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F-104 Starfighter


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Hello all, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel now in terms of completed kits to show you. Here's one I did a few years ago, before I discovered panel line washes, effective photography and decent research...

I've always been a fan of the film The Right Stuff, and long wanted to build a Starfighter like the one used in the scene where Yeager goes up to 104,000ft and promptly puts it into a flat spin. I used the Hasegawa 1/48 F-104C as it had most of the right USAF markings, but it was only later that I realised that the one used in the film was a G model with the broader tail. D'oh! Also, working from an old video tape, I failed to notice that the wings were painted white on top, and I left mine in NMF. Double D'oh!!

Anyway, the kit went together beautifully apart from a slightly warped stabiliser, the Eduard PE set was used to liven up the cockpit, and Alclad 2 Polished Aluminium was used for the airframe over Halford's grey primer. The serial number on the tail was home made on an inkjet printer, to copy the one in the film. The last photo has appeared here before - a photoshop type pic of the model behind the barriers at Fairford air show. Ah, sunshine...remember that?

Hope you like it,

Dean

starfighter1.jpg

starfighter6.jpg

starfighter5.jpg

starfighter4.jpg

starfighter2.jpg

starfighter3.jpg

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Lovely. I did this too in 1/72, using the ESCI kit. Great movie too by the way.

Not only were the wings white on top, they were light grey underneath. Even more interesting, they both (they used 2 in the movie) were actually Fokker-built Luftwaffe F-104Gs, belonging to the Luftwaffe training squadron at (I believe) Luke AFB. Never could quite understand why they (and the German F-4Fs that followed) were in USAF markings.

Cheers,

Roy

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Lovely. I did this too in 1/72, using the ESCI kit. Great movie too by the way.

Not only were the wings white on top, they were light grey underneath. Even more interesting, they both (they used 2 in the movie) were actually Fokker-built Luftwaffe F-104Gs, belonging to the Luftwaffe training squadron at (I believe) Luke AFB. Never could quite understand why they (and the German F-4Fs that followed) were in USAF markings.

Cheers,

Roy

Thanks Roy. Yes, I found out about the wing colours when I was building my 1/32 foil finished F-104C. Apparently the Luftwaffe's 104s were painted in USAF markings to prevent the public from complaining about German marked planes whizzing about in their skies...

I'e got a 1/72 in the stash with these colours too, and on the fin the serial number was 13269, with the 69 in large red numerals as a unit identifier. In the film, if you look carefully at the 104 standing in the background as Yeager in his pressure suit talks to Ridley, you can see where the 69 has been scrubbed off, leaving the strangely truncated 132 serial behind.

Amazing what you can learn AFTER you finish a model, isn't it?

Cheers,

Dean

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Hey Ridley, you got any Beemans ? :D

Stunning work as usual Dean, I always thought the Starfighter looked best in BMF, If I was ever to model this aircraft this would be the version I'd do.

Gorgeous.

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Thanks Roy. Yes, I found out about the wing colours when I was building my 1/32 foil finished F-104C. Apparently the Luftwaffe's 104s were painted in USAF markings to prevent the public from complaining about German marked planes whizzing about in their skies...

I'e got a 1/72 in the stash with these colours too, and on the fin the serial number was 13269, with the 69 in large red numerals as a unit identifier. In the film, if you look carefully at the 104 standing in the background as Yeager in his pressure suit talks to Ridley, you can see where the 69 has been scrubbed off, leaving the strangely truncated 132 serial behind.

Amazing what you can learn AFTER you finish a model, isn't it?

Cheers,

Dean

Thanks for that. The two were serialed 13243 and 13269. If anyone else wants to do these in 1/72, the decals were in the old Matchbox and a later Hasegawa release for 13269 (with the big red 69). There are beautiful pictures on the web of these birds... Yes, they really were that shiny!

13243

http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Luke/63-13243.htm

http://www.airfighters.com/photo_2279.details

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/096096.html

13269

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0700649/L/

http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Luke/63-13269.htm

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1039954/

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Sorry folks, been away from home for a bit.

Thanks for the nice comments, it's always nice to get feedback. I currently have a few more Starfighters in the stash, as every so often the urge to build one takes over...

Cheers,

Dean

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