Marine104 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Hi guys, Here are some photos of my Italeri F-104Gs. Modelled as the Marineflieger airshow demo pair called 'The Vikings" during the 1985 airshow season, shortly before their retirement and replacement by the Tornado IDS in MFG2. These models are about 5 or so years old now but IIRC they are mostly from the box with the addition of Eduard seats and Astra Decals. These particular jets, now looking a bit tired at this time, did not have the full complement of stencils the German F-104s usually had from my references which saved some time thinking back. Unfortunately I broke the SD card containing most of the photos I took at the time but stumbled over some on my computer recently, so I've uploaded what I have as there was some interest in Chuck's CF-104 WIP thread. A few jazzed up for sure! Amazing what a little tweaking can do to an average model. Here is a little video on youtube showing the Vikings: For the final few shows before retirement, two F-104Gs were repainted in a lovely red, white and blue scheme. I made this model from the Hasegawa kit and those interested in this F-104 can check out further photos in this thread: The photos are highly complementary I assure you but hopefully the period scene is hinted at somewhat. I built these models before I really started to get serious in the hobby so no close up detail shots as the details aren't really there so much compared to the masterpieces often displayed here. Next time I would use some resin wheels, the kit ones are awful! Other mods done to the Italeri kit included shortening the nose gear in height and filling+rescribing some of the heavy panel lines the kit gives us. In may ways I actually think the ancient Hasegawa kit is better than the newer Italeri but a lot more work. Thanks for looking, David Peter Gregor, Uncarina, Marcel111 and 33 others 34 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanes Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Wowzers - those are fantastic! Maybe I could park my - almost finished - twin seater in the background? Cheers Joachim Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isar 30/07 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 David, my first thought: these are real aircrafts - not models! Amazings builds and perfectly presented in front of a typical cloudy weather! Congratulations! Reimund Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Leduc Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) Wow, look so real..... my kind of Zipper, simple and perfect. Dan. Edited January 30, 2021 by Daniel Leduc Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Excellent builds, great atmospheric pics. How did you find the Astra decals, any issues? Don Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) Excellent models David and thanks for posting! They look so real, especially with your outdoor photography. I'd love to see some close ups of that cockpit, because it's clear that you have some magic in there with the documents on the glare shield, helmet and really well done emergency pull handles. I see from the rear shot that you also have the front windscreen a bit too wide, which I'm now finding is on just about every model of this kit like mine. You have to look for it though, because it's sure not obvious on your models. Comments on the video: Thanks for posting. So cool! That first fly-past at such low altitude would never be allowed today. Too bad. Germany sure had a lot of Starfighters. Wow! Seeing the Vikings fly without wingtip tanks looks so weird. Effective obviously, but weird I'm sure glad I got the flameholder in the correct position, because it's very obvious when the jets are taxiing around All the bad publicity of how F-104's can't turn very sharply is clearly exaggerated Lots of smoke from those engines, but then again, it's the same engine in smoky F-4's Lots of inspiration for me to soldier on with my build. Again thanks for posting the video and especially your models Cheers, Chuck Edited January 30, 2021 by chuck540z3 Derek B and Marine104 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Incredible models. Totally convincing. Exactly my kind of modelling. Bravo Sir. Top job. Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marine104 Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 3 hours ago, dmthamade said: Excellent builds, great atmospheric pics. How did you find the Astra decals, any issues? Don Hi Don, thank you! The Astra decals are super accurate having used them on 4-5 F-104s of various scales now, I could not find a fault in any of them, amazing research and time gone into those, way better in accuracy than the Italeri ones from the box. IIRC they may be a tad bit thicker than some decals and you need a stronger type decal softener to make sure they really bed down into the panel lines. I certainly won't build any German F-104 without them. 2 hours ago, chuck540z3 said: Excellent models David and thanks for posting! They look so real, especially with your outdoor photography. I'd love to see some close ups of that cockpit, because it's clear that you have some magic in there with the documents on the glare shield, helmet and really well done emergency pull handles. I see from the rear shot that you also have the front windscreen a bit too wide, which I'm now finding is on just about every model of this kit like mine. You have to look for it though, because it's sure not obvious on your models. Comments on the video: Thanks for posting. So cool! That first fly-past at such low altitude would never be allowed today. Too bad. Germany sure had a lot of Starfighters. Wow! Seeing the Vikings fly without wingtip tanks looks so weird. Effective obviously, but weird I'm sure glad I got the flameholder in the correct position, because it's very obvious when the jets are taxiing around All the bad publicity of how F-104's can't turn very sharply is clearly exaggerated Lots of smoke from those engines, but then again, it's the same engine in smoky F-4's Lots of inspiration for me to soldier on with my build. Again thanks for posting the video and especially your models Cheers, Chuck Thanks Chuck, glad you like them! I have these below on file showing some of the extra details around the cockpit, I intentionally didn't add so much detail on the canopy sills so I could close them up to keep dust out over time . Some of the things I was working towards are in this real photo: https://www.airfighters.com/photo/22760/M/Germany-Navy/Lockheed-F-104G-Starfighter/26-82/ . Others like the notepads/books are taken from pics from various references of the subjects, the front covers take a few different forms from my searches depending on the user, as does the equipment located on top of the avionics bay behind the seat. The late Marineflieger jets had chaff and flare dispensers fitted to the rear fuselage and the box located behind the seat was for setting these. I cannot remember tbh about the front canopy fit but here is a pic of mine. I think I blended it with CA and called it that at the time but probs should have pinched it slightly as I applied the glue. The Hasegawa extras, And speaking of canopy shapes, you can see here the difference between the Italeri (top) and Hasegawa. I don't think either are 100% correct and reality is somewhere in between the two imho. Chuck, have you seen this F-104 build before? http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/modelF104.html It is probably the best F-104 model I've ever seen and lots of serious skill and details going into it that maybe would interest you. I only found it after I did my models but I wish I had earlier. In particular the stressed skin around the rear of the F-104s fuselage is something I'd like try on my next 1/32 Starfighter. I have had a bash at it on a 1/48 F-104 (yet to be finished), quite difficult to do, but does add another level of realism certainly. On my 1/48 kit below I looked at plenty of pictures to replicate it in various areas and in a non uniform fashion. Masked the areas first, then ripples created with a curved scape blade and then plenty of sanding and tweaking. It was very hard to photo however unless it was too exaggerated. Anyways, thanks for the nice words about my F-104s, really look forward to more of your build! And to everyone else kindly commenting, thank you and I'm glad you like the pictures and the models too! David Derek B, USMC Herc, alain11 and 12 others 14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 David, thanks for the link to that fantastic build! I had not seen that before and it is by far the best F-104 I have ever seen. A true modeling master at work for sure, and it has given me inspiration to try a few new things as well. My build will never be at this level, partly due to lack of skill and partly because I don't care about some of the little things like the shape of the small vents, etc. What I hope to do, however, is have the best metallic paint job possible, which is achievable. Time will tell if I can pull it off! Cheers, Chuck USMC Herc and Marine104 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greif8 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 That is some awesome work David! The photos look like the real thing. Ernest Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Love the Starfighter and your builds are superb Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Wonderful builds! Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzerwomble Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Excellent , that truly caught me out , I was paging down the photos thinking ...."that's the subject.....where are the models?" .....until I got to the end and realised ...they all were ..great pics !!! Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZPetrP Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Very nice Starfighters. Congratulation. Marine104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marine104 Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Thank you chaps for the kind words, glad you like them! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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