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Man you've been way ahead of us for years, back in '78 you had an 8 that would run on 6 to save gas!!!!! :D

Went thru 'The Place' in 77 (Course 01) had a Dutch Instructor for the second half of the course, first flight with him and he had a phone book to sit on!?!! He didn't use it again I guess he figured I was safe enough that he didn't need to see the whole picture.....or thinking about it now he may have been scared $hItless!!!

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Some more progress.

I painted the upper and lower wings using Tamiya spray primers (colours were Grey and White). There are two types of grey Tamiya spray primer (light grey and regular grey). The light grey I use for FS 36375 (CF-18 underside, etc); this slightly darker hue seems to be more fitting for the nose of the CF-104 and for the wing underside.

By using these pincers, I was able to spray one colour on each side in the same session and let them dry. The grey covered nicely with one coat; the white took about 3 coats. With some Future applied, the white will have just the right gloss shine to it.

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Dry fitting of the wings. The wings have always fit perfectly for me on this kit; I seem to recall other kits (in 1/72 I think) where the angle of the wings was difficult to attain. The pronounced anhedral of these wings is very unique for this bird; the Phantom also has this for the tailplanes, which is one reason not to hate the F-4... :monkeydance:

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I masked up the nose, in preparation for the flat black.

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Ready for foiling! I removed the wings, so as not to scratch/mar the paint job, and to make the foiling easier. With a natural metal CF-104 and foil, the painting and masking is really a piece of cake. The only other airbrushed portion I plan is the horizontal stabilizer, which will be painted bright red.

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There will be some minor touch-ups to do to the black/grey line, but I will wait until the foiling is complete to be able to repair any possible scratched-off paint as I ham-handedly manipulate it to apply the foil...

ALF

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Forgot to mention that I am living dangerously with this build in terms of nose weight. The single-seater needs just a bit of nose weight. After doing some careful balancing on my finger, I have concluded that the extra weight from the second seat and cockpit is probably enough to prevent tail-sitting, so I boldly closed it up with no extra weight. Hopefully I won't regret that later...

ALF

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You'll be ok Alf, none of my Hase 1/48 Starfighters, two seater included, have ever needed nose weight.

Thanks Phantom - that's a relief! One of the 1/48 singles I built was a bit 'tippy' - it would stay on its tail, but would only go there if pushed down. Must have used too much paint on the stabilizer! Ever since I forgot to add weight to a 1/48 T-33, and ended up stuffing the nose gear bay with rocks and plasticene after the fact (plus ramming rocks into the engine intakes as well), I've been gun-shy about it.

I must comment on your remarkable restraint and maturity :monkeydance:

after I made comments about Phantoms... Maybe it's because you know that I secretly love the F-4, but am afraid to admit it in public. Especially not on a 104 GB!

ALF

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No progress today - work was a bear. On the positive side, I took my family to see a special show by the Snowbirds. This was different in that it was a show held over the waters of La Baie des Ha Ha, about 8 km East of Bagotville. The reason for the show was to thank the local population in La Baie (nearest town to the base) for their support of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Our soldiers in theatre were quite touched by the huge banner that a local high school sent over, covered in signatures and good wishes. Pictures and the story for those who understand French can be found on page 11 of this on-line copy of the Bagotville base newspaper:

http://www.vortexbagotville.com/Fichier/20...llet%202010.pdf

I took a bunch of pictures; here are a couple for you fans of the Snowbirds. The show itself was neat to watch. I think I've seen them perform at least 100 times, mostly during my 5 years living in Moose Jaw, their home base. I've flown twice with the team during practices - I never get tired of watching them, especially knowing exactly what it's like to be in that formation. This particular show was special given the natural setting of the deep-water port in the Saguenay fjord; La Baie is where the local aluminum plants receive their bauxite by ship from South America. The reddish-tinged buildings in one pic are the port installations, covered in bauxite powder, and one of the local ski hills can be seen as well. I used to go there for night skiing after a day flying the CF-18, and on weekends would go to the bigger hills that were 45 minutes further away.

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More modelling to come soon, assuming I will ever get a break from work...

ALF

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Howdy ALF,

I was pretty covered up in work the last couple of weeks, but I glanced into your build threads now and then and wanted to reply much earlier. BTW, I really like how your Tiger Starfighter turned out - just beautiful!

And hey, you're really picking up the pace now, starting another CF-104 build, wow! You are almost faster than I can read your progress reports. :P

And what a choice, a NMF CF-104D! How cool is that?

I've been tinkering of building one for several years now, bought the Hase 1/72 TF-104D/J kit long time ago, have bought the fantastic BelcherBits decals and some aftermarket goodies. Last year I bought Hase's 1/48 TF-104 kit plus aftermarket stuff. Since then I cannot decide which one to start first. :tumble:

However, from the point the idea was born, I always wanted to do one in NMF with post-RCAF markings (non-symmetrical) with kitchen foil. Now that you started this project, I find myself intrigued to finally get my bumm off the computer chair and start my own. I wanted to do a dual from Baden-Soellingen, maybe the 'Triple-Sick' (666) bird, though I've got many reference pictures of other duals, but the thread opening image you posted is so smashing beautiful, I'm inclined to do exactly that one (I believe it shows a dual based at Marville, France according to the squadron patch on the nose?).

Let's see if I can collect all my courage and start the 1/72 TF-104 with the kitchen foil technique. And keep the 1/48 for the "One Canadian Wings" GB. Now or never... :whistle:

Okay, enough about that here. Back to you ALF!

Your build threads with all your real life stories around them make them even more enjoyable to follow! Keep it up. :P

Referring to your Snowbirds show photos above, I've got to say the scenery around your home sure looks like a beautiful place to live!!!

Cheers, Rafael

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Howdy ALF,

I was pretty covered up in work the last couple of weeks, but I glanced into your build threads now and then and wanted to reply much earlier. BTW, I really like how your Tiger Starfighter turned out - just beautiful!

And hey, you're really picking up the pace now, starting another CF-104 build, wow! You are almost faster than I can read your progress reports. :woot.gif:

And what a choice, a NMF CF-104D! How cool is that?

I've been tinkering of building one for several years now, bought the Hase 1/72 TF-104D/J kit long time ago, have bought the fantastic BelcherBits decals and some aftermarket goodies. Last year I bought Hase's 1/48 TF-104 kit plus aftermarket stuff. Since then I cannot decide which one to start first. :tumble:

However, from the point the idea was born, I always wanted to do one in NMF with post-RCAF markings (non-symmetrical) with kitchen foil. Now that you started this project, I find myself intrigued to finally get my bumm off the computer chair and start my own. I wanted to do a dual from Baden-Soellingen, maybe the 'Triple-Sick' (666) bird, though I've got many reference pictures of other duals, but the thread opening image you posted is so smashing beautiful, I'm inclined to do exactly that one (I believe it shows a dual based at Marville, France according to the squadron patch on the nose?).

Let's see if I can collect all my courage and start the 1/72 TF-104 with the kitchen foil technique. And keep the 1/48 for the "One Canadian Wings" GB. Now or never... :whistle:

Okay, enough about that here. Back to you ALF!

Your build threads with all your real life stories around them make them even more enjoyable to follow! Keep it up. :thumbsup:

Referring to your Snowbirds show photos above, I've got to say the scenery around your home sure looks like a beautiful place to live!!!

Cheers, Rafael

Rafael

Nice to hear from you. I love the natural metal finish, and I think it's a good choice for you to do the smaller one in that scheme first. I don't think 104655 was stationed in Marville when the picture was taken. The symbol on the nose is 1 Wing, which was in Marville from 1962 to 1967 with the CF-104. 1 Wing went to Lahr afterward. The marking scheme was used from 1968 to 1973, after 1 Wing moved to Lahr. On the other hand, the airfield in the picture does not look like Lahr, but it might have been taken at another airfield in Europe.

Good luck with your build - I will be sure to follow it. Thanks for the encouragement about the thread - it's fun to swap stories with people that these aircraft have affected. Finally, you are right that this area can be beautiful in a relatively wild scenery way. I find the Rhine Valley to be beautiful as well - especially now that the air pollution is much reduced from what it was in the 1970s and early 1980s. If you want to see more scenery from around where I live, try typing 'saguenay paysage' into Google images and you'll see lots. I far prefer what it looks like in summer and fall with the green and/or colourful leaves in the fall; after about 1 day of winter I've had enough though! Too bad we have snow on the ground for almost 6 months here (in February it averages about 3 metres deep everywhere).

Now back to the foiling, so I can post more progress.

ALF

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Progress teaser time - off to bed soon.

Here is the glue application to the foil.

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The first piece I made the usual mistake of not waiting a good 10 minutes or so for it to dry, so I got glue everywhere, plus the foil slid all over the surface before sticking.

I applied a lot of the darker-coloured metal around the tail first, knowing that I will soon tire of the process, and leaving the more uniform front of the aircraft for later when I get lazy and rushed...

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Now some silver. Big piece, glue partly in place, burnish down, and chop at the panel lines.

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Now for the tiny panel that is more silver.

Cover with blob of silver foil, burnish to find lines.

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Chop around panel.

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Et voila...

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Bed Time!

ALF

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Great progress and a wonderful contrast of colours there, mister. That's going to look fantastic. I have a few other CF-104 in my stash. I might emulate this build one day and try my luck at bare metal foiling. The procedure seems, and I stress the word seems, pretty straightforward. Some nice shots of Les Oiseaux de Neige. I never get tired of seeing them. Capt. Shawn McCaughey, the Snowbird pilot who was killed in Montana a few years back, was the nephew of a lady who lives two doors down from me. She was devastated when she found out. No such thing as a routine flight.

Look forward to the finished product buddy.

Mike

oh...and if you start growing a 6th toe or third eye, you can blame it on the toxic mess created by the chemical spill on your work bench.

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Great progress and a wonderful contrast of colours there, mister. That's going to look fantastic. I have a few other CF-104 in my stash. I might emulate this build one day and try my luck at bare metal foiling. The procedure seems, and I stress the word seems, pretty straightforward. Some nice shots of Les Oiseaux de Neige. I never get tired of seeing them. Capt. Shawn McCaughey, the Snowbird pilot who was killed in Montana a few years back, was the nephew of a lady who lives two doors down from me. She was devastated when she found out. No such thing as a routine flight.

Look forward to the finished product buddy.

Mike

oh...and if you start growing a 6th toe or third eye, you can blame it on the toxic mess created by the chemical spill on your work bench.

Mike

Thanks for the comments, meine freunde. Ask for more detail or tips anytime, if you take the plunge into foiling. I am planning an update very soon with some early lessons learned.

Talk about a very small world (Shawn McCaughey). I was doing some amateur voice acting (recording English dialogue for a local large-scale historical play that uses pre-recorded music and voices with dozens of actors and animals on stage) here in La Baie. I got chatting with a young woman in the recording studio - she was doing the voices in the crowd with me at one point. She asked what I did, then said that her fiance had been a pilot. I didn't catch what she meant by 'had been' until she clarified by saying she had been engaged to Shawn McCaughey. Talk about a 'now what do I say?' moment.

Building this CF-104 reminds me of the days when a pilot would die in a crash. Understandable when the missions involve zorching around at a couple hundred feet off the ground in poor weather and hilly European country. You never expect that with the Snowbirds.

On the positive side, I heard some very nice stories about the Snowbirds' autograph sessions after the show. They landed at Bagotville, then zipped back to the bayshore park by car, where they had tables set up with brochures, and the team signed autographs, had pictures taken, and chatted with the townspeople. In one case, a guy who works with me said 'my son was in the military - he was an air traffic controller'. Turns out the Snowbird guy knew him, and made nice comments about her son. That's a moment his mother will never forget. This team is more than just a group of technically proficient formation display pilots. They are ambassadors for the Canadian military, and they are working very hard lately at returning their focus back to that fundamental goal. Bravo to them!

ALF

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This foiling is taking quite a while. I hope to get some pretty good progress today - SWMBO has given me the afternoon off, and gone to the cottage with our son. Today is a beautiful sunny day, 29 C with a humidex of 37 C - just made for modeling! And maybe a little time outside too. Tough to find a balance in the summer.

I have studied the pics of natural metal CF-104s quite a bit, and am looking for a typical effect. The front part will be very shiny (the first small panels are started already - love the way the foil makes an easy and sharp paint line for the nose cone grey and anti-glare panel. Further back, I am hoping to show the small border around the panel behind the intake. I have coloured it with a silver foil marker, and hopefully the aluminum foil will look different. If the contrast isn't sufficient, no big deal.

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The tail is coming along. Lots of little panels with contrasting colours, lots of cutting. Also a bit of a challenge as I do the edges and tops of the vertical stabilator - learning a few dos and don'ts as I go. For example, at the top of the stab where the lighter silver coloured foil is peeled down, that's where I added some glue and waited for it to dry, then burnished the foil back on it to prevent it from peeling back as it had. Also, at the back of the lower tail it looks like a bit of dark foil has flaked away. In fact, that is a spot that remained untarnished when cooked with the eggs. I may take a bit of steel wool and try to feather the colour so it blends in better there. Toward the front, you can see the foil is looking better than in the back. Far easier on that type of surface (simple tubular curve), and I have been learning about how much glue to apply and how long to wait to burnish it down. This is a great learning experience for my big T-33 coming up after this build.

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Now back to work for me!

ALF

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Foiling is going faster. I started with the top, making sure to run along the spine so as not to leave any creases there. Here is a bit of a sequence. I rubbed down one part roughly along a panel line, and carefully rubbed up to the spine, then around and down the other side.

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Here it is chopped along the panel line on the one side, with the other side still to come.

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Both sides are now fully rubbed down, and cut along the panel lines.

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I have found some truths to live by when applying kitchen foil:

1. apply glue sparingly, and smooth it out so as not to leave any glue ridges (they show when burnished in place)

2. don't be afraid to let the glue dry. In fact, I have left some pieces over night and longer, and they still tack nicely into place.

3. cut along panel lines

4. use small pieces, not huge ones - they are easier to get in place

5. make sure you knife is sharp, otherwise the foil tears when cutting along the panel lines.

I'm sure I'll find more truths as I go. Here I am approaching the line around the panel behind the intake.

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And here it is fully surrounded - came out pretty much the colour/contrast I was hoping for. Have dry-fit the wing for fun.

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ALF

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Now for the parts around the intakes. I regret glueing the intake splitter cone in place before foiling this part - it would have been easier to apply foil underneath, then glue the cone in place. Next time...?

I applied the foil above, then sliced it to try and get it to conform below the cone.

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One side mostly finished (need to trim the black/silver border below the front seat):

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ALF

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You're a machine Alf!! It's really coming along now. By the way, great info on this technique you're providing....for those looking to follow this path. I'd have to say that I just may try this sometime. And having this info can save a lot of hassle.

Tilt

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You're a machine Alf!! It's really coming along now. By the way, great info on this technique you're providing....for those looking to follow this path. I'd have to say that I just may try this sometime. And having this info can save a lot of hassle.

Tilt

Thanks Tilt.

It is a long process, but the effect is nice when done. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is peel off a piece and redo it - feels like the proverbial 'one step forward two steps back'. Another thing I have discovered is the tiniest piece of dirt or plastic or hair really shows up when trapped under this foil. The pieces I have to redo are usually due to that.

I do encourage you to try it - kitchen foil is way cheaper than Bare Metal Foil, and I feel way less badly about scrapping bits that get ruined.

ALF

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Lookin' good so far, Alf!

Love the pics on the first page, too. That's a real trip down memory lane.

Cheers,

Sean

Sean

Thanks for the comments - glad you liked the pics.

ALF

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The bottle on the left is what I used on my big P-47 in the Big Jugs GB, but I spilled most of it on my bench resulting in a sticky mess that took weeks to finally clean up. I went to the hobby craft shop yesterday and they told me that glue has been taken off the market by Health Canada; it's apparently toxic. Wonderful. Having spilled a bunch, and continually getting it on my hands for weeks while I worked at my bench, that was not something I was happy to hear.

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Hi there, ALF! :wave:

Whut brand does it read on the Gold Leaf Adhesive Size bottle? Old World whut...? :P It wouldn't hurt to use some surgical latex gloves on yer project, y'know. Aside from protectin' hazardous substances goin' thru yer skin, it will also protect the foil already glued to the fuselage of yer build to get oily finger print marks. I use a size of latex gloves a tad smaller than the size of my hand so that the fit feels almost as though I weren't usin' anythin.' As for the breathin;' I got into the habit of wearin' a respirator every time I deal with substances I ain't familiar with or that smell too strong. One ne'er knows whut they are goin' to find out in future 'bout a substance which vapours were thought to be safe to breathe... :P

Take good care of yer health, bru.

In the store I went to, they refer to it as 'Gold Leaf adhesive'. Gold Leaf is quite fragile, so they say to spread the glue on the surface to which the leaf will be attached. This is what i did with the P-47, but I found that it is not a good idea to put the adhesive on the model first. This build, here's what I have planned:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....28&hl=larry

Yeh; that Larry Shed bloke's article has opened "me" eyes too! :) Such an awesome technique. Thanks, Larry!

I learnt 'bout that other brand of Gold Leaf Adhesive Size - Mona Lisa thru Larry. Unfortunately, ya won't be able to purchase it directly from a store down here. :( Good thing is my bru-in-law is trippin' the lights fantastic over the States next month, so I'll ask him to buy me both Mona Lisa and this Old World A-whut? glue ya're usin' here. Me thinks it'd be good to try some different brands, even tho it's very likely that these two brands were exactly the same, huh?

Cheers, ALF

Unc²

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