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Hi All,

Time to jump into this group build.

Starting off with a CF-104 from the 1 Canadian Air Group based at CFB Baden-Soellingen, West Germany. The markings will probably be for 104756 with 439 squadron in about the 1981 period with the three tone variegated paint scheme. The aircraft will be configured for a training mission so it will have the MN1A practice bomb dispenser on the #3 station (center) and 2 LAU-5002 6 tube rocket launchers on the pylons with wing tip tanks.

Here is a listing of the kit and aftermarket items I'll incorporate into the build.

1/48 Hasegawa F-104 Red Baron kit (Great base kit for the CF-104)

Leading Edge 48.20 Decals

DACO update set for wings, stab, pylons, ecm, MN1A practice bomb dispenser, intake cover etc..

Black Box CF-104 cockpit

Master Model metal pitot

Hypersonic resin thin tires

Aires afterburner

Belcher Bits LAU-5002 6 tube rocket launchers

zRARCM.jpg

I plan on starting the kit today but due to work and a short trip away for Canadian Thanksgiving I probably won't have significant progress until after mid October.

Cheers,

John

Edited by CF104
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Was the LAU 5002 the same launcher as we had on the CF-5 for academic range work with the CRV-7? Did it come from Belcher's CF-104 resin stores set?

I'll be watching this thread.

ALF

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Was the LAU 5002 the same launcher as we had on the CF-5 for academic range work with the CRV-7? Did it come from Belcher's CF-104 resin stores set?

I'll be watching this thread.

ALF

Hey ALF,

Yes, the LAU-5002 is the same as what you used on the CF-5. The original range rocket launcher on the CF-104 was the 7 tube LAU-68 with the same CRV-7. The LAU-68 and LAU-5002 had the same dimensions but differed in the 7 versus 6 rockets. When the CF-5 came along the 5002 was also approved for use on the CF-104.

I'm using the LAU-5002 launchers from the BB CF-5 weapons set. It has the frangible dome which wasn't used on the 104 so I'll have to scratch build the front part with the 6 tubes exposed. I was going to use the DACO set LAU-3/A 19 tube launcher but it wasn't approved for use with the MN1A center-line practice bomb dispenser.

Cheers,

John

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Just a quick update.

I was able to spend some time on the kit yesterday. Cleaned up all the resin pieces. Fit the cockpit side walls and did some work on the cockpit tub. Got the tip tank halves glued together along with the DACO wings and the main landing gear well installed.

No problems so far but the DACO correction set is so accurate shape wise that the Hasegawa tip tanks don't fit without modifying the wings. The wing tips need to be thinned a bit and either the trailing edge or the leading edge needs to be trimmed back. I chose to trim the leading edge as I thought this looked cleaner with the tank installed. You can see the trimming required in the photos.

cEzEL0.jpg

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yEb8Oz.jpg

That's all for now!

Cheers,

John

EDIT: Forgot the wingtip photo :doh:

vnKFFV.jpg

Edited by CF104
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Looking good John! Did that BB cockpit give you any fuss with the fitting?

V/r

Ron

Hey Ron,

I've used the BB cockpit before so I knew where extra care is required. The tub itself fits like a glove. To fit the sidewalls you need to trim the upper side rails of the cockpit back a lot. The kit plastic is pretty brittle so this is where care must be taken. Once properly fit, the sidewalls and the tub fit together real well. The instrument panel is quite fragile due to the resin BB used and breaks real easy. Generally speaking the panel fits not too bad but requires some careful trimming of the sidewalls and sanding of the panel lower sides to get a nice fit.

The best fitting Starfighter cockpit sets I've used are from Cutting Edge and CMK. The worst fitting are from Aires but their details are phenomenal.

I'm close to getting the final fitting complete and hope to get some primer and colour on before I go on vacation next week.

Cheers,

John

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Nice work getting the resin to fit that well. I've found the hardest piece to shoe-horn in is the combining glass shroud bit. It seemed to be too wide, and prevented the windscreen from fitting well. After trimming mine progressively, I finally gave up and used the kit part, because mine needed such reduction that it no longer looked proportional. Love the detail on the resin one, though.

ALF

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Nice work getting the resin to fit that well. I've found the hardest piece to shoe-horn in is the combining glass shroud bit. It seemed to be too wide, and prevented the windscreen from fitting well. After trimming mine progressively, I finally gave up and used the kit part, because mine needed such reduction that it no longer looked proportional. Love the detail on the resin one, though.

ALF

I have had troubles in the past with this part as well. Like you said, the combining glass sits too high for the windscreen to fit properly. I'm trying something different this time in that I have sanded quite a bit off the bottom of the glareshield and will try thinning the instrument panel combing to see if this helps lower the entire part. If this doesn't work I'll probably do a mixture of the kit and Black Box parts.

Nothing to update today as I've been working long shifts this week. Hopefully I can give an update on Monday.

Cheers,

John

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... but the DACO correction set is so accurate shape wise that the Hasegawa tip tanks don't fit without modifying the wings. The wing tips need to be thinned a bit and either the trailing edge or the leading edge needs to be trimmed back. I chose to trim the leading edge as I thought this looked cleaner with the tank installed. You can see the trimming required in the photos.

vnKFFV.jpg

It would be a lot easier just to make - with an Exacto knife - a small diagonal incision (2mm) in the leading edge part of the fuel tank's well, so right under the fin.

That's a 2 second job and wouldn't damage my wing part :coolio:/>

Danny

DACO Products

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  • 2 weeks later...

You're a raffle winner!

Thanks Ron!

I was away on vacation all of last week and now I have time for a small update.

Not too much progress as it's a work day for me. Did some fine tuning of the main instrument panel and glareshield as well as assembling the landing gear. Hope to get some color in the cockpit tomorrow.

KgTIUr.jpg

IQqntw.jpg

Cheers,

John

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Hi All,

Back to work on this build. The instrument panel, cockpit tub and sidewalls are all complete and the fuselage will be going together today. Visual progress should quicken up now.

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I'm in the process of getting together the paint I'll be using on this build. So far I've found a really good match in Tamiya colors. The 1/72 CF-104 wing in the photo is from a kit I built around 1997 or so and the colors were matched to actual parts from a 3 tone CF-104. Unfortunately the kit took a tumble a few years back but I kept the parts for color reference of the 3 tone scheme.

MgdbaI.jpg

Here's a photo of 104756 in service. Great weathering inspiration in this photo.

Airliners.net link

More to follow later today.

Cheers,

John

Edited by CF104
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Another quick update with some visual progress.

The fuse is together and the final seam sanding panel scribing is in progress.

XjSsNF.jpg

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Group build in company of a 441 Sq. Checkerbird I'm finishing at the same time. Too much progress on it to enter in the group build.

WOSf0B.jpg

Cheers,

John

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Well, I was able to get some good progress today. Should start the painting tomorrow.

I decided to go with the flaps up and I changed the weapons load-out as well. Instead of 2 LAU-5002 rocket pods, I'm going to put 1 on the right pylon and the left pylon will hold a BLU-27 Napalm canister. The centerline pylon will still have the MN-1A practice bomb dispenser.

The DACO wing pylons are real nice and will make this build that much more representative of the CF-104. The BLU-27 is going to be made from the DACO travel pod. Just have to fill in the door outline and make a filler cap on the forward end of the canister. The tip tanks are also primed and ready for paint.

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Cheers,

John

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Got everything primed and started the lower light gray color today. I'm trying a different approach to the painting in an attempt to improve my post shading to obtain a weathered look.

The base color is Tamiya XF-19 and this was applied over all the lower surfaces. I then lightened the color with a little white and filled in the center of the panels. Next I added a drop of black to the XF-19 and went over the panel lines. Now comes the hard work. Using the lightened and darkened shades of the XF-19 I'm working with a very fine spray to give the tonal variations I'm looking for. So far I've just started this step and will continue the painting tomorrow.

The DACO MN-1A practice bomb dispenser is assembled and just needs some sanding and cleaning up of the engraved detail before paint is applied.

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IQnnkO.jpg

Cheers, and thanks for looking.

John

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Love the painting and tonal variations John, what airbrush and thinner are you using ??

Thanks Yves!

I'm using this kit as sort of a guinea pig to try a, new to me, weathering technique. It's inspired from this build here on ARC... P-47D Build

I'm currently using 3 airbrushes. My main brush for overall color coats is an Iwata HP-C+. I use a Harder & Steenbeck Pro Infinity 2in1 for the small detail work. The H&S has allowed me to do freehand camos I couldn't do before. My third brush is a Passche H which I use for spraying clearcoats. As for thinner I'm using Tamiya X-20A. I've used home brews before but this performs so well it's worth the extra cost for me.

Cheers,

John

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I like your attention to detail, and can't wait to see how you pull-off the tonal effect on the main cam, I am sure it will look great !

I went to check out the H&S brush, surely looks impressive on the Chicago Airbruah site...

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/infinity-2-in-1-from-harder-steenbe.html

Seems a bit pricy, mind if I ask where you bought yours ? I have a Iwata HP-C which has served me well so far... but am looking to upgrade...

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I like your attention to detail, and can't wait to see how you pull-off the tonal effect on the main cam, I am sure it will look great !

I went to check out the H&S brush, surely looks impressive on the Chicago Airbruah site...

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/infinity-2-in-1-from-harder-steenbe.html

Seems a bit pricy, mind if I ask where you bought yours ? I have a Iwata HP-C which has served me well so far... but am looking to upgrade...

Hey Yves,

The H&S Infinity is a great brush. I picked mine up online from a little shop in Saskatchewan and the price was right. Here's the link... Razertip Industries

There's also an Infinity CR Plus but all I can find different from the standard Infinity is that it's chrome plated and not nickle plated. Not worth the extra $27 for me but if you're allergic or sensitive to nickle this will fit the bill.

Cheers,

John

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I'm not overly pleased with the shade of dark green once it was sprayed. I thinks it's a bit too light and will just get lighter with the weathering. I'm in the process of shooting a darker green on it and will follow up.

Cheers,

John

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