Hasegawa 1/48 F-104G Starfighter

KIT #

 

PRICE:

¥2200

DECALS:

See review

REVIEWER:

A.Cagri Acikgoz

NOTES:

Kedi Decals used - Photos by Turhan Gungör

HISTORY

F-104 is one of the main A/C  of Turkish Air Force between 1963-1994. A total of 443 F-104 G, TF-104 G, F-104 S,CF-104 and CF-104 D  were received by TuAF . Many of them came to Turkey from GAF (German Air Force) and WGN (West German Navy). A total of 287 F-104 Gs were received and here is a list of suppliers:

Supplier Quantity
MAP 38
USAF 3
SpAF 9
RNAF 43
RNoAF 12
BAF 17
GAF/WGN 165

The subject of our kit is ex-GAF 24+00 , serial number is 63-8130. TuAF call number is  6-130 and it means A/C belongs to 6th Main Jet Base, Bandirma.

THE KIT

 No need to tell much about the kit, because it has been reviewed many times before. Generally, it has no major fit problems. But ejection pin marks on the bottom of the control surfaces are difficult to fill. Surface details are a little bit overdone, in my opinion.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction began with the cockpit. Kit cockpit is well done and I added little bits of plastic and thin wire here and there to make it busy. I used MB seat because of A/Cs origin and only added straps cut from masking tape and buckles made from thin wire. After painting the cockpit light grey, I applied isopropyl alcohol and Tamiya flat black mix wash to instr. Panel and side consoles, then dry-brushed with light grey and white. Ejection seat painted black and cushions dark green. After cockpit pieces added to  left fuselage side , construction went on quickly. Undercarriage and tip-tanks left till painting. 

PAINTING & MARKINGS

 Kit is painted to original GAF colors. RAL 7012+Ral 6014 over Ral 9006. All colors are hand-mixed. Ral 9006 (white aluminium) is not a true mettalic aluminium color and not looks like Light Ghost grey as Hasegawa ins. Sheet referred. It is a kind of metallic grey, so I mixed Tamiya aluminium and white with a little black to achieve right tone according to my RAL color samples. Various Model Master enamels mixed for RAL 7012 grey and RAL 6014 green.

First, I attached all the gear doors to the model with UHU yellow tac then I painted all underside of the fuselage and wings with RAL 9006. Then I masked fuselage sides with Tamiya masking tape and bottom surfaces and tail with Parafilm-M. RAL 7012 was applied to all upper surface of the fuselage and wings. After 3 hours, grey areas were masked with Tamiya Tape and frisket paper, green areas applied to model. Then all maskings removed. After another 3 hours, front fuselage masked with parafilm and radome colors applied. At the same time, I painted all under carriage with tamiya Aluminium, and tip tanks with camo colors. Also, tip tanks masked with parafilm and Tamiya matt White applied to mid section as a base coat for RAL 2004 Dyglo Orange, then Revell RAL 2004 applied over white.

After all painting process finished and all paints dried, tip tanks added to wings and all model received a gloss coat of Dupli-Color spray can and waited overnight. Turkish national insignias, flags, serial and fuselage numbers came from Kedi Decals sheets. All stencilling is in German language in actual A/C so I used kit decals for rest of the kit. All decals went on well but kit decals are a little thick when compared to Kedi Decals. After a light coat of Dupli-Color matt cote, it is time for weathering.

All panel lines received a water-color wash of Winsor colors. Excess wash was cleaned with a damp lint free cloth according to wind direction. Then various shades of black and brown pastels applied to panel lines. When satisfied, a final dull cote fixed everything.

Under carriage, exhaust and pitot added to model at last step. It was 03,30 AM at local time and I have to bring up to model to our club contest to Istanbul, 480 km away from my city, and deadline was 10,00 AM. After a speedy trip at high-way , I could enter the contest before 20 minutes to deadline.

And, the model win the second place at Section 1, Turkish Air Force A/C category.

CONCLUSIONS

 As I say, it is unnecessary to say manything about the kit. Buy it, build it, paint it and enjoy it .

REFERENCES

It is possible to find many detailed photos and drawings at Unofficial TuAF web site, http://turkhavakuvvetleri.tripod.com

A.Cagri Acikgoz

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

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