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1/32 F-104G Starfighter - Italeri - Aeronautica Militare


Baldy

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Here with my recently finished Italeri 1/32 F-104G - it was finished just in time for display at Telford. The kit went together reasonably well, with the usual Italeri foibles here and there. I found that the airbrakes and the ailerons were both undersize and were enlarged with plastic strips.

 

I pored over numerous pictures regarding the upper surface colours, including some of my own, and asked Giorgio for his opinion. Unfortunately I struggled to spray the suggested Lifecolour paints. After much deliberation and test spraying, I settled on Humbrol Enamel Hu 156 for the grey and a mixture (Gunze H309 x8 plus H65 x1 plus Tamiya XF5 x1) for the green. For the underside I used mixture of Vallejo Metal Colour Aluminium and Tamiya XF-66. Again from photographs many of the AMI Starfighters looked to have a fairly gloss finish but some were not. I settled on a light sheen courtesy of AK varnishes.

 

You may notice that the tanks are a slightly different colour of green - more of an olive green. Again this is from the study of many photographs. In fact, I originally messed up the painting of the tanks and had to start again, trashing the decals at the same time. I borrowed tank decals from another kit so if some kind soul has a spare set of tank stencil decals please let me know.

 

The Orpheus pod is by Videoaviation.com and is excellent.

 

I used mostly the kit decals which were excellent apart from some silvering on some of the minor stencilling. A couple of other problems with the decals. The Starfighter depicted is MM6581 in 1984 - problem is, it appears that this aircraft was written off in a collision in June 1969. Much of the stencilling is readable with magnification but the area of which is easily readable and very prominent is that on the nose cone in the anti dazzle area - unfortunately it reads "HANDDS OFF".

 

Generally very pleased with the result - I hope you like her.

 

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Cheers

 

Malcolm

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1 hour ago, Shalako said:

The paint scheme is fine, you only need to take the model outside and photograph it. It will show the quality that it carries!!!

 

Again, job well done!!!

 

Cheers

 

Bill

Thank you Bill - Not great pictures I admit but outside? Brrrrr! Cold and damp round here at the mo. Will try to get some better pictures soon.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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Superb looking Starfighter! I can only hope my Italeri 1/32 will end up half as decent as yours.

 

What was the problem with Life Colour paints? Ive been using Vallejo Air - but thinking of testing Life Colour for some Italian tones.

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Superb! I casts me back to a base visit I made to Villafranca in April 1986 :). You’ve  produced a wonderful model of a great aeroplane :). And it’s a 28 Gruppo machine :)

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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On 11/14/2019 at 4:22 AM, reini said:

Superb looking Starfighter! I can only hope my Italeri 1/32 will end up half as decent as yours.

 

What was the problem with Life Colour paints? Ive been using Vallejo Air - but thinking of testing Life Colour for some Italian tones.

Thank you Reini. Watch out for wing alignment and be careful to have a very gloss finish before putting all those stencil decals on.

 

The problems I had with Life Colour paints were not serious. I found them a little difficult to spray but I used their own thinner and soon was able to achieve acceptable results. The main thing was that I was not convinced in my mind that the colour was correct and I was not sure about mixing with other paints such as Mr Hobby and Tamiya and I was running short of time. Life Colour do have an interesting range and I will try them again for sure.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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On 11/14/2019 at 9:50 AM, RidgeRunner said:

Superb! I casts me back to a base visit I made to Villafranca in April 1986 :). You’ve  produced a wonderful model of a great aeroplane :). And it’s a 28 Gruppo machine :)

 

Martin

Thank you Martin

 

I am very jealous of your trip to Villafranca in 1986! I have seen many AMI Starfighters over the years but apart from some late ASAMs at Decimommanu in 1999, never got to see them at home. I am glad that in a small way I have reminded you of your trip.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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You certainly have, Malcolm. I am very fortunate in that when I was in the airline side of things I could travel around Europe easily and the flights were free :). We regularly had VRN flights and often W-patterns, where a flight, for example, originates from Airport A (normally LGW), flies to the destination and returns to another UK airport, and then does that again but in reverse order. It meant that you could get a full day at various places. Verona was one and I had a great day there in late 1985. The 1986 visit was organised through their public affairs office, full ramp tours (just me and my wife), hangars and even lunch! :)

 

Martin

 

@Baldy Malcolm, one shot from the Ramp in 1986. The day was grey unfortunately but it didn't spoil things for me :).  I haven't edited the shot but you can get the feel of it :)

 

 

Villafranca 1986 RF-104G

  

 

Edited by RidgeRunner
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On 11/14/2019 at 11:23 AM, Giorgio N said:

Glad to have bene of some help Malcolm, your model looks very good and IMHO you nailed the colours very well.

Giorgio - thank you. You helped me a great deal but I struggled a little with the Life Colour paints. I did, with practice manage to achieve decent results but I was, rightly or wrongly not quite happy with the colour (Aermacchi green) and I wasn't sure about mixing with other paints. I ran short of time and went with what I know.

 

Incidentally, I notice that Lifecolour have a Verde Scuro 28 in their range but it looks very different to any Starfighter pictures I could find. What does the 28 mean?

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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1 minute ago, RidgeRunner said:

You certainly have, Malcolm. I am very fortunate in that when I was in the airline side of things I could travel around Europe easily and the flights were free :). We regularly had VRN flights and often W-patterns, where a flight, for example, originates from Airport A (normally LGW), flies to the destination and returns to another UK airport, and then does that again but in reverse order. It meant that you could get a full day at various places. Verona was one and I had a great day there in late 1985. The 1986 visit was organised through their public affairs office, full ramp tours (just me and my wife), hangars and even lunch! :)

 

Martin

  

@Baldy Rimini-Miramare was another ;)

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1 minute ago, RidgeRunner said:

You certainly have, Malcolm. I am very fortunate in that when I was in the airline side of things I could travel around Europe easily and the flights were free :). We regularly had VRN flights and often W-patters, where a flight for example, originates from Airport A (normally LGW), flies to the destination and returns to another UK airport, and then does that again but in reverse order. It meant that you could get a full day at various places. Verona was one and I had a great day there in late 1985. The 1986 visit was organised through their public affairs office, full ramp tours (just me and my wife), hangars and even lunch! :)

 

Martin

  

Fantastic! I have had a few memorable days at air bases in Europe and in the States like that over the years but sadly never with Starfighters. Sadly, I fear those days are gone - no aircraft and heightened security. Oh well - at least we have memories!

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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On 11/14/2019 at 11:45 AM, Phil1960 said:

Spillone forever! Very nice.

Ciao

Filippo

Thank You Filippo

 

Spillone is my favourite name for the Starfighter - Hat Pin!

 

Ciao

Malcolm

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On 11/14/2019 at 12:46 PM, jefropas said:

Makes this Italian American proud! Great work!

 

Jeff

 

23 hours ago, Starfighter said:

That's just superb . . . a beautiful model of my favourite airplane .  :cheers:😍

 

23 hours ago, franky boy said:

Top work Malcolm.

 

You can’t beat a Starfighter!

 

Thanks for sharing 

 

James

 

19 hours ago, redcap said:

VERY nice indeed - lovely model Malcolm!

Gary

Thank you all for your wonderful comments

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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53 minutes ago, Baldy said:

Giorgio - thank you. You helped me a great deal but I struggled a little with the Life Colour paints. I did, with practice manage to achieve decent results but I was, rightly or wrongly not quite happy with the colour (Aermacchi green) and I wasn't sure about mixing with other paints. I ran short of time and went with what I know.

 

Incidentally, I notice that Lifecolour have a Verde Scuro 28 in their range but it looks very different to any Starfighter pictures I could find. What does the 28 mean?

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

 

Malcolm

Lifecolor's can really only be mixed with paints of similar nature, for example Vallejo. Mixing with Tamiya's will not work... so I'd say you did the right thing in goig with paints you know and can trust. Personally I've developed my way of dealing with Lifecolors but I can remember the frustration I sufffered during my early attempts...

 

28 in theory means the 28th position in the Italian Air Force table of colours, and Verde Scuro 28 is in theory the colour used on the F-104 and other camouflaged aircraft starting in the '70s. I've not seen this lifecolor paint in person yet though, so I can't comment on the accuracy or lack of of this paint

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2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

You certainly have, Malcolm. I am very fortunate in that when I was in the airline side of things I could travel around Europe easily and the flights were free :). We regularly had VRN flights and often W-patterns, where a flight, for example, originates from Airport A (normally LGW), flies to the destination and returns to another UK airport, and then does that again but in reverse order. It meant that you could get a full day at various places. Verona was one and I had a great day there in late 1985. The 1986 visit was organised through their public affairs office, full ramp tours (just me and my wife), hangars and even lunch! :)

 

Martin

 

@Baldy Malcolm, one shot from the Ramp in 1986. The day was grey unfortunately but it didn't spoil things for me :).  I haven't edited the shot but you can get the feel of it :)

 

 

Villafranca 1986 RF-104G

  

 

Superb picture Martin! Thank you.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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