Yaks ‘century series’ in 1/48 part 4 - the Lockheed F-104C Starfighter

[yak face]

Heres the next part of the build series , the F104c Starfighter. An instantly recognisable ( some might say infamous ) cold war icon . The aircraft i wanted to depict is an early fifties Starfighter from when the century series aircraft were in full flow so I had to look for an early A or C model . The kit is another excellent Monogram tooling and although not a kit of many parts ,is very nicely detailed and should make up quickly and hopefully easily. Its going to be finished in natural metal and like the Super Sabre offers great opportunities for burnt metal effects on the rear fuselage . Ive got an Eduard etched fret , mainly for the seat belts but i may use the instrument panels and some other bits too . Heres the sprues .

 

[Ancientmariner]

Looks a great kit, looking forward to seeing the build!

Got to sit in the cockpit of the one at midlands aviation museum when I was a kid and remember with the canopy closed it was a snug fit even as a 10 year old.

 

[yak face]

Been so busy with work lately , so updates are few and far between . I got the cockpit painted and fitted the pe to the instrument panel . I ground off the moulded on seat belts and started fitting the etch belts. The seat belts on the stanley c2 ejector seat are very messy , with arm restraints hanging in a tangle each side of the backrest . I did the best i could with the unco operative PE and although better than the moulded on belts im not entirely happy with it . Another area i felt needed improvement was the exhaust nozzle so I got the Aires resin set. I’ll only be using the nozzle though as its designed for the hasegawa kit.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good so far......great looking aircraft, pity it’s reputation proceeds it!

 

[Archetype]

That metallic plastic always gives a shiver up the spine...not sure why!

You've done a really good job so far.

 

[boatman]

lookin great im glad to see one of these aircraft bein built always loved these
chris

 

[yak face]

Cockpit in and fuselage together now . The fit isnt stellar to say the least , the tooling dates from 1978 , this particular boxing being early nineties ,so its a 42 year old moulding and should be allowed a bit of lenience . Its just a case of test fitting and fettling , carefully trying to preserve the delicate raised panel lines. One place its going to be impossible to do this is the joints on the forward fuselage , an unfortunate result of the horizontal split . They have been filled and when sanded should be ok but the few panel lines will be lost in this area, fortunately a large US AIR FORCE decal will cover most of this so it wont be noticeable .

 

[yak face]

Its starting to look a bit more like a starfighter now ! the tail and nose cone are on and filled , the fuselage joints have been sanded and the intakes added. Ive masked the canopies and started fitting them , after the instrument coaming had been painted and a HUD added from holographic confetti cut to size . Virtually all nat metal starfighters had white upper wings , ADC grey lower wings and a white or ADC grey nose cone so these areas will be done first , before the gloss black primer needed for the vallejo metal colors. The particular aircraft im doing ( see pic) also looked to have a ADC grey tail and intake lips , the painted intakes ( either black or grey ) being a common field modification in Vietnam to reduce visible reflections when seen from the ground .

 

[Tim Marlow]

Lovely work Tony. You’re bring this along nicely. Love the Simon T style knee shots as well.

 

[yak face]

For a mainly nat metal aircraft its been a fiddly prep job . First the underside of the wings , intake lips and cones , nose cone and tail were painted ADC grey , followed by masking and spraying the matt black anti glare panel on the nose . This was then masked and the windscreen and opening part of the canopy were painted ADC grey . The wing tops were done gloss white and masked , then the canopy masked off and finally I could get some gloss black primer on the fuselage. Next up is just the Vallejo metal color top coats , which will be a shiny finish for the main fuselage and a dull darker finish for the titanium rear section.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice work on the paint. Looking good so far Tony.

 

[papa 695]

Another build of yours I’m catching up on Tony, really liking the cockpit top work, and looking mean in black.

 

[Steven000]

Nice build Tony!
Seeing it from the top, it's impressive the 104 stays in the air with those tiny wings, must have a very high landing speed!
Steven

 

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
Looking very good. For such an old kit it doesn't look bad. I notice the fuselage is joined along the sides rather than along the top and bottom. Does that have any advantages?
Jim

 

[Jakko]

Seeing it from the top, it's impressive the 104 stays in the air with those tiny wings, must have a very high landing speed!

From this StackExchange page that quotes another page that gives an error when you try it:

To make landing speeds “reasonable,” The F-104 forced engine air through the wings to smooth the airflow and give more lift. With bleed air, the Zipper could land at the challenging but not extreme speed of 160 to 165 knots. If the air-bleed system was not working, landing speeds climbed to 240 knots.

 

[Jakko]

Just came across this, that I think is of interest as well:

 

[flyjoe180]

Looking good Tony

 

[yak face]

Hi Tony
Looking very good. For such an old kit it doesn't look bad. I notice the fuselage is joined along the sides rather than along the top and bottom. Does that have any advantages?
Jim

Not normally Jim , its sometimes easier if an aircraft is a flatter shape ( think tomcat , f15 , f111 ) but in this case I think they did it so the wings ,being part of the top fuselage section , have the correct anhedral . The obvious disadvantage of this method though is the tricky joint on the fuselage sides.

 

[yak face]

Made a start on the metal colours . The rear fuselage has had a dark band sprayed on and a lighter , dull silver behind this . These areas will be further weathered later to give the heat stained effect . This area will now be masked off ready for the main fuselage colour , which will be a bright aluminium . I used the excellent Vallejo Metal Colors , which go on superbly over a gloss black primer , and are very tough once dry , which doesnt take long at all . For example the dark band was dry enough to mask over after about an hour ! The other thing about these us they dont really change colour when glossed over like some other metallics do . To help me remember what they look like and to differentiate between them I sprayed them onto a piece of wood that had been primed gloss black .

 

[Steven000]

Have fun with the aluminium paint Tony!
I always try to avoid aluminium schemes since it's not that easy to get to look right ... looking forward to the next steps.
Steven