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Scale Planes (https://www.scaleplanes.net/en/) from Germany has designed 1/72nd, 1/48th & 1/32nd Zero Length Lauch (ZELL) 3D printed sets for Lockheed F-104G Starfighter kits. Brilliant ! Sources: https://www.scaleplanes.net/en/3D-DESIGNS/Starting-rack-148-ZELL/ https://www.scaleplanes.net/en/MODELS/F-104-G-ZELL-148/ https://www.scaleplanes.net/.cm4all/uproc.php/0/Downloads/Bauanleitung_Instruction_ZELL_V1.1.pdf Contact: https://www.scaleplanes.net/en/CONTACT/ V.P.

I've been bit of an F-104 addict ever since I got back into modelling around 2018-2019. I did a thread about F-104 builds in different scales few years back: Since then I've acquired few more Starfighters. And as I've gotten so far, I thought about setting actual goals for my Zipper-obsession: make a model for each F-104 operator in 1:72 scale. There are fifteen countries in total and I'm already close to half way there, so it's quite achievable. After that, I think the next goal is to make all the F-104 variants, but that is most likely 'Project Starfighter, part 3' for the future Here's what I've got so far (in the order I've made them): F-104A (USA) Italeri kit which actually has nice details, apart from the landing gears (and probably cockpit, can't remember). But because of the bulbous canopy and thin wingtip fuel tanks I haven't re-visited the Italeri kit since. But definitely have to do that some day (with Hasegawa fuel tanks and vacuform canopy). F-104G (Germany) Originally planned to display this with Kormoran anti-ship missiles but never got around to buy them. This is the 'new' Revell kit which is not too bad. Also boxed by Academy in it's latest F-104 release. Some details are better than Hasegawa but the construction is bit more complicated. But one distinct flaw is that canopy windscreen is bit too shallow and short - and something about the nose shape that doesn't quite seem right to me. So I prefer Hasegawa. F-104S (Italy) Hasegawa kit straight from the box (apart from the missiles I think). This is the maximum theoretical air-to-air loadout for the Italian Starfighters - four Sidewinders and two Aspide semi active radar homing missiles. There are pics of this loadout but probably only for display purposes - as this would be quite high drag loadout for a Starfighter. CF-104 (Norway) Hasegawa kit with some aftermarket stuff including amazing @Vingtor decals. Aircraft is displayed taking of for an intercept mission. F-104C (USA) Hasegawa kit modified as a C-version and with aftermarket stuff such as pitot, seat, exhaust and wheels. DIY display base. F-104G (Netherlands) Hasegawa kit with the usual aftermarket items. Not that the Hasegawa kit really needs them, but they are still bit nicer than the original parts so I've gotten used to adding them for my F-104 builds. This F-104 is carrying a 'special' loadout in the form of B43 nuclear bomb. CF-104 (Canada) Hasegawa kit. CF-104 is a Canadian license built version of the F-104G. Going to add some cluster bombs on a dual bomb racks for this build. ----------------------------------------------- So that makes seven builds - but only six operators (out of fifteen) as I've made two US Starfighters. So better get cracking! ----------------------------------------------- Hasegawa F-104G, no surprises here. My build will be ex-German F-104G displayed in Turkish colours, will be getting some aftermarket decals for this one. While Hasegawa is not perfect, it's still a very good kit. No major issues, you can build Hasegawa F-104 out of the box and it will be a good representation of the original. But I think as I've build a few so far that I will try to get little bit deeper in my build. I would like to sort out atleast the following (more or less minor) issues: Putty over the excessive rivet details in the tail section Add details to the canopy framing and cockpit rear section Add details to the wings (panel lines, rivets and underside 'lumps') Modify the landing gear struts (currently bit over-simplified) Add the missing fuselage center pylon cover Modify the fuselage underside antenna cover (for more rounded shape) Modify the fuselage topside antenna cover (missing panel lines) Add cannon gas exhaust port and vents around the nose wheel bay Add a tail hook protective plate (where the hook rests against the drag chute cover) Am I missing something @Giorgio N @RidgeRunner ? This book by @daco will be my main source during this journey. Absolute must for high quality F-104 detail shots and information about F-104G. But I have some backup just in case.

Lockheed F-104C Starfighter, 57-916 (c/n 1233) 'Timehog', pilot Tommy L. Wilson, 435TFS at Udorn AB, Thailand, November 1966 History of F-104 in South East Asia Starfighters had two successful deployments in South East Asia, first one being in 1965 after enemy air activity increased and air superiority fighter was required. Starfighters were tasked to fly MIGCAP over Gulf of Tonkin in order to protect strike elements and fly escort flights for EC-121 early warning aircraft - which had previously been target of harassment flights. The effects of F-104 arriving in the area was dramatic, North Vietnamese aircraft were avoiding combat and staying away from the area to the extent that F-104's were moved over to weather reconnaissance and strike missions. Overall, they fared well in these missions too but also suffered losses and their first combat deployment in SEA ended when the year 1965 came to an end. Second deployment was requested in April 1966 as MiG-21's had arrived to the scene and were causing problems for the non-cannon equipped F-4's. Despite F-104's were already in the process of being phased out, eight Starfighters arrived at Udorn Thailand for their second deployment in June 1966, later followed by twelve more in July 1966. Starfighters flew escort duties for F-105 strike elements but also for F-105F 'Wild Weasel' flights. F-4's couldn't keep up with the fast moving F-105's with a decent fuel economy so F-104's were specifically requested for these missions. They were well suited for the job, apart from not having a radar warning receivers. MiG threat on Wild Weasel missions was later deemed quite low so F-104's were withdrawn from these missions and radar warning receivers were fitted. Mission focus shifted towards low threat strike missions in the end of summer 1966, but losses began to mount and Starfighters returned to their original escort duty over Gulf of Tonkin until they were phased out and replaced by F-4D's in July 1967. All in all - apart from it's speed and precision - F-104C was not very good strike aircraft. It was vulnerable to battle damage, bomb load was small and it lacked necessary equipment for bad weather operations. But in the role it was originally requested for - air superiority - it performed amazingly. It had very noticeable effect on MiG activity in the areas it operated and it was a well trusted aircraft for escort flights. The model kit The kit is Hasegawa CF-104, so basically a F-104G with some slight differences. Hasegawa does not make F-104C so this has been modified from a Hasegawa CF-104. Many of the alterations can be made with aftermarket items, such as the wheels and exhaust. Also note that F-104C had the non-bulged main landing gear doors. Depending on the kit, Hasegawa can come with either ones. F-104G had the bulged gear doors, CF-104 and F-104J had the non-bulged ones. Main modification that has to be made is the narrow chord fin and rudder. This is not particularly hard modification, existing panel lines basically work as a cutting template. In addition to this some small panel line changes could be made for authentic F-104C. One thing to note is that unlike in the F-104G - in F-104C wing pylons were perpendicular to the wing, not to the ground. So in effect, they were tilted inwards. I've used aftermarket parts for this build: exhaust, ejection seat, pitot tube, wheels and PE parts for the cockpit. @Hook graciously donated air refueling probe, bombs and decals from a Revell kit for this build (Hasegawa kits don't come with air refueling probes). Painted with Vallejo acrylics and weathered with Ammo products. The display is scratch built from plasticard. This build represents F-104C in it's second deployment after being fitted with the radar warning receivers and flying strike flights with two M117 bombs. WIP:

I kinda wanted to do Croatian MiG-21Bis (as per 'my flag') - but suddenly I felt strong disturbance in the force, I fear that there are too few finished Starfighter kits in the world. So I ended up starting a Canadian Starfighter Being one of the founding countries, I think Canada is a good choice for this GB. And I have not built anything Canadian yet - so that's a bonus (well, technically I have - Avro Canuck - but I did it in Belgian markings). This is the kit. Yes I know it says JASDF on the box but we will fix that. This is not my first Starfighter Nor the last! Kit parts. My favourite 1/72 Starfighter kit. Good basic all around kit with no major problems or issues. Kit instructions and decals. But won't be using these now. We are using these from a kit I made earlier - I converted CF-104 into F-104C build thread here: All lovely schemes! Top one is NMF with red tail. Middle one is nice dark green and on bottom is green/grey camo. I think I will go with option too, the green one I'll be doing this more or less straight from the box - and canopy closed. So the kit details with some decals will suffice. I might add few details to the seat though. Kit comes with clear plastic IP which I don't quite understand how to to make it work. So I will just paint it and use decals instead. If there is a tricky part with the kit - it's the four part fuselage with the intakes added to the mix. There's a lot of seams in one place. This time I try to glue the front and rear fuselage parts together to make sure atleast they fit nicely. Now it's not the easiest thing to do as the connection point is only via top of the fuselage. We will see if it was worth the extra hassle. Adding the intakes makes the package come together but I want to paint he insides first. So left and right side of fuselage are not glued together yet - only the front to rear on both sides. I think this will work out if the mating surface will hold up until I can glue in the intakes. The gun panel is maybe a tad too small on the rear, should have maybe added a thin strip of plasticard for a better fit. We will sort it out later. It seems I got some glue where I didn't want it. Oh well, no biggie as I thought of puttying over the (not so realistic) riveting on the rear fuselage anyways... The thing with Starfighter is to check your references for all the antennas and sensors you need - and don't need. The instructions are actually really good for this, they clearly indicate what to cut and what to keep for each of the schemes. As long as you remember to read them This is the sensor I usually forget to take off - it is RWR sensor for the Japanese F-104 only. Selection of small parts getting ready for primer. Fuel tanks, wings and rest of the bits are taken care of and tidied up - all we are left with is empty sprues So next time we will get into painting!

For the 1/72 scale Starfighters the Hasegawa is the best one - not by a huge margin but still best all around kit with best details. Now, Hasegawa only does CF-104, F-104G and F-104S - and not the early A or C models. But there are several early Starfighters I would like to do - so I wanted to try that how viable it is to backdate a Hasegawa F-104. This is my starting point, a Hasegawa CF-104. The F-104G and F-104S packings are very similar but with few notable differences. This kit has the correct wheel well covers for both A and C and if you want to do a F-104C in South East Asia configuration, this box has the RWR receivers as they were fitted on late CF-104's too. As normal with Hasegawa, they have a million reboxings, but I think all CF-104 boxings are the same apart from the decals. And they also have atleast one boxing with CF-104 and F-104G/S in the same package. Just something to take note, as Hasegawa has a bad habit of cutting away parts of a sprue that are not needed in the specific version that comes with the box. The sprues. Let's take little closer look on what we need to take into consideration when backdating this kit. Wheels and rims, the F-104A&C wheels are narrower than F-104G wheels with different rims. The real CF-104 most likely has the narrower wheels as it comes with the non-bulged wheel well cover, but that doesn't really matter as the kit only has one set of wheels for all the version. So they are the same for all Hasegawa F-104G and CF-104. Not that it matters hugely as the difference in width in this scale is most likely not a huge deal. But the rims are different, so that's something we need to take into consideration. In the picture, there's F-104C rims, and as compared to the kit part there is noticeable difference. Aftermarket parts are available so that is the most likely route I will take. Though I might try putty & hand drill first as the rims are quite simple. We will see. Wheel well covers. F-104G wheel covers have bulges, but as these are CF-104 covers they don't have them so they are correct for this build as is. But even with F-104G covers, they would be rather easy to sand the bulges away. Exhaust nozzle, the kit part is not hugely detailed but it resembles the one on the right more - which is incorrect for this build. We want the one on the left. Aftermarket parts are available, which is a good route to take especially if you want some extra details. I might have a go at trying to add some details for the existing kit part, though. Nothing to lose. Cockpit - now I'm not hugely well versed on the F-104 cockpit so I don't know the differences. There must be some but I'm trusting that Eduard has done the research for me and I am using a PE set to add (hopefully correct) details. But again, not that it will probably make a huge difference in this scale, atleast with a canopy closed build. Now the most noticeable difference is the tail - F-104A and C have smaller tail. But it doesn't look terribly hard to cut away part of the Hasegawa tail and rescribe. I mean - (with Jeremy Clarkson's voice) how hard can it be? Right, there should be the main differences (the ones that matter for this build atleast). While I have huge interest in the Starfighter I am by no means authority on all the differences on all the versions - so if you have something to share about this matter, please do so Now as with the specific version I will be doing, I am still undecided whether it will be a Pakistani F-104A or USAF F-104C in SEA camo. Differences are rather small with those two versions, but the SEA F-104C would require adding an refueling probe which I would probably need to scratch build. We can go into details once I'll decide what I will do, there probably will be some small things that I have forgotten here. Let's see how it goes

All bets are off ! It is rumoured to be a - money maker - unpreviously announced kit. Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kineticmodel/posts/1244366542397121 V.P.

Time to narrow down my options for at least one build for this GB. The plan at the minute is to do one European and one Asian F-104 (although this may change!) and for the Asian one I have decided to go with an aircraft from the JASDF who were a major user of the type and had them on strength until 1986. The next problem is which JASDF one to do, a single seat J or a twin seat DJ. Both kits are unstarted as you can see below. And both come with very comprehensive and impressive decal sheets. Should be able to build every F-104 to serve with the JASDF from them! The only issue with the sheets is the usual Hasegawa inability to actually make the white on the decals white as it is a creamy colour, might try the "stick them to the window and hope that it lightens them" trick. but if they weren't enough options I have an aftermarket set from Two Bobs (who can make white white). Can't beat an aggressor scheme! Here's a closer look at the options. Very drawn to the one at the bottom, although I am also contemplating another one from the "Panda Bears" in grey and white which looks very smart and had rocket pods under the wings and it doesn't seem fair to only build F-104J's from the one squadron. And then there's the option of a DJ in the camo colours usually worn by Mitsubishi F-1's, oh dear decisions, decisions! At least I have until Saturday to make my mind up! Craig.

Hi, Please find my latest build the Kinetic Starfighter converted to a CF-104 used by AETE and in early 1970's markings. Probably the most challenging build I have ever done. I made some unnecessary errors along the way, which are described in detail in a WIP thread that I did over the past few weeks. So for anyone interested in my blunders....🤣 Thankfully I received a lot of information from our Canadian Britmodelers, some who had worked in the RCAF/CAF and some who worked on the actual CF-104's. Thanks again, for your help. I did make a few compromises here and there, all described in the WIP, but now that it is finished...... Am reasonably happy with it. Aftermarket I used: Belcher weapons set Master-model pitot (Changed it last minute) Master casters CF-104 wheel set Belcher decals Mini magnets for bombs and pylons attachment Paints: AK xtreme metal Some Alclad for individual panels (applied last) Mr Color super Italian red (Tail) Tamiya XF-12 J.N. grey (for the underside of the wings) Flory dark brown wash The kit does actually allow you to build a CF-104, also the later versions with the sensors under the nose and tail. It's all there ready on the sprues, just not mentioned in the manual. Anyway, hope you like it: The model was based on below photograph. I also thought it nice to accompany it with the shown weapon load out. I always thought of the Starfighter as a fast interceptor, but some countries used it for the tactical/nuclear role as I found out. The wing tanks are converted to house camera's and also visible is a detachable orange camera pod behind the nose gear. I tried to incorporate these details as well. Courtesy of my wife's mirrored cake stand; By the way, not sure if I have the centre pylon the right way around........but then again........ it's attached with 2 magnets, so can flip it around👍 That's all, thanks for watching...... Regards, Rob

Dutch F-104G Starfighter carrying a 'special' load (B43 nuclear bomb). Kit is Hasegawa 1:72 with some additions - like the engine/exhaust, PE for the cockpit, resin seat and resin wheels and master pitot tube. Main decals are from Xtradecal and the stencils by Armycast. Painted with Vallejo acylics and weathered with Ammo products and oil paints.

Reini's Century Series - F-104G Starfighter One of the many Hasegawa's Starfighter boxings. Here's the box contest. Hasegawa is my favourite F-104 kit in this scale. Some aftermarket is a must. These 3D printed ladders just seemed so nice that I couldn't resist. I usually make mask clear parts myself but for this I have ready made masks. Master pitot tube is a must, some PE to add some cockpit detail and resin wheels. I might still add a resin ejection seat, a Lockheed C2 seat in this case. And then this little innocent 'special' bomb. I think this is from Trumpeter's Vigilante kit. I won't be using the kit decals, I have Xtradecal set for Netherlands F-104. And as the decal set is lacking all the small markings, I'll be using a set from Armycast. This is my reference, a Dutch F-104 in 1984, carrying a dummy B43 nuclear bomb. Photo is taken from here: https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/foto-s/detail/edb2f47b-9a02-85e1-56ea-8b23609cc71e/media/00a62de9-dfb8-db2c-7679-10d4fcab765a I've made several F-104 in different scales already, here's one of them - a Norwegian CF-104 made from Hasegawa kit: I like all the Century Series fighters - but it's not hard to pick a favourite, it has to be the F-104

This build will be the Esci F-104C Starfighter released in 1981. It has since been repackaged by Italeri and this is the Italeri 2014 release. As you can see from the box, it has been in The Stash for some time! Let's look at the parts. The kit is also available as an F-104G. The difference is on this sprue. The G version has different rear fuselage parts on the opposite side of the sprue from the early version parts that you can see here. I first built this kit (in the G version) in 1985 from the Tiger Meet boxing. The yellow plastic was bright!!! 🕶️ Since then I have built it numerous times. It will be good to have another go. It can go with the two F-104S models that I'm building in the Southern Europe GB.

Hi here is my F-104 STARFIGHTER by Kinetic I stared this back in February and only just finished it due to my mojo waining and a few issues with the build along the way so wasn’t enjoyable as I’d of hoped. I brought this kit sometime last year and what seems to be a theme this year so far my wife picked this out of the stash to build next! I purchased a few aftermarket items for this build. Qunita Studio Interior 3D decals (QD48201) and very impressed with them MasterCasterS resin Martin-Baker Mk.Q7[A] Ejection Seat (MST48065) Master brass pitot tube (AM-48-044) Eduard TFace Canopy Masks (EX830) I decided to try Ammo-Mig paints with is build and this where I had the problems with paint peeling off with masking tape Tamiya and Vallejo paints also used thank for looking and enjoy

Hello, I've not been posting here for more than a year which does not mean I had nothing to show. Looking back to my shelves I figured I have almost a collection of aeroplani dell'AMI which I never got posted here. So starting to fix this omission with the iconic aircraft of the jet aviation golden age - the F-104G Starfighter or il Spillone as it was nicknamed in Italy - the country which was able to keep the beast flying into the XXI century!!! F-104 is the airplane I always liked for it's extreme rocket-like shape that shows its power and speed. Super-strong engine with small wings, cabin, radar, tail attached. No surprise I wanted to do the most clean version of it without wingtip fuel tanks and without anything on the fuselage bottom. Clean sheer power! That is how I got to choose the first version used by AMI - F-104G and modelled it in the cleanest configuration possible. Just added two Sidewinders to show even more power. The prototype I chose was flying with 10° Gruppo, 9° Stormo at Grazzanise airbase in Campania. The location of the airbase is perfect for making superhot photoes of F-104 flying over the Amalfi coast above blue sea and rocks... Here is the photo that I used to inspire my project: http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wA9-05.htm The kit is the very well known Hasegawa set. I had the boxing for Luftwaffe and AMI F-104G/S. The kit decals for AMI aircraft are intended to build up an S version so I got couple Sky Decals sheets with Italian roundels and with multiple F-104 AMI badges to reproduce 9-05 s/n 6522 with il Cavallino Rampante on the tail. Unfortunately the Sky Decals set contained il Cavallino for grey schemes only so it did not have a white background which I sprayed myself trying to match the shape of the insignia as much as possible. I also used quite a bit of aftermarket staff. That included CMK interior set, Aires exhaust, Armory wheels, Master pitot tube. Of all these items I would say exhaust makes the largest difference as Hasegawa's is fairly simplistic. Also Master brass antennae is a must have for me anytime. So much better than kit parts for small price and very easily installed. CMK interior was quite poorly fitting to be honest. Of course it looks much better but not much of it is seen after you close canopy. As mentioned above - decals are coming from Sky Decals sets. Sidewinders are from Hasegawa weapons set. Paints are Hobby Color for camouflage and Vallejo aluminum metallic for underside diluted with a little bit of neutral gray to reduce shiny effect. Blueish tint for radome is self-mixed. I'm still not sure what the right colour should be there. At least I'm satisfied with how this part looks like. And some collage with close up shots: Thanks for watching! Dennis

Hello, Here's my last complete build, the Hasegawa, 1/48 Lockheed F-104G of the Raoyal Danish AF, from Esk 726. Been using the !daco set for the wings and their ejection seat improvement. Seat harness from the Eduard Look set for the Kinetic zipper. Paints from the gunze acryl range. hope you'll like her. As usual, feel free to comment and critic Best Stef (#6)

The Wikipedia summary: The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter (CF-111, CL-90) is a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence. It was primarily used as a ground attack aircraft, despite being designed as an interceptor. It served with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and later the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) until it was replaced by the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet. I've wanted to build a Canadian Starfighter for a while now, but hadn't gotten around to it yet... so this GB is the perfect excuse to get into one! The polished aluminium with white wings and red tail will look absolutely stellar on my shelf if I can pull off a good finish. Until now I've been a strictly 1/72nd guy, mostly due to space constraints, but also because of my glacial building speed, and I don't really think my skills are up to par for larger models. However, I've written a loophole into my own rules: Canadian subjects can be 1/48th. 😁 (I've set a long-term goal to eventually build at least one of each major aircraft type that Canada flew in 48th. At the rate I build we may be retiring our F-35 fleet before I'm ever done.) Ubiquitous box shot: Of course I got some canopy masks from Eduard... but I also picked up their Löök set for the CF-104, which includes a 3D printed instrument panel and some nice PE parts for the cockpit. I'm eager to see how that goes together. It looks like it'll be a nice upgrade though. What the heck, I need to get another display cabinet from IKEA anyways...

Hi all I finally finished a build Not great but just happy to finish something Finished very much OOB with Tamiya acrylics and a model master flat clear I would have liked more colour separation on the camo but live and learn The kit is basic but went together okay Decals were terrible Out of registration and absolutely like leather so plenty of Micro Sol and Micro Set to try and settle them down as best as possible but many still silvered up 🙄 Just a few photos Cheers Thanks for looking

Avantgarde Model Kits (AMK) is reported by MMCT Facebook Group as working on a 1/48th Lockheed F-104G Starfighter kit - ref. Considering the MMCT support to the project I guess we can expect soon or later a RoCAF "long nose" F-104G with the HIAC-1 LOROP system - http://www.916-starfighter.de/F-104_ROCAF_LOROP_H.Prins.pdf To be followed Sources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilitaryModelingSRG/permalink/2374473086101901/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilitaryModelingSRG/permalink/2374473086101901/ Original box art as anonymously published on January 4th, 2019. Note the two - wrong and now disappeared - characteristical F-104S additional ventral fins. Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilitaryModelingSRG/permalink/2209396522609559/ V.P.

Hi, guys ‘n’ gals, I just read on the Warthunder Wiki that the F-104DJ didn’t have the radar fitted? Or it was removed later in it’s JASDF service? Can anyone confirm this? Cheers, Erik.

Another braille scale Starfighter announced! AFV Club is to release a new tool 1/32nd Lockheed F-104G(S?) Starfighter kit - ref.AR32104. Source: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.619334004778789.1073741859.236926266352900&type=1 V.P.

I present the latest model completed this year. Lockheed F-104G Starfighter in 1/48 scale built from the Revell Monogram kit. The model received a modified MB GQ-7A seat and made elements of the cab cover frame. Model Maker decals, 25th Anniversary of JaboG 34 and 50 Memminerberg Bases, May 5, 1984.

I'm working on Kinetic's 1/48 F-104G, and the instructions for the wing tip tank fins are more along the lines of interpretive dance than technical manual. I've looked at photos of the real thing but keep second-guessing myself as to the orientation of the fins, particularly the short outer fin. I'd appreciate if the local brain trust could take a quick look and tell me whether my geometry is correct or if I have some recalibration in my future. This is a top down look at the port wing tip tank. Thanks for any assistance! Chris Baer

EDUARD Eikó 1/48 - F-104J Starfighter F-104J was a version of the F-104G specifically built for interceptor role for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. F-104J was armed with cannon and up to four sidewinders but lacked any strike capability. A total of 210 were built, most of them under license by Mitsubishi. A dual-control trainer version F-104Dj was also produced. The kit is Eduard 1/48 special edition box set which comes with some extra goodies. Also multiple paint schemes to choose from. Plastic parts are from Hasegawa - which should be a good kit apart from some excessive riveting. Not sure whether I will let that bother me. Hasegawa kit is fair bit older than the rather new Kinetic Starfighter but we will see how it holds up against it. I have built the Kinetic kit before but not Hasegawa. Some of the extra stuff that comes with the kit. Paint masks, resin ejection seat, PE cherry blossom and PE parts for the cockpit. Ejection seat is rather nice - even more so after some paint and PE harnesses. Some aftermarket stuff I got. Not sure whether the 'remove before flight' tags are correct for the Japanese machine but if not I will just leave them out. I also have some extra PE parts and resin pitot tube to spice things up. The kit not only comes with brilliant full color instruction booklet but with a reference book also. While I could do any of the paintjobs that come with the kit, these two catch my eye the most. High quality photos in the reference book. Pretty handy! This truly is pretty inspiring kit and I can't wait to do one of those Air Combat Meet -paintjobs on a Starfighter

I have a decal sheet for Starfighters that includes a “USAF Artic Camo” option of white with international orange trim and tail number 52955, so presumably serial 55-2955. Looks an unusual scheme but I can’t find any pictures of it. Is it real? Is it a drone scheme? Chris

SHi all, I'm in the mood for scanning and so have now pulled out a few from my day around Villafranca in April 1986. I had secured a tour of the base and was escorted by Tne. Domenic Taglieri and Tne. Flavio Mucia. They were extremely generous with their time and imposed no restrictions on photography. However, I did have to leave all film with them for processing and I finally got the slides via the UK Embassy in Rome a few weeks later. The day wasn't the best, with the majority of the tour being during the morning which was grey with the odd spot of rain. The afternoon, after I left, was sunny!!! Hey ho. I had wanted to visit Villafranca for a long time, having had a couple of aborted approaches to there while riding the jump seat on our charter flights. Twice we diverted due to fog :(. At that time I worked for Dan-Air and we had regular winter/spring flights to Verona and so eventually I found a day when I could take a morning flight out and an evening flight back. That gave me a day there to watch the activity from the fence. That was December 1984 and it gave me the inspiration for my 1986 trip. Anyway, here are a few shots: The base flight, the 603 Squadriglia Collegamenti, flew this little SIAI: The fire dump contained this Thunderflash and a couple of T-33As: The 603 Squadriglia Collegamenti fleet of MB.326s: The 132 Gruppo ramp: This 132 Gruppo machine had recently acquired the "new" style codes and had just been up on a local flight: Storage/Maintenance: The 28 Gruppo ramp: Sorry about the quality but my Olympus OM-1 loaded with Kodachrome 25 struggled in the gloom Martin

Hi gang, After announcing what my second build would be for the GB I thought it was time to actually make a proper post for it even if I won't start it for about a week until my F-7 is closer to the finish line. I have chosen what I consider (and many others) to be one of the true icons of the Cold War, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. When it comes to the 1980's in the geographic scope of this GB there are only two options open, namely either Japan or Taiwan. having built a JASDF F-104J a couple of years ago I decided that this build would be in the colours of the ROCAF (Republic Of China Air Force) and you can't really have a collection of F-104's without a ROCAF one in it as they operated every version of the F-104 with the exception of the C and F and scored the first ever kills for the type when 4 f-104's engaged a formation of PLAAF J-6's and Major Hu Shih-lin and Captain Shih Bei-puo each shot down one of the J-6's over the disputed island of Qemoy. The kit I will be using is the Eduard NATO boxing of the venerable Hasegawa F-104G which comes with a couple of resin extras (basically just one each of the Martin Baker or Lockheed ejector seats) and a very nice decal sheet which will be of no use whatsoever for this build, here is a shot of the box top; And the contents to prove that the plastic is as yet untouched; A shot of the resin extras along with a couple of other resin bits I have that should find their way into the build and the etched fret that Eduard add to the box; The lovely, but useless for this build, decal sheet; And a look at the sheet I have ordered from Bestfong in Taiwan which should hopefully arrive in time; I have used one of their sheets before when I built a ROCAF P-47N a few years ago and that sheet was of excellent quality so I have no doubt that these will be of the same quality, we shall see. I've had great service from them so far as the sheets I ordered were dispatched within 24 hours of placing the order and I was given a tracking number, which works! Thanks for looking in and as usual any comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.