Subject: Re: 1/32 Scale Lockheed F-104A Starfighter
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 09:01:18 -0800

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: [email-masked] 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 4:00 PM
  Subject: 1/32 Scale Lockheed F-104A Starfighter

                                                                Hasagawa 1/32 Scale
                                                                   Lockheed F-104A 
                                                                        Starfighter

   by Steve Negley

      Of all the century series of fighters I've always thought that the F-104 was the sleekest and most beautiful and I've always liked the subject. No matter what angle you look at this plane at, it just looks fast! I started this project some time ago but shelved it because i couldn't decide on a color scheme for it. I knew I wanted to color it up in US markings with a NMF paint job but finding decals in a US paint scheme for this scale are to say the least, non-existent. After building up a 1/32 scale X-15, I resurrected this F-104 to the finishing table and decided to paint it up in an Edwards AFFTC chase plane. Almost all the X-15 flights used the F-104 as a chase aircraft mostly because the Starfighter could keep the same landing speeds and landing profile as the X-15. Many pilots who flew these F-104 chase aircraft would eventually go on to fly the X-15.

                                                                                                                 Building the Kit

      Of the two kits offered in this scale of the F-104 I decided to do the Hasagawa kit. The kit was built basically out of the box except for some details I added to the cockpit. I added a scratch-built instrument panel and some seat belts for the ejection seat. For the instrument panel I cut the kit panel off at the radar screen and built up the instrument panel from some .040 sheet plastic. I then added some Waldron jet instruments and bezels to finish off the panel, painted and detailed it, then re-cemented the radar screen to the scratch-built panel. After the cockpit was finished the forward fuselage halves were ready to put together. Some weight was also added to the nose to keep the nose gear on the ground. There's not a whole lot of room up in the nose area to add weight so I cut to size some stain glass window lead and inserted it in the hollow spots and glued it into place with CA cement. The kit went together very well and very little sanding was required at the seams or the wing roots. The only real problem areas were the jet intake inlets ahead of the wings and with a little fitting these weren't even that bad to sand out after they were glued into place. After everything was sanded I sprayed the entire model with a couple good coats of some OEM auto grade Lacquer Primer-Surfacer.....and it sat up in my closet for a couple months!

                                                                                                             Painting and Decaling

       For the natural metal finish I used Alclad White Aluminum and for the darker shades around the afterburner I used Alclad Dura-Aluminum,after these had set up and dried I used some Floquil Old Silver to simulate the lighter flatter shades of aluminum on the wings and various access panels. After all these silvers had dried I sprayed the entire model with some Testors Metalizer sealer to protect the finish. Next was adding the International Orange fuselage bands and the Orange areas to the wings. Orange paint never covers well by itself over a NMF finish so to bring out the color I sprayed a base coat of flat white under the orange, this worked well and very little orange paint was used to bring out the color. So now would come the real challenge, coming up with the decals. Many things can be said of the modelers decal box and I would certainly be lost without mine. The National Insignia wasn't that hard to come up with or was the U S Air Force for the forward fuselage. Thankfully an IPMS club member came up with some buzz numbers for me but the serial numbers took some creative thinking but I made something work. The hardest marking to come up with would be the USAF that goes on the wings. I finally had to draw up the wing markings for the USAF and made a stencil out of some plain printer paper. I soaked the stencil over a wet sponge with some water and a generous amount dish soap and set it over some plain decal paper. The soap I thought would give the stencil some added adhesion to the decal paper while I sprayed the color. The technique worked nicely and the finished decal drew nice defined color lines when I lifted the stencil. The finished aircraft is Lockheed F-104A Starfighter, serial # 60764, "Chase 4", assigned to the Edwards AFFTC, circa April 1964.  

      

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Who's never won? Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------