F-104J - Austrian Flag over Japan - spec

Slavo Hazucha
So here we go - all finished - Armed with nothing but skill, courage and a flamboyant color pattern (OK, possibly an M-61 too... 🙂 ) - the Japanese glory boldly rises to the skies to make any adversary re-think his intentions..!

This was really a lovely build - the Hasegawa kit in the Eduard box did everything I could ask for without any fuss whatsoever, I will need to check if my filler has not dried out in the meantime... Great kit, great fun - gave me a lot of opportunities to experiment with oils, inks & metal - what more could one ask for 🙂 - hope you enjoy, thanks for making it thus far!

And special thanks to PaloM for organizing this as a B-day present! 👍

Got to go, there´s some MiG´s gathering on the horizon!!!

Antoine Meylan
Magnifique Slavo. Comme toujours!!

Daniel Klink
What a beauty!! Wow Slavo that is truly metalizing fascination, looking at your result 👍
All hats off 👍

bughunter
Awesome model 👍
But our little Asian friends should have taken care of their manned missile a little bit!

Christian Kohl
Well done, Slavo! Nice Job!!

Nathan Dempsey
Another work of art and great inspiration Slavo! What a cool birthday present.

Daniel Mysak
Very nice result, especially the engine section.👍

Bernhard Schrock
Eine bemannte Rakete der GANZ besonderen Art. Dasch ischt der Hammr!
Der Trägerfilm ist komplett weg... Hast Du irgendwelche besonderen Tricks und Klimmzüge gemacht?

Mike Grant
Perfect 👍

Robin (WhiteGlint)
She's a real beauty, Slavo. Great work!

Alexander
Looks incredible, truly inspiring - this really looks like a realistically used war machine. Awesome! 👍

@Bernhard Schrock
Wenn du den Decalfilm meinst, den sieht man recht deutlich wenn man ganz genau hinschaut. Aber ja, dass er sich komplett in die Gravuren legt habe ich bei meinem letzten Modell zumindest nicht erlebt. Abgesehen von einer glänzend glatten Oberfläche würde ich sagen hängt es eher von den Decals selbst ab, auf die Eduard wohl sehr Wert legt. Womöglich auch einiges an Setting-Solution oder so.

Casey Rupley
Fantastic metal work and weathering. Amazing job!

Lochsa River
Simply beautiful

Palo M
Beautiful. Congrats to a well finished build!

James C
Fantastic finish Slavo. It's a real feast for the eyes! 👍👍👍
From the paint work, to the bare metal panels, and on to the heat stressed rear end... it all looks perfect! That's not even considering the detail work you did to the cockpit interior and wheel bays etc.

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Roland (the most trigger happy Maverick around! 😄), Antoine, Daniel, Frank, Christian, Nathan, Daniel, Bernhard, Mike, WhiteGlint, Alexander, Casey, Lochsa & Palo!

I'm happy it's done & you like it, I really felt the pull to finish it this WE...

bughunter there is an unwritten deal with most air-forces that they leave at least one machine in a sub-par maintenance state so people like me have an alibi!😉

Bernhard & Alexander - die Decals habe ich direkt auf die MRP Farben gesetzt, auf Mr Mark Setter und dann cca. 2 Stunden alle 15 minuten mit Mr Mark Softer gestrichen. Nach dem trocknen Gloss- (auf Metall) und Semi-Gloss (auf Rot und Weiss) drüber. Ich war etwas skeptisch, Print war super, aber ganz dünn war der Film nicht (Furball & Begemot waren hier besser). Auf Metall ging das Meiste gut, auf den weissen Flügeln sieht man die Erhebung und Rand am deutlichsten. An manchen Stellen habe ich extra die übergänge mit Ölfarben nachbehandelt, das hat auch noch geholfen!

Spanjaard
excellent Slavo. amazing job.

Clifford Keesler
Another masterpiece from the Master. Very well done sir. Congrats.

Neuling
I agree with Clifford. Awesome degree of attention for details and color shades.

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Spanjaard, Clifford & Neuling - this one was really a pleasure - 90% of the things that needed to be done were things I genuinely like to work on 🙂

I know the JSDAF would frown and discharge me without honors for presenting such a degree of non-maintenance - I intend apply for revision at some point with a nice blue F2...

PS: the two fingerprints I found in the photos were in the meantime dealt with - I was in a hurry to finish on Sunday, oil was not dry enough - easy fix with a cotton swab... How good to make photos of one´s work, I discover most topics to fix in pictures these days 😄

Palo M
Slavo, I thought the order is reversed - put decals on Mr Mark Softer, then after the liquid is gone from under the decal, put on a layer of Mr Mark Setter.

Slavo Hazucha
Maybe I messed it up in the text... white stuff on the model first, clear stuff on the decal once it is on... At least that's what I was doing & this is the result... 😄

+ still not really sure if Tamiya all-in-one Markfit Strong does not do an equal/better job...

Soeren R.
Fantastic result.
I really love the metallic surface of the exhaust!

Erik
Great job!

Sergej I
Beautiful... amazing... thank you for sharing.

Agustin Prellezo
Awesome!

Palo M
According to Mr. Hobby:
Mr Mark Softer (transparent) goes under the decal, so it better conforms (stretches) to uneven surfaces:
mr-hobby.com/en/itemDetail.php?iId=214

Mr Mark Setter comes later, over the decal. This is the white liquid with a distinct smell. They call it an adhesive, its purpose is to reduce silvering:
mr-hobby.com/en/itemDetail.php?iId=215

Slavo Hazucha
Thank you very much Soeren, Erik, Sergej, Augustin! Happy you like it... I tried to imagine a bare metal F-104 long in service, standing a lot in the Japanese rain torrents, the red-white sections coming on later, then standing in the rain some more...😉

Palo you are right!! 😄 But as you surely know, for a plane from the Far East, I applied the wisdom of Sun Tzu...:

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win"😉

But seriously, I should really stick to one bottle when there is no real need for two... 😄

Erik Leijdens
Outstanding work Slavo!!

Chris Church
Very well done!

Eelco Gregoire
Phantastic result Slavo!

Michael Phillips
Absolutely stunning Slavo! The perfectly worn and stressed metal against the red and white make for a very striking model, and your skill and craftsmanship have turned it into a downright masterpiece, and in record time no less!

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Erik, Chris, Eelco and Michael - proud to have you on board!

Erik on so many steps, like the LG wells & legs, I was thinking "If I had to do this 3 more times..." 😄

Michael thanks a lot mate, you know I cannot say no to a piece of Metallic surface + in terms of size, the F-104 is on the verge of being a slightly larger piece of ordnance compared to a Flanker... 🙂 So things went fast, when there are no issues and all turns out as it should... Something not to be repeated on my upcoming project for sure!!

Phil M
stunning painting!

Bryn Crandell
Another stunning build from the Master!

Daniel
Seriously stunning and built in no time 😮 impressive how the decals integrate into the metal finish! It also has this certain heavy metal Soviet/ mig 21ish feel to it, which also looks really cool on a 104 (+which is kind of your trademark I guess^^) Top job slavo, must look really cool on the shelf 👍

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Phil, Bryn & Daniel, happy you like it gentlemen!

Daniel it just went... no problems, no extensive scratch works needed... 🙂 And the simple term is "over-weathered", of which I am aware, but I found the whole thing too nice to go boring... but thanks for your positive & diplomatic description 😄

Clifford Keesler
I think I already told you Amazing and well done, but just in case I will say it again. Amazing and well done Sir.

Maciej Bellos
No words, no words at all. A beautiful result. There are a lot of JASDF birds, fantastic and exquisite, but even those rather simple ones are quite interesting, let alone in the hands of Slavo-san. WELL DONE!!!

Michael Hickey
What an outstanding job you have done, love the weathering.👍👍👍

Jasper Breur
A masterclass in weathering, absolutely breathtaking!

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks a lot Clifford, Maciej, Michael & Jasper! - Very happy to get such feedbacks from you who all can more than stand your ground in this hobby 👍

Clifford now I really want to do a MiG-21 at some point - even more options to wear & torture the metal surfaces and most of them fully legitimate 🙂

Maciej I agree - particularly the JASDF Aggressors, blue F-2S as well as all kinds of special and commemorative liveries really leave no wishes open... only problem is (for me) that they mostly come in pristine condition... 😄

Christian Kohl
Nice execution by a Japanese `` widowmaker ''. The paintwork is great and very realistic. It's nice to see that this great hobby is seriously pursued by many like-minded people! I'm thrilled, Slavo 😉

Maciej Bellos
My name being followed by this sentence "Very happy to get such feedbacks from you who all can more than stand your ground in this hobby" just makes me want to thank you. I'm honored by this!

Yes those F-2s are pretty clean. Even those that got hit by the tsunami got cleaned up and flew. They are starkingly different to most F-16s around the globe, with the greek Block 52+ being the Queens of grime and slime. For example:

[img1]

They are supposingly sporting this camo...:

[img1]

Patrick Hagelstein
Sweet! 🙂

Konrad -
Really nice Slavo!!
Congrats to this beautiful rollout 👍!

Dominik Weitzer
a w e s o m e !!!

Augie
Wow Slavo.. just awsome m8

Jos Jansen
Did I mention this is one of your better builds ?! Amazing Slavo...you're a true modeling master mate 👍.

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Christian, Maciej, Patrick, Konrad, Dominik, Augie & Jos!

@Christian - sorry to be so late - very happy to be called "likely minded" by the maker of such formidable big-scale machines and some very cool loking shaded finishes😉

@Maciej - a Block 52+ F-16 is very tempting indeed - I have a soft spot for 4th-gen modernizations which change the original´s shape and create "ugly ducklings" like this or the MiG-29 SMP...

@Jos - bud, I´m just a careful follower & interpreter of what I see the "big one´s" do😉 But this model was so far my happiest start-to-finish run, always bringing a smile to my face...

Christian Bruer
A feast for the eyes. Wonderful paintwork and colour modulation 👍

Clifford Keesler
Just amazing as always Slavo, well done sir. Nice to see you back.

Daniel Klink
Sir you have infected me with this one Slavo!
Ordered the 1/72 Hasegawa and for the first time i will do a post war japanese Aircraft.

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Christian, Clifford & Daniel - I was dusting-off my collection today, most parts are still as per picture 🙂 This was a really pleasant build, I'm sure I'll re-visit the 104 at some time again!