, Andre

Welcome to Britmodeller!

Astra Decals has a Luftwaffe Starfighter multisheet which is very comprehensive; the sheet with the numerals can be ordered seperately. Alternatively, although not the specific aircraft you want to do, RoG's 03904 boxing comes with a well printed sheet with two Norm 83 options, JaBoG 333 26+44 and JaBoG 34 23+92. Cheers, Andre

The best 20FW / 77th FS markings I'm aware of feature on TwoBobs 72-033 F-16C Block 50 Shaw Vipers sheet, which features three Gambler aircraft. Hasegawa's stock F-16CJ boxing has markings for the 79th FS. The sheet is currently OOP, but well worth hunting down! HTH, Andre

Thanks - I stand corrected! Cheers, Andre

Indeed - I plan on nicking that technique on the first occasion!

86-227 was a Block 30C. So, she will have the F110 engine, but still with the small mouth file the F100 versions (the Big Mouth wide intake wouldn't have been fitted until Block 30D, beginning with 86-262. Furthermore, being a Block 30, she would not have been compatible with the HTS and HARM, instead employing the older AGM-45 Shrike. See: https://nara.getarchive.net/media/an-air-to-air-right-side-view-of-an-f-16c-fighting-falcon-aircraft-foreground-bd61f0?zoom=true Spang Block 30 F-16's were replaced by Block 50D's, which did feature the HARM

Just to illustrate the point of how common incorrect depictions of Sidewinders on Starfighters employed in the Strike / Atttack role are, this book has a JaBoG-configured F-104G on the cover firing one which would never ever have been fittted with Sidewinders in reality: https://www.scalemates.com/books/the-lockheed-f-104-starfighter-mdf-modellers-data-file-36-evans-andy--124998 Cheers, Andre

Only some. First deliveries were 29 MAP-supplied Starfighters built for the Kongelige Norske Luftforsvaret from 1963 on (16 Lockheed-built F-104Gs, and 3 built by Canadair, as well as two Lockheed-built TF-104Gs) for service with No. 331 Skvadron at Bodo. Later in 1973, after the Candians disbanded their Nos. 422, 427, and 430 Squadrons which lead to a lot of Candian Starfighters being deemed surplus, 18 CF-104s and 4 CF-104D's were supplied to the Luftforsvaret, enabling 334 Skv to form at Rygge. Cheers, Andre

These were actually carried on a regular basis by our Dutch Leeuwarden based interceptors of 322 and 323 Squadron, mostly captive AIM-9B and later on J ones in peacetime but live ones for QRA and missile firing exercises. The Marineflieger units carried them often as well. Just don't use them on any Luftwaffe JaBoG or Dutch 306/311/312 Squadron model... OTOH, the larger items in most F-104S kits were never actually certified for flight by the AMI, and were consequently only loaded for static display, strange as it may seem..! Cheers, Andre

Nice surgery and a huge improvement!

I would trust the Dana Bell articles over Italeri - after all, Mr Bell doesn't have his own paint range to push. (Unless the undersides of late Luftwaffe fighters really were Light Ghost Gray, as Italeri would have it. ) Cheers, Andre

Why build just one..

Looking forward to seeing your build!