Search the Community

This kit needed quite long to complete. After so many years of modeling, although with long breaks, this was the first time I tried myself in plastic surgery. And I had to pause the construction for months, since - also for the first time - the decals of this kit, stored in the basement for twenty+ years, broke apart on application and were thus unusable. Thankfully, my favourite online hobbyshop (Hannants) came to rescue, since I found that Caracal had released a shett with early US Starfighters, including nearly the same scheme that was present in the kit. So, finally, I completed this nice little kit, now showing open panels with the battery and flight computer compartments behind the cockpit, a nice resin C2 seat (CMK) and the decals. I love decals, and especially stencils. The more better - I thought. So I was delighted to find a decal sheet dedicated only to F-104 stencisl, around 300 individual microscopic decals. Needless to say, I found my master and gave up after having applied some 150 of them. And I was annoyed to find that even after two days of drying, these tiny decals would not stick firmly to the model, so that a few of them were displaced just by the blow of the airbrush when sealing them. Marcus

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.

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.

After the F-104G, Italeri is to release a 1/32nd Lockheed F-104A/C Starfighter - ref.2504 Source Primeportal: http://www.primeportal.net/models/thomas_voigt8/italeri/ V.P.

Hi folks. Revell's 1/24 N-1 Starfighter will be heading off to my youngest boy over in the West Country shortly. At the thick end of 18" long it'll be a fair old 'desk guardian'. A fun build all round! TTFN Steve

The second of my little display of mostly colourful Starfighters is this Italian F-104S in the markings of the 1996 Tiger Meet. Up to then, most "Tigers" had rather simple paint schemes, mostly consisting of tigerstripes partially or on the whole planes. This jet, however, was spectacular with a tiger schown ripping through the jet's structure. Cutting Edge made a nice decal sheet for this which I used. The biggest challenge for me was the reproduction of the feathered edge between the blue and silver areas, the latter not being natural metal, but painted in bright silver. The Hasegawa kit is nice, but the canopy is far too shallow, which can be easily seen already when comparing the actual model with the kit box illustration. So the seat does not fit when the canopy is closed and has to be massively grinded down. Other than that, there were no problems building the model. Marcus

A Luftwaffe F-104F Starfighter with a student pilot practicing some instrument flying under the hood in the rear seat. Drawn in Procreate on a iPad with an Apple Pencil.

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

Hi! Presentig my last finnished work. Revell model, this is an old kit from 1995, and not everything I say about this kit is relevant for modern kits. I didn't like this model. Looks like some kind of copy of Hasegawa. The German model exactly copies the main mistakes of the Japanese one. In some places there are improvements compared to Hasegawa. But in some places there is also deterioration. It has serious problems with the length. So, if you want a 1/72 scale F-104, you should choose between Revell and Hasegawa. What a pity that there is still no high-quality and modern F-104 model on the market. The biggest problem with this model is the decals. All decals are printed at an enlarged scale, 1/67...1/50... This happened quite often in older Revell models. I modified the pilot's seat. Slightly improved the detailing of the cockpit. Corrected the shape of some trim panels. I engraved panels and hatches where they were missing. Added imitation riveting, local. I was so disappointed with this kit that I decided not to spend the money and did not buy the resin exhaust and wheels. The decal and painting instructions are completely inaccurate. Essentially, you cannot use any of the three options. If you recombine the numbers, you will be able to build a something from JG71 or JaboG 36. But. Due to the crosses and side numbers being too large, I used additional decals from Model Maker (made in Poland). Revell numbers and crosses cannot be placed correctly on the revell model. Model Maker great decals! But you need experience, the decals are thin, the transparent backing tends to little curl up. The white color is dense. At the same time, the decals are thin and bend around all the irregularities without any problems. I was able to compile bort number 25+62. I could make other variants from Jabog 36: 24+05, 26+10, 26+20.... But most of the F-104s from Jabog 36 were built by SABCA and had a different engine nozzle. I didn't want to buy a resin exhaust and put it into an already assembled and painted model. Luckily I found information about 25+62. This is one of fifteen aircraft produced by Lockheed, and with SABCA only doing the assembly. This circumstance allowed me not to change the exhaust. The photo of the real aircraft was taken during the Open Day on September 29, 1973 at Hopsten Air Base. 25+62 made its first flight on September 8, 1962. Last flight on July 10, 1984. The plane crashed due to engine failure, but the pilot was uninjured and successfully ejected. I hope you like my work:

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

Hasegawa F-104S ASA-M. Wolfpak decals AMI 9th Stormo 2004 Hasegawa AIM-9, weapon set V Master pitot Humbrol and some Xtracolor enamels brush panted Humbrol wash W&N matt varnish Finished in KUTA 2023 as link. Shown with: This month's other completion, Phantom FG.1, 1986 Another, Norwegian, F-104, mid-70s Closest in date, near contemporary, JASDF F-4EJ, 2007 Thanks for looking. Chris

Dirty Danes (PV-004-48) Royal Danish Air Force Dark Green Cold Warriors 1:48 Paulus Victor Paulus Victor are a relatively new company, and have a unique aspect to their products that include a slew of background information and technical assistance to the modeller that often hasn’t been available in the same envelope with decals before. They provide stories, not just decals in isolation. Their packaging is also unique, with a high-quality feel to everything, and attention to detail evident in every aspect of the set. They arrive in a thick Ziploc bag, with a folder that contains folded instructions that are larger than A3 when opened, showing the seven subjects printed across the two A4-sized sheets, and a fold-out half-sheet that contains additional information and small detail photos for your reference. The subjects include a single-seat F-100D and two-seat TF-100F Super Sabre, a single-seat F104G and two-seat TF-104G Starfighter, A Hawker Hunter F.Mk.51, a reconnaissance RF-35, and F-35 Saab Draken to round out the collection of aircraft that Denmark operated through their ‘green period’. Sliding the card folder out of the bag reveals the contents and sticker, the folder itself covered in additional information that should be useful in helping you paint and decal your chosen subject. The painting guide helps you through the painting of these aircraft, some of which were “zapped” by ground-crews of other NATO nations when they visited them for exercises. Although the aircraft were bought from their manufacturers and nations as particular variants, they were adapted by Denmark either initially or as they went through service, so there are differences between their aircraft and those that pop out of the box from the various model manufacturers. You can build the following from the included decals: Hawker Hunter F.Mk.51 41H-60268 E-409, 724 Esk, 1972 Skrydstrup Air Base [Decal Section A] North American F-100D Super Sabre, 55-2781, G-178, 730 Esk, 1973, Skrydstrup Air Base [Decal Section B] North American TF-100F Super Sabre, 56-3996, GT-996, 730 Esk, 1982, Skrydstrup Air Base [Decal Section B] Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, 64-17756, R-756, 723 Esk, 1973. Aalborg Air Base [Decal Section C] Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter, 63-12684, RT-684, 726 Esk, 1981. Aalborg Air Base [Decal Section C] Saab RF-35 Draken, A-112, AR-112, 729 Esk, 1975. Karup Air Base [Decal Section D] Saab F-35 Draken, A-1006, A-006, 725 Esk, 1976. Karup Air Base [Decal Section D] Each subject has notes and small photographs of unique aspects etc., to help you with your preparation, painting and application of the decals. Each type is discussed in detail in the text portions of the instructions with additional drawings, photos of parts of the airframes that were different from the originals, and even the intake of the F-100 intake, which the various model manufacturers seem to have trouble depicting accurately, whatever the scale. The key take-away is that you are given the information that you need, and you can use it to make your model more accurate. The additional bonus sticker of a worn Danish flag can be utilised in a diorama, stuck to your spray booth or anywhere else for that matter. The decals themselves are printed on two almost square sheets of blue decal paper at a high resolution that renders all the stencils legible, providing you have good enough eyesight and a grasp of English, as even the Draken’s stencils are written in the lingua franca of aviation, which is kind of an ironic phrase under the circumstances. They have good registration, sharpness and colour density, and some fine yellow stripes that can be used to wrap the pitot probes of the Drakens. Individual decals are included for variations on the airframe’s livery for maximum detail and with minimal carrier film all round. There are links to some shortened YouTube videos for the all but the Hunter to help you chose the best colours and shades for your model if you are planning on going for the ultimate in accuracy. Just in case you’re new to waterslide decals or would like to refresh your memory, there are a set of general decal handling and application instructions printed on the rear of the folder, guiding you through the preparation of the surface, the decals and the application of setting solutions, plus how to seal them for posterity. There is also a section on the practice of “zapping”, showing some pictorial examples and advising that there are some bonus decals to allow the depiction of aircraft with other codes, and another section that discusses the Olive Green SM/67 that was used throughout the period, and how it can appear to be entirely different shades depending on the light, the age of the finish, and the surroundings. The accompanying photos show just how different they can appear. Conclusion Decal sheets usually come with brief instructions if any, so Paulus Victor is a breath of fresh air, giving you plenty to read, plenty to help you create a more accurate model, and plenty of advice on how to make your painting and decaling process more satisfying and realistic. The sheet is available in 1:72 in addition to the 1:48 set we have reviewed here. Click the link below for more information, and details of how to order. Review sample courtesy of

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

Hello fellow modelers! After two and a half months of work, it finally came to an end. It's a Mig Ammo's re-box version of Kinetic F-104 series. The kit is nice with a lot of details and no noticeable fit problems found. I detailed up a bit using Black Dog's gun bay and electronic compartment. Instrument panel, FOD covers, a few wiring, etc. are scratch - detailed. Remove before flight tags are from Eduard. The kit provides a lot of decal and paint options and I chose to go for Hellenic Air Force scheme. Decals are excellent as they are printed by Cartograf. I also made a small base and used Plusmodel's boarding ladder. Far from perfection and not fully satisfied but I think it still looks nice and presentable. Merry Christmas to you all! #tzwstarfighter

Hi all. My latest aircraft build is Kinetic's 1/48 Starfighter, more specific: the F-104s ASA-M from the Italian airforce. A few aftermarket parts were used like an Eduard seat and instrument panel and a Reskit exhaust. The kit itself is excellent, the decals not so. The few general decals on the sheet are too small and no stencils are present. So, I ordered a declaset from Armycast and stencils from Tauro. I used several photos from the internet to determine the color and eventually decided on MrHobby 325 as the final colour over a black base and several darker colours underneath. Weathering was done with Abteilung 502 oilpaint. Thank you for watching. René

CF-104 "833" RCAF 439 squadron "Tiger" at RAF Woodbridge Tiger Meet in 1969. Built the current Revell 1/72 kit using the Esci decals. Complete nightmare to use. Luckily my Esci kit had two sets of decals. First attempt at taking one of the decals out of the water - it disintegrated into thousands of specks. So I liberally coated both sets of decals with Microscale Liquid Decal film. It was really tricky seperating the decals & film from the decal paper, but I eventually got there. The Canadian roundels were from the Hasegawa JASDF/RCAF decal sheet as were some stencils. All the black tiger stripes were masked using Tamiya flexible masking strip, blutac & masking tape. The Vicon camera pod was the clear resin one from Airgraphics. Ejection seat was from Aires & the pitot was fashioned from brass tube & rod. This was originally intended for the Canadian Group Build but it kept being put back, mostly for another couple of builds. Still waiting for a 3D printed ladders for it. I am intrigued as to what the "Red piddling man" is meant to represent which had been zapped a couple of times on the fuselage? If anyone could enlighten me, I would love to know! Thanks for looking! Martin

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.

Modellers Data File #36 - The F-104 Starfighter (9781838045807) MA Publications The F-104 Starfighter (or missile with a man in it) was Lockheed's & Kelly Johnson's attempt to reverse the trend for large more complex fighters then being developed. It was basically an engine with very little airframe surrounding it. The aircraft had a short life in the US with them going towards heavier and more complex aircraft. The Starfighter did have much more success with NATO nations, though it would later transpire that this success was gained someway by Lockheed bribing officials in some of those countries. The G model was the most numerous model made with over 1100 being built, many under licence. This book is the 36th in the long line of books in the Modeller’s Datafile series, and arrives as a perfect-bound A4+ book in portrait format with 184 pages within the card cover. If you’re familiar with the series, you’ll know the content is split between the real aircraft and modelling them, but here’s a more thorough breakdown: Introduction Chapter I Seeing Starts - The Birth of the Starfighter Chapter II The F-104A to F-104D - Starfighters in US Service Chapter III The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter - Canadian Built F-104s Chapter IV Export Starfighters - The F/TF/RF-104F to F-104S Chapter V International Users - Starfighters worldwide Colour Side Views Eight pages of colour side profiles of various types and operators Modelling the Starfighter Vietnam Warrior - 1:48 Hasegawa F-104C (Andy Renshaw) Sleek Greek - 1:48 Hasegawa TF-104S (George Roidis) Supersonic Starfigher - 1:72 Revell F-104G (Jezz Coleman) Bunesfighter - 1:48 Eduard F-104G (Rene Van Der Hart) Marineflieger Startfighter - 1:48 Eduard F-104G (Oliver Soulley) Super Star - 1:48 Kinetic F-104G (James Ashton) Marineflieger Missile - 1:48 Kinetic F-104G (Jezz Coleman) Samurai Starfighter - 1:48 Kinetic F-104J (Dawid Branski) Dutch Master - 1:48 Kinetic F-104G (Barry Koerver) Tiny TF-104G - 1:144 Revell Tf-104G (Tomasz Lubczynski) Danish Star - 1:48 Kinetic F-104G (Marcin Torbinski) Appendix I - Technical Diagrams 10 pages with pictures Appendix II - Walkarounds Belgian F-104G (luc Colin) Japanese F-104J (Z Tanuki) (The text calls ts an F-105J !) Luftwaffe TF-104G Appendix III - Understanding the Subject 4 pages of Aircraft Profiles Appendix IV - Kitography Available accessories, kits & decals at time of writing Appendix V - Starfighter Variants 4 pages concerning the different variants of the Starfighter Startfighter Gallery 22 pages of colour photos of the Starfighter Plans 2 Pages of 1/72 plans. There is a lot of text on the type during the first half of the book that cover the airframe beginning through prototype, the initial in-service details, followed by the subsequent upgrades to capabilities. After the US Aircraft there is more consideration to the other nations which then went on to use the type The modelling side of the book begins now, and extends to 11 builds of mostly 1:48 Kinetic & Hasegawa kits, with a 1:72 Revell kit; and a 1:144 Revell Kit for a little variation, that are carried out by various modellers, the names of whom you can see in brackets in the list above. My only criticism of the book would be that it would be better to maybe have less more detailed builds of the main 1:48 kits as a couple are quite spares in modelling details. The next section consists of a number of walk around photos printed on a cream background that shows the airframes in close-up detail, all of which is grist for the mill for us modellers, and includes some nice photos of the landing gear, airframe and sensors all in suitable sizes. The final sections are the Kitography, which I’ve always felt is a tiny bit redundant as things change so quickly in our hobby, as we now have helpful sites like Scalemates that are updated constantly. It’s only three pages though, so nothing to fret about if that’s not your thing. lastly the Gallery section could be considered padding given the large number of photos available on-line now. Conclusion It’s a good reference for the Starfighter as a whole, and is a handy one-stop source of information for anyone wanting to improve their knowledge of the type. There is a lot of information within and a lot of excellent photos in full colour, which one of the bonuses of a book about a modern fast jet over a WWII type. Well worth a read, and it will be good source of reference down the line. As a modelling book I feel that more time devoted to modelling might help the perceived customer base more than the more numerous but less detailed builds included. Still overall recomended. Review sample courtesy of

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.

A belated finish from the Century Series GB; my heavily weathered Norwegian CF-104. Hasegawa 1/72 CF-104 RoNAF boxing Master pitot Humbrol enamels W&N varnishes (satin, except anti-glare and tyres in matt) Flory washes Third completion for 2022. Chris

Kinetic kit + DACO recce pod and chaff & flare dispensers, Quickboost seat & pitot tube, Armycast stencils, homemade decals. Enjoy🙃 BR from Czech rep. Andrew

Hi All, This is Italeri's 104 with Reskit exhaust, Master pitot, Eduard wheels and seat. A few additions here and there but otherwise a straightforward build. The kit has its pros and cons and I think others have already given enough feedback about it. This plane was based in Leeuwarden (Netherlands) during the late 70' - early 80'. "D-8115" markings are paint otherwise I used the (top-notch) decals from the box. Paint is AK Real. Cheers Tristan

The NMM (the Dutch National Military Museum) had organised a small event for photographers as a kickoff for their summeroffensive event this weekend on saturday and sunday! It was an enjoyable little event with some familiar planes,but still worth it! These aircraft are on static display standards only! cheers, Jan