F-104D Starfighter - 57-1315 - AFFTC Edwards AFB, 1960

[Out2gtcha]

2 hours ago, MikeC said:

Great project - it's a Starfighter, what's not to like?

 

May I make a suggestion for the faded orange? Vallejo Model Air Fluorescent Red (71.082) spayed over an undercoat of white. I've got a Gnat somewhere in Non-lsp works - can't find it atm or I'd post a link - on which I used just that.

 

Thanks Mike! Ive actually been into MRP lately, as it shoots SO wonderfully that I have to try out their MRP-194 "Luminous Orange" (the AFFTC birds were all luminescent orange VS the normal luminescent trainer red):

 

 

I have a few bottles of the Model Air paint left, but for me it doesn't shoot nearly as well for me as MRP does. Im not sure if its the lacquer carrier or not, but if you havnt tried out MRPs stuff yet, give it a shot!  Its by far and away the BEST shooting AB paint I have ever used, and Ive got stores of Vallejo, MM, Polly Scale, Tamiya, AKI & Mr Color. 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Kagemusha said:

Rock and roll! Been looking forward to this one since you first posted the photo.

 

 

Thanks Andy! This one is one Ive been looking forward to as well for a long time. Will be nice to see a gear up 104, and will also be nice not to have to mess about with wheels, wells or gear. 

[Fvdm]

This looks real prommissing. I will sit back and follow this one closely. Have fun.

[Neo]

Its about time you got back to foiling!!

 

Cant wait to see some progress

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks boys

 

Well, I actually have some progress to report!  For me, at this stage of a build its fairly major update too.............pics in a min once I update the ones I want to use.

[Out2gtcha]

Ok guys, I dived head first into this one!  Ive been pretty excited about it for awhile, and it took everything I had to finish off my last what-if project before diving into this one.

As mentioned above, it will have a few firsts for me, including  gear up/in flight pose, w/base and stand, as well as a full lighting kit, stem to stern.

So here we go!

 

First thing off the bat, I had to get on ordering the base stuff, as I had to work that out since the stand (in this case a 7/8" clear acrlyic rod) was going to be mounted in a custom 3'4" deep, 6" x 12" base, with a 7/8" hole cut in it at a 40deg angle that the 7/8" clear rod will go into. 

 

Here is the simplified (dont judge I only had MS paint to work with, and only a few min at work to sketch it up to order the base) sketch of what the black acrylic base will look like that the clear rod will mount into:

 

 

 

 

 

So it ended up costing about $28 USD for a 6" x 12" base. Not too bad. Then I started thinking about how I was going to drill a 40 deg angle hole in a flat plate of acrylic without damaging or chipping it.     

 

I came to the conclusion that if the hole was straight on, I could easily do it with my drill press w/the right bit. However, the 40 deg angle made things very complex, and the display base people did not even have the equipment to do it right. So, they engaged a machine shop they had access to, and they said they can drill the hole. It will nearly double the price of the base, but whatever. Its my passion, so what else am I going to spend it on? 

 

I got that ordered after I used my digital calipers to measure the Eduard inner exhaust ring. The inner ring in the excellent looking Eduard exhaust set is what I based on my measurements off of for the clear rod. Eventually I will build an internal structure to support the rod, and make it still removable for transport.

 

Fortunately for me, my digital calipers were RIGHT on the money, and after I got the rod in I confirmed as such. The clear rod fits perfectly inside the inner exhaust ring:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I get the actual base in I can confirm fit, at the base end, and see how much of the rod I will need to cut.  The next order of business was to make a very simple paper and cardboard mock-up of the base and F-104 to get the final angle of the base, and to measure the overall height when completed.

 

I only have about 14" - 15" height in my current display cabinet setup, but I can re-arrange that to get me more height for the 104 display. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

This mock-up was done at a 45 deg angle:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I liked the look and the angle very much, but it turned out to be about 5 deg too much, with an overall height of 17+". It was just a bit too high for me, and figured at 40 deg less than 17", I would have to do less adjusting on the shelving:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now on to the real progress!!! 

[Out2gtcha]

The first order of business was to sort out the lighting kit. I perused the instructions many times over, and following their implicite instructions, the first thing to do was check off all the parts that should have come with the lighting kit.

 

DONE!

 

All the required bits that were supposed to be there were! This kit seems nearly fool proof, and a really nice way to jaz up a display model. There are nearly 12 two (micro) wire connections to each micro LED. The first thing the instructions tell you after confirming you have everything you should have, was to go through every single micro plug for every single micro LED, and use the supplied UV gel activated glue to stabilize the end connection to the plug, as it was noted to be very delicate. All the wires, plugs and LEDs in the kit are SUPER dinky (good thing too, there is practically NIL room in the wings of the 104):

 

 

 

 

 

 

After re-enforcing all the micro plugs as noted in the instructions for the Magic Modeling light kit, the next order of business was a dry fit of the entire air-frame, in order to get a look at the whole lighting kit. and get an idea of where each of the leads go. This was also a test to make sure all of the lights retained their functionality/animation, as some lights flash, some fade, or flicker, and some are just plain on. 

 

 

 

 

 

First step is very "Russ-like" for any of you who have been around LSP long enough to remember "Russ-ville" and Russ's style of building...........

 

Russ almost always, invariably, made some of the best models out there, quick as a rabbit, and SUPER well done. He seemed to care not for them after they were completed.  Russ always started out the same way................by removing all the major air-frame parts and taping the whole thing together to see what he had.

That was the exact recommendation from the Magic Scale Modeling light kit; assemble the model taped together to temporarily tape all the LED leads in place.

A full dry-fit run is not my usual MO however,  as I prefer to leave the major stuff on the sprues till I actually am going to use it. This time however, it was indeed necessary, and well worth the effort to make sure everything worked as it should since once things are buttoned up, thats it. 

Fit was pretty good here, and things taped up together nicely. This will not be a small (read SHORT) model:

 

 

 

 

 

 

With pitot tube and full tail, the model is nearly 20" - 21" long. Here is a better idea of size:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the beast in process of getting temporarily wired up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE........................

[Fancherello]

I love that project for two reasons: the day i'll build a Starfighter it'll be very likely those NMF and orange ones. I still don't manage to figure out if i prefer a single or twin seater ! Second reason is that i've been very recently buying some optic fiber and would love to come into lighting a project. 

I really like your project !

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Franch! 

 

The MSM (will referr to the Magic Scale Modeling kit by MSM from now on) kit is pretty much plug and play, with everything you need to get started on lighting up your model.

The main board is just a very smal PC board with plug and play pin connectors and ground ports. Everything is 100% labled for ease of assembly, and nearly idiot proof - Good thing for me! 

 

Here is the 104 fully wired up. The front 6 leads are micro LEDs for the cockpits, 3 in front and 3 in back, since it came with landing lights and i wouldn't be using those. The way MSM sets their stuff up, its easy to sub in different LEDs for different purposes. MSM also has various set ups from the factory as well, including taxi setup, combat setup  and  in flight setup (what I chose) You can also see the MSC controlling circuit board in the corner w/all micro plugs inserted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although it looks like a spaghetti monster atm, it really is quite straight forward. It took a min or two of trying, but I captured a sequence with some lights on, and others off: after I dimmed the lights in the work room:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its SOOOOOOOOO cool looking!!   Im really glad I invested in the set, as it wasn't really cheap, but well WELL thought out, and works exactly like advertised.

 

After I took the previous two pics and saw what they looked like, and what the lights looked like in action, I decided the stationary pics just didnt do the kit justice. So I took a small 25 second vid, and up-loaded it to my YouTube channel.

 

Take a look and see what you think. All colors (red green/blue orange and purple for the exhaust) will be added onto each lights individual cover after (or during) full assembly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

All for now lads!  Ill be back on the Starfighter tonight hopefully if the fiance has stuff to keep her busy.  

 

Cheers til the next episode

 

[checksix]

As long as you're putting all those lights in place, maybe you should put  blue/pink leds within the engine to create afterburner "shock diamonds" using edge lighting,  by adding frosted concentric rings on the outside of your clear support rod? You might be able to achieve an effect something like this:

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by checksix

[Gisbod]

That’s way cool Brian!

 

Although it looks a bit like a Frankenstein experiment 

 

Guy

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys.

 

15 hours ago, checksix said:

As long as you're putting all those lights in place, maybe you should put  blue/pink leds within the engine to create afterburner "shock diamonds" using edge lighting,  by adding frosted concentric rings on the outside of your clear support rod? You might be able to achieve an effect something like this:

 

 

 

That does look cool! 

Although I cant put any different colored lights into the exhaust (even if I knew how best to incorporate them with the current circuit board, there is NO room left on any of the plug in cables when all connections are made) I am going to drill a suitably sized hole in the interior end of the clear rod, smooth out the interior, of the hole and paint it a translucent purple inside so the flickering exhaust LED will shine through the purple.

 

The shock rings are a cool idea, but Ill have to wait until I see how much of the clear rod will be sticking out. ATM, I may need to shorten it up a bit, to get the whole model inside my display cabinet, as it will be quite tall when done, and I may need to cut off more of the clear rod than would like. 

Hopefully, it will still end up looking decent, even with a shorter rod.

 

 

49 minutes ago, Gisbod said:

That’s way cool Brian!

 

Although it looks a bit like a Frankenstein experiment 

 

Guy

 

Thanks Guy, it does look like a bit of a mess atm!  Im hoping it all comes together like I see it in my mind.     

 

[Out2gtcha]

Well I did some more work on the 104 last night, and I started things off by removing all the spaghetti works, and dry fitting the MLG doors. The reason i started off with the MLG doors, is that I intend to use that section to hold the power supply.  Normally these kits utilize the power supply outside of the model, usually in the base somehow. With my stand being a clear rod, I really didnt want to destroy the look of the "exhaust" coming out of the jet by running a set of wires on it or below it. 

My plan for the time, is to glue the door sections all together as a whole single part. I will get it to fit the way I like, then I plan on using small RE magnets to hold it on.

 

First thing first I had to see what the fit of the MLG doors was OOB.  Not too shabby for just an initial dry fit tape job!

 

 

 

 

As can be seen, there are some tiny gaps at the back of the smaller doors, but I can easily take that space up after gluing things together. What I did here was actually install the inner bulk heads that trap the small rectangular center section with larger rectangle at the front and a smaller one at the back in between them. This way, I got to see how the kit fit as it was intended to be built. 

I found the fit here pretty good overall, but I will likely not have enough room to put everything inside I want if I leave that center section in tact.  Right now, my plan of attack (loosely) is to cut that center section off of its backing part, and possibly even use some pieces of the MLG well shoulders to make sure the gear doors set where I need them too, and yet can still be easily removed. 

 

Here is the style of 4 AA battery holder the lighting kit comes with OOB for powering the system:

 

 

 

The first issue I encountered was the size of the battery holder itself. It is approx 65mm wide, and no where NEAR small enough to fit inside the 104.  Figuring I might be able to split the AA batteries up, I grabbed a 2 AA battery holder I had laying around like this:

 

 

Now this pack fit just fine, but with much MUCH less room around it than I anticipated. Boooo!  It was highly unlikely Id ever  be able to fit two of these plus the circuit board, all those leads, and still be able to put the tube in the rear to support the clear rod.

 

Back to the drawing board on the power supply!    Both battery packs actually have small switches already on them, but this would be very un-handy when trying to turn the power on and off after it is built, so I am planning on cutting this out and using a magnetic/reed type switch to activate the system from the outside.

 

After re-reading the MSM instructions, I have noticed that they do mention other power supply possibilities, including 4 rechargeable batteries, a USB power supply, as well as a 9v battery supply.

After thinking a bit, I have sent a note to the MSM guys in Belgium to see if their are any caveats in replacing the 4 AA power supply with a 9v power supply.   I think I can make the 9v system work. If not a 9v I may have to relent and run the wires down the base, which I really dont want to do. 

 

Until next time! 

 

 

 

[1to1scale]

1 hour ago, Out2gtcha said:

Thanks guys.

 

 

 

That does look cool! 

Although I cant put any different colored lights into the exhaust (even if I knew how best to incorporate them with the current circuit board, there is NO room left on any of the plug in cables when all connections are made) I am going to drill a suitably sized hole in the interior end of the clear rod, smooth out the interior, of the hole and paint it a translucent purple inside so the flickering exhaust LED will shine through the purple.

 

The shock rings are a cool idea, but Ill have to wait until I see how much of the clear rod will be sticking out. ATM, I may need to shorten it up a bit, to get the whole model inside my display cabinet, as it will be quite tall when done, and I may need to cut off more of the clear rod than would like. 

Hopefully, it will still end up looking decent, even with a shorter rod.

 

 

 

Thanks Guy, it does look like a bit of a mess atm!  Im hoping it all comes together like I see it in my mind.     

 

 

Brian, if you are going to drill, try drilling with these, might give a nice ring effect.

 

[Out2gtcha]

Just now, 1to1scale said:

 

Brian, if you are going to drill, try drilling with these, might give a nice ring effect.

 

 

 

Actually a step bit is exactly what Ill be using!   

However, the hole will not actually be seen, as it will be a ways "up the pipe" so-to-speak. The  hole will be about as big as the exhaust LED ( around 5mm - 10mm or so) as the clear rod needs to be a ways up inside the model so it can support the full weight of the model, batteries, circuit board and all LED leads.  I plan on making some internal bulkeads to support a 7/8" tube inside the bulkhead, and then mount the exhaust LED inside the the head of that tube, so when needed, the rod can be removed for transport and when assembled, the hole will surround the exhaust LED, so it fires right down the clear rod.

 

At least thats the plan for now!  

[Collin]

Watching with interest.  The two-seat F-104 is like a itch I can never scratch.  Something about that aircraft just screams "build me".  Looking forward to how the rest of the kit goes together.

 

Cheers

Collin