F`s are my favs

Hmm, interesting... I checked the "Flaschengrün" color and it really is some kind of a very dark green, but I don't see it on any of the pics... not even a single pic. Although the decal provided in the box is pure 100% black, I agree it is wrong and should be slightly off. For example in this pic - if the squared label and the USAF letters are black gloss, as they are in the decals, I believe the different hue of the glare shield is from the finish - probably matte or satin: Now that I'm thinking... is there a plausible explanation that because all these are old images were taken with old-school cameras, and the tech was not as good back then, and it couldn't capture the dark green color justly and that's why it makes it look, let's say, ''black matte''. I even checked the color from the image with the color picker tool in Photoshop/Paint, and it says it has very light hues from the yellow register. It didn't capture any shade of green. Crazy... I don't actually know how to proceed... I should research this glare shield topic a little bit more... Thank you Rainer for highlighting this.

Howdy & thx! Yeah, in the best case scenario I'm doing airframe 63-13265, which looks like this: It is flat black, no dount about it. Yet, I think we refer to the ''dark'' stripe infront/around of the canopy, and not the cowling of the main instrument panels, which I suppose could have been covered with something green at some point... but anyway I'm doing it with plain cockpit settings just as if it was ready to taxy/lift of/flying, with the pilot inside, etc.

Firstly thx! There are two types of discolarations I used - 1) is by rubbing just a little tiny bit of coarse polishing compound (after isolating the certain panels) and it basically leaves tiny little bits of darkened polished aluminum particles over the surface, which gives the darker look. Once covered with a lacuqer coat - I hope it weill seal it and it will stay like that. The trials proved that it works just fine. And 2) the darker most panels are a combo of standard metalizer Alclad Two paitns, then lacquered with a gloss coat.

The different real ''colors'' are done - discoloration of the darker panels, the black glare shield and intake lips, the wings in white, the radome in a ''kind of'' white, the canopy frame as close as possible to the NMF, ...and maybe that's it. Now - decals and stencils and stuff. Btw I got me another F-104 - this time the proper American C version, which if I build some day, I'll use metalizers + masks for the big letters and signs. Thus, the decals from the sheet of the C version are the perfect match for this NMF G model. I did my trials with lacquers, polishing, etc. so I'm optimistic as of now.

I like the result quite a lot! I checked the whole topic, and yet I have a few questions just out of curiosity: 1) the big panel right at the front side of the aft fuselage section (next to the red separating line) - should it be darker like the rearmost panel (covering the nozzle)? 2) the panels that look like they are painted and not so shiny - are they what you call ''grain the panels'' with an abrasive sponge? 3) about the rivets - did you trace the original placement of the rivets on the plastic, or did you do new rivets? They are perfect in size but their spacing looks just a little bit on the big side... 4) and about the Gauzy agent - did you apply it under the decals as well, or just one coat over the decals? Thx! Very nice WIP and congrats on the finished model!

Nicely weathered F-104! Although I need some catching up wth the WIP topic... so, I'm on it.

Yeah, I just saw the post over FB yesterday and my initial reaction was to finally make my first order, which I planned from quite some time... I can only hope that they are still available. Maybe it will be a temporary thing and they will reappear with new publications and other products. From what I can see - their catalogs are really top-notch.

Thanks Gazzas! It was quite tricky the making of these straight lines, no doubt about it. In most of the cases, I used the straight blade edge as a shear (instead of just drawing lines with the pointed tip of the blade)... and bit by bit, the a line is done. I also used long stripes of paper tape beforehand, to ''draw'' the line that guides the shearing steps of the blade. This is much more forgiving than using just the tip of the blade, in terms of accuracy. Anyway, I'm very happy this is over and most probably I'll stick to the normal metalizers + lacquers technique for this kind of NMF surfaces.

Slowly slowly, all the rivets are done, along with some edits of the wing root joints... in all the reference pics, I see a smooth transition between the engine nacelles and the wings, and here is how they look if left glued directly: And here they are after the edits. I added long stripes of black filler ever so slightly to cover the joints, then I sanded them to create smooth transitions between the fuselage/wings... it is still quite ''sharp'' indeed, but they are ''blended'' now, not with a 90-degree angle. Plus, there were about 1mm gaps between the fuselage and the flaps, which I addressed by adding thin plastic stock pieces and sanding them flush with the fuselage. I hope I could foil these quite ''tricky'' panels up easily. The elevator, its actuator cover, the rudder, and the airfoil near the hook on the bootom, are also covered up in NMF, sanded, polished, and ready for rivetting + final polishing. I didin't expected to be this challenging with the small thin parts, as even the lightest pressure could deform them them... but so far so good, I manaded to keep them sharp and straight straight. And while I was thinking ''finally, the big adventure is over'', I realized there are two giant wing tip tanks that also need to be covered in NMF... I just forgot them. Anyway, there are more things to do untill I get to them...

Slowly slowly, the nose section is rivetted and polished - just a short vid:

Very nice and clean, oob build, although I'm a fan of the other paint scheme from the kit decals. About the silvering - hm... if this is because the decals are not good enough, I'm slightly worried about dealing with them in the future... but I think a little bit of lacquer coats + sanding + polishing would be the magical recipe. And how about this pic when the model is standing on its pointy nose... is it pointy still... wow... I'm just keep thinking what would have happen if it slippied, which looks so easy... Anyway, congrats on the Superb build!

10x for the insight, Brian. Really appreaciated. I just can't see a way how to apply this foil without sanding and polishing, which means wiping off the natural staining. As soon as I start burnishing the foil (I'm using the edge of a short stripe/piece of styrene stock plastic sheet) - it leaves indentations and scratches and irregularities... So I must go with sanding and polishing after that, which indeed is the key to get rid of 90% of all the irregularities. This ''natural'' staining is very beatiful though, and I'll try to get it done with an Alclad-combo.

hmm, okay, thanks for the tips, I'm in for a second try with that many coins. I tried with just one coin initially, and in a very small cup with bleach. I just wonder if this is just a ''surface'' staining of the foil and it will sand off during some subtle sanding/polishing and will reveal the natural aluminum underneath, or the whole thickness of the foil acquires this darker hue. I'll give it a try, if it gets that hue, eventually...

The fuselage is ''upholstered''. What an adventure. Next are the horiz. stab. and the rudder, but the main part is done. The panels that I left in plastic (without foil) are to be painted with metalizers. I think this is the best method to imitate the discoloration and the heat stains. I tried to darken the aluminum foil with heat, egg shells, bleach, lemon, baking soda... non of them worked. Luckily, I also tried to seal some decals with a gloss lacuer coat - and this worked just fine. Indeed, different lacuqer coats (the 3 different types) provided a completely different hue to the aluminum foil - so, I'll play with the lacuqer coats in combination with the metalizers for the rear discolored panels. The panels along the wings are also left for after gluing the wings, because the shape along the joint lines needs an update - these last panels should make a smooth transition towards the wing roots, not a 90-degree edge like if just glue the wings and foil up the joints. There will be quite some filling and shaping required beforehand. It took around 7-8 blades so far. Here are the findings I'd like to share. I figured out that using the blades as shearing/die cutting instead of drawing lines and cutting along (like cuting paper tape with the tip of a blade) is a way way way better method than the regular ''tracing of lines and abusing the tip of the knife''. It's more precise, offers a better control, limitates the risk of slightly going off the straight line, and uses the whole lenght of the blade thus making it longer lasting (with regular sharpening with sand paper of course). Two types of blades are required as well - an angled, straight-line blade for 95% of the time; and 5% of the cuts required a curved blade. Now, sanding, polishing, and maybe the most overwhelming riveting adventure I could imagine...

Looking sharp! This Tamiya black gloss paint looks so shiny - btw when did you take the photos... was the coat wet still, or was it completely dry? I suppose it's not polished as well...

Why there is such a huge gap all along the joint line during the test fits? It looks like the stabilizer is not entirely inserted in its place, hence the big gaps. But it only looks like that. I guess if you have any doubts about shape issues, you can find a real drawing/blueprint of the plane with a top-side view of the silhouette, then print it on a paper with the right scale, and compare the positions. Btw the Revel manual seems like a scientific/academic work to me, so it should be quite trustworthy for comparison.

It really looks like a "smaller" plane now. Tremendous camouflage adventure, and very well done!

The intakes are mounted, finally. I prefer not to paint the ''red'' fasteners in red... actually, I might do it as a final touch during the weathering... This is just a test fit without any treatment of the aluminum foil: Then, I prepped the aluminum surfaces adjacent to the intakes... working this aluminum foil is a veeeery dirty thing. This is the nose section after 1500 and 2000 grit sandpapers: And after a polishing compound + rivetting + 4000 + 8000 + 12000 grit sandpapers, only around the intakes: And with the intakes. The panel lines are filled and are drying as well:

A small progress... I guess I leave the sanding/polishing for the end, cause it makes a huuuuge mess and needs a lot of cleaning.

Really... is it that bad?! Well, for about a month, I enjoyed looking the kit parts (E-version) very much as are OOB and thought they are flawless... At least, I hope the canopy fits good, with all these mods...

Thank you! This screen for the FLIR is just a scarred piece of transparent plastic. After some trials, I selected this method over a real mesh - here see the WIP from this and the next few posts:

The ''outdoor'' pics - no post editing, other than cropping. Probably my best model.

Thx Chuck, yep, in the worst case scenario (NMF doesn't work - I swich over to metalizer paints) I'll have to rescribe everything, but even so - I hope it would be better than what it was. There were several ''types of thicknesses'' of the panel lines - some were actually very refined and realistic, but most of them (90%+) made the panels look like... front teeth - two miles apart... Maybe it's because the convex lines of the metal castings wear over time, and my kit was a ''newer'' run, and... I don't know... maybe I didn't get lucky with this exact kit, but I doubt it is a design flaw. The box says ''the body designs are under license by Lockheed Martin''. Either way, the aluminum foil enhances every crevice, scratch or line, and if the edges of the panels (foil) slop down smoothly into the deep panel line, it is just unrealistic.

A little update - the ''Zipper'' needs new ''panel lines''. I checked other WIP builds, several pics of the real plane, and it really needs some ''reorganizations' of the panel lines. Moreover, they are HUGE, so they need thinning. Here is a simple measurement of the thickest lines... Half a milimeter in this scale is somewhere over 1 cm, about half an inch, in the real thing, which is impossible. Two adjacent pieces of metal foil is the right way to go (I did some trials), but the ''gap'' underneath needs to be flat beforehand. Therefore... Now it's drying time, then sanding, and probably a secondary filling/sanding of the panel lines. I'll figure out the locations of the ''new'' panel lines during the gluing of the metal foil, but the advantage of this black filler is that where two foil peaces are adjacent - the tiny little gap will be enhanced by the black color underneath. PS: btw this white triangular white thing underneath is the finished casing of my F-117.

Thx ALF! There is no easy/simple procedure that I follow when making the gear... each is different, even the ''mirrored'' MLGs include different rods/materials for the joints and hinges. Every magnet has a slightly different place... It requires a lot of thinking of course, and just a ton of trial and test fits, and small fixes. It's not easy, but I like it. Now, while waiting for the filled panel lines to dry properly on the Starfighter, I just started planning on the F-22's nose gear in 1/48, which is... tiny. My concern is how to protect the sprayed paint (from masking instead of decals) over the polished metal foil, but I have to figure out ways with the lacquer coats... This NMF technique is a whole new ball game for me, and hontesly, I'm feeling like I'm experiementing with some things and I'm not sure about the outcome. I'm optmisitic though.