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

[Gazzas]

Brian,

   More great effort and learning.  Keep it up, dude.  This is gonna be a great build!

 

Gaz

[Madmax]

 

You have outwitted, outplayed and outlasted other models Brian - this one will yield too!

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks gents! I've drilled and polished the rod for a 3rd time, and all is well. I dont see any micro fissures in it, but then again I didn't see any in the first two either! All three came out looking like ice in the center of the rod.

Now that the Future has had time to cure, its almost time to seal the big fuselage up. Scary!

[Out2gtcha]

Progress!!!!!   And lots of it.

 

 

Here we are at the point of being about ready to button up the fuselage. Normally that is a major step, but in the case of this F-104D, its a HUGE step because once its glued up, there will be NO coming back to fix anything if I have an issue with an MLED, or its attachment point. So here we go..............

 

I decided that the cold white light LED being used for the exhaust didn't look right, as well as looking like all the other lights in the set. I took a mix of Tamiya clear yellow with a bit of clear red and clear orange added til I was happy. I was in a debate with myself about weather to paint the LED bulb itself, or to paint the inside of the clear rod. After the previous near disaster with the clear tube cracking out like ice with a chemical reaction between it and several thinners I decided Id take a chance and paint the bulb itself:

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some quick testing on how the clear rod fit around the bulb up inside the exhaust tube I decided it was time to spray some chrome enamel up inside the exhaust tube to reflect as much light as I could get down the clear tube. After that hardened off, I glued in the Brassin exhaust on the tube with some JB Weld as its going to bore the weight of most of the model. 

A quick test of how the LED looks installed in the newly glued and painted exhaust tube confirmed things...........I was a happy boy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now that both the exhaust tube and rod were complete (save cutting the rod off at the base to make the final height of the model) I decided to see if any of the light and reflection work I just went to did any good or not.

 

So took a small video.    WE HAVE SUCCESS!!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have seriously considered implementing the suggestions of painting up the clear rod to possibly reflect after burner rings or what not, but with the previous near disasters fresh in my mind, I think Im going to call that idea off, as I dont even want to chance cracking or even remotely blemishing the surface of the rod since it really needs to stay crystal clear to maintain the effect I want. If I messed something up, Im not sure I could stomach buying a new one and drilling/cutting it all again. 

 

Now for the pièce de ré·sis·tance!     The jam packed fuselage is ready to close up. You'll notice our observer/photographer is absent here, as I accidentally broke his seat off while gluing up the starboard rear of the cockpit. No damage done to him, but Im waiting till I close up the fuselage to put him back in, since his arm is near straight out, and no one wants a broken arm for our guy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhaust is all glued in on the starboard side, and exhaust LED wired up with lead wires under the batter compartment:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a look at where the magnetic door will go over the main mother board. Its cram CRAM packed in there! I honestly don't think I could have stuck one more set of mini wires through the connection holes I made in the bulkheads. Fortunately there are only 4 ground slots left, and 4 wires to hook up from the port side, then its completely full:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im about to go the final fit test/light bleed test/final run though before I glue up the halves of the fuse.

 

Cheers and thanks for looking in on me! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shawn M]

great work Brian

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Shawn!  Ive actually had things all plugged in on both sides and taped up with good results from the light bleed test. None!  I will still have access to the battery compartment and access panel for the PC board but that's about it, so I need to be SUPER careful when buttoning up the fuse. 

 

Ive actually now got several spots on the fuselage glued up, so no turning back now!  I also just got done painting the interior color on the rear bulkhead  behind the observer that gets added after the two halves become one as well.  After the minor weathering applied in that area dries, Ill wipe that off and get the observer  back in and start to button up the remainder of the fuselage.    Big step! 

[checksix]

This is going to look amazing!

 

Regarding drilling acrylic:  I've had similar experience when drilling flat acrylic plates: after drilling what appeared to be  clean holes, several days later small cracks and stress fractures appeared. After some experimentation I found that using water as a drilling lubricant prevented the fractures from later appearing. I just used an eye dropper and kept refilling a little puddle around the hole while drilling. I suspect the water has two effects: it provides cooling so the plastic doesn't melt and it also somehow allows the drill to cut a cleaner hole without chipping away at the walls of the hole.

[Out2gtcha]

Great advice!   Now ya tell me  JK.....Ill definitely use that next I drill out acrylic like that.   Im a little gun shy of using any solvents on the clear acrylic now, so its been a bit of walking on egg shells, but the Future seems to have at least halted any cracking from starting any further.

[Marcel111]

Fantastic! Just love the look of the exhaust!

 

Cheers,

Marcel

[Out2gtcha]

8 minutes ago, Marcel111 said:

Fantastic! Just love the look of the exhaust!

 

 

Thanks Marcel!   Quite a complement seeing the quality of your builds.  You've done some truly amazing jets, and I could hope to have mine flame thrower turn out 1/2 as good as your stuff.

 

I have to admit I'[m not usually a jet guy, but now that this build is rolling I'm getting pretty into it; and on top of that, even though Im not a jet guy normally and am "into props" the most awards and best I've ever done at IPMS competitions have been with jet entries! 

[Gazzas]

Just awesome, Brian!  The video is excellent and I love how the light flows through the rod.  I like the interior foiling to prevent light bleed, too.  I'm really looking foerward to seeing this in daylight and darkness.

 

 

[JeepsGunsTanks]

This is a super cool build!  So many little wires to manage!

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks much gents. Its always nice to have some motivation, as projects like this can really bog down in the thick of it. Fortunately, I believe that the most difficult parts are now complete and behind me! 

 

BIG STEP, as the fuselage is now completely glued together so no turning back now!!!!     Pics soon 

[Troy Molitor]

Brian this is looking spectacular.   Loving it for sure.  The exhaust is just too cool.  

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Troy!

 

Well we officially have a GBPB! (Great Big Pointy B@$*!d)  This is going to be one TALL model  display when done

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wings are at this time, just push fit into the fuselage, but the fuselage is 85% complete, and the fit was surprisingly good. Its a loooooooooong model though! The fit of the cockpit was good all around, and the nose cone has really started making it look like a zipper now. I have blended the sections of the cockpit that had to wait until the fuselage was assembled, but now I still need to go back and add the photo etch details to the inside areas of the cockpit, then finish up painting those areas the cockpit color. After those are dry, I will mask them off and repaint the ODG on the instrument hoods:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the area at the nose where 4 panels come together fit exceptionally well, and needed only mild sanding to bring the nose cone into alignment and smoothness with the other 3 panels:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only fit issue I experienced was on the rear spine panel on the port side. This was likely due to my own error in assembly, but has been dealt with using PPP and Mr Surfacer Black 1500:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok guys, this was shot with my crappy cell camera, and of course with the lights off and with YouTube dumbing down the quality, its kind of a crap video, but you can get an idea of what the lights look like with the fuselage closed up. The top and bottom asynchronous flashing beacons will get a small piece of fiber optic cable cut to a size to sit in the small cut tube that the MLED sits in, so it will shoot light directly up into each beacon light that will get glued on top of the hole. These both will eventually get painted red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only down side here is the exhaust really only shows up bright like this with the lights off. In most situations, I will likely be displaying the 104 in a lit contest or show type lighting. However, you can still see the exhaust light flickering and the color by changing the angle you look at it, and if you look more up inside the exhaust. The effect is just a bit more subtle with the lights on. The other lights, including the cockpit lights you can still readily see with the lights on.

 

I'm going for a very clean (display/vignette wise) look, so I'm hoping the clear rod will clean up nicely, and I can cut it off at a desired angle later on the bottom of the base. Ill likely add some chrome paint or foil there on the bottom of the display/end of the clear tube to help bounce the light back through the clear rod.  I will determine the length of the rod later when I know how much room I have to work with in my display cabinet. (I'm definitely going to have to raise my second to bottom shelf to accommodate the 104)