Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 71 "Richthofen" F104G, Academy, 1/72nd. OOB

[John Masters]

Here's my first offerings and my first Starfighter too!  the box art shows the Richthofen Squadron logo on the intake but the decals do not.  I have looked online and I cannot tell what it represents.

 

 

Decals...

 

 

Here's a closeup.  Looks vaguely NATO-ish to me...

 

 

--John

 

 

[Col.]

Another 'Zipper' to open your account in this GB is an inspired choice John and in my favourite scheme as well; nice  

The logo is from MFG2 (MarineFliegerGeschwader or Naval Air Squadron if my German is correct) by the way.

 

 

 

 

[Chrisj2003]

John, I love F-104s, but not this kit.  The canopy is too inaccurate; see real photo above cf box art / kit piece. There is a thread somewhere on BM with someone correcting the kit / making their own canopy etc. If you cant find a Hasegawa kit the Esci is good and the Italeri and Revell ok.

 

MFG2 is nice, but I thought (mainly) roled as ship attack? 

 

Chris 

[John Masters]

14 minutes ago, Chrisj2003 said:

John, I love F-104s, but not this kit.  The canopy is too inaccurate; see real photo above cf box art / kit piece. There is a thread somewhere on BM with someone correcting the kit / making their own canopy etc. If you cant find a Hasegawa kit the Esci is good and the Italeri and Revell ok.

I build 'em as I see 'em.  I am not about to make my own canopy.  

[John Masters]

This is a rudimentary kit, designed for the weekend hobbyist/ten year old child...i.e. me.  Ok, I am much older, but I yearn for the days when the imagination soared with the roar of engines...taka'taka'taka...MMMrrrrrrrrrrr....whooooshhhhh!

 

I think the cockpit interior is black.  Correct me if I am wrong.  I will add a harness for the pilot who is off somewhere having etwas Strudel und einen schwarzen Kaffee!

 

 

I'll give it a spritz of black primer later...

 

--John

[theplasticsurgeon]

Nice.   Very similar to this Hasegawa Starfighter Marine that I built in 2017.

Instructions said the cockpit is grey.

[John Masters]

45 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Instructions said the cockpit is grey.

Thanks!

 

Your Hasagawa kit looks much more detailed.

[Col.]

Yip, as Tim says, light grey for the 'pit  

[John Masters]

28 minutes ago, Col. said:

Yip, as Tim says, light grey for the 'pit  

Sounds like primer to me. 👍

[Hewy]

I bet it'll look the part even with the canopy 👍

[John Masters]

Notice that I have changed the title...I have ordered a Starfighter sheet from the Big Yellow Store  and will complete this closer to the box art.

[PeterB]

19 hours ago, Hewy said:

I bet it'll look the part even with the canopy 👍

Hi John,

 

My late father in law had an interesting philosopy - he used to say "a blind man would be glad to see it"! As with the Mig-19 it will be fine. Life is too short to worry about "total accuracy" which is probably not achievable anyway with most kits - I always say mine are just "a representation" of the real thing😁.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[John Masters]

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

My late father in law had an interesting philosopy - he used to say "a blind man would be glad to see it"! As with the Mig-19 it will be fine. Life is too short to worry about "total accuracy" which is probably not achievable anyway with most kits - I always say mine are just "a representation" of the real thing😁.

 

Cheers

 

Not to worry.  All is forgiven and smoothed out...I can be very thin-skinned sometimes.  Lots of external issues too...pandemic, rise of authoritarian rule...the usual song and dance!

 

I figure I will get this built, primed and then set it aside.  That means I can start the Mig-19 over in Hellerland...

 

 

--John

 

 

[Col.]

How's the fit of this one John?

[John Masters]

2 minutes ago, Col. said:

How's the fit of this one John?

It all fits very well.  Not much detail however.  Purely an 'external' model. I imagine one could load it up with aftermarket stuff.

[Harry Callahan]

I dont understand why you call it Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 71  Richthofen, coz this name exist just 3 or 4 years, when this wing used the Starfighter it calls Jagdgeschwader 71,, Richthofen,,

Edited November 21, 2020 by Harry Callahan

[John Masters]

6 minutes ago, Harry Callahan said:

I dont understand

I just cut and paste from Wikipedia.  

 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taktisches_Luftwaffengeschwader_71_„Richthofen“

 

 

[Harry Callahan]

anyway, its wrong name if you connect it with the Starfighter, if you build a Eurofighter then you can use Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 71

[John Masters]

17 minutes ago, Harry Callahan said:

anyway, its wrong name if you connect it with the Starfighter

Oh well.  What model are you building for this GB?

[reini]

Always happy to see a Starfighter! I have built three different 1:72 Starfighter model kits (and some of them twice) - but I have not built the Academy one.

 

@John Masters Did you order an Xtradecal sheet or some Luftwaffe specific one? Plenty of options in the Xtradecal one, I got one of them. Bit light on the stencils but very nice otherwise. Bit strange that the kit decals don't match the box art but oh well. The Luftwaffe splinter scheme looks awesome, so very good choice.

[John Masters]

10 minutes ago, reini said:

Did you order an Xtradecal sheet

I did...Collection #2.  There are some nice choices.  I like the Italian and Japanese options.  Tell me...what coolers would you use the modern Luftwaffe?  

 

 

[reini]

12 minutes ago, John Masters said:

I did...Collection #2.  There are some nice choices.  I like the Italian and Japanese options.  Tell me...what coolers would you use the modern Luftwaffe?  

 

 

 

Well that's something I'm not quite settled on yet. I've done one Luftwaffe F-104 in splinter scheme, but I'm not completely happy with the colours I chose. I've been using Vallejo Model Air mostly but I think I will try Hataka paints next and see how they look.

 

For the green, FS34079 would probably be a good starting point (the darker green of the US Vietnam/SEA camo scheme). Vallejo does a nice one (maybe bit dark, as with many Vallejo colors) and I think you can find good options from other paint manufacturers too. The official RAL codes for the colors are RAL7012 for the grey and RAL6014 for the green. And silver is the way to go for the undersides. Can be bit of dull grey silver.

 

But having said that, the Luftwaffe F-104's did weather quite heavily and the colors faded - so there seems to be quite wide range of colours you can actually choose and still 'get the look'. Depends on what you are after really.

 

[John Masters]

19 minutes ago, reini said:

RAL7012 for the grey and RAL6014 for the green. And silver is the way to go for the undersides. Can be bit of dull grey silver.

Thanks...I have seen the same.  Not about the underside though, so I am glad I asked.  Vallejo Air has a good grey...USAF Dark Grey and their version of the green is 'Yellow Olive'...RAL 6015.  I think I will choose a different green.   

[reini]

2 minutes ago, John Masters said:

Thanks...I have seen the same.  Not about the underside though, so I am glad I asked.  Vallejo Air has a good grey...USAF Dark Grey and their version of the green is 'Yellow Olive'...RAL 6015.  I think I will choose a different green.   

 

Yeah, can't remember anymore what exact Vallejo colors I used - but they were both bit too dark and too close to eachother, so very little contrast between them. Might be 'true to life' - but currently I like to choose colors that have little bit more separation between them so they stand out a bit more. Personal preference of course.

 

I will try USAF Dark Grey! I think I have a bottle...

[John Masters]

OK.  I have built and primed the aircraft.  Since the decals will not be here for at least two weeks I will soldier on and paint and assemble as much as I can, which is pretty much all of it.  I could probably get away with adding the kit-supplied stencils as well.

 

 

--John