Hasegawa 1/48 F-104 question

[ReccePhreak]

Which Hasegawa 1/48 F-104 Starfighter kit would be my best starting point to make an F-104A?

I'm also not sure what mods need to be done, to backdate the model.

I know Kinetic makes an F-104A/C in their "Gold" series, but since this is for a conversion to the USAF's RF-104A proposal, I don't want to spend that kind of money on the kit.

Larry

 

[Phantom726]

I don't know much about the F-104 but I do know that you'll need the F-104C as a starting point. 

Googling "Backdating Hasegawa F-104C to F-104A" comes up with a couple of interesting links including this:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/259504-backdating-the-148-hasegawa-f-104c-to-an-f-104a/

 

HTH

[franky boy]

What Phantom726 said above. You need to start with a C. 
 

Im pretty sure Kinetic have just released or are soon to release an A/C kit. 

[ReccePhreak]

5 hours ago, Phantom726 said:

I don't know much about the F-104 but I do know that you'll need the F-104C as a starting point. 

Googling "Backdating Hasegawa F-104C to F-104A" comes up with a couple of interesting links including this:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/259504-backdating-the-148-hasegawa-f-104c-to-an-f-104a/

 

HTH

Thanks for the info and for that link. VERY helpful. 

Now to source a kit, that doesn't cost an "arm and a leg".

Larry

[Giorgio N]

The F-104C issue of the Hasegawa kit is maybe one of the cheapest around, there are a few at decent prices on Ebay here but I don't know how expensive postage to the UK may be...

 

There used to be a great page from a Taiwanese modeller showing the detail differences among the A, C, G and J, all variants that were used by the air force of that Country over the years. These were shown in pictures and also modelled using the hase kit... unfortunately the page has disappeared, wonder if anyone managed to save the content before this happened ?

 

Also very useful is this walkaround page:

 

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle2/f-104a_56-0733/

 

Differences between the A and C variant are mainly of detail and many will be easy to spot comparing the plastic with these pictures. Miind, I can't remember how well or not hasegawa covered the small differences in panel lines etc, between the G and C, it's been a while since I looked at this kit.

[ReccePhreak]

A follow up question - Which Gunze Mr Color or Tamiya paint would be the best to spray on a natural metal finish on the F-104?

[Jens]

12 minutes ago, ReccePhreak said:

A follow up question - Which Gunze Mr Color or Tamiya paint would be the best to spray on a natural metal finish on the F-104?

Tamiya AS-12 decanted and sprayed through an airbrush.

 

Jens

[ReccePhreak]

1 minute ago, Jens said:

Tamiya AS-12 decanted and sprayed through an airbrush.

 

Jens

Thanks for that quick response. I have the kit on order. Now I have to rob another kit for extra underwing fuel tanks, and try to scratchbuild the pylons. 

Larry

[Geoffry M]

The F-104A was manufactured without the internal gun.  They were quickly shuffled off to Air National Guard.  Later when a few were pulled out of the Air Guard to form a Wing in Florida during the Cuban missile crisis they had the gun installed.  HTH

 

Geoff M

[ReccePhreak]

53 minutes ago, Geoffry M said:

The F-104A was manufactured without the internal gun.  They were quickly shuffled off to Air National Guard.  Later when a few were pulled out of the Air Guard to form a Wing in Florida during the Cuban missile crisis they had the gun installed.  HTH

 

Geoff M

Thanks for that info. That's another "mod" I'll have to do to my F-104C base kit.

Larry

[SAT69]

1 hour ago, ReccePhreak said:

Thanks for that info. That's another "mod" I'll have to do to my F-104C base kit.

Larry

I believe all you'll need to do is fill in the gun port making it look like a plug has been installed.

[Giorgio N]

9 hours ago, Geoffry M said:

The F-104A was manufactured without the internal gun.  They were quickly shuffled off to Air National Guard.  Later when a few were pulled out of the Air Guard to form a Wing in Florida during the Cuban missile crisis they had the gun installed.  HTH

 

Geoff M

 

The aircraft taken from the ANG went to 319th and 331st FIS in 1963. The gun was only reinstated in 1964, although F-104Cs had been equipped with the gun from 1959 on...

Aircraft in 319th service received an unusual modification in 1967: the J79-GE-19 engine, making them probably the "hottest" Starfighters ever thanks to the combination of the lighter F-104A airframe and the most powerful engine used on the type (with the exception of course of the NF-104). I'm thinking about building one such aircraft, adding the nozzle of the F-104S to a kit of a C modified to the A configuration, would be something quite unusual

[Giorgio N]

20 hours ago, ReccePhreak said:

A follow up question - Which Gunze Mr Color or Tamiya paint would be the best to spray on a natural metal finish on the F-104?

 

The Super Metallic 2 from Gunze, probably the Super Fine Silver 2 as a base for the fuselage. The panels on the rear fuselage show a lot of variatons, I'd probably buy the darkest of the line (IIRC it's the Super Iron 2) and then mix this with the silver paint to various degrees for the various panels. All these paints should be thinnerd with Gunze's own levelling thinner and must be thinned quite a lot, think 2 to 3 parts of thinner to 1 of paint. 

 

Personally however I prefer Using Vallejo's Metal Color line. I find these colours easy to use, they do not need thinning and cleaning the airbrush is also pretty easy. I used them on my latest natural metal Starfighter a few years ago and I was pretty happy wih the result.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Giorgio N

[Geoffry M]

A note about the Kinetic F-104A/C.  The decal instructions show 2 different aircraft from the same wing/squadron at different times and it calls one a "C" model and one an "A" model but a serial number search finds they are both "C" models.  Just FYI.

 

Geoff M

[ReccePhreak]

One more question - does anybody make an aftermarket ejection seat for the F-104A?

All I can find are the Stanley C-2 & MB seats.

Larry

[72modeler]

That's a very nice zipper, Giorgio! Molto  bello! Bet @RidgeRunner will like it, too!

Mike 

[Giorgio N]

10 hours ago, 72modeler said:

That's a very nice zipper, Giorgio! Molto  bello! Bet @RidgeRunner will like it, too!

Mike 

 

Thanks Mike ! This model was built for a previous STGB dedicated to the Starfighter so if interested there's more pics in the build thread. I often use pictures of this model as an example of the results that can be achieved, even by an average modeller like me, with Vallejo's metal colour.

 

19 hours ago, ReccePhreak said:

One more question - does anybody make an aftermarket ejection seat for the F-104A?

All I can find are the Stanley C-2 & MB seats.

Larry

 

Not sure there's any earlier seat in 1/48 scale, there's a C-1 in 1/32 from CMK (aimed at the Italeri kit) but nothing I can remember in other scales

[Jens]

19 hours ago, ReccePhreak said:

One more question - does anybody make an aftermarket ejection seat for the F-104A?

All I can find are the Stanley C-2 & MB seats.

Larry

 

Cutting Edge released a C-1 seat many years ago. Good luck finding it though.

 

Jens

[ReccePhreak]

Thanks @Giorgio N & @Jens for your responses. Since I am converting my model to a proposed RF-104A, I will probably stick with a C-2 seat.

Of course, as SLOOOOOOOW as I build, maybe I will find one of the Cutting Edge seats in the meantime. 

Larry