Lockheed F104G Starfighter, Italeri, 1/72
So much has already been said about this iconic aircraft and recently Spiros @fiveten wrote a nice article while presenting his Starfighter in Greek livery.
This build is part of the triple build by George @gblair, Spiros @fiveten and myself after receiving this wonderful kit from George as an early Christmas present. I have to admit that this was one of the best present I ever got. Thanks again for that George.
Each of us would build it in the livery of the country where we live. So for a Dutch livery I had the option to go for entirely grey or the green/grey splinter camouflage scheme. Since I grew up and had a lot of fantastic memories of the grey/green Starfighter period, I chose that option. I did build it as aircraft D6654 serving 322nd squadron in 1981.
Even though the kit is a little spartan, it gives you a lot of possibilities to do some upgrades. In my case I added brake wires to the main landing gear and opened the air brakes.
One of the most time consuming activities was applying small decal pieces to create the red rings on the pitot tubes.
It was great to be part of this triple build and I loved the idea of George.
The F104G now proudly joins his recently finished successor, the F16.
The triple build, in the mean time extended with some other amazing builds, can be found here:
https://imodeler.com/groups/work-in-progress-aircraft/forum/topic/lockheed-f-104-starfighter-a-triple-plus-build/
Thanks to George for initiating this group build and to all others taking part in the discussions during the build.
Fantastic result, John! An awesome Starfighter! It was a pure pleasure and, as always, an honor, to build together with you and George.
Congratulations!
@fiveten, thanks a lot, Spiros. It definitely was a wonderful initiative to build this way.
NATO F-104s are the rock stars of this modeling site. Great addition to the mix, John!
@bobd56az, thank you very much, Bob. Watching all those various 104s visiting Volkel airbase was a wonderful period.
Really nice John
@blackadder57, thanks a lot, George.
Well Done!
I was admiring the sit of the landing gear in view of the rear and then I saw the photo of the part and had an "ah ha" moment. You did well with the pitot tube too.
@jsummerford, thank you, John. At first I tried to paint the red rings, but with my far from steady hands, the result was terrible. The decal strips gave a much better result.
Very nicely done and a great looking paint scheme.
@slyle, thank you, Scott
Great result, John @johnb. That falcon tail art is a nice touch. Enjoyed following you guys’ Starfighter GB. A couple of weeks ago I spent a good amount of time crawling around NASA’s recently retired research TF-104G that’s parked at the tiny Moffett Field Air Museum in Mt View, California, I can assure you that you dialed in your Starfighter perfectly.
@eb801, thanks a lot, Eric. You must have had a great day out at the Moffett Air Museum.
You did a really nice job on your 104, John (@johnb). It was a real pleasure to build the same kit with you and Spiros, and it was really neat to see how we all approached the builds using different ideas and techniques. Looking forward to doing it again at the end of the year.
@gblair, thank you, George. Especially for this wonderful idea and sending those great kits to us. Let's see what Santa comes up with this year, definitely looking forward to that already.
That turned out great, John. It was fun watching you guys build these.
@j-healy, thank you, John. Glad you like it.
An excellent realisation of the prototype John (@johnb). Great modelling all round.
@christopher, thank you, Christopher.
John (@johnb), you can see from the model that a lot of thought, discipline and time went into making this Star fighter. A very readable blog with the three Amigos and company made for a entertaining and fun blog. Love the photos of your article with the F-16 for size reference, along with the photos of Dutch 104s too. A successful build, article and a joy to rub elbows with three fellow modelers who enjoy the hobby.
@stephen-w-towle, thanks a lot, Stephen. It was indeed an enjoyable build.
The ESCI/AMT/Italeri F-104 is underrated. Out of the AMT box, almost any single-seat Zipper can be built. It is a favorite of mine and I only have 2-3 different Air Forces to build and I will have a Zipper from every AF which flew them.
I met an ex-RCAF Zipper pilot who said it was not a dogfighter. One time he was jumped by a West German F-4F and had to lower the flaps and leading edge slats to fool the airplane into thinking it had a wing!
If you like the Zipper by the book "Starfighter" which chronicles the F-104 in Canadian service.
nice job.
Bruce
@rbrucearcher, thank you, Bruce. Would love to see your collection of Starfighters in all those different liveries.
Looks great but one small critic, i think the wing pylon might be upside down. Maybe it`s just me but keep up the great work.
@planefreek, thank you, Mike. I'm ashamed after reading your critic, you are fully right, for some reason I seemed to have mounted those pylons upside down. Luckily this can be corrected easily. Thanks for mentioning.
Nice addition to your group build, John.
@chinesegeorge, thanks a lot, George.
Nicely done John. This is a great looking Starfighter!
@v1pro, thank you, Bob. Really appreciated.
Your work is top notch as always.
This F-104G is no exception to the rule!
Lovely scheme too.
Living close to Volkel you must have fond memories of these Zippers and especially their howling sound.
@alfred, thanks a lot, Alfred. I spent lots of hours close to the base watching them. Those were definitely fantastic years.
Very nicely done. You nailed it on this one.
@russjurco, thank you, Russell. Glad you like it.
Excellent job on an iconic jet fighter. I share your memories of seeing them zoom around in these colors.
@jaybiga, thank you, Jay. Memories which will last forever.
Great work! The airbrake work really adds to the build. I don't have as much patience as you for those stripe decals - I just default to painting!
@gkittinger, thanks a lot, Greg. I tried painting but the result was that bad, it had to be done in a different way. My hands are simply not steady enough.
Beautiful Starfighter, the Dutch camouflage really suits it.
@milantesar, thank you, Milan.
Looks impressive.
@lis, thanks a lot, Bernard
G’day John (@johnb),
What a great build.
I was lucky enough to see an F-104 in the flesh at the Italian Air Force museum on Christmas Eve in 2017.
My family and I almost had the place to ourselves.
It must have been great to live so close to an airfield when you were young. I would love to see an F-104 in flight one day.
Liked!
@michaelt, thank you, Michael. That Italian museum is definitely worth visiting. Going to consult my family when we will have a holiday there
. The last time I saw a flying F104 was a couple of years ago, it was the Danish two-seater.
Beautiful!
@dapo68, thanks a lot, Davide
Another great looking Starfighter, John. Well done!
@gwskat, thank you, Gary.
Beautiful work John!
@butchbryan, thanks a lot.
Coming late to the party, so there is little else to say - it is a fantastic for this kit and scale, as the comments above indicate.
@marcellorosa1, never too late to join the party, Marcello. Thanks a lot for your compliment.