The Monogram 1:48 kits are inexpensive yet well detailed kits and their Century Series (which are being progressively re-issued by Revell) were/are good examples.  This is the F104G as flown by the German Navy Air Arm (Marineflieger) before they started flying Tornados.  The kit was moulded in yellow plastic with decals for a specially marked German AF machine with a large black crow (or raven or something) on the fuselage.   I had always admired the silver and grey scheme of the Marineflieger and so I decided to build the aircraft in that scheme.

Assembly was "out of the box" with grey auto primer used to eliminate the yellow plastic finish.  I used Xtracolour paints for the silver and Baltic Grey scheme and the Marinefliegergeschwader 2 (MFG2) decals came from an Italeri Tornado kit and the spares box.  The Hasegawa F104 series is now with us but for sheer good value you can't beat Monogram.
Darius