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Rick Schad
45 articles

1/32 Scale Italeri F-104 ASA-M Italian Air Force with real aluminum skin

June 14, 2020 · in Aviation · · 30 · 2.5K

Hi friends, here is the completed ASA with real aluminum skin. I am so glad to be done with F-104s for awhile! This kit is my second Starfighter and they are a good kit, but I added a lot of scratchbuilt details, including a scratch built tail section to make it an accurate ASA version. The took the most of time to do and it is a pain! I designed custom decals for this kit to make it exactly like the one that my customer flew in Italy. He also told me their planes were famous for being very dirty, and thats the way he wanted it. He supplied lots of pictures and good God their planes are filthy lol!

This kit took around 150 hours or more...I lost count!

Reader reactions:
9  Awesome

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30 responses

  1. Profile Photo
    said on June 14, 2020

    Very nice job , that is a lot of work but worth it in the end. ?

  2. Yes! Thank you very much!

  3. That is quite a beautiful model. I like how it turned out. Hope your customer will be happy with it.

  4. Great result for all that hard work. That NMF is quite a contrast to the polished to a mirror finish style and is very effective in Moho.

  5. What a beaut! Nice to see a NMF being all dirty. You did a very good job on this. The Italians had the good taste to strap some good size missiles to the sleek 104 making it look like a real fighter. Never saw AIM-9 and -7 combo though.

  6. I take it we can now unlock the door to the padded cell? You'll be on good behavior, yes? 🙂

    Not something I would ever attempt, but major props to you for not only attempting but achieving. Great work.

  7. Beautiful work Rick, she really looks the part. Your out come was worth the effort, and I assume your customer was delighted as well.

  8. Might just be the most realistically made dirty NMF I’ve seen, just how did you replicate thar worn and dirty look of the aluminium.? The detail in all the model is also exquisite, fantastic work allround. Your pilot friend must be delighted with “his” plane 🙂

    • Thanks Pedro! It’s actual metal so you must sand the metal so the effect will adhere to the metal. I used a number of things: washes, oils etc. then airbrush semigloss and mat finishes. It was a long process!

  9. All of the above, fantastic results! That J-79 looks great too.

  10. I'll agree with all the above comments and add that I built several F-104 several years ago in what they called "Race/Show" planes. I forgot where I found the real planes but I saved photo copies of each one. I just reviewed my "iModeler" list and discovered that I never posted any of my F-104 models. I'll start posting some of them soon.

    Anyways, you have a great looking "bare-metal" model. RJW!

  11. This is an awesome build, Rick. I have nothing bu admiration for someone who can put a metal skin on a model and make it look so good. When I first joined the Air Force in 1973, my first permanent assignment was at Luke AFB in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time, Luke was the training base for German F-104 pilots. Got to see a lot of Starfighters while I was there.

    • Thanks George! Real metal, is a pain in the rear lol! I’m former Air Force as well 1986-92. Never had the chance to see the 104 in person, but after building 2 back to back I’ve learned a lot about them!

  12. This is an unbelievable build, Rick.
    So many hours.
    But it really resulted in a fantastic Starfighter.

  13. FANTASTIC, well done.

  14. Wow - really came out well! All that elbow grease and tender-lovin'-care paid off!

  15. That’s a truly fantastic job, Rick!
    A well used NMF Starfighter cannot be depicted more realistically!
    Congratulations!

  16. That is some incredible detail, Rick. Love the landing gear bay and engine work with excellent weathering and shading!. I'm about 3/4 into a Kinetic 1/48 F-104 with free-hand airbrush camouflage schema, but your aluminum skin is awesome. Very impressive!

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