ALF18 Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Super work! I especially love the authentic-looking paint job. 😍🏆 Here's what CF-104s looked like back in 1974, when my father flew them. This aircraft took part in the Tactical Weapons Meet. I was 15 years old, and used to climb under the barbed wire by the control tower in Baden to watch the jets taxi by. The Military Police never caught us, and the pilots all waved at us as they went by. The second picture is at a Tiger Meet, with my father at far right in the photo. Fantastic job, Janissary! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scooby Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 On 3/8/2024 at 8:02 AM, ALF18 said: Super work! I especially love the authentic-looking paint job. 😍🏆 Here's what CF-104s looked like back in 1974, when my father flew them. This aircraft took part in the Tactical Weapons Meet. I was 15 years old, and used to climb under the barbed wire by the control tower in Baden to watch the jets taxi by. The Military Police never caught us, and the pilots all waved at us as they went by. The second picture is at a Tiger Meet, with my father at far right in the photo. Fantastic job, Janissary! Your father is your spitting image. Nice images. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 35 minutes ago, Scooby said: Your father is your spitting image. Nice images. Thanks, Scooby! Great memories from Baden, back in the day. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 On 3/7/2024 at 1:01 PM, Gwen Phoenix said: Jani, There's no, unfortunately. But with the smallest size you can always use a brass, plastic or stainless steel 2mm outside diameter tube which inside diameter is smaller than that, in order to slide a smaller size rod inside. Albion Alloys have a great range of tubes with the different ODs/IDs. I've once seen Nigel from Nigel Modelling Bench on YouTube use each of the sizes supported by this tool with rods which had smaller ID than them in order to drill smaller sizes of rods with even the smaller drill bits. If I can find that video, I'll post it here for you. This one's even a great tool for strenghtening plastic undercarriage legs with metal rods. Cheers, Gwen I totally see what you mean, makes a lot of sense. On 3/8/2024 at 10:02 AM, ALF18 said: Super work! I especially love the authentic-looking paint job. 😍🏆 Here's what CF-104s looked like back in 1974, when my father flew them. This aircraft took part in the Tactical Weapons Meet. I was 15 years old, and used to climb under the barbed wire by the control tower in Baden to watch the jets taxi by. The Military Police never caught us, and the pilots all waved at us as they went by. The second picture is at a Tiger Meet, with my father at far right in the photo. Fantastic job, Janissary! Thank you very much. Awesome photos and memories that go with them. Reminds me of me and my dad perching outside of the Eskisehir AFB watching Saratoga F-14s, A-6s and F-18s rolling down the runway at the age of 13. Here are a few more shots before I take the final photos. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scooby Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) Very nice, love the realistic weathering. Edited March 12 by Scooby Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichB63 Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Stunning finish! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) Thank you Scoob, Rich. Here are the final photos. Rather than start a critique corner entry, I've decided to post everything here. So this is a CF-104 from the Diyarbakir 8. AJU around the 1980s. It was a surprisingly enjoyable build, with a reasonable number of parts, good fit, and good surface detail. The MLG legs were a bit fiddly compared to the rest, but no major complaints. If you plan to build this kit, beware of the wing tank alignment. The horizontal winglets should be aligned with the main wings but if you don’t take the time to adjust (sanding, carving etc.), the tanks are majorly out of alignment canted toward the ground. I spent quite some time to correct that. I was shooting for a weathered but still operational aircraft. I did not have a ton of pictures of this particular aircraft so a lot of the painting and weathering is ‘made up’ along the way, by blending the colors, details and wear patterns I have seen on Turkish 104s. A big thanks goes to fellow modeler Ayhan Toplu for several critical decals. Camo layers: Surfacer 1200, Gunze stainless steel, hairspray, Mr. Hobby Aqueous 303, 309, 310, and 311 thinned with X-20A, post shading, chipping, decals, gloss, oil washes, Testors flat. Wing tank orange were mixes of Tamiya red, yellow and white in several shades, plus some chipping. At this point, I will call this a ‘what-if’ build. A lot of mistakes were shamelessly made as fellow modelers here and elsewhere highlighted the differences between F-104 vs CF-104s along the way 🙂 It actually does make for a more enjoyable build. Off the top of my head: The MB seat should have been the Lockheed C2, MLG doors should have been the non-bulged type and I guess skinny wheels, the IR sensor in front of the windshield should have been omitted, Canadian 104s were not wired to carry sidewinders on the underwing pylons (is this true?). Will see if I can make a base and take some outdoor shots in a few weeks! Edited March 13 by Janissary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) Edited March 13 by Janissary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BastianD Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Smashing good! Very nice result Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Top-notch! The weathering is awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 19 hours ago, BastianD said: Smashing good! Very nice result 7 hours ago, my favs are F`s said: Top-notch! The weathering is awesome! Thank you both! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KursadA Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 (edited) On 3/12/2024 at 9:05 PM, Janissary said: At this point, I will call this a ‘what-if’ build. A lot of mistakes were shamelessly made as fellow modelers here and elsewhere highlighted the differences between F-104 vs CF-104s along the way 🙂 It actually does make for a more enjoyable build. Off the top of my head: The MB seat should have been the Lockheed C2, Not really - you have used the correct ejection seat. By the time the CF-104s were repainted in the Turkish camouflage scheme in the early 1990s, all of the fleet had already been equipped with the MB seats that were removed from the F-104Gs that were retired earlier. There were no Turkish CF-104s still flying with the Lockheed seat after approx. 1992 or so. Excellent build!! Edited March 15 by KursadA Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ST0RM Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Good lord, that's a great model. I'm floored by the weathering. Captured that faded look perfectly. That's what I love about this hobby. How we push techniques further to achieve results that make them look more lifelike. Congrats! -Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 23 hours ago, KursadA said: Not really - you have used the correct ejection seat. By the time the CF-104s were repainted in the Turkish camouflage scheme in the early 1990s, all of the fleet had already been equipped with the MB seats that were removed from the F-104Gs that were retired earlier. There were no Turkish CF-104s still flying with the Lockheed seat after approx. 1992 or so. Excellent build!! Thank you Kursad, that's great to know! A few fellow modelers on FB said the same thing. I will cross that off the list. 14 hours ago, ST0RM said: Good lord, that's a great model. I'm floored by the weathering. Captured that faded look perfectly. That's what I love about this hobby. How we push techniques further to achieve results that make them look more lifelike. Congrats! -Jeff Thank you! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 On 3/14/2024 at 9:50 PM, KursadA said: Not really - you have used the correct ejection seat. By the time the CF-104s were repainted in the Turkish camouflage scheme in the early 1990s, all of the fleet had already been equipped with the MB seats that were removed from the F-104Gs that were retired earlier. There were no Turkish CF-104s still flying with the Lockheed seat after approx. 1992 or so. Excellent build!! Interesting information, Kursada. Janissary, that is one awesome build. Looks fantastic. As promised in a DM, here is what I found for RHAWR (Canadians called it the radar homing and warning receiver at the time, not RWR). A user here on ARC, called CF-104 of course, made a great version of a CF-104 that will show you how he did it. He knows a lot about the real aircraft, and I learned some stuff from him as well. For your interest, I dug up some photos I took in a museum at Edmonton Municipal Airport almost 10 years ago. The Starfighter they have on display is called a CF-104, but it's actually an F-104G that has been painted to look like a Canadian one. You can see that it has the G model bulged gear doors, as well as the IR sensor. I've also attached some pictures I took of the 'Tiger bird' from the 1976 Tiger Meet at 439 Squadron in Baden-Soellingen. You can make out the RHAWR antennae on the nose and tail, and also the non-bulged main gear doors and the lack of IR sensor in front of the windscreen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WouldbeIceman Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 What a build!! It`s alway a great learning experience to watch your builds. I, like most builders would like to emphasize your painting and weathering skills - top class! And you choose subjects where you can use your skill to the max, without getting flak about overdone or unrealistic. More builds please! Maybe a German F-4F in the latest two-tone grey scheme for your next build? Another thing that I would like to commend you for is the press on attitude. Yes, the CF-104 has some differences that you didn`t catch on during the build - but you press on, no matter. My fav is the F/A-18C - next time I dig out one of my 20+ Hase kits I will use your build as the standard. Thanks for putting pics out here for us to follow and enjoy! Check Six and build something! Wouldbeiceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 On 3/22/2024 at 1:51 AM, WouldbeIceman said: What a build!! It`s alway a great learning experience to watch your builds. I, like most builders would like to emphasize your painting and weathering skills - top class! And you choose subjects where you can use your skill to the max, without getting flak about overdone or unrealistic. More builds please! Maybe a German F-4F in the latest two-tone grey scheme for your next build? Another thing that I would like to commend you for is the press on attitude. Yes, the CF-104 has some differences that you didn`t catch on during the build - but you press on, no matter. My fav is the F/A-18C - next time I dig out one of my 20+ Hase kits I will use your build as the standard. Thanks for putting pics out here for us to follow and enjoy! Check Six and build something! Wouldbeiceman Thanks a lot! Like you said, painting and weathering are the most exciting steps for me in any build, and I look at every model to try out new things. With three kids. my pace has taken a major hit, but still trying to find time here and there. My next build will be a J-10C and I will be building it for someone else as a gift. To my slight disappointment, my friend wants it extremely clean which is how today's J-10s tend to be maintained. While that should result in a faster build, I fear it is going to be a bit boring to look at. Hope to share the progress pics here once I make more progress. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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