Eduard 1/48 F-104G Starfighter

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So as most of my builds are either figures or tanks i could do with a jet aswell
My main excuse for building it is that i am co running a dutch modelling facebook page since a month or so
And i came up with the of a group build on there
In end we came to the subject of "the Netherlands"
And years ago the RNLAF (Royal Netherlands Airforce) flew the F-104G before they started using the F-16

And at the moment the the gb is started but i still need to start building wich i plan on doing today
So all i have now is a intro of the kit and wich plane i will be building
I have the photo's anyway as i had to put them in that gb aswell
So this is the kit i will be building

It is Eduard's NATO fighter Linited edition kit in 1/48
It is the Hasegawa Starfighter kit with Eduard goodies in the box


A first look in the box
Not a whole lot of styrene but then again it isn't a really big plane either








All the regular kit parts


The resin parts
It has 2 ejection seats
From what i found it is because of the version of the Turkish airforce
They used a different seat then most others it should be the one on the left for that version


The pe and film for the hud


The masks


Decals for all the versions including Norwegian ,Turkish,Belgium ,Canadian and the Dutch version


The Dutch decals


All the stencil markings


I also have a resin wheelbay set and metal pitot tube


And the plane i will be building
I think it looks pretty nice with the splinter camo and the shark mouth is a nice detail

And that is all i have for now
I will start today as i want to have it in primer as soon as possible
And then get going on painting and weathering the interior

So thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and happy modelling
Cheers
Mark

[Avgas]

Got this in the stash

[MarkVerploeg]

It looks like a okay kit
I need to paint and weather the cockpit before i can start putting it together but i was kind of suprised by the number of parts
Or better the lack of parts
I made several planes that easily have twice as many parts if not more

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So have been spending yesterday at the bench
Mostly building the Starfighter
Wich by now is already primed so i could start painting it tomorrow allthough this is the last day of my vacation so i will have to see how much spare time i have during the coming week

But here are some WIP photo's of the Starfighter during the construction

Work starts with the cockpit tub
I had to remive all the raised details on the sides for the printed photo etch replacements


The fit of the exhaust is not all that good but you won't be able to see it later on


The CMK resin wheel bay


And a bunch of holes had to be drilled for lights
This was a crappy thing to do by the manufacturere as the clear parts are bigger then the inside of the rings on the fuselage


All done for the first primer and paint


All painted ,pe applied and slightly dry brushed
I also used a small anount of dark wash but not that much
The Dutch Starfighters where pretty clean in general and this specific plane was shown during a open house of our airforce so it looked even cleaner then usual


Installing the internal parts


And closing up the fuselage halfs


The front and rear parts of the cockpit where made
Somehow they want you to add the instrument panel after you closed up the fuselage
That didn't work all that well
I snapped the flight stick while i was trying to get this part installed


Next up air intakes and the nose cone with the master models pitot tube


It was a task getting the instrument panel in but it looks pretty good


The front wheelbay had a even worse fit that the rear one
Good thing i have quite a supply of putty


The tiny wings where added


And the tiptanks


Filling all the gaps


The gaps at the wing roots where filled aswell and the elevatorwas installed
That required some sanding as the 2 tail sections are not the same height at the point where the elevator goes
They lined up everywhere except there


Some very specific parts for the Dutch version
I have no idea what they are but these things where only found on our Starfighters


Front landing gear was installed


Amd the rear ones aswell
The holes in the CMK resin kit where much shallower then the kit parts so i had to remove a large portion of the pins to get them to fit


The burner can is friction fitted
I probably end up painting it as a seperate part


Front and rear canopy parts where placed
The middle section gets painted seperate as i need to paint the seat first before i can in install the seat and canopy


To get the doors to fit i had to remove a lot of material on both the doors and the wheelbay part


The doors on the front had the same problem
They casted a hinge on them and that is too big so i cut that bit off to make them fit


The resin seat was made
It only has 2 parts so cleaning took longer then glueing


The wheels


The remaining wheelbay doors
Because there is a light on them i decided to paint them seperate
I could mask the lights and glue them on but i have no way of removing the mask when they are installed


Everything is ready for a splash of paint
I placed the canopy mask after i made the photo

So like i mentionned before it is primed but it is still drying at the moment so i will leave it to dry for a day and i will see if i have some spare time to start painting it tomorrow
Because it has a light grey bottom i will start there
Mask that when it is fully dry and start on the medium grey and green on the top
Ahould look quite intresting as the Dutch Starfighters had a splinter camo unlike out F-16's that are a 2 tobe grey scheme found on many modern jets

So that is all i have for now
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[Avgas]

Not impressed with the fit issues, you are doing a stirling job so far Mark.

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks Dave
Now it only needs some paint wich will involve a lot of masking
Not really my favorite thing to do

[TommyKillander]

Excellent job!


Tommy

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Tommy

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So it has been a while since i last posted and progres on this build
And i entered it in a group build on a dutch modelling facebook page that ends next week
But because i was the one who came up with the idea of doing a gb it would look a bit silly if i was one of the guys that didn't finish in time
So i started to pick up the pace a bit last week when i realised i only had about a week left instead of 3 like thought i had

So this time painting

I started with the light grey bottom of the plane

Wich goes about half way up the fuselage


Then the neutral grey top half


And the masking fun began


Next was the green


After the unmasking








And once the entire plane was pained i finished up the ejection seat and placed that in the plane
And to finish it off i glued the canopy on and gave the plane a gloss coat

So now it is ready for decals wich i hope to start tonight
If all goes according to plan i will have the decals and second gloss coat done by monday so i can do the washes on thuesday and apply the flat coat on wednesday when the gb end
So just in time but if the decals are done sooner then that would be nice too

Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and happy modelling
Cheers
Mark

[TommyKillander]

That cammo looks amazing !

Keep up the good work and best of luck finishing it in time


Tommy

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Tommy
If all goes according to plan i should be able to finish it in time
Atleast if my plan is correct

[Aeon]

I know photobucket betrayed us all but please re upload the photos once more. Cheers!

[shortCummins]

I know photobucket betrayed us all but please re upload the photos once more. Cheers!

if you click on the photobucket image you'll be able to see the photo

[MarkVerploeg]

I know photobucket betrayed us all but please re upload the photos once more. Cheers!

I plan on doing so but after quite a busy week i wanted to build instead of being behind the computer
I am working on re uploading the pics from my recent builds and restore those threads

[MarkVerploeg]

I know photobucket betrayed us all but please re upload the photos once more. Cheers!

sadly i can't fix this thread
i lost or deleted most of the WIP photo's on my phone
so i can't reupload them
but the reveal is fixed and the end result can be seen there