ERTL 1/72 F-104G
Picked this kit up at IPMS NATS for $8. Still in the cellophane. Research says it came out in 1981. Love how it came with 1/48 instructions. We will see if the 38 year old decals work. They look like they are in decent shape.
Getting the cockpit area ready for paint. Also filled a few sink marks.
So, I changed my mind when I found out the decals from the 38 year old kit were still good. The kit comes with a set of markings for a German Marine F-104G. So I am going to do this build in something like this picture.
Starting to look like a Starfighter. Rear fuselage join was not ideal. Took some grinding and sanding of the join to get it to fit well. Lots of sanding on the agenda for tomorrow.
Most of the sanding done. Intakes are on, took quite a bit of test fitting to get them to fit correctly. Still left with a little bit of Gap. Waiting for the paint to dry so I can finish the intakes and prepping the pieces for the cockpit.
All the various pieces and parts. Getting ready to paint the ejection seat. Canopy fits rather well after some test fitting.
This kit had some serious gaps on the underside of the wing joint. Some Mr Surfacer 500 filled that. Will remove the excess after it dries with a q-tip dipped in nail polish remover. Canopy installed and some Perfect Plastic Putty to fill any gaps. Excess
And.....primer was a failure. Luckily I only did the top. Will need to strip it eventually. Never trying Stynylrez again. Pooled up in places, did not adhere in others. At least the primer showed a few places that needed further filling and sanding.
A gallon Ziploc bag, some oven cleaner, rubber gloves, and some elbow grease. Primer is removed but now I have to go in and refill gaps that I used paint to close. Also redo the canopy and masking.
Here we go again! Failed Primer striped off. The stripping process also took off various materials that were used to fill gaps. Out came the Mr Dissolved Putty and the gaps will be refilled. More sanding and removal in my near future.
Gaps filled and sanded. Canopy affixed and masked with parafilm. Ready for second stab at primer. This time primer will be Mr Surfacer 1500 Black. After primer any flaws will be filled and sanded plus I will rescribe any panel lines that need it.
Back to the mainstays for primer. Mr Surfacer and Tamiya always work as expected. Overall application was with a rattle can. Then any areas not covered properly are covered with liquid primer thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner shot through my airbrush
Problem areas had some Tamiya white liquid primer brushed on.
Tonight she is all primed and rescribed. Going to wait a couple days for everything to completely cure before spraying the underside color.
Since I used black primer for this build I figured I would do some marbling before the main color. Paint used is Tamiya flat white thinned with Mr. Color leveling thinner.
I have added a new paint line to my "confidence" list. Purchased AK Interactive Real Color Silvergray for this build. Going to be used for the underside. Mixed the paint VERY well, thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner, sprayed at 15 psi.
Slight detour. Decided I wanted to do the FS36495 light gray on the nose and pilot tube before the underside color. Filler and some VERY light and careful sanding. Then some spot primer. Looks good but have to wait a couple days before spraying the gray
Masked off the nose. Straw to protect the pilot tube. Then some more AK Interactive Real Color Silvergray. I think it is a good color and application with airbrush was a breeze. Next up is applying some orange to the wingtip tanks.
New paint experiment number two on the same build. Scale Colors USAAF Neutral Gray for the upper side. I recommend using a fine tip airbrush and slowly building up the color. That behaves much better than trying to put on a thicker overall coat.
The gray on the upper half of the aircraft did not fully cure in spots. Probably because I airbrushed it in a warm and humid environment. Today I figured, nothing to loose, and put on a coat of clear gloss. No problems so far.
Beginning the decal process. Decided to use the decals from a Hasegawa kit. They are better printing quality than the ESCI decals from almost 40 years ago. Unfortunately I snapped off the pilot tube in the process of positioning for decals and cannot find
All the decals done on this side.
All the decals are done and the model rinsed. Tomorrow after it dries I will put on another gloss coat to seal the decals for panel line washes and weathering.
Decals on, gloss clear coat to seal them. Decided it was time for the brass pilot tube to go on. Attached and sanded, ready for some primer.
Getting closer to finished. Might just have it done to enter in the Cincinnati model show next weekend.
She is up on her legs. Might just get the final flat clear on tomorrow night.
This one is done. A preview pic before I take some better ones. Quite an enjoyable build of an old $8 kit. Plastic by ESCI/ERTL and decals by Hasegawa.
Finally took the time to take some marginally better pics.
Commenti
1 12 August 2019, 03:40
Patrick HagelsteinI wonder if that's the same as the later Italeri reboxing. If so, the kit should be quite nice.
12 August 2019, 13:58
Ken JudtPatrick, It is the same. Italeri did add a recon pod and an ejection seat to the newest boxing.
13 August 2019, 01:32
Ken JudtThank you for the compliments. Now to my quandary.... I was originally going to do this one Out Of Box, so I could enter it in that contest category if I so desire. But, these German Navy Starfighters would normally have an armament of two AS34 Kormoran anti-ship missiles. Eduard Brassin makes the missiles in 1/72 and I could get a set very easily for this build. But, if I do that this build will no longer be eligible for OOB category and I might as well put in an aftermarket ejection seat I already have. Any thoughts?
25 August 2019, 15:05
Gordon SørensenShame about the primer, Ken. I thought the Badger primers were suppose to be really good...
31 August 2019, 22:06
Patrick HagelsteinI stick to my Mr. Surfacers. Although a bit nasty smelling but they do a hell of a job getting my surfaces prepped.
31 August 2019, 23:45
Herbert TyszakBy the way, the Ejection seat must be a Martin Baker Q7, Germany had no Starfighter with the Original Lockheed seat. 🙂
1 September 2019, 11:02
Ken JudtI normally use the Mr Surfacer or Tamiya primer products. I bought the Badger primer from Amazon and I guess it froze during some air mail. Supposedly the Badger primers suffer if they get frozen. Anyhow, into the bin they go and after it is stripped I will probably use Tamiya white primer.
1 September 2019, 22:40
Ken JudtHerbert, I am doing this build OOB so whichever seat the kit comes with is the one that is used.
1 September 2019, 22:40
Sergej INice story,thanks for sharing! I was also so overwhelmed by the AK-RC quality that I replaced the whole batch within two Months. Just left Tamiya and MrColor which mix perfectly with the RC thinner aswel. All other acryllics including Vallejo, AK, Hataka - are waiting the inevitable - Marie Kondo 😄 does not spark joy 😄
18 September 2019, 09:37
