Aircraft of the RNoAF

1/32 CF-104 and F-16AM  -  Syttende Mai 2008

by  John Peters

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  Norwegian Constitution Day 2008 

 

Being the semi-lazy sort, building these particular models seemed like a really good idea.  I can indulge in my favorite hobby, and celebrate my Norwegian heritage at the same time. 

The CF-104 is the 1/32 Hasegawa F-104G kit with the addition of a CAM C2 seat and a pair of resin external fuel tanks by PWMP.  I scratch-built the RWR antennas under the nose and tail, and managed to make the rear antennas a bit over-sized.  Perhaps I'll correct them later...riiiight.  I'm lucky if I finish putting all the little fiddly bits on a model in the first place.   The paint scheme is not completely accurate.  There's supposed to be a feathered edge where the green meets the gray.  After several botched attempts, I gave up and gave it a hard edge.  The decals came from Vingtor and went on with no problems.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

I've always found F-16s rather...uninspiring.  It was only the Norwegian Nordic Tiger decals by Zotz that provided the impetus I needed to build a Law...er, Viper.  The model started as a 1/32 Hasegawa F-16A, with the parapack and birdslicer IFF antennas robbed from the Academy F-16C kit.  The parapack was grafted onto the Hase vertical stab, with the antennas modified to more accurately portray the -16A parapack.  I had no problems with the Zotz decals, but the Hasegawa stencilling was another story.  Uff da.  This is far from my best build, and thus sits behind the CF-104 on my shelf.  It doesn't look too bad when viewed that way. 

It wasn't until I was photographing the models that I noticed I had forgotten one of the nav lights on the spine of the 104.  Adding that is right up there next to fixing the RWR antennas on my "To Do" list.  Or maybe taking up Photoshop should be my next hobby?

John

Photos and text © by John Peters