Vietnam F-104C queries

[Vinster]

Hey all, I have ordered the 1/72 F-104c by italeri and plan to do it in a Vietnam scheme - with this I also ordered a resin Lockheed C-2 ejection seatafter seeing they were retrofitted to the C's. It has now dawned on me that I do not know when they were retrofitted - would it be accurate to build an F-104c in Vietnam with a C-2 ejection seat?

[LDSModeller]

17 minutes ago, Vinster said:

It has now dawned on me that I do not know when they were retrofitted - would it be accurate to build an F-104c in Vietnam with a C-2 ejection seat?

The F104C in Vietnam has always been a favourite of mine

 

Hopefully these websites below will help?

It seems the C2 was retro fitted early 1960's, and F104 started Operations in

Vietnam early 1965.

Unless more knowledgeable members post, I think you would be safe with your choice

 

Info about Retro fitting

 

F104C in Vietnam

 

Regards

 

Alan

[Vinster]

2 minutes ago, LDSModeller said:

The F104C in Vietnam has always been a favourite of mine

 

Hopefully these websites below will help?

It seems the C2 was retro fitted early 1960's, and F104 started Operations in

Vietnam early 1965.

Unless more knowledgeable members post, I think you would be safe with your choice

 

Info about Retro fitting

 

F104C in Vietnam

 

Regards

 

Alan

Thank you - yeah I have started planning on building as many Vietnam and Indochina aircraft as possible - I have a PM models F-5A on the go and a few more related subjects in the stash. I saw this version of the 104 was being discontinued and had to find it. Thank you for the help - this will be my first time working with resin and my first trying to give full photo etch details with the interior cockpit set on order and I plan on ordering the exterior one with ladder and extra detail. 

 

 

[Giorgio N]

The C-2 seat was well established by the time the Starfighter was employed in Vietnam. And I'm not even sure that the C used any other seat.. from what I understand production of the earlier Stanley B, C and C-1 was around 140-150 pieces and this total does not even cover the number of the A and B variant.

If it may be of interest, the last ejection from an F-104 using the downward ejection seats occurred in 1959 from a NASA aircraft.

 

Regarding the kit, a resin seat is a mush as the one in the box is very poor. I used the Pavla seat in this kit before and fits with no problem. The cockpit in the kit however could also benefit from some modification, one of which is quite easy: the instrumen panel coaming is really too long and if used as is the panel ends being totally hidden. The real coaming was much shorter. If you want to add some more detail, it is possible to fit the parts of the Eduard zoom set designed for the Revell F-104G. This set is very cheap and even if it's meant for the G variant, the instrument panel and consolles are close enough to look good in 1/72 scale. Said that, with the thick canopy of the kit not much is visible of the cockpit apart from the top of the seat and the coaming...

[Vinster]

2 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

The C-2 seat was well established by the time the Starfighter was employed in Vietnam. And I'm not even sure that the C used any other seat.. from what I understand production of the earlier Stanley B, C and C-1 was around 140-150 pieces and this total does not even cover the number of the A and B variant.

If it may be of interest, the last ejection from an F-104 using the downward ejection seats occurred in 1959 from a NASA aircraft.

 

Regarding the kit, a resin seat is a mush as the one in the box is very poor. I used the Pavla seat in this kit before and fits with no problem. The cockpit in the kit however could also benefit from some modification, one of which is quite easy: the instrumen panel coaming is really too long and if used as is the panel ends being totally hidden. The real coaming was much shorter. If you want to add some more detail, it is possible to fit the parts of the Eduard zoom set designed for the Revell F-104G. This set is very cheap and even if it's meant for the G variant, the instrument panel and consolles are close enough to look good in 1/72 scale. Said that, with the thick canopy of the kit not much is visible of the cockpit apart from the top of the seat and the coaming...

Thank you - I have order the CMK resin seat and pe for the 104c but it is intended for the hasegawa kit - someone on scalemates had success using the set so I saw no harm in ordering it. 

Very silly question but what is the "coaming" as I am happy to work with this. 

Thank you for the help - I am not sure if the C's were ever fitted with Stanley C-1s but the f-104 society mentioned they may have been unless I read it wrong.

 

Vini

[Giorgio N]

Vini, the instrument panel coaming is simply the plastic or metal structure that covers the top of the panel to keep this in shade. On the Esci kit (and its Italeri reboxes) this protrudes by quite a bit into the cockpit while in reality it is shorter. It can easily be sorted with a cutter and some sanding.

I have the CMK  full set for the F-104 but never checked this into the Esci kit, In any case I'm sure that the seat alone will fit with little problems.. at worst you may have to shave some plastic here and there. Going by memory here as it's been a while since I built the "Italesci" kit, I seem to remember that features a step in the rear of the cockpit where the seat should be, you may have to cut this and make the rear bulkhead flat... but as said, going from memory here.

Overall this is not a bad kit, my main gripe with it is the shape of the canopy but there's little that can be done on this... and it's much easier to find than the Revell/Monogram F-104C

[Vinster]

5 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

Vini, the instrument panel coaming is simply the plastic or metal structure that covers the top of the panel to keep this in shade. On the Esci kit (and its Italeri reboxes) this protrudes by quite a bit into the cockpit while in reality it is shorter. It can easily be sorted with a cutter and some sanding.

I have the CMK  full set for the F-104 but never checked this into the Esci kit, In any case I'm sure that the seat alone will fit with little problems.. at worst you may have to shave some plastic here and there. Going by memory here as it's been a while since I built the "Italesci" kit, I seem to remember that features a step in the rear of the cockpit where the seat should be, you may have to cut this and make the rear bulkhead flat... but as said, going from memory here.

Overall this is not a bad kit, my main gripe with it is the shape of the canopy but there's little that can be done on this... and it's much easier to find than the Revell/Monogram F-104C

Ahh thank you - I am thinking about building a second as well just so I have one as I find the subject interesting and thank you I shall look at sorting the coaming - and check my references. I may do a dual build as I won't be building this for a while so maybe I shall get the revell kit too. I'm happy to shave off any needed from the coaming to make it satisfactory . 

[Giorgio N]

If you mean the Revell F-104G then it's in their catalogue at the moment and easy to find. Their C however has been long OOP, sometime can be found on Ebay or similar but is much harder to come by than the Italeri one.

IMHO the Revell kit is superior in several aspects, however it's also a slightly more difficult build Some areas are more accurate in the Revell kit, others in the Esci one. My favourite is the hasegawa kit that however can be expensive if bought in the UK.

In any case, the Starfighter always makes for a very attractive subject !

[Hook]

17 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

My favourite is the hasegawa kit that however can be expensive if bought in the UK.

Plus, Hasegawa never did a 'C in Gentlemen's Scale.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Vinster]

On 21/04/2020 at 16:49, Giorgio N said:

If you mean the Revell F-104G then it's in their catalogue at the moment and easy to find. Their C however has been long OOP, sometime can be found on Ebay or similar but is much harder to come by than the Italeri one.

IMHO the Revell kit is superior in several aspects, however it's also a slightly more difficult build Some areas are more accurate in the Revell kit, others in the Esci one. My favourite is the hasegawa kit that however can be expensive if bought in the UK.

In any case, the Starfighter always makes for a very attractive subject !

I agree - was just watching a flory video and his 1/48th Starfighter was magnificent