Spiros, @fiveten
Just asked my South Korean colleague.
He recognizes the language indeed as Korean, although upside down.
It means Academy Science according my colleague.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Masked, painted gray, unmasked and Futured:

Does not look that bad.

I am a tad indecisive as to use the second pair of wing tanks too, apart from the tiptanks...

It is true that the second pair was worn very often, in order to provide that so necessary extra range for the recce missions (among others). It is kind of personal that MAYBE the looks with the 4 tanks are a tad departing from the so characteristic Starfighter stiletto looks...

Also, my very young godson ordered me not to permanently glue it on its base, but "TAC" it, as he wants to commence missions around his house with it and, although he IS careful, the second pair of tanks hanging under the wing might be on the fragile side, let alone the fact that it will be difficult from him to insert his fingers, in order to firmly hold it during his missions.

So, maybe I will leave only the wing pylons sans the extra tanks, only tiptanks?

Decisions, decisions...

Well done, Spiros @fiveten.
Personally I would also go for only the tip tanks.
Like you said, in that case it will keep the looks of the 104.
And it makes it indeed more robust for the upcoming missions.

Too late to take part in the "vote" I guess, but I do agree that tips only sounds like the way to go here.

Spiros, @fiveten
I just finished reading this build journal from the very beginning to where it is now. You have made some wonderful progress with this jet model. I am sure that it will see many hours of "flight time" soon. I am also sure that it will bring many smiles... Miles of smiles in fact.

As far as the deletion of the wing tanks, I think it was a wise decision to go as you have. It will look more like the original version of the sleek F-104.

Speaking of them... I have seen a pair of these jets flying low and fast over our tanks when we were in Germany. Shortly after they disappeared another set of Luftwaffe F-4 Phantoms appeared from no where. These planes made just one pass... Low and fast, never to be seen again by us. It was a very impressive sight to see (and hear). I'm not sure about which nation was flying the F-104, as we were all participating in a multi national simulated "War Game" exercise at the time. The F-4's were definitely Luftwaffe planes. I remember seeing the markings to this very day. The Luftwaffe F-4's were camouflaged in the same gray and green colors that were used on the Academy F-104 box art.

I commend you for this build. It comes from the soul.

Decalling!

I applied the kit supplied decals, which behaved well, by the way, no "Academy" issues whatsoever.

Their registration was off, being mostly noticeable at the white borders of the black crosses and codes.

Nevertheless, i used them and here is the result:

The intake lips and shock cones were painted black, still needing some correction.

I found a quite nice pilot in my spares; here he is, in the process of painting...

Thanks for stopping by!

Beautifully done, Spiros
Your godson will be very proud when receiving his gift.