Komatsu Starfighter

[franky boy]

Hi everyone 

 

I’d like to throw my hat into the ring with a Hasegawa F-104j in 1/48 scale.

 

 I wanted build one of to the colourful birds from the Komatsu fighter meets as a change from the usual nmf so have gone with this 104 from the tactical weapons meet from June of 1982. No wingtip tanks on this one but I’ll probably add a red dog launcher under the fuselage. I’m also toying with the idea of doing this one in flight. By the way if anyone has any clue on the colours for this one please shout.

 

 

And the kit.

 

 

And I’ll also be using a few bits from the excellent Daco improvement set.

 

 

First update asap once I’ve finished off my Meteor from the nato Warsaw Pact 50’s gb.

 

Thanks

 

James

[Dansk]

Grabbing a seat on the first row!

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning James 

Welcome aboard

All the best

Patrice

[mirageiv]

Very nice choice James!

 

David

Edited April 15, 2019 by mirageiv

[franky boy]

10 minutes ago, mirageiv said:

Very nice choice James!

 

David

Thanks David

 

Yeah I’ve beem meaning to get around to one of these colourful Japanese 104’s for a while.

 

Likewise I’ve been following your Marine 104 with interest. I wondered what you did with that 104 with the cracked varnish. Good choice to salvage the cockpit.

 

James

[mirageiv]

Same, I'd like to build one of the blue-grey type Japanese camouflages one day, so many different 104s to build, I think I need to reach 300 years old before I get through half of them. Yep it was a real pain to mess up on the clear coat on that one, I didn't look at it for near 2 years then attempted to strip it, messed that up too so rescued what I could, seemed to be a cursed build! Oh well I have learned to always now test paint compatibility if unsure! 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Im researching Japanese F-4E’s from 1984-85.

Those use a Dark ghost grey equivalent so im wondering if your lighter color here is the same grey.

Food for thought at least ? 

 

Dennis

[franky boy]

20 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Im researching Japanese F-4E’s from 1984-85.

Those use a Dark ghost grey equivalent so im wondering if your lighter color here is the same grey.

Food for thought at least ? 

 

Dennis

 

Thanks for the info Dennis. That’s a great couple of Phantom photos.

 

Ive been doing a bit of digging around myself and found other 104’s with what look like the same greys as my one. So I think I’ll settle for dark gull grey for the darker shade and light ghost grey for the other.

 

I started a thread on this in the Cold War section and was lucky enough to be contacted by the gentleman who took the photo in post 1 in 1982. He said that the purple hue on the photo was due to the quality of the camera film he used at the time.

 

Thanks again

 

James

[franky boy]

Hi everyone

 

I managed to make a start on this one over last week finally and here's what happened....

 

As i want to build this one in flight I obviously need a pilot figure. Enter this chap who was kindly donated by Lord Riot for a quick conversion onto 104's and a bright orange flying suit I think scrubbed up ok.

 

 

As the canopy will be closed and very little visible past the pilot figure i decided to use the kit decals for the consoles and instrument panel. After several heavy coats of Micro Sol they actually settled down ok. The tub was then sprayed Gunze H317 and given a wash of Kleer/water and black brown paint before a dry brush and a flat coat.

 

 

 

The back of the kit supplied bang seat.

 

 

The instrument coaming.

 

 

And the man of the moment in his cockpit.

 

 

Things then moved on pretty quickly as there was no wheel bays etc to paint and this where it's at now. Ready for sanding.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Until next time.

 

James

[mirageiv]

Great work James, I really like how crisp and bright the pilot is. Did you cut up the decals on the instrument panels/consoles before applying to help position them better or did they just fit really well? They look way neater than I can paint, I think I'll try the decals next time! Do you know how you will pose/mount the model? I've often toyed with doing a Viking jet on a low takeoff pose like my profile pic, someday I'd like to do it I guess with a clear rod up the exhaust. 

 

David

[franky boy]

32 minutes ago, mirageiv said:

Great work James, I really like how crisp and bright the pilot is. Did you cut up the decals on the instrument panels/consoles before applying to help position them better or did they just fit really well? They look way neater than I can paint, I think I'll try the decals next time! Do you know how you will pose/mount the model? I've often toyed with doing a Viking jet on a low takeoff pose like my profile pic, someday I'd like to do it I guess with a clear rod up the exhaust. 

 

David

Thanks David 

 

Yes I cut the instrument decals into their separate sections before applying them and then went back in with the scalpel blade afterwards. Likewise I could never paint that. I think I’d use etch for an open cockpit but for this the decals are fine.

 

I think I’ll go with the plastic rod up the jet pipe method as you say. I’ll probably try and bend it first if I can get hold of a heat gun. A low take take off pose would be very cool!

 

James

[franky boy]

Hello chaps

 

Just to prove that this build is still happening here's a long overdue update.

 

The past couple of weeks have really been about getting seam lines rubbed down and fitting UC doors that were designed to be fitted in the open position.

 

These are the main gear bay doors fitted. I had to chop off the hook at the front of each door to get them to sit flush and then make a couple of new ones from plastic card. The long raised panel that sits where red dog launchers attach to the underside of the fuselage was also sanded off as this was removed in practice to fit the launchers.

 

 

I also had to do the same for front uc doors with the pointed fairings at the leading edges.

 

 

Then it was time for primer. Mr Surfacer 1500.

 

 

This was then followed by some pre shading and painting of the nose radome both with  Hataka Nato black.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Dennis I managed to nail down the 2 greys to light ghost grey FS36375 and dark gull grey FS36231. This shot is after the ghost grey had been applied.

 

 

Followed by the dark gull grey. I decided to give Hataka orange line paints a try on this one and they sprayed beutifully thinned with their own thinners and dried quickly to a nice satin sheen which should take decals with no problems.

 

 

Next it's onto painting the fibre glass covers, anti glare panel around the cockpit and air intakes then it's onto decals.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Questions, comments and general abuse welcome as always.

 

James

[mirageiv]

Excellent work James, the faded paint work looks top notch! I like how you have really made the doors fit properly also btw, a little thing but it will give a subtle refinement to the inflight model for sure.

 

David

[Alan P]

That's fast work. Great subject and good job so far!

[Jabba]

Coming along very well. Good work in the cockpit and getting those little extras right.

[franky boy]

Hi everyone

 

A small update now that decaling is finished. All decals are from the kit and considering the reputation of Hasegawa decals for being quite thick these went down pretty well with set and sol.

 

 

 

And the bottom. It doesn't look much different to the top?

 

 

A panel wash and some light weathering next.

 

Thanks for looking

 

James

[exdraken]

Looks great with decals on!

So grey and colorful at the same 

 

[zebra]

Looks fantastic. Really like that colour scheme.

 

Just started a Komatsu F-104J myself - mine's going to be natural metal with white wings and a big red section in the centre of the fuselage.

[franky boy]

7 hours ago, exdraken said:

Looks great with decals on!

So grey and colorful at the same 

 

Thanks Werner. Yes the bright red markings really bring it to life.

 

4 hours ago, zebra said:

Looks fantastic. Really like that colour scheme.

 

Just started a Komatsu F-104J myself - mine's going to be natural metal with white wings and a big red section in the centre of the fuselage.

Thanks Julian

 

I know the one you mean. I also have the one with the big blue fuselage bands on another decal sheet to build some time.

 

James

[mirageiv]

Wonderful result so far James, the F-104 looks really good in this scheme! Btw have you seen Kinetic are releasing a new F-104 kit? Completely took me by surprise but maybe it will be time to retire these tired older Hasegawa tools now! 

[franky boy]

11 hours ago, mirageiv said:

Wonderful result so far James, the F-104 looks really good in this scheme! Btw have you seen Kinetic are releasing a new F-104 kit? Completely took me by surprise but maybe it will be time to retire these tired older Hasegawa tools now! 

Thanks David

 

Im pleased with it so far, just a bit of light weathering and a few smaller bits and it'll be there.

 

Yes I saw the Kinetic kit announcement a few days ago. What a great surprise! I'll definitely be picking one up when they're available. Hopefully this one will only have rivets where we want them. Only problem is I still have 4 Hasegawa kits in the stash to build. One of which is the Eduard Bundes Fighter boxing which I really do want to build. I'd better get cracking!

 

Thanks

 

James

[Harry Callahan]

Nice build so far, i am eager for the end result

[Jabba]

With those decals on there is certainly a splash of colour now.