1/48 F-104J construction

Stephan Ryll
Í'll take a seat 🙂

Katya Hodgson
Speaking of seats, I finished the cockpit and fitted it in. 🙂

Augie
I'll be watching this one too

Jos Jansen
Always fun to see a build of an One-O-Four...Iam in 👍

Katya Hodgson
Nice to have you here!

The wings are not glued on yet as I need to paint them seperately, but here's the basic outline of the aircraft!

I showed my mum, and she asked "where is the rest of the wings?"...

Augie
Well they did call it the manned missile.. amongst many other not as complimentary things

Augie
Hehe yeah hence one nickname the "Lawn dart"

Katya Hodgson
Interestingly the JASDF (who used this F-104J I am building currently) were very fond of the F-104, and gave it the nickname "Eiko" meaning "Glory".

If I had to guess, i'd say it's because unlike Canada and Germany (where the nickname "Widowmaker" came from) they used it as a pure interceptor, rather than trying to do ground attack with it. 🙂

Augie
Very true, probably helped.

Katya Hodgson
Almost at the painting point now, glad I have all these Eduard masks to help out!

I should probably try and fill some of the cracks first though... yaaaay.

Katya Hodgson
The canopy is masked and fitted, and I have begun using perfect plastic putty (amazing stuff!) to fill the gaps. 🙂

Katya Hodgson
Ready for painting!

Katya Hodgson
Been painting the F-104! The wings, wheels, wing tanks, and engine nozzle are all painted, and I have primed the main aircraft black in preparation for the metallic aluminium paint. ^-^

Donald Dickson II
Looking good! I have this one in my stash.

Katya Hodgson
It's been a pretty good build other than a few cracks to fill and the canopy not fitting quite right. I only hope I can manage the painting and the decals now...

Patrick Hagelstein
That's some quick building Katya! Your builds just keep popping up here! 🙂 Nice Widow-maker! 👍

Katya Hodgson
Eiko if you please, this is a JASDF F-104J after all, we don't have any crazy pilots using it for ground attack.😉

Patrick Hagelstein
The Germans called it the Widow-maker after the amount of crashes it had in the early days of operating the type.

Katya Hodgson
And the Japanese called it the "Eiko" (Glory) because of its excellent performance as an interceptor. 🙂

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 The Japanese probably read the instructions before flying them! 😉 The Dutch used the Starfighter as well but IIRC we didn't have as high of a loss rate as the Germans had.

Katya Hodgson
To be honest it's the Americans fault for advertising them as a multi-role aircraft, which resulted in the Germans and Canadians trying to use them for CAS...

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 You got a point there...

Donald Dickson II
I think it was more a thing of the need for interceptor only AC went way down with the advent of the ICBM and its wide usage. Just as the B-58 ended up being retired due to SAMS. It became outmoded even though they tried using it as a low level bomber. The 104 actually didnt do bad once they figured it out. Just there was a bad learning curve with it.

Katya Hodgson
F-104J was exclusively an interceptor, built especially for Japan. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Yeah, they hung onto the interceptor only concept for longer than most. Its still not a bad idea IMO as bombers ARE still an issue. But not enough to justify that cost I guess.

Katya Hodgson
I'll try my best with the metal finish, can't promise anything spectacular though.

Katya Hodgson
Vallejo metallic aluminium. Who likes shiny things? ^~^

Holger Kranich
Oh Vallejo paint NMF? Looking really nice, Katya!

Katya Hodgson
Thanks! Vallejo is REALLY nice to airbrush, so it's mostly what I use nowadays. I got a set specifically for doing cold war era NMF aircraft, with lots of different shades, so combined with the Eduard masks I bought, hopefully I can replicate the different coloured parts.

Germen V
nice progress

Katya Hodgson
Been working with the Eduard masks to try and get the different coloured parts painted, once I get back from work i'll paint the black anti-glare strip along the nose.

Germen V
May I suggest to paint the nose cone in a similar than the aluminium, but a little lighter grey first, an play with different shades of alu and metal on various panels before going for the anti glare directly, it will give a little extra to your model

Katya Hodgson
The nose cone is supposed to be white-grey, with the black anti-glare strip along the top. I painted the nose but have yet to paint the strip.

Katya Hodgson
Progress update, i'm pretty sure all this masking tape is slowly pulling the skin off my fingers...

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 As long as it isn't pulling metal paint off your good. 😉

Katya Hodgson
Well, it's Vallejo paint, the stuff dries ridiculously fast, so no problems like that. 🙂

Katya Hodgson
And at long last, I finished the painting! Look at all the tape...

Anyway, next it'll need first clear coat, and then onto the decals!

Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Katya 🙂 did you put some weight to the nose cone? Or is this kit no tailsitter?

Katya Hodgson
Underside, and gloss coat done. Once this dries it's... decal time.

Also only just realised one of the wheels is slightly crooked, but too late to fix it now. 🙁

But no Stephan, no weight in the nose required, it sits just fine on the gear. 🙂

Patrick Hagelstein
Looks really good Katya! I like the different colored panels!

Katya Hodgson
Thank you! ^-^

Just managed the underside decals, moving onto the top side now.

Donald Dickson II
I am thinking this is gonna be one of your best. Very much liking it.

Markus Antonius
nice to see your progress in building models and getting better and better every time!

Katya Hodgson
Many hours and sticky fingers later...

Every last decal is on!

Now to leave them to dry overnight, and spray the final clear coat tomorrow.

Why do newer aircraft have so many markings... ; ~ ;

Calvin Gifford
Be still my heart! An absolute stunner of a Starfighter!! Splendid - the F-104 is also my all-time favorite jet! ^_^

Katya Hodgson
New shelves are not up yet, so i'll have to shuffle my current models around a bit to make room for this.

And I know it's irrational (the F-80 for example was fine) but I have this lingering fear in the back of my mind that when I try and spray the clear coat to seal the decals they will all blow off...

Patrick Hagelstein
Are you using a rattle can for the clear coat? Spraying it using your airbrush should work just fine! Did you use any decal softener while applying the decals? If so, the decals formed themselves after the nooks and crannies on the model itself and have a decent tooth to hold on. Should all be right... 🙂

Katya Hodgson
I used an airbrush of course, the only time I ever tried a rattlecan for clear was back when I used to brush paint enamel, and it ended very badly. I spray Pledge floor gloss through my airbrush nowadays.

I did use Humbrol decal solution on them, and i'm happy to say they all stayed on just fine, and I already uploaded an album of the finished model. 🙂

Patrick Hagelstein
👍

Patrick Hagelstein
Nice brilliant red on those tanks!

Katya Hodgson
Thanks, the red seems to be one of the best of the Vallejo paints I have used. 🙂