hooter

Hello again, f4h1. If you e-mail me I'll send you a copy of the drawing which shows the size and location of the 450 gallon tanks and fins.

Just spotted while looking at the F-100 pylon photos, I think the close-up photo of the series III pylon is actually a photo of the one fitted to the outboard stations. I may be wrong, but according to my interpretation of my F-100 pics, the 450 gallon tank had a longer pylon with a slightly swept back leading edge. Hope this does'nt mean I'm turning into a pedantic old fool ! :)

If you can get hold of the Squadron/Signal "F-100D/F Walkround" book there is a three view drawing on page 9 which shows the shape and location of the fins on the tanks. Just out of interest, the F-100s of the 20th.TFW carried these 450 gallon tanks as more or less standard until the mid- to late sixties. . . Hope this is of some help to you

Well, I've bought this seat, and it is absolutely stunning! I'm just waiting for the Astra decal sheets for the German F-104s, then it will be all systems go! Many thanks for a quality product, Harold.

Many thanks for the 'Hun' pics, Bill. Iwas particularly taken with the two photos of 'Triple Zilch' as I remember seeing her many times during her time with the 20th. TFW at Wethersfield. I live approx. 7 miles from the former USAFE base, and spent many a school holiday watching the 'Huns' coming and going over the boundary fence. It's nice to know that 'Triple Zilch' still exists, although she would look better in her original colour scheme, complete with tail flash, etc! :D ;)

There's something funny going on with this post ! I tried to say that I've had my moan, etc. but I keep getting "I should build my model" Never mind, i think you all get the general idea ! Sorry about that.

Oops ! That should read "OK . . that's my I should be building a model! over, but I do feel strongly etc. Sorry about that !

Oh boy ! At last I'm not the only one to have noticed the "Rivets" detail on these kits. As Danny says, the F-104 was a beautiful, smooth machine, and even in close-up photos the rivets were almost invisible. While the Hasegawa kits capture the shape of the F-104, they went overboard with surface detail, having raised panels where there were none, etc. Also, has anyone else noticed the difference in the thickness of the fin/rudder and wing/flaps/leading edge flaps? Perhaps I'm being too picky, but I'll not build my F-104s until Dave's superb decals & update sets are available. OK . .

Oh yes . . .I was a weapons tech on 17 sqdn. based at RAF Bruggen in the early 70's, and I think the F G R 2 [Or F-4M] was even noisier than the F-4D/E , especially as they had 2 dirty great Rolls Royce Speys fitted ! I had many an evening's recreation drowned out with their night flying activities . . .happy days, though !

Just a quick note to add regarding the F-102 kit. If you get hold of the kit with the markings as shown on the box in kenlilly 106's reply you won't be able to use them, as the a/c shown on the box top was from the 496FIS, which had case X wingtips. I have a photo of this machine taken at Wethersfield open day in 1964, which clearly shows the early type wingtip, and to the best of my knowledge thy were not retro fitted to these machines . . Hope this is of some help. :D :P

Thanks guys for the info, especially Danny at Daco products . . .I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for their release. :blink:

Does anybody have any information on the impending release dates for the Astra decals set for the German F-104s, please? I've tried e-mailing Daco Productions, but had no success. I'm desperate to start my 1/32 scale Luftwaffe F-104, so if anyone can help i would be eternally grateful. :blink:

Thanks for the info, Silver Fox . . .It just goes to show the difficulties inherent in colour interpretation of old B and W photos . . .Perhaps I'll choose a different scheme ! :D

Just found a pic of a 1/48 scale Hurricane Mk.1 in the markings of Ian Gleed's 87 SQDN. machine "LK-A" which shows the a/c as having a pale blue nose and spinner. Now, I was always under the impression that the nose was red, as depicted in many references, so I would be interested to know whether some new info has come to light, or has someone made a slight "boo boo" ? I ask because I'm considering doing the Trumpeter 1/24 scale kit, possibly as this machine. so would be grateful for any feedback, please. :D

I have some close-up photos of JaboG 32 F-104s from 1973, and they were definitely weissaluminium, which was a metallic colour, rather like the USAF's aluminium FS 17178. Xtracolor have this in their paint range, & it's certainly like aluminium.

I might be able to help you here. I have a copy of the F-40 book on the Canadair Sabre in Luftwaffe service, and on page 143 there is a photo of JA-344, which clearly shows the earlier NAA seat installed. Maybe it was upgraded later, but 90% of the other aircraft in this book seem to have the earlier type seat. Hope this helps !

I have a photo of an F-101C from the 81st. TFW in the overall light grey which appeared at the 1964 Wethersfield Open Day. I think there was only one or two of their airplanes painted in this scheme . . .It may have been a trial to combat corrosion/ weathering problems. The aircraft serial was "60036" If you contact me via this forum I will e-mail you a copy of this pic. <_<

I'm about to start decalling my 1/48 scale CF-104, which I have painted in the overall green scheme of the early 70s. The model will represent a machine of 439 sqdn. based at Baden-Sollingen in 1974. Can anyone tell me if these aircraft had the full stencil details applied after being painted in this scheme, or were only certain markings applied? I have a decal sheet which has a full set of stencils, but I'm not sure how far to go! Can anyone help, please ?

I have a copy of the Verlinden "Lock-On" book covering the F-4M {Or FGR 2, as us old Phantom Phixers used to call her!} If you can get in touch with me via the forum I can e-mail the photos to you. I'm not quite sure how you do it, but I'm sure there is a way. I've tried uploading pics to the site, but for whatever reason it does'nt seem to work!

I'm building a CF-104 with the centreline pylon, and if you are careful with fitting and cleaning up the main gear centre section the pylon will fit OK. also, the pylon is a pretty good representation of the real thing, so no worries there.

If you can get hold of the Verlinden "Lock On" publication it has some good close ups of a TF-104 cockpit showing the area you are interested in . . .hope this helps.

If you can get hold of a copy of Verlinden's "lock-On" No.22 there are two good photos of the area in question on page 28. Also, it has many excellent close up pics of the F-15E . . .hope this helps. :wacko:

I wonder if anyone else has noticed a small problem with this kit . . .namely the fit of the flaps, ailerons and rudder? It's fine to have seperate control surfaces, for "posing"etc. but I have found that all three seem to have a smaller thickness than the wing and fuselage. this means that if you align the flaps and ailerons with the upper surface of the wing you have a nasty "step" in the underside ! Does anyone have any ideas how to get round this? This is the third F-104 I've built, and they all had the same problem, so I'm thinking it must be the kit and not me! Also, as a minor point,

Withy regard to the re-engining of German F-104s I was on armament practice camp with Phantom FGR 2s of 17 squadron between 1972-74 at Decimomannu and I well remember the distinctive howl of the F-104s during that period! It would seem that the re-engining of these airplanes must have taken sometime to complete, so It's probably best to check any photos you might have before building. Having said that, most of the TF-104Gs pictured in the F40 publication have the later jet nozzle! Hope this of some help. ha

Many thanks, guys for the info . . .it would appear that there is no hard and fast rule to this colour . . .that's modelling for you!