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1/100 Eiko double bill ++Finished ++


CliffB

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Earlier in the year I drew out a 1/100 Tamiya F-104J, as my entry for my club's annual 'random kit build' competition.  The guy who had donated it into the pot was very apologetic!

Sure enough, despite the Tamiya name, the kit turned out to have some tricky fit issues - particularly around the air intakes.  The kit dates from the 1960's, so maybe that's the reason.

 

Funnily enough though, I really enjoyed the build and have since become a convert to the 1/100 scale cause.  Here's how the Eiko turned out (please ignore my attempt at providing a pilot figure!).

 

P1100184.jpg

 

I the 1980's, the kit was re-released under the Ben Hobby name.  There were two boxings (I believe) - one providing decals for German and Dutch aircraft; the other providing decals for two more Eikos.

 

Eiko-BoxTop.jpg

 

From time to time these kits come up on EBay and, being generally unloved, can be snapped up for next to nothing.

 

Here are the two schemes provided - I intend to build both.

 

Eiko-Box-Side.jpg

 

As I've said, the plastic is from the original Tamiya moulds, although with a little more flash than I remember.

 

P1100193.jpg

 

Unfortunately the decals lack the crispness of Tamiya's and have yellowed somewhat.  I hoping that careful trimming or copying/re-printing will sort this out.

 

Eiko-decals0005.jpg

 

I'm looking forward to it :)

 

Cliff

 

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On 08/12/2017 at 5:06 PM, modelling minion said:

Nice choice Cliff.

I especially like the fact that both schemes are for ACM aircraft.

Looking forward to these.

 

On 08/12/2017 at 11:14 PM, Giorgio N said:

Now this is an unusual kit ! I remember these Tamiya 1/100 kits being sold for very little back in the days, I believe they are all very old mould but they had quite a few interesting subjects.

Thanks Craig and Giorgio.  I will be making a start soon and am hoping to feature several more of Tamiya's 1/100 scale jets during the 2018 Group Builds.

 

Cliff

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a little progress to report over the last couple of weeks.

 

Fuselage halves joined (there's no cockpit detail - just a seat, for later), plus I've added the air intakes.

 

P1100198.jpg

 

The fit is poor.  I've tried to match up on top as best I can, but then you do suffer particularly badly underneath.  There are no splitter plates provided, so on the last one I built I ended up fairing the intakes back to the fuselage.  It didn't look too bad (in this scale ;)).  It's filler time!

 

Cliff

 

 

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They're beginning to look a bit more like Starfighters now .....

 

P1100200.jpg

 

The fit of the wing section into the underside of the fuselage was also very poor - much filling and sanding required.  The first shot of primer shows that I'm 95% there :winkgrin:.

 

In 2004, Tamiya re-released many of the 1/100 scale jets - but the F-104 was not included.  I'm wondering whether its fit problems were too much of an embarrassment?  Two other kits omitted from the re-release were the Buccaneer and the Skyhawk, both of which are on my 'to do' list for 2018.  It will be interesting to see how well they go together.

 

Cheers

 

Cliff

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I've been nibbling away and here's how things currently stand..

 

P1100203.jpg

 

Once I've got the canopies on and masked, the two builds will diverge as there's virtually no commonality between the two paint schemes.

 

You'll note the two missiles. Whilst the kits provide two per plane, the photos in Giorgio's excellent link (page 1 of Modelling Minion's build), all appear to show aircraft carrying only one (or no) missile.  The colours seem to vary, green or red, with green missiles being carried on the starboard pylon and the red missile on the port.  That's my interpretation, but I could be completely wrong!   Either way, I'll be giving my two Js just one missile each.

 

I'm looking forward now to getting some colour on...

 

Cheers

 

Cliff

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you exdraken :)

 

So now the Alclad is on...

 

P1100209.jpg

 

and I guess I'd be banned from the Group Build if I didn't include a photograph that looked something like this..... 

 

P1100210.jpg

 

Time now to put away the smelly stuff and get out some colourful acrylics :yahoo:

See you later.

 

Cliff

 

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On 21/01/2018 at 5:37 PM, modelling minion said:

Excellent job on the metallic finishes Cliff, they look really good.

Looking forward to seeing you get some paint on these.

Thanks Craig - your wish is my command...

 

P1100211.jpg

 

There's a little bit of touching up required between the two blues, but nothing to worry about. 

As I mentioned before, the blues are disappointingly subdued (being the kit's recommended Tamiya colours), but are an excellent match for washed out, faded period photos!

I'm sure the decals will brighten things up though B)

 

 

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Thanks again Craig :)

 

Today I've been brush painting in some details.

 

P1100215.jpg

 

If you look very closely on the black aircraft, you may be able to see that I've painted the air intakes a darker shade.  I think it was worth the effort (maybe ;)).

Next up will be glossing and decals.

 

Barring disasters, it looks as though the deadline should be achieveable.....

 

Cheers

 

Cliff

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A good day today and they're finished!

 

P1100216.jpg

 

I'll put some better photos in the Gallery later this evening, but in the meantime I just couldn't resist a threesome ;)

 

P1100217.jpg

 

Thanks to all of you who have supported these builds and, of course, to the hosts :goodjob:

 

Cheers

 

Cliff

 

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  • 1 year later...
4 hours ago, Marcin Wojciechowski said:

Superb Eiko models!!!  I like and very, very nice!!!!!!!  Beautyfull !!!! I love F-104 Starfighter !!!!!

Thanks Marcin.  I glad that you like them :)

 

Cheers

Cliff

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