Starfighter for two

Non 1/72 scale models aren’t frequent guest on my workbench. I have however few kits of this variety in my storage, collecting layers of dust. Why I bought them? Don’t know, really. Usually I just ignore those when I choose another subject to build, but not this time. Shamefully, I betrayed my sweet seventy-two with a German midget.

The kit

Of course I’m talking about 1:144 Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter kit from Revell (catalogue number 04008). This isn’t a recent release (developed in 2003, if Scalemates.com is to be believed), but the sprues looks pretty nice, considering overall size of the model. Which is true for many military jets offered by this German manufacturer in that size (which of course doesn’t mean all!).

I decided to go with "almost out of the box" build, i.e. the content of the set plus some necessary in my opinion modifications.

From two available painting options I chose the German version, which I found more interesting than the German alternative. Okay, jokes aside – I decided to build F-104 trainer in a two-colour uniform of the German Navy. To be precise – a machine from MFG 2 (Marinefliegergeschwader 2) with the 27+93 side number. After a short web investigation I managed to find a photo of the “real deal”. This allowed me to verify the kit painting guide with a quite positive outcome. I found only minor differences around the pitot tube mounted on the nose of the plane.

The Build

Quick look at the sprues and it is pretty obvious that Revell also offers a single seater set – front part of the fuselage, which contains the cabin, was designed as a separate section. I decided to start right here.

I didn’t tinker too much with the cockpit details, assuming that those won’t be very visible in the finished miniature, especially with the closed canopy. Instrument panels have some raised details, which of course helps with the painting, but that unfortunately can’t be said about the side panels – completely flat, with no dedicated decals provided. Therefore I decided to paint those with Gunze H77 (Tire Black) and apply some leftover decals from other kits. And by “other” I don’t mean different F-104 kit. I just wanted to have something vague there for the nosy onlookers. Earlier I painted cockpit interior with Gunze H308 paint (Gray FS36375), slightly shading the sides with mentioned H77 (Tire Black). I also coloured the details with the Vallejo acrylics by brush.

Wash, a little bit of dirt, and I could glue cockpit into one half of the front fuselage segment. Now was the time to prevent the disease many of the Starfighters models suffer from. Of course I’m talking about “tail sitting”. In this case, due to the severe lack of space, I used a shot for blast cleaning, which I pushed into every possible nook and cranny of the front section. Should be enough.

In the meantime I made a new floor for the front wheel bay from thin polystyrene sheet. Thank to this I didn’t have to worry about seam in this hard-to-reach place, when I glue fuselage halves together.

Crew seats are basically the only interior elements to which I added something more. I airbrushed them grey along with the cabin (Gunze H308, if someone already forgot) and then coloured the details with Vallejo acrylics (by brush). Next I’ve added poor imitations of seatbelts and the distinctive, yellow ejection mechanism grips (made from stretched sprue and painted). The latter will be probably the most visible detail in the finished cockpit.

Having prepared all required elements, I was able to proceed with closing the fuselage, sanding the seams on the instrument panels’ housings and painting the latter with black.

Now it was just a matter of puting rest of the airframe together to make the model look somewhat like a little Starfighter. At this stage I also made some modifications, e.g. cut and tilted control surfaces of the wings (flaps, ailerons and slots). However most time was consumed by sanding, and I'm not talking about dealing with imperfect parts joints. You see, every edge that would undoubtedly indicate the size of the model has been slimmed down, in order to cover up a bit the inevitable in this scale part crudeness. Leading / trailing edges of wings and tail, aerodynamic fin on the bottom of the fuselage, fuel tanks stabilizers, landing gear covers, fuselage edge around the engine nozzle and the nozzle itself – all of those has been significantly sanded down.

Obviously such a treatment won’t affect kit overall level of detail, naturally quite low in 1:144, but perhaps provide a little deception to mislead the person looking at the photos for a moment.

Painting

After fixing the canopy and masking it (narrow stripes cut from Tamiya tape plus masking fluid) I was able to grab the airbrush again. First session was devoted to the application of base layer with Gunze C8 (Silver), which brought out every imperfections of the model surface. Corrections, C8 again and the miniature was ready for camouflage.

But before that I decided to add a couple of details, lack of which was in my opinion too noticeable, when compared to the photo of the real TF-104. I drilled a hole in the radar cover for the pitot tube contrived from a thin injection needle and a wire. On the back of the fuselage I made two changes. Just behind the cockpit I added an antenna cut from a thin metal sheet (sourced from a tealight, if I remember correctly). Secondly, closer to the vertical stabilizer – I drilled a hole for positional light, which I prepared in the form of a transparent rod, rounded at one end. Two of those three details I was able to put aside for now, so they wouldn’t interfere with the painting process.

Now to the camouflage. Started with the radar cone, which I covered with a layer of Gunze H417 (RLM76 Light Blue) and brightened up a bit with C69 (Off White) from the same manufacturer. Next I applied Tamiya XF-18 (Medium Blue) paint to the top of the fuselage, which I then unevenly lightened with XF-82 (Ocean Gray 2). Details, in the form of dorsal antenna and small fragment on the tip of the radar cover, were airbrushed with Gunze white primer. Engine air intakes were treated with previously mentioned H77.

To paint the lower parts of the fuselage I used Gunze H307 (Gray FS36320), later brightened up with C69 (Off White). I also coloured some elements not yet glued to the main body of the model – landing gears (Gunze MC211 Chrome Silver), wheels (same) and engine nozzle (Model Master 1415 Burnt Metal). Tires were brush painted with Vallejo Panzer Aces 306 Dark Rubber.

At this point I wasn't quite satisfied with the look of upper surfaces, so I brightened them even more with Tamiya XF-82 paint.

Better, now just a layer of Tamiya clear varnish (gloss) to protect the whole thing and airbrush can be put away for a moment.

Decals

Markings, like in many Revell kits, didn’t make any unpleasant surprises and were swiftly applied, with help of the popular Microscale Set & Sol duo.

Although the colours offset visible in the emblem on the tail slightly spoiled the good first impression. However, having no substitutes (after all 1:144 is not “my” scale) – I was O.K. with that and secured the applied markings with a thin layer of the already mentioned Tamiya varnish.

Before weathering

Before I started to get dirty, I had to paint a little bit more. The vicinity of the engine exhaust nozzle, in reality left in the natural colour of metal, was covered with the Gunze MC211 (Stainless) metallizer (some masking was necessary, naturally). With Tamiya X-19 (Smoke) I shaded the wings control surfaces, which make adjacent stencils disappear (good, those were out of scale anyway).

I used AK Interactive products for the lazy to apply wash. Topside – Paneliner "Grey and Blue Camouflage".

At the bottom, a bit less conventionally – I used AK Engine Grime, which looked to me like a suitable colour for that.

After protecting the miniature with a thin layer of semi-gloss varnish from Vallejo, I could move to the application of some wear and tear.

Weathering

Here I also worked with specifics from AK Interactive. Engine Grime was used to make all kinds of streaks and smudges.

AK Fuel Stains was applied, as the name suggests, in the vicinity of fuel tanks inlets.

This also applies to the additional fuel tanks, with which I decorated the miniature at this point.

And since I’ve already started installing loose components, I decided to fit landing gears as well. Previously prepared struts & wheels assemblies were put in their appropriate places. Same goes for the landing gear covers – with a characteristic, slightly opened position of the main bay segments. Installed parts were then weathered a bit with the aforementioned products from Spain.

All that remained was to take care of some small details. I brush painted the landing hook with Vallejo 72.053 (Chainmal Silver from Game Colour series) and then weathered it with Engine Grime from AK. Dorsal light, painted with transparent red, ended up in its intended location, as did the engine nozzle and the pitot tube (painted with Gunze H307 Gray FS36320). The only thing left was to remove masks from the canopy and little TF-104 was ready.

Done

This meant that my short adventure in the smaller scale ended and I could go back to my favourite 1:72 models. Strangely enough, their parts suddenly became so big…

Want to see more photos of the finished Starfighter? Check out the gallery.

MMXVI