iggie's F104 Tigermeet ***FINISHED***

[iggie]

This will be my entry for this GB; a classic Airfix kit and some after-market decals
What could possibly go wrong?

[Kitaholic]

Now that will look nice , love Tigermeet aircraft

[TobyC]

That should scare the natives

[iggie]

I think any 104 scared the natives judging by the amount that went down in West German ownership!

[BWP]

Umm ....

You may want to rethink your choices there.

1) The Airfix kit is, to put not too fine a point on it, simply dreadful. For a start, it won't build an F-104G, no matter what it says on the box. Worse, no two parts will fit without a lot of filler. On top of that, almost no part on the kit is accurately shaped. Most serious amongst a whole collection of serious problems: the wings are too small. You can see the issues I have had with the kit here: http://www.uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7100.

Thus ...

2) It is highly unlikely those decals will fit on the Airfix kit.

There are only two accurate F-104G kits on the market: the Hasegawa '90s-era mould and the Revell '90s-era mould. Both are excellent kits, if you can find them for a price you're comfortable with.

Of the other available kits, probably the ESCI/Italeri is easiest/cheapest to find, but (as I have described elsewhere) it won't build an accurate F-104G (or F-104S). It's fine for a CF-104 or F-104J. Similarly the Matchbox, Heller, FROG, old Hasegawa and Academy kits can be used to build a CF-104/F-104J -- however the FROG/old Hasegawa/Academy kits are not very good.

[iggie]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the heads up, but speaking as someone who wouldn't really know the difference between a 104G and any other variant, I'm not overly concerned about the accuracy of this (or to be honest any other) kit
As has been said on here before by far better modellers than I "it looks like a 104" and that's good enough for me!

As for the decals, we'll see how it goes but as each stripe is a separate item, I should be able to budge them around a bit to get a fit; again it won't be totally prototypical but close enough is good enough (as we used to say when I was a scaffolder )

You're not far off regarding the part fit although I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how well the upper and lower fuselage parts went together. The nose cone on the other hand was a shocker!

Anyhow, progress to date:
Dodgy nose:


And ready for paint (apart from needing the canopy masking and putting on that is!)

[TobyC]

Strewth. You've got a move on

[Marek]

Fast progress! Expecting a bad fit and moving forward that is an MO when dealing with this kit. I know it will be built into a good looking model.

[iggie]

And she's errr ummm YELLOW!!!

Humbrol acrylic trainer yellow out of a rattle can

[Marek]

Look! A Yellow Submarine!
Seriously though, you are half-way already. And in a nice fashion.

[despondman]

Nice work - looks good in yellow.

[iggie]

It does doesn't it! Cracking on with tiger stripes now.......which is fun

[TobyC]

It reminds me of a huge pointy lemon sorbet
Great work so far.

[iggie]

Cheers All, progress up to last night below; had a quick look at it again this morning and the decals have settled down beautifully

The gaps where a couple of sections don't meet will be filled with black decals taken from some spare walkway strips on old decal sheets; with luck and a following wind (note to Mrs iggie; lentils not a good idea! ) you won't be able to see the join!

[Blueberryruby]

jeepers that's a fast build!! At this rate you're going to be able to make one of each century fighter!

The tiger stripes look good