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F-104J/F-104DJ Starfighter - In Japan ++ FINISHED ++


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1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

I would struggle to choose which to pick though option C would be a certainty

 

Option C would be my choice for the single seater too, Craig. I am going to go with option E for the two seater.

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  • 2 months later...

I made a start on the F-104J earlier last week assembling the front and rear fuselage sections pretty quickly. I then had a look for photos of JASDF 104's and came across this photo of a preserved gate guardian and thought that would be a great way to display a model.

 

F-104J Gate Guardian

 

I had not inserted the main wheel bay at this point so I decided to leave the undercarriage out and close up the doors and see if I could knock up a display stand. Here is what I have cobbled together, the sizes are guesstimates based on the photo, but the angle of dangle and position on the base look about right, so whilst it may be over scale in some places, it should look OK once the wings and tanks are on.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

52320667339_5b072c6462_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have pushed on with the single seater over the past few days, when I finished the bulk of the painting. I then completed the decals over a couple of sessions and made some eyelets for the anchor cables. These were added to the base and the relevant locations on the airframe.

 

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by John L, on Flickr 

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The scratchbuilt stand for my fictitious gate guardian was fixed to a base that had been covered with some 2mm Spring Mix static grass.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Today I finished painting the final few details, then fixed the model to the base and completed the rigging a short while ago. I have no evidence that this airframe actually achieved gate guardian status, but having seen a photo of a single seater displayed in this manner I decided to challenge myself to try something different with this 1/144th scale build. Whilst the added details may not be to scale (the eyelets in particular) I am happy with the outcome.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

52356793817_5a9bdba358_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Time to make a start on the second item in this boxing - a twin seater. Hope that I can get it finished by next weekend.

 

That's all for now.

 

John

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What a cracking result John, you really have done an excellent job on this mate.

A really nice job on the painting and decals and the way you have displayed it on the wonderful plinth sets it off a treat.

Thanks for building it in the GB, I am really looking forward to seeing the two seater if you get time to build it.

 

🇺🇦

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On 14/09/2022 at 20:09, modelling minion said:

What a cracking result John, you really have done an excellent job on this mate.

A really nice job on the painting and decals and the way you have displayed it on the wonderful plinth sets it off a treat.

Thanks for building it in the GB, I am really looking forward to seeing the two seater if you get time to build it.

 

🇺🇦

 

On 14/09/2022 at 20:13, Bertie McBoatface said:

That base and the idea of using it, lift this model out of the ordinary. Well done.

 

Thanks for your comments chaps. After spraying the cockpit parts with a pale grey I pushed on with some assembly of the two seater today. Decals were added to the instrument panels and side consoles before glueing them in place followed by the control columns and the seats. The finished assembly was then glued into one half of the nose and some weight was glued into the gaps before the nose section was glued together to close in the cockpit tub.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

I had assembled the tail section earlier and when the nose assembly had set up I glued the two sections together.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

With the major assembly work done, I am going to leave things to harden up before I tidy it up, then I can start on the paint.

 

John

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Thanks a lot Craig. There were only a couple of slight gaps that needed attention, one at the base of the fin and the other along the strake on the underside, both run along the join line and were easily sealed with some Microscale Kristal Klear. I'll see how things look when get some primer on.

 

Cheers

John

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14 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I would be too, that has come up really well & look very effective posed in this way. 👍

Bring on the next one. :)

Steve.

 

Thanks Steve, glad that you like the first one. The second is well on the way but will be displayed in a more conventional way.

 

12 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:


I didn’t. I thought it was 1/72. Take that as a compliment John. 🙂

 

Cheers Bertie. The compliment is well recieved - for reference the small squares on my cutting mat are 0.5 ins.

 

1 hour ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

That’s Brilliant! You should be really proud of that, it’s a proper show stopper dude. 
Im definitely copying your homework :bandit:

 

 

Thanks good buddy. Copy away sir. :)

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20 hours ago, Dansk said:

great to see a two-seater in the gb. hope you can pull it off in time. looks great so far.

 

Thanks Paul. I have almost finished the painting, last job being the masking of the nose for the dark green that runs over the top of the nose and just under the canopy along the sides, a second coat of that colour along with the painting of the canopy, and some tiny areas of touch up, should see it done. I will have it finished before the deadline now.

 

John

 

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by John L, on Flickr

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