Italerie F-104G BAF
bad fitting pit 1
bad fitting pit 2
A lot of sanding to get it to fit
fitted the pit, with lots of sanding to get it in there
intakes painted black inside and used plastic putty (glue mixed with plasticard) to fill the gaps
aded some weight just to be shure it will not be a tailsitter
fit is not that good, should have taken better care while test fitting
The finished seat
It just slides in. No glue required.
Comments
2 31 December 2015, 10:03
Eric JuvynsIt has been a difficult process, but i finally got some paint on the beast.
14 February 2016, 10:23
Christian RistitsOh yes, it looks fantastic! Sorry to hear that the kit isnt as good as it seems, but yours looks so good, so I am eager to see more of it!
14 February 2016, 10:58
Eric JuvynsThx guys. The next big step are the decals. And there are a lot of them. Not really looking forward to this part to be honest.
15 February 2016, 15:51
Bart Goesaertyou can only do one at a time, and eventually, it will go faster then you think...
15 February 2016, 15:58
Holger KranichHey Eric, do you have the same problems with the panellines on the spine? Right side is crisp but left side is washed out?
Nice build and a lovely camo!
1 April 2016, 08:38
Eric JuvynsThx everyone.
Holger, in my opinion the whole kit has problematic panel lines. But the ones on the spine are the worst. In my kit there wasn't a big difference between the left and right side. I had to put super glue all over the spine so i could rescribe all those panels. Not my favorite part, but a necessary one.
1 April 2016, 12:09
Holger KranichEric, i had to rescribe the spine too and some eduard pe helped me to camouflage it... Its not a bad kit at all but a bit expensive, though. And the pe from the kit is more a chunk of steel😢
1 April 2016, 12:46
Clifford KeeslerI bought the Eduard PE set for mine,after looking at the kit supplied PE which did not impress me much. I also gave up and bought a resin seat and wheels. Now if I ever build the darn thing. LOL.
1 April 2016, 19:35
Eric JuvynsThe decals are on. Took me the whole weekend to put them on. Next step is putting on a flat coat. Pics to follow.
I also bought resin wheels from Eduard which are much better than the kit wheels.
In this day and age it is a mystery to me why a big company like Italerie can't produce consistent panel lines. For me this kit is way overpriced. And this put me of from buying their new Mirage kit. Which is sad because the online reviews are mostly positive. But so were the Starfighter reviews. And when i got my kit i was really disappointing. So no Mirage for me i'm sad to say.
But to ease my pain i read last week that Kitty Hawk is coming out with a 1/32 Jaguar, whoohoo.
4 April 2016, 18:04
Germen VI totally agree with you Eric, how is it soimetimes possible that companies can mess up a new tooling and prices are rising like crazy. f.e. Sunday morning i was in Tienen on an event and i saw Kinetics Su-33, wich i adore, but at 75€, its all plastic no resin, no PE. That is a little pricy.
But the way; didyou use the kits decals or DACO's?
4 April 2016, 18:20
Eric JuvynsI used the DACO decals. Had some problems with them. Probably my own fault. But in the end it all worked out. I will find out after putting on the flat coat and washes if i resolved all the issues.
5 April 2016, 14:59
Eric JuvynsOkay, put on the flat coat and it doesn't look that bad. Still some flaws. But i can live with it. Temporarily installed the wingtip tanks with some blue-tac. And i put a wash on the wingtip taks to see how it would look. The white sheen you see on some pics is some residue from the flat coat which will disappear when i put on a wash. Still a lot of weathering ahead. So stay tuned.
5 April 2016, 19:04
Eric JuvynsTamia acryl FX-86 flat clear
Mercikes Jurgen. Zie ik u de 1ste mei in Helchteren??
5 April 2016, 19:15
Germen VOk, begrepen, ben blijkbaar niet de enige die problemen heeft met Tamiya Flat. Ik denk als je een laag iets te dik legt dan gaat die witte waas er niet snel genoeg uit. Ik gebruik altijd de flat van Vallejo.
Ok, i understand, i'm glad i'm not the only one with problems with Tamiya flat, i think that when you spray your coat a little to heavy the white 'steam' effect can't disapear and then you get white spots. I always use Vallejo Model Air flat
5 April 2016, 19:29
Eric JuvynsIk ben eigenlijk zeer tevreden met Tamiya flat. De witte waas is vooral zichtbaar op foto's. In het echt is het bijna niet te zien. En eens de wash aangebracht en de verdere weathering is er niets meer van te zien.
5 April 2016, 20:01
Christian RistitsSorry to hear that the kit has many weak points...anyway, your Starfighter will come out as a real masterpiece, I really like it!
6 April 2016, 05:19
Eric JuvynsYesterday a fellow scalemate pointed out to me that i made a mistake with some decals. And sure enough he was right. Apparently i switched the lion emblem (badge of Kleine Brogel air-base) on the tail. When you look at some previous pics you can see the mistake. The lion should fase forward. He was also kind enough to give a link to some very helpful pics of the real thing. Looking at those pics i also noticed that i put the Belgian flag on wrong on the right side of the tail. Although i technically wasn't wrong, but on the right side the flag is intentionally turned around so that on both sides the black part faces forward. Luckily i had some spare decals because i used the Daco sheet. And was abel to correct my mistake. Just need to clean the tail up a bit and put on a new coat of flat over the new decals. So thank you very much Guido for pointing this out to me.
Today i began constructing the Aires bang seat. Lovely seat but i do hate the fiddling around with the photo-etch. In the end it all worked out. After i put on some basic painting i can conform the seat-belts to the seat. Not looking forward to that part too because with my luck some will probably snap of while trying to bent them. A well, that's modeling i guess.
To be continued.
7 April 2016, 19:09
Germen VYes Eric, normally the nation flags always point with the imaginary flagpole to the front of the aircraft, some one pointed that out to me also om my 1/144 747 Pan Am. But it occures sometimes that when your airliner lets its aircraft repaint by idi.... There were some with the flags wrong.
7 April 2016, 19:16
Eric JuvynsI should build more Belgian aircraft. Can you believe this will be my first kit with Belgian emblems i will finish in 35 years of modelling? Being from Belgium is guess i'm not that patriotic. Although i'm an NCO in the Belgian army. Go figure.
7 April 2016, 19:21
Eric JuvynsSmall update. Finished the seat and installed it. The end is nearing.
18 April 2016, 08:49
Eric JuvynsSo i'ts finished. Better pics will be posted in a couple of days.
I entered this model in the Modelforce 16 contest this sunday.
Now... what will i build next?? The Tamiya F-15C or the Zoukai-Mura Skyraider?? Or maybe Trumpeters A-6A intruder?? So many kits, so little time.
26 April 2016, 17:41
Germen VDifficult to decide, 2 very big A/C's and one a little smaller. Can we vote?
Let's go downtown.
Youtube Video
26 April 2016, 18:47
Holger KranichGreat result Eric! Remarable paintjob though!
I would like to see a A-6 arising from your bench!👍
27 April 2016, 09:39
Eric JuvynsFinally got around taking some better pics now that it is finished. So on to the next project.
14 May 2016, 13:33
Spanjaardreally great result. i really like it and the cockpit is astonishing. it is a pity that Aires make such a good quality details, but the fit seems to be always a problem. you need to sand and adjust so much that they take for ever to fit properly....
11 February 2017, 14:46
Jay Mountain GoatHi Eric - Amazing 104..! My jaw is thoroughly dropped. Detail, paint finish and weathering are all remarkably nice.
14 February 2017, 13:07
Album info
I was a bit disappointed with this kit. The overal look and feel is good. But a lot of details en paneling are on the soft side and not consistent in with and depth. IMO it's to expensive for what you get.
The decal options on the other side are excellent with a lot of variation.
Let me say, the Aires pit is a beauty but doesn't fit at all. A lot of dry fitting and trimming is required to get it in there. Not impossible but a lot of work an a lot of things can go wrong. I got it in there but had to make some compromises along the way.
But that's what modelling is all about IMO.
