Belgian F-104G Starfighter. Italeri with lot's of aftermarket WIP.

[Guest DannyVM]

Thank's Mike for you're very nice comment. 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

The Starfighter get's it's shape, this week i glued the wings, and made some adjustments to the wing tip tanks.

 

The wing tanks have weld seams, but in my opinion they are just oversized and not crisp molded, so i got rid of them.

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

 

Wing half's where glued together and nose cone is glued onto the fuselage. No issues regarding fit, everything went well.

 

 

 

Look at this beast, it nearly fit's my sprayboot.

 

 

Wings are dry-fitted, not glued yet.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

Time to put some more work on the fuselage.

 

I have some mixed feelings about the fit of the part's in this kit. The fit is not bad at all, but some part's leave a nasty seam once they are glued. Some is caused due to the tooling nature of the kit part's, on the other hand i'm sure some of these issues are caused by myself......i think .

 

Ok, time to glue the tail section onto the fuselage. Here, these two part's fit fairly good, but still there's a nasty seam line visible, while on the real plane this is almost invisible from a fairly distance.

 

 

So i decided to fill up this seam line. First thing to do, taping the edges.

 

 

 

 

Also the air brakes didn't fit properly, i will deal with that also.

 

Next thing to do, fill the nasty seam, for this i use Tamiya putty mixed with Revell Contacta Liquid, this gives me enough time to fill the seam with a pin pointed accuracy. 

 

 

After the putty dried, i removed the tape

 

 

 

During the drying time of the putty i did some touch up's on the fuel tanks. For this i used Mr. Surfacer 500.

 

 

And also the wing pylons and fuselage pylon for the SUU-21 bomb dispenser where primed.

 

 

A quick dry-fit of the wings onto the fuselage.

 

 

And finally today i managed to sand the filled seam line and did some touch up's, again with the help of Mr.Surfacer 500

 

 

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

Today, i did some further work regarding the fuselage and wings.

 

First, i sanded the filled seam line that separated the two fuselage half's.

 

 

In my opinion, it look's allot better now.

 

 

Wings where finally glued onto the fuselage.

 

 

Flaps and slats where also glued.

 

 

On the top of the fuselage there are lot's of inspection hatches, but in my opinion they are very ugly engraved, so i decided to fill them and later replace them.

 

 

For this, i used the well know MR. Surfacer 500.

 

 

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[youngtiger1]

Coming along nice Danny. I do similar thing with tape when I need to apply putty. It helps save the extra detail around the surface.

[Guest DannyVM]

Finally, the Starfighter is ready to got his first complete primer layer. This week i made all preparations regarding this work.

All part's are ready to, including the entrance ladder and pilot.

 

When finished this i will control all seam's, rivets and panel lines, if necessary i will paint another primer layer so all is excellent to give the Vietnam camo paint.

 

First, this is how it look's 

 

 

Area's that where badly damaged like some inspection hatches where repaired with self adhesive alu foil.

 

 

 

This is how it will be in my mind once this bird is finished. Still some work to do.

 

 

Pilot ready to boarding, still without his oxygen mask. Very nice about this figure is, that there are 5 helmets types in the box for a 60's-70's pilot.

 

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

 

 

Coming along nicely! Love the use of the foil - and relieved to see I'm not the only one for whom this is a long-term effort!

Thank's Matt,

 

indeed, it's not the best kit.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[JeroenPeters]

Wow! Nice work on the spine!!

[Guest DannyVM]

After some painstaking filling, rescribing and sanding, it was finally time to put some paint on this bird.

First i gave all part's and the F-104 a pre-shade. For this i used Alclad black primer. Reason for this choice is simply because i will use the DACO enamel Vietnam camo colors. This way, nothing can go wrong.

 

Before the pre-shade

 

 

F-104 after the pre-shade

 

 

Different part's also pre-shaded, note, the two wing tip tanks have already received there bare metal finish.

 

 

Belgian Starfighters often flew with bare metal external wing tip tanks, mixed with under wing fuel tanks that where painted in there Vietnam camo. I like that contrast, so i chosed to add two external wing tip tanks in their bare metal finish.

 

 

For this i used Alclad Aluminium.

 

 

The two other under wing external fuel tanks, received their first part of the Vietnam camo, the Vietnam light grey for the underside.

 

 

Same go's for the Starfighter himself.

 

 

 

To be honest, i don't know why i ever chosed to use acrylics instead of enamels. Oh boy, these paint go's very smooth, and with the DACO special thinner this paint dry's much faster then normal enamel use.

 

Still, enamel paint need's to cure for some hours, so time to paint some details.

 

The IP panel shroud and cover is painted with Vallejo model color and afterwards i gave it a treatment with diluted oil paint.

 

 

 

I couldn't resist.........that pilot needed also some paint, so i started his face and helmet.

 

 

 

 

That's all for now.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[JeroenPeters]

Nice!!!

 

And happy birthday!!

[Guest DannyVM]

Thank's Jeroen, oohhh boy i feel old

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[youngtiger1]

Looking sweet Danny. You can't help but love the sweet lines on this jet. Kelly Johnson sure was way ahead of his time

[Guest DannyVM]

 

 

Looking sweet Danny. You can't help but love the sweet lines on this jet. Kelly Johnson sure was way ahead of his time   

He sure was

 

Thank's for the nice comment.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

Second color of the Vietam camo color is painted. Again i used the DACO authentic enamel range which is excellent to use.

 

I forgot to mention the first color i painted for the undersides, which was DACO PA-22 Vietnam light grey.

So, second color is the DACO PA-21 Vietnam Tan.

 

The Belgian Air Force used a different sort of the Pale Green and Tan, compared to the Vietnam style colors used by the U.S.A.F.

 

Photo of the freshly painted 104 yesterday

 

 

I chosed to paint all colors separate from each other, which means that between each color i always mask the surfaces to protect the pre-shade and previous painted area's. It's a painstaking work, but the result's is much better.

 

 

The intake cone and cover are not glued yet, this is to acces easy the hidden area's for painting.

 

 

The horizontal stabilizer, also not glued yet.

 

 

Between the painting sessions i remove the maskings. I learned that the pritt poster buddy's have an effect on the freshly painted surfaces when it keeps in place for a few day's.

 

Here they are still attached to the surface.

 

 

 

After removal of the masking tape 

 

 

I masked the camo pattern close to the underside light grey area. But for the camo pattern which still need to painted i used free hand to prevent a hard edge came when masked. That way there will be no visible lines when the other camo colors are painted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The left side intake is painted completely in Vietnam Tan, so time to glue the intake cone on it's place.

 

 

When the glue is cured, i will glue the intake cover.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Guest DannyVM]

Well guy's, it's bin a while since i posted some progress on the "104".

 

At the moment, the Starfighter got his Vietnam Camo pattern, but there's are some issue's. The camo pattern isn't quit like i want it to be, so i will repaint some area's to get a nicer result. Also there is some over spray at different surfaces, also these must be repainted.

 

A few day's ago, after i painted the Vietnam light green color. With this color i had some very serious problem's. The pigment of the paint just didn't mix with the paint, but sank to the bottom of the jar, resulting in a granular substance with the result of constipating the airbrush.

 

After a troubling airbrush session, this was the result.

 

 

 

 

 

I almost putted the whole project on the shelf of doom ..........

 

But, i'm eager to finnish this beast, so i will go until the bitter end.

 

After the last color was added, thing's looked much better.

 

 

 

Today, i tackled the engine exhaust. I used the Eduard Brassin example, but before i could get a proper fit, there had to be much cutting, sanding and cursing.......

to get a proper fit.

 

 

 

 

A dry fit into the fuselage, and i'm happy with this result.

 

 

 

Next step, painting the exhaust, for this i chosed Alclad Pale Burnt Metal.

 

 

 

And finally, the exhaust got some pigment's to get a more realistic appearance.

 

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[JeroenPeters]

Sweet Danny! Love that Vietnam scheme..

[Guest DannyVM]

Thank's Jeroen.

 

 

Previous i mentioned that this bird would be a 31e Smaldeel "Tiger" machine. As i'm modeling the FX-76, i learnt that this particular machine flew with the 23e "Devils" Smaldeel, so i changed the pilot helmet from Tiger markings to Devils markings.

 

 

Some minor details has to be taken care of, thing's are far from done, also at the moment these photo's where taken, the decals where curing from the Micro Sol.

 

 

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[GusMac]

Looking good Danny, the pilot is especially good. What type of paints are you using?

[Guest DannyVM]

 

 

Looking good Danny, the pilot is especially good. What type of paints are you using? 

Thank's GusMac for the nice comment.

 

For the model itself is use DACO and Humbrol enamels regarding the SEA camo scheme.De rest is done with Tamiya Acrylics and Vallejo.

 

For the pilot i use only the Vallejo Model Color and Model Air paints. The markings on the helmet are DACO decals.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[youngtiger1]

Very nice Danny. Was that Devil's emblem on the helmet from the kit or did you created one yourself?

 

Mike

[Guest DannyVM]

 

 

Very nice Danny. Was that Devil's emblem on the helmet from the kit or did you created one yourself?

 

Mike 

Thank's Mike for the nice comment.

 

The helmet markings come's on the DACO decal sheet for the Belgian Starfighter. There are helmet markings on it for four Smaldelen. 31e Tiger, 23e Devil, 349e Morningstar and the 350e Ambiorix Squadrons. Also the unit shoulder patches are present on the decal sheet.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Dennis.E]

Fantastic job Danny! I applaud your perseverance...

[Guest DannyVM]

 

 

Fantastic job Danny! I applaud your perseverance... 

Dennis, thank's for the nice comment.

 

It's a demanding model to build, but the problems with the DACO paint makes thing's much harder.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[Padubon]

Danny,

It is good to see the job you are doing with this model, it gives me hope with the Mirage I'm building. What did you used to weather the wheel bay?

 

Paulo

[JonathanReed]

I like it!  I like it a lot!!!