TonyW Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 An unloved photobox F104 Starfighter gets its chance for glory in the Group Build! The instruction sheet is AWOL, but there's hardly a need for them, the kit will pretty much build itself I should think. Fit is good in places, appalling in others. There will be filler involved here. Lots of progress over the weekend as rain stopped play outside. Here's how things stand this morning... It's going to get finished as a first issue kit in Canadian markings. This kits Canadian option differs from the first issue in a number of places. I'm fairly sure I have some spare first issue ones so I can backdate the build to suit. The first issue came out in 1963. I'll dig out the original box and add details during this build. Tony. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventora3300 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Excellent choice Tony - we don't have one of these so far. I always thought the Starfighter was very futuristic looking with the short wings and the 'T' tail. I think it had a bit of a reputation as a difficult aircraft to fly and there were a few accidents etc. Looks like classic 'marbled' Airfix plastic. Good luck!. Cheers. Mike. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawzer Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Another nice addition Tony! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) Apparently the way to get your own Starfighter was to buy a small patch of land in Germany. At some point a Starfighter would fall on it. The Germans lost over 200 of the things. The Spanish, none. It was a bit of a handfull it seems. Right. On with the build, or on with a bit of history and collector trivia. Here's the first two boxings, starting back in 1963. Not Roy Cross artwork, Charles Oats in this case. He had a quiet sort of style. I like his work a lot. The top box is known as a Type 3A. Just the Airfix flash in the white area lower right. This is the first issue. Things got cleaned up a bit for the T3 proper with the type name added to the white box. that's the lower box. Keep up at the back! Here's the untouched contents of the first issue box. I've just cut the sealing tape on it!!!! I needed to see what transfer sheet was inside the box, so I can build my model as a first issue. Seeing the early oval stand in there was a surprise to me. This is why I cut the seal. Three early transfer sheets were issued, I was unsure of what came first. I'm now pretty sure this one was first. Note the Canadian flag in red. Then came these two. Again, note the flags. I've done a bit of screen printing in the past. The new Flag with the black outline would have been a pig to keep in register. The second sheet has no black border, making it the third variant for the T3 boxes!! Collectors like this sort of stuff. Then there's the sheet, left, that the photobox kit had in is. Different again. All this trivia brings me back to my build. I have a first sheet thats missing one red flag. That's the sheet I'll be using here. I won't be hacking up the early complete sheets, Heaven forbid!!! Here endeth the lesson. Tony. Edited August 27, 2018 by TonyW thumbnails removed 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 And a great lesson it was too Sir. I for one am really enjoying these journeys back in modelling time and love the little snippets of useless Airfix trivia that only a collector can verbalise. Cheers .. Dave (I’m the Nerdy looking one, taking notes and sitting in the front). 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawzer Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 3 hours ago, Ventora3300 said: Excellent choice Tony - we don't have one of these so far. I always thought the Starfighter was very futuristic looking with the short wings and the 'T' tail. I think it had a bit of a reputation as a difficult aircraft to fly and there were a few accidents etc. Looks like classic 'marbled' Airfix plastic. Good luck!. Cheers. Mike. I just had a look on wikipedia - 262 luftwaffe / german navy 104's crashed....out of a total of 916. I think you are right - a difficult aircraft to fly... Having said that - the thing looks magnificent...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Good choice. I know I built one of these about 35 years ago, but don't remember it. I do remember where I bought it though - a newsagents in Ramsey in the Isle of Man - it's not so much the newsagents that I remember, there was a clothes shop in Ramsey that my Mum and Gran used to visit, and I remember standing outside that shop with my Grandad, holding the Airfix Starfighter I'd just bought, for what seemed like ages. Mum and Gran would be in the shop for ages, then come out and say "there was nothing". How a shop with nothing in stock would (a) take so long to browse through and (b) stay in business so long was always a mystery to us kids! 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 I love the stories and memories that come out of the Group Builds, it seems to add so much to the pure modelling side of things. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz23 Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Interesting build so far 👍🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 9, 2018 Author Share Posted September 9, 2018 (edited) The Canadian Lawn Dart got a bit of attention over the weekend. The white primer coat got rubbed down and a couple of thin coats of Aldi Silver aerosol paint applied. The paint has a very nice bright silver finish to it although it sometimes appears almost grey in photographs. The wings got a bit of humbrol gloss white over the primer and the drop tanks and tail surface got two coats of humbrol 19, gloss red. The panels at the side of the fuselage also got a hit of red. Looking at colour photo's of this finish seem to show the red as dayglo in some images, red in others. red is what I had in my paint draw, so red it is then. The cockpit got busied up a bit with bits of sprue applied here and there. Nothing prototypical here, just a suggestion of detailing. First boxing transfers went on without drama although only the starboard tail got a flag as the transfer sheet used was missing one flag. The model can be displayed one way round until another turns up. The undercarriage and cockpit are next in line, plus some kind of base for the plane. The usual paint touch ups will no doubt be required and maybe a bit more detailing here and there if the mood takes, then it will be off to the Gallery with another build! Tony. Edited September 9, 2018 by TonyW 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawzer Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Jeez - your progress is almost as fast as a 104!!😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Blink - and you'll miss this build! There's certainly no idle hands when you at the modelling bench Tony, this 104 is looking very nice. Cheers.. Dave 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 10, 2018 Author Share Posted September 10, 2018 Nearly done. The undercarriage is now fixed, ditto jetpipe. A bit of extra decaling on the fuselage that will need toning down a bit once dry. The pilot had his head cut off(!) and turned to the right. Having only one tail flag fitted was the reason for that. He was looking the wrong way for a starboard sided display. One of my newly acquired picture frames had its glass removed and the MDF backing board moved to the top and hit with a thin coat of black aerosol. It's dark, but a bit lighter than the black base frame. I quite like the look. The name tag is cut from the transfer sheet and just laid on the base. This one should be finished soon... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Wowza no shrinking violet that one. I remember this as a pig of a kit, up there with the old F-5A. Nice going. Regards, Adrian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 All done now, with a couple of shots added to the Gallery. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Looks superb. Really nicely finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share Posted September 13, 2018 It's struck me as kind of funny that this build, despite me following a real colour scheme, has turned out far more cartoon like than any of the Comic Book builds I've done. The Canadian colours would not look out of place in an episode of Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet! I would love to build a larger scale version of this scheme. Maybe one for a later date, there are a few builds in line before it. If I see a cheap one at Telford this year I may well be in trouble though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawzer Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Superb result there! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 Great result Like your choice of markings Martin H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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