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PM Model from Turkey has just released a 1/72nd Lockheed F-104G Starfighter kit - ref. PM504 It is reported to be a reboxing of the Revell kit with THK decals. Sources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1439843012919029/permalink/2022504277986230/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/172688216588006/permalink/290633741460119/ V.P.

So timing is everything. Just debating what to start next and I saw this group build pop up. I have a Hasegawa F-104G/S in the stash. Plus I have a few days off and and so can sort out using Flickr. And the tin of Xtracolour X255 RAL7001 that has been on back order has finally arrived, so I plan to build this one - http://www.i-f-s.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/D-8107_306sq_LWD_01feb82_HPrinsX.jpg Using these decals from Modeldecal set 43: Also have an Airframe Orpheus pod in the stash: Have a couple of references as well: This will be my first group build and so will be keeping it simple. Looking forward to starting this at the weekend.

Hi all, Here are some (quite a few actually!) pictures of my latest build, it's Hasegawa's well know 1/48 F-104 Starfighter finished in the markings of 202 Hikotai when playing the role of an aggressor for one of their annual Air Combat Meets. These ACM's have produced some very nice and unusual colour schemes and it was difficult to decide which one to build, suffice to say that there will be a few more in the future. Anyway here are the pictures. Here is a link to the WIP and whilst you are there have a look at the other great builds going on in the GB. Thanks for looking in and all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

Ex Luftwaffe F-104G. Pictures by Sven Harjaek taken at La Bourget museum Paris.

1. Mildenhall, UK - date unknown 2. Villafranca, Italy - April 1986 3. Mildenhall, UK - date unknown Martin

Model Art from Japan has just released a 1/48th Lockheed NF-104A Starfighter conversion set. Sources: https://www.facebook.com/modelartinc/posts/1496633993744813 https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0711ZC7FG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_880jzb61M8EQQ V.P.

Hi all, Seeking a view. Given that the Hasegawa kit is expensive and rare, how is the Heller? I know it has raised lines of dubious placement but does it build to a reasonable model with a bit of care? I really need a TF and this is the only way I can see oher than shelling out for a pricing Hasegawa plus shipping and customers charges! As always, I'd appreciate your views. Thanks. Martin

Canadair licence built CF-104. Pics thanks to Bob (moaning dolphin). Aircraft is at Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum, Halifax International Airport, Halifax, Nova Scoti.

Ex USAF & Royal Jordanian Air Force F-104A 56-779. At the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Texas. Pics thanks to Nigel Heath. It is noticeable that the tail number is 56-780, It appears that 56-779 received the tail section of 56-780 sometime while in USAF service. The visible sign of identifying an aircraft is by the serial number on the tail so after this happened, aircraft #779 effectively became #780. (see http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/index.php/component/content/article/77)

Time to throw my hat into the ring and actually make a decision as to what to build! I am going to build a Hasegawa F-104G as a CF-104 of the 1st Canadian Air Group which was based at Baden Sollingen in Germany. The aircraft I will be building is 104806 as it was painted during the NATO Tactical Air Meet at Ramstein from 20th June until 3rd July 1980, during this exercise the aircraft had a large letter C painted on the tail, and even more interesting colour wise the aircraft had a replacement starboard wing which was painted in a different camo scheme from the rest of the airframe (overall green as opposed to the dark green/grey over medium grey of the rest of the airframe). I will be using decals from Leading Edge 48-20 which has the markings I need for this aircraft and has resin parts for the RWR's carried by the Canadian CF-104's during this time. I shall post some pics of the kit and any goodies I decide to use soon. I won't be starting this kit for at least a couple of weeks until I can clear other builds off my bench so I thank you in advance for your patience and interest. Craig.

Here's a very long shot. It was either 84 or 85 I was walking home from school and this F-104 flew over at a great rate of knots very low going over Salisbury Plain. I vividly remember that noise of the J79, it had 4 fuel tanks fitted but could not make out any markings as it was a brief glance and it had gone. Now this was a rare sighting so I'm assuming it was part of a nato exercise in the uk, would anybody have an idea of the 104 that I may have seen. Steve

Hi, I found these two recently posted videos of some help in researching F-104As in Taiwanese service, so maybe it's worth posting these here. There's not much out there on Taiwanese equipment so these videos were a revelation to me. It's from 1981 and images include pre flight checks on an F-104G and F-104As taxiing away. In Mandarin by the way. Part 1 Part 2 (F-104A at 7.42) Jay

Rocket Launchers and Dual Ejectors Videoaviation 1:32 Along with the bomb sets reviewed HERE, we have received three more sets from Videoaviation, to sets contain rocket launchers, the LAU-3 and the LAU-31, whilst the third contains dual ejector racks for the F-104. As with the other sets, these are moulded in creamy beige resin, with no sign of imperfections or pin holes/bubbles and protected in the sturdy plastic box and bubble wrap. Dual Ejector Racks (153132) This set contains two dual ejector racks, as used by the F-104 Starfighter. The two racks are very easy to use, just fit the two separate crutch plates, or sway braces as they are called in the instructions, to the top side of each rack, fit you chosen store to each of the ejector racks, then attach to your Starfighter. Nothing could be simpler. LAU-3 Rocket Launcher (153432) This set contains two launcher pods with separate front and rear ends which depict the launcher as loaded. You will need a sharp scalpel blade to remove the moulding block from each launcher, and the end pieces from their moulding sheet, followed by a quick bit of sanding to clean the parts up. The ends are then glued into position and fitted to whichever model you choose. The small decal sheet only carries three different stencils per launcher, and a pair of remove before flight flags. The instruction sheet does give Gunze paint codes and the dimensions of the alluminium strip at each end. LAU-32 Rocket Launcher (153532) This launcher is slightly longer than the LAU-3 and comes with the nose cap moulded in place, so it’s just a matter of removeing the moulding block from the launcher body and the tail piece, giving both a quick bit of fettling, before gluing the end to the body. These launchers were simply painted, with the body white and the ends in black, decals are provided for the stencils as with the LAU-3 set, as well as a pair of remove before flight flags. Conclusion Videoaviation have given us three more very useful sets for the large scale modeller. Suitable for any 1:32 F-104, they are probably better suited for the newish Italeri kit, the dual ejector racks will certainly give the finished model a different look. The rocket launchers can be fitted to a multitude of US aircraft, just check you references to check where they were mounted on which aircraft, although you may need to buy more than one set to fit out a pair of TER’s. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here are some shots from my 2013 visit to the LA Science Museum. A few more here if you're interested: http://www.hanger51.org/aircraft-museums/us-museums-collections/la-science-museum-2013/ A-12 Blackbird by tony_inkster, on Flickr Douglas DC-8 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Lockheeds finest by tony_inkster, on Flickr Northrop F-20 Tigershark by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-104 Starfighter by tony_inkster, on Flickr Shuttle Endeavour by tony_inkster, on Flickr Shuttle Endeavour by tony_inkster, on Flickr

Hello guys and gals, Still waiting on the post for a couple of items but have started opening up and refining the rivets and panel lines. The scheme will be in one of the last ever Italian Starfighter units in low vis grey. I love the idea of this old bird sporting a modern washed out camo scheme. Planned mods will be: 1. Eduard Late Exhaust. 2. Eduard Late Wheels. 3. CMK F-104S Cockpit Not many pics yet, but here is one to hold over till more stuff arrives! image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr} Thanks Ryan

Here are some shots I was lucky enough to get back in October 2013 when I visited California. Century Circle by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-106 & F-105 by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-100 Super Sabre by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-101B Voodoo by tony_inkster, on Flickr TF-102 Delta Dagger by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-105 & F-106B by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-101B Voodoo by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-104 Starfighter by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-106B by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-105 Thunderchief by tony_inkster, on Flickr YC-15 by tony_inkster, on Flickr TF-106 Delta Dagger by tony_inkster, on Flickr NB-52 by tony_inkster, on Flickr NB-52B by tony_inkster, on Flickr NB-52B by tony_inkster, on Flickr NB-52B by tony_inkster, on Flickr NB-52B by tony_inkster, on Flickr

Hi all, I have a question for the F-104 experts out there. What are the differences between the cockpits of the TF-104 and the F-104DJ? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking of using Aires' TF-104 1/48 cockpit in my Hasegawa F-104DJ. Any insight would be very much appreciated. Many thanks in advance!

Nearly 5 (?) years after its first announcement the DACO 1/48th injected F-104 super update/detailing set (http://ultra.glo.be/daco/KDCC4802.html) dedicated to the Hasegawa's Starfighter kit seems in progress. The first test shots are now in the hands of Mister DACO, Danny Coremans. No release date yet but it will be probably available at Telford's SMW 2013. Sources: http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=259842 http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=259844 V.P.

This caught my eye in the poor pathetic section of one of my local hobby shops. It is from a purchase of a kit collection and I bought it solely because of the decal option. I normally focus on WWII aircraft and prefer propellers on my kits. However, of late, I have gotten on a Tiger Meet theme. Now, strictly speaking this is not from a Tiger Meet. But, it is of a similar vein. I have no real information as to the actual aircraft other than a few pictures I found on the web. I also do not know how accurate this kit is, but it looks like/resembles a Starfighter to me. On opening the box, the first thing I noticed was the decals. They are old. How old? The instructions and wonderful trademark on the port wing indicate the kit was made in 1980. So, I am hoping this will not be a waste and the decals fall apart when I begin to apply them. I am going to be optimistic and put the kit together and paint it; then hope for the best. It has an interesting paint scheme as the port side is white and orange with the cat chasing mice scheme running its length. Starboard is a regular camo scheme and the undersides in aluminum or silver. I don’t know the date this kit was originally manufactured, but it must have been prior to 1980 as there is a lot of flash on the parts. Now it is easy to remove, but there is a lot. The parts count is relatively low, but I did not buy the kit for a massive amount of detail, I bought it for the paint/decal scheme. So, there will be no detailing or “correcting for errors” as I have no idea what to correct for. I’m just hoping the fit of parts is good. First off, the cockpit. Not a lot of detail and not a lot of parts. I am hoping the color callouts in the kit are correct, so my apologies to Starfighter experts if I finish the cockpit incorrectly. I started with a very basic instrument panel, base painted in Nato Black and then weathered and highlighted with a dry brush of silver and some red knobs. Then the front cowling received the same treatment with some clear blue applied to a clear window that sits in front of the gun reflector sight. (Which I glued in place, but has now vanished into the great beyond. I’m thinking the chances of finding a very small clear part are slim to none. I will have to improvise later.) I then painted the seat, the control stick and the cockpit tub. I weathered them and had fun with the side dials. The cockpit tube and cowling were glued to one half of the fuselage and then the two halves were glued together with the following results. After the fuselage was together, I found this little lapse in construction that will have to be rectified with some plastic sheet before the canopy is put on. This is going to be a long kit Some more parts were put in place on the fuselage, these on the bottom . . . The cannon cover. The kit gives the option of having the cannon and its bay exposed, but for this kit, given its scheme, I think the cover should be closed. I am just glad it fits so well. When I glued the cannon cover I noticed this. . . Just seems that a kit of this size would have the gun port “opening” opened. So, with a drill and some filing, I opened up the gun port to this . . . Looks a little better. I then added the intakes port and starboard Now on my last two nose wheel aircraft, I forgot to add weight to make them sit correctly. I was not about to make that same mistake again. Luckily, the kit provides a very large and long nose cone which I filled with fishing weights and superglue. (More on that at the end of the post; clumsy is my name.) So as the nose cone dries, I move to the other end of the fuselage to add the tail section. The kit comes with two different styles of tails, but the instructions only call out one for use in this model. I am not sure what the other tail is for. All I am hoping is that the tail insert will fit the body and go together seamlessly. Now it would have been nice if the designers of the kit thought of how this kit would be constructed and painted. If they would have considered it, they would not have designed the exhaust nozzle to be inserted into the tail section prior to its attachment to the fuselage body. They would have been kind and designed the nozzle to be inserted after the tail section was attached so it could be left off to ease painting the fuselage. Yeah, no such luck. So I put together the exhaust nozzle . . . Gave it a base coat of gunmetal (Humbrol 53) . . . Then doused it with some Tamiya Smoke . . . Put on a coat of Tamiya Clear Blue and then removed most of it with paint thinner for this result. Next I dry fit the exhaust nozzle section with the tail section so I can check its fit to the rest of the fuselage. I had some suspicions that this assembly was not going to mesh well with the rest of the fuselage. Here are the pictures that show how “seamlessly” it will fit. The diameter where the exhaust nozzle fits is too small and there is a nice little step that will have to be contended with. Then there is a rather large gap where the tailplane is going to fit. Somehow, I don’t think the tailplane is going to be that thick so some sort of spacer will be needed. And finally, when the exhaust section of the tail is fit flush, there is a large gap where the rest of the tail section is to meet with the fuselage tail section. Not real sure if I can manhandle that, or more spacer material will be needed. To fix the diameter issue, I messed around with some sprue to create a spacer which increased the diameter of the tail section exhaust opening to match the diameter of the fuselage exhaust opening area. I think the next step will be to attach the bottom part of the tail section to the fuselage, let that dry to a nice hard bond, and then manhandle the top part of the tail section to fit flush to the rest of the fuselage. At that point, I can then dry fit the tailplane to see how I can fix that huge gap. At least that is my plane for now. For right now, I am waiting for the glue to dry on the spacer, so it can be cut down to allow the exhaust nozzle to fit. Now originally, when I was devising my plan of attack to do the paint scheme and decals, I thought it might be best to construct the fuselage section first, paint it and then decal it. After that, I would build, decal, paint and attach the wings. As I began to look at the paint scheme of this kit and how involved it was, I decided that I should just bite the bullet and assemble the entire kit; then paint and decal. Granted it might be easier to put fuselage decals on without the wings, but it would be a nightmare to try to match up the paint schemes of the wings and fuselage if painted separately. So it’s on to the port wing which consists of the stubby little wing and the end gas tank. And this is then glued to the fuselage. The fit being quite good and just minor seam cleanup on the gas tank. I also glued the nose cone to the fuselage This aircraft is as long as my keyboard. And this is where I am going to stop. But, not before this picture Now, I know what your first impressions are and this is not what you think it is. This is actually the result of a learning process of many years regarding my limitations. I am a clumsy oaf. I now admit it. I tried to ignore it and pretended I wasn’t, but I am. Most people are careful with their tins of paint, glue, filler, etc. I am not. If it can be spilled, I will find a way to do it. What you see above is the cleanup from my dumping most of the superglue I used to fill up the nose cone to hold the weights in place. Now I should know better, superglue only bonds instantly to your fingers and when you do not have the part placed properly. When you want it to bond instantly, it can take hours to set. Like a dunce, I filled the nose cone with weights, and then poured in a fairly substantial quantity of superglue to hold everything in place. Now why I then placed the nose cone down on my work desk is beyond me. Ten minutes later I notice a very large patch of superglue all over the top of my desk, slowly attempting to permanently attach everything in its path including some finished kit parts. So, what you see above is my realizing my limitations and I now only build on a desk with a glass top!! Paint spills, glue drips, filler blobs, all can be scraped off with a razor blade. If you are a klutz like me, I heartily recommend a glass desktop. All comments always encouraged and welcomed.

Finally finished my F-104G aircraft 26 + 90 from MFG 2, German Marine Hasegawa kit with Ultracast detail set in resin. Resin bang-seat. Cannot remember if the burner can were resin as well. I've used Daco's excellent decal set for this. Future on the canopy and modelmaster gloss and flat lacquer mixed. Thought a German Marineflieger would be rather weathered, considering its operational environments. Clean, no weapons save the internal gun. I scatched the chaff / flare launchers aft and the mounting plates they sit on. I also scratched a position light on the spine and under the belly, in front of the vertical fin. Easy kit - it went together with no problems. Kinks here and there entirely my own creations. I hope you like it!

For some weird reason there a certain aircraft I prefer the look of the two seat variants over the single seat. The A-7, A-10, A-4, F-18 just look fantastic, as does the F-104! I've build a few Starfighters in the past but this is the first time I've hade the chance to do the trainer. Combine that with the gorgeous Marineflieger colour scheme and I can't wait to get this one built. The Starfighter equipped Marineflieger 2 1963 - 1987, Eight TF-104Gs were operated by them during this period. Originally released a decade ago this kit looks fantastic! Good cockpit detail, finely engraved, beautifully detailed parts and a great decals sheet... What more could I ask for

Built for the Training Types group build. Build thread.

The two kits I finished this year, I hope you like Cheers Paolo

And for number 2.......... Ok this GB is for what could be described as the start of the golden age of US aircraft design from the 50’s to the early 60’s, the “Century Series” aircraft. A bit of something for everybody here with the main types everyone knows and a couple of experimentals for those who like to be different! F-100 Super Sabre F-101 Voodoo F-102 Delta Dagger XF-103 Thunder Warrior F-104 Star Fighter F-105 Thunderchief F-106 Delta Dart YF-107 Ultra Sabre XF-108 Rapier XF-109 Sorry the F-110 Spectre was renamed/numbered F-4 Phantom and the F-111 Aardvark is a bit too late. As for the F-117 don’t ask! I think probably everyone has one of these in there stash, if not they’re easy to get hold of and there’s tons of aftermarket stuff to keep all sorts of builders happy! 1, trickyrich - host 2, Starfighter 3, jb65rams 4, hythe 5, Swamp Donkey 6, Mish 7, Julien 8, hgbn - co-host 9, Paul J 10, AndyC 11, Arniec

Hi all a some pics of my just finished F-104S from an Hasegawa 1/72 Kit plus Tauro and Skymodels decals. Cheers Paolo