Finished: Italeri 1/72 QF-104A: ex-century fighters GB

[Angus Tura]

Hello.

 

I really, really hate not completing a KUTA build! There is something particularly self-loathing-inducing about it.

 

So, I thought: " I won't post till its finished". I just read Enzo's KUTA rules, however, and he says all the usual rules, except 25% apply. So, I had better have a couple of in-progress posts.

 

This is the Italeri re-box of the Esci 1/72 F-104A/C.  The blighter was not finished in the Century Fighters GB largely because I ran out of Mr.Color red dayglo paint. I got this far in September:

 

 

Here are the masks off:

 

 

You can see that the white undercoat is exposed around the canopy. I did spray around there with the red before starting the white, but clearly not enough. I had not appreciated just how much dayglo red I'd need to get a nice solid colour: hence running out of paint. The masks also pulled off some of the canopy seals on the mid- and rear-sections. They've been retouched with Mr.Color by brush. I did not enjoy, and previously have not enjoyed, brush painting Mr.Color.

 

I also messed up the masking of the starboard side of the fin where the red meets the natural metal:

 

 

This is repaired with a strip cut from white decal sprayed, many, many times, as Lady Celia Volestrangler would say, with dayglo red. 

 

Here I've re-masked the canopy and sprayed the dielectric panel on the spine and the antidazzle panel:

 

 

Then the airbrake and landing gear interiors masked off and sprayed Tamiya metallic grey XF-56. The landing gear itself is the same.

 

 

The fuel tanks are Alclad II duraluminum but needed more coats than here. They also needed a lot of gloss varnish to be decal-able.

 

Here are all the major markings on after a couple of coats of Mr.Color gloss clear:

 

 

I've used the kit stars and bars as they have the fuselage lights printed on. They're a wee bit transparent but not too bad. The lettering is all from the Carpena sheet. Notwithstanding its age, they worked beautifully and are very opaque.

 

I've had problems in the past with silvering of decals applied on top of seemingly very glossy decals. So, the major markings were varnished again before all the other decals went on. Sorry this picture's a bit blurred:

 

 

The stencils are all from the kit. They're a bit high-contrast, especially on the red. The white stripe is Carpena and it did break up while going on but, touched-up with white paint is looks OK.

 

Here is my current state of play:

 

 

Apart from the natural metal tail and the canopy it's had a couple of coats of misted-on Mr.Color semi-gloss varnish.

 

Nearly there. See you shortly.

 

Alan

[Adm Lord De Univers]

Gorgeous plane and it has come out rather drop dead gorgeous too (the cockpit detailing looks exquisite). I would've put the house on saying those decals were brand new, they've come out that well.

 

David

[Angus Tura]

On 12/12/2022 at 7:29 AM, Adm Lord De Univers said:

Gorgeous plane and it has come out rather drop dead gorgeous too (the cockpit detailing looks exquisite). I would've put the house on saying those decals were brand new, they've come out that well.

 

David

 

Hmm, David! Thanks very much but I'm here to tell you that apart from painting the seat carefully and adding lap-belts, and a firing handle, there isn't any cockpit detail.

 

 

I should say too that you can't see any of the seat through the canopy, open-canopy not being an option, and my wanting to do this OOTB.

 

Before doing last bits and pieces I thought I'd stick on the mainwheel legs so that they were really well set. 

 

 

Three mancunian coasters plus 1.5mm under each wingtip and a bit of 1/4" bass wood make the perfect jig. Then I had a nasty attack of the AMS: after much polishing the canopy still had two marks on it. One is, I'm sure, in the substance of the plastic. The other I thought was a tide mark following previous sanding and washing bouts.

 

 

I thought I could wash this out with some water in the cockpit, followed by extremely protracted drying with Mrs.Tura's hair dryer. This lead to days of worry and minor damage and when eventually I got it dry again...the tidemark is exactly the same.

During this misadventure I managed to drop the plane on its nose,

 

 

It's not quite true at this point but has been straightened up with black Mr.Surfacer.

 

I had painted the chrome on the shock cones, intake lips and leading edge of fin with AK superchrome. This stuff is great:

 

 

 

These were undercoated with black gloss Mr.Color before the chrome but you really don't need an undercoat with this stuff. Unfortunately it's very fragile. After all the washing and repairing it wasn't chrome-y at all. I experimented with a top coat of Gauzy.

 

 

This is a plastic tube after black gloss, the superchrome ink and a single pass of gauzy above and below. Then a single swipe with the finger and as you can see, the gauzy bits are good but the ungauzy bit is not good. So, the model is done with the ink followed by a single pass of Gauzy. It does make the chrome ever so slighty less shiny, but probably more realistic.

 

 

After all that lot it's nearly there. The last thing was a little aerial for the radio-control on the spine behind the cockpit. Here it is ready for final assembly:

 

 

Thanks for looking and see you shortly.

 

Alan

[Jinxman]

The chrome looks very good - I'll be giving that a go for sure.

[Bobby No Mac]

I'm not a huge fan of the F-104, but that's a cracking scheme. Great work 

 

I'm going to go away now and quietly revise my heathen opinions 

[Adm Lord De Univers]

On 29/12/2022 at 22:18, Angus Tura said:

there isn't any cockpit detail.

 

Ah ha! The last photo in the post above seemed to show some rather convincing cockpit detail when zoomed in, but...

 

On 29/12/2022 at 22:18, Angus Tura said:

 

I guess it's just a decal? Looked very convincing to my Mk.i peepers, especially when a bit further away.

 

I either case, that seat is quite exquisitely painted, and that superchrome...well,🤤

 

David

[Angus Tura]

On 12/30/2022 at 2:38 PM, Jinxman said:

The chrome looks very good - I'll be giving that a go for sure.

 

It does look very good but, even under the varnish layer it's awfully fragile. It is very easy to apply but I've resprayed it a few times now. Partly clumsiness in final construction, but Alclad II chrome over a black enamel base is maybe easier in the long run.

 

On 1/2/2023 at 2:44 PM, Adm Lord De Univers said:

I guess it's just a decal?

 

Yup, and not a very fine one at that. It's enough through that canopy.

 

On 12/31/2022 at 9:41 AM, Bobby No Mac said:

I'm going to go away now and quietly revise my heathen opinions 

 

As Samuel Johnson said, I think, when you're tired of Lockheed QF-104As, you're tired of life.

 

Here it is all done. I'll try to get some better piccies together for the gallery.

 

 

Thanks so much for the GB(s), @Dansk, @modelling minion & @Enzo the Magnificent. Thanks @modelling minion for encouragement which certainly helped me get this done.

 

Have I enjoyed this kit?...

 

 

...roll on Recce and Scouting GB 25/2/23.

 

Alan

[modelling minion]

Very well done for sticking with this one and getting it finished Alan, she looks absolutely superb, she should be very proud of how it turned out.

That chrome finish is really nice, will have to look out for some of that.
I definitely need one of these in my collection!

Thanks for having taken part in the GB and for sticking with the build and very well done.👍

 

🇺🇦

[Col.]

Lovely result Alan