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Vikings, F-104G x 2


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Thank you guys :) I put some gloss on today ready for decals but unfortunately my good camera had pretty much given up so will need to get that fixed asap, in the meantime I have an old substitute that should sort out the rest for the WIP thread when I find it :hmmm:

cheers, David

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Thank you for the kind words cookie!

The decals are finished :frantic: , as always they send me crazy but thankfully these particular aircraft made it a lot easier than it could have been. MFG2 F-104Gs that were upgraded with the chaff/flare system in the early eighties all seemed to get new paint jobs and vastly reduced stencil data compared to other F-104Gs and RF-104Gs. So these Starfighters, whilst maybe loosing a little surface interest without all the stencils, helped me preserve my sanity by not having to apply about 90000 stencils like ordinary jets.

If you compare this one : http://www.airliners.net/photo/Germany-Navy/Lockheed-%28Fiat%29-RF-104G-Starfighter/2059048/L

To this one (also one of the jets I am building): http://www.airpics.net/photo/26-66-Lockheed-F-104G-Starfighter-German-Navy/7760/L

the difference in stencil data is quite stark, especially around the front fuselages. However there were still quite a lot applied across the airframe so I got as many different net photos as I could to cross reference with the DACO guide to see what was needed and what not, thankfully more of the later.

The Viking pair I choose to do,

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The decals come from DACO, Italeri and Hahen to fill in any holes that the DACO sheet didn't have for two of the same aircraft, luckily this is only one or two minor bits so they look 99% the same. The Italeri decals and Hahen were very nice but the former quite inaccurate for these particular jets, the crosses were good though. The DACO ones are easily the most accurate I've ever seen but I found if you give them an excuse to silver, they will do. I even got silvering after laying some decals in little puddles of future/klear which is a new one for me. One or two areas still to try and sort out yet but just about there ready for a sealing gloss layer.

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Regarding the kit I think it has a little shape issue around the rear canopy, it is either too short or the access panel behind it is too long, not quite sure and not very noticeable unless you look at it properly. In fact I only realised when I was trying to get the correct positions for the side codes and crosses, some of the panel lines/panels are a little off in that area but not really a major concern.

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Time to weather them!

Thanks for looking,

David

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Thank you guys.

Craig I didn't have to look too hard, I think nearly all the Viking jets used from about 83-ish were upgraded jets with less stencilling so luckily plenty to choose from :). I think this list here shows all the jets with the upgrade and hence limited stencils: http://www.916-starfighter.de/F104_Chaff%20Flare%202011.htm

Ignoring the 21+xx serials as the Rf-104Gs for whatever reason on the most part retained full data.

But yes I think it would have taken me probably a month to fully stencil 2 1/32 German F-104s :shocked:^_^

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Thank you folks!

I managed to get most of the weathering and matt-ish coats done. The aircraft seemed to have some bits matt and other areas rather shiny probably owing to the Baltic conditions so I tired to replicate something similar with the varnish layers to give a more varied appearance, if it even comes through on the photos.

Micro mesh saved my bottom on the rear canopies, quite happy how shiny they came out, entirely due to the good old Johnsons Klear, still haven't found an equal canopy dipping medium. The decals were over sprayed with very thin layers of the base coat among others to tone them down and weather them some more, other little bits such as wipe marks on the crosses were added which I saw on some photos.

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The canopies now need the rubber seals from decals or making tape, unsure which will be the best way to go, lots more to add for the cockpits but getting there.

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Some general views of the tops, antennae areas need more dirt yet.

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I found a decent pic of the undersides of these jets at an airshow and they appeared quite grubby

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Not that I'll ever turn these big and delicate models over when everything is said and done :rolleyes: All the gear stuff needs painting too!

A million other things to do now but I started on adding some details to the landing gear legs, not too much to them in reality,

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You can see the giant gaps (wishfully tread?) in the centre of the tires that Italeri gives, will need some sorting out there! The Brassin replacement wheels would be the way to go but I don't want to put anymore money into these. I also started making the FOD guards for one jet but the carpet monster managed to eat all 5 of them so looks like I'll have to make them all again <_< , still surprises me how easily modelling bits can vanish to never be seen again, b@£*ard!

Thanks for looking and hopefully a more comprehensive update next time,

DAvid

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Thank you Chris and Col!

On the home stretch now with most of the little bits done :). I'm using a fairly naff, 4MG, 2000 era digital camera (that on top I can't use) so apologies for dodgy photos here and there!

First the legs, missing the lights and all the other framework, but busy enough now. I tried my best filling and rescribing new tread on the tires, they are probably one of the few little negative issues of this kit.

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The J79s. I used this pic http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/luc_colin3/f-4f/images/f-4f_31_of_59.jpg, a in-use J79 from a German F-4 to see what kind of colours happened inside, a few Starfighter museum refs just have brand new green inners which wouldn't be right for these in service jets. I didn't pay too much attention to the flame holder cause you just don't see it when its all inside.

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FOD covers and various RBF mounts,

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The intake covers go like so and will need the cables looping through the holes attaching to small locks on the aux intake doors, still not quite sure what to use for these yet, they have to follow the contours of the intake very tightly. Thinking of trying to slice up somehow a rubber band :shrug:

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The two LE wing guards shown in the above photo go like so,

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I've made as many as in this photo, http://www.airliners.net/photo/Germany-Navy/Lockheed-%28Fiat%29-RF-104G-Starfighter/715792/L. I like this amount rather than a full compliment throughout all the wing edges as it starts to look too much like a Christmas tree imho :)

They appeared in a rather ad-hoc basis with the Vikings, sometimes just even the outer ones only. I made them by scribing a deep v-shape with my Tamiya scriber then cut out and shaped. They now slide over the sharp wing edges Italeri provide like the real things and are nearly rectangular in cross section, not just a sheet folded over the edge itself. The ones in the pic are just mounted with white-tac for the pic. A tiny hole was drilled in the front of each one from which the RBF tag will hang.

Ok finally I finished the seats, took ages! Below is my thoughts on them and 1/32 104 seats if anyone is interested, please fell free to skip it all and just look at the pics :D I tired to keep them as crisp and rather new looking as possible, my refs show most to be in very good condition.

I said initially I wanted modify the Eduard Brassin seats from the earlier head box to the later 80's one seen on the Viking and later German 104G variants. However this proved to be too troublesome for me in that it would have required pretty much butchering the whole top of the seats the way they were cast, something I really didn't want to risk! So it will bug me a little with the wrong head box but I will not glue them and then can swap them whenever I manage to find or if the correct seat is released by someone, cannot find any AM one anywhere! :(

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The Brassin seat has a really good shape, way better then Aires or CMK alternatives, way way better. The problem is the belts are dodgy colours, incomplete and hard to work with so I made most of them myself. An important point to mention is that Eduard would have you, as I think all other AM seats, display all the upper body belts hanging down the seat. This is incorrect for German 104s in that they were usually folded back upwards and hooked back onto the ejection seat rail head box, behind the seat head box. This video here was a gem to get the correct layout, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jprrRRq4rc.

So I made the green V-shaped upper bit that the upper belts attach too, underneath it, then this is then folded upwards around the head box with the belts clipped to the head box behind the seat. Added bonus is that it kinda hides the incorrect seat head box too. In the photo linked above for the wing leading edge guards you can also see in the cockpit the way the belts were stored.

Then I added the yellow strip connecting the pins,http://www.ejectionsite.com/german/gq7a_1.jpgThere should be another one on the back but you can't see it between the seat and rails anyways. Finally the RBF tag is *I think* in the correct position, not 100% sure. So now I have 1 seat all buttoned up for the canopy closed jet and one seat ready to be sat in for the open one :). I left off the very bottom leg straps as you just won't see them when the seat is in place.

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Last bits I'm doing tonight are the final cockpit details and lights then just glue everything together so should be done in the next few days.

Thanks for looking :)

David.

Edited by mirageiv
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