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

[yak face]

Made a start on the undercarriage yesterday . The u/c legs and bays / doors are really nicely detailed , the mainwheels and tyres especially - equal to any resin replacement . Astonishing when you think the kit was first tooled in 1978. I had to fit a couple of thin strips of styrene strip to the front part of the main bay so the front doors would fit flush . These doors hang open slightly when the undercarriage is extended so I had to get a good fixing via the strips . I also had a look at the pitot tube , the kit version had two mould seams and a couple of sprue attachment points to get rid of , so I decided on a homemade brass replacement using tube and rod . This has a funky red and white stripe scheme ,but unlike the delta dagger ( spiral ) this ones a straightforward hoop type. Next up heat staining on the rear fuselage .

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking great Tony.

 

[stillp]

+1!
Pete

 

[papa 695]

Looking good Tony, and nice work on the pitot tube.

 

[JR]

Not a wingy so missed a lot of this so apologies.
Have to say though the paint work on the Aluminium section is superb.

 

[stona]

I'm looking forward to this eye shadow/heat staining business, but is it done with your shade? I worry what you will wear when we are finally allowed out again...

Great job so far and I agree with the other comments about your aluminium, very nice indeed.

Cheers

Danny La Rue

 

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
That is a beautiful finish. A really cracking job of this. You're right about the detail of the undercarriage especially given the kit's age.
Jim

 

[yak face]

Thanks for the comments guys , hopefully i can get the heat staining started soon and ill try and show my method of applying eye shadow ( on the aircraft )

 

[colin m]

Looks bob on. The nmf has come out perfect.

 

[rtfoe]

Wow...that's a nice metalic finish to the F104 Tony. One of my favourite jet planes although I'm more a prop guy.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[yak face]

Well as promised heres a walk through of the heat staining effect . I started by gathering all my cheapo eye shadow sets that ive picked up along the way along with some applicators , cotton buds and some make up remover wipes .The type of eye shadow you need is the ‘baked’ stuff , its quite dry and powdery , the one you dont want is the greasy type as this will just smear . The exhaust area had previously been masked and sprayed with matt varnish - this makes the eye shadow stick to the surface better. Get plenty on the applicator and apply some to the back of your hand to get a feel for how it goes on . I started with the blue areas , rubbing it in quite heavy , then the purple , then red . At this point it looks terrible but it soon gets knocked back after a rub with some kitchen roll/ cotton wool. Even after this it still looked too much to my eye so out with the make up remover pads and take most of it off and start again . The second time I didnt use as much red / purple and also added a few darker metallic grey lines and highlighted the darker band at the front . After a good rub to blend it in im happy with it . You can either leave it now or fix it with a light misting of hair spray , although if you want to keep your glossy shiny bits youll need to mask everything else off! Im going to leave it as is , it seems very well fixed . The area in front of the cannon port also got a smudging of black / dark grey to simulate the sooty staining in this area.
So there you are , next time youre in Poundland or wherever have a look on the cosmetics aisle , theres loads of stuff that can be useful for modelling( or you could just nick some of the wifes/ daughters / girlfriends but dont blame me if you get in trouble!)

 

[Archetype]

I anticipate some very strange looks when I am allowed in to the shops and the first thing I start stocking up on is make up

 

[therapy]

Thanks for that, very informative...

Nick

 

[Steven000]

Nice effect Tony, not yet seen this kind of technique Thanks for sharing.
Steven

 

[yak face]

I anticipate some very strange looks when I am allowed in to the shops and the first thing I start stocking up on is make up

Thanks for that, very informative...

Nick

Nice effect Tony, not yet seen this kind of technique Thanks for sharing.
Steven

Thanks guys hope you found it useful, cheers tony

 

[yak face]

Bit more done yesterday . Ive fitted the sidewinders and pitot and also the resin exhaust which has had a blue / black wash . Not much else to do now , just the airbrakes ( which im fitting last off as i just know ill break them off if i do it before!! ) , and the canopy . The problem with the this ( in fact most canopies if posed open ) is that the kit part is just a plain old piece of clear plastic whereas most canopies have a fair bit of internal framing , demister tubes , mirrors etc . To jazz this up i got some brass tube and after several attempts managed to bend it to depict the demister tube which is a prominent feature of the f104 canopy. Two mirrors will also be attached to this , which i made from chrome xmas tape stuck to some plastic card and cut out .

 

[Jakko]

That exhaust really improves the look of the model, and the demister tube and mirrors also look good.

 

[boatman]

OH Tony love this plane in the silver an us airforce markings really makes it make me think of chuck yager an all the great aircraft of the 50's an 60 's i think this was the best time ever for U/S aircraft as they were nice an colourfull not like the drab planes of today an you are doin a really great job on this an just lookin at it an the yrs roll back for me to the magnificent airshows where these aircraft stood ON DISPLAY an done flyin displys at RAF COLTISHALL VERY WELL DONE an now whats next ?
chris

 

[yak face]

That exhaust really improves the look of the model, and the demister tube and mirrors also look good.

Cheers jakko , its a hundred percent improvement on the kit offering.

OH Tony love this plane in the silver an us airforce markings really makes it make me think of chuck yager an all the great aircraft of the 50's an 60 's i think this was the best time ever for U/S aircraft as they were nice an colourfull not like the drab planes of today an you are doin a really great job on this an just lookin at it an the yrs roll back for me to the magnificent airshows where these aircraft stood ON DISPLAY an done flyin displys at RAF COLTISHALL VERY WELL DONE an now whats next ?
chris

Next up in the ongoing series chris is the f105 d thunderchief . A huge beast of an aircraft , and im intending to do it in Nat metal again , cheers tony

 

[boatman]

SINGLE SEATER OR THE TWIN ? Tony an nat metal great as i think this sets the plane off in the USAF MARKINGS
CHRIS