1/72 Hasegawa F-104S

Gallery Article by Gareth Phua on July 10 2003

 

Hi all, here’s my 1/72 Hasegawa F-104S, done up in Italian AF markings. The kit was built OOB. Overall, fit was good, but because of Hasegawa’s modular moulding to allow for a 2-seater to be built, the fuselage came in 4 parts. On top of that, the intakes were slightly undersized, thus creating a hard to repair step. The compound curves of the intake do not help too.

I’m glad I got this kit out of the way as it looked at one time like it would never get completed. The first coat of paint was too thin and runny, thus forcing me to repaint, the kit took a 1 metre drop when it slipped from my hands, thus cracking the wing to fuselage joint, nose and tail pipe area &  the wing tip pylons came apart as a result of said fall. Still, I’m glad it’s almost over now. I’m left with the navigation lights as can be seen here.

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I painted the AIM-7E to represent an Aspide missile, which was, IIRC, externally similar to the AIM-7E except for a more powerful motor and 35kg warhead. 3 different pictures from International Air Power Review showed 3 differing styles of black stripe. 1 completely white, another with 1 band and a third with 3 bands. I chose to do the 1 with 1 band as I was short of black stripe decals.

The AIM-7E and missile decals were kindly donated by Sebastian Lim and any additional tips were given by Sean Chua.

Will I build another 1/72 Hasegawa F-104? Sure I will! I’ve got another 2 more in my to-do pile!

Gareth Phua

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Photos and text © by Gareth Phua