1/72nd F-104G Starfighter 13mm PMC

As Aircraft go the F-104 has to be one or two top prototypes for all weather PMC converting.
When I got back into flying NAR contests (early 80's) an F-104C was my first "any Weather" contest model built. I litterally flew the wings off that original 1/48th model.
I've liked the flying Character of the F-104 so much I've built a stable of them in various scales with varing degree of detail for both Sport flying and contests.
It's become a habbit when prusing the Plastic Model websites to look at the available F-104 and F-100 scale models.
back in 1996 I saw and purchased a promissing looking 1/72nd kit from Hasegawa #1002 for 11.99.
With all the other things on the plate at the time, this model came in and was placed in the stockpile for later building. a couple years later it surfaced in a search for a 1/72nd F-104 to fill out my fleet of F-104's. Opening the box I discovered unlike most plastic kit manufacturers Hasegawa decided to press the main fuselage in 4 pieces rather then the usual two. That made me decide to rebox this kit and look for another to avoid the additional body seam. So this very nicely detailed model sat on a shelf again until earlier this year.
Giving it another look I decided it was time to bit the bullet and build it.

The kit came with German marking decal which I knew I would not be using so the very first thing was to downscale a previous 1/48 F-104's Decal sheet depicting aircraft of the 3105th Drone Squadron Orange and Chrome color scheme.

After MC Joining the 4piece main fuselage our Nose section was carefully removed using the first panel line behind the cockpit. Our cardboard cut-out and taped up parts showed we'll need 29.0g of nose weight to get her flying right so a false bottom had to be added to the cockpit to seal off the area for our #9 lead shot and Epoxy.
Working the interor of the model body our BT-5 and Coupling shoulder were fitted, shimmed and epoxy installed. This process also confirmed we would lack the necessary room to make this model a wheels down model so all wheel doors and openings were permanently MC sealed.

Most of the internal flight part construction went as planned until I tried to insert a spent motor casing only to discover the "Stock" estes 13mm motor hook used was almost a full 1/8" short of accepting their spent casing DOH!
It's OK I thought...this model is intended to be a sport flying model anyway so I'll simply cut off the exposed hook end and use friction fit interior and external tape wrapping the remaining exposed flat metal strip as insurance.
Shockcord for this model consists of a 5" long section of .024"dia. Stainless Avaition cable Anchored around the stock 13mm motor stop just ahead of the Stock Estes motor hook (which we found to be two short anyway). 36" of 100lb braided kevlar 3-half hitch tied to the crimped forward eye of the anchor cable and 24" of 1/8" Oval elastic.
We'll fly with a 12" Plastic chute with over the top 13lb Kevlar shroudlines and swiver connected to a butterfly knot about 1/3 down the Elastic from the tied on Nose section.
more to come.

Now the remaining Wings, Hor. stab, Drop tanks and custom made AIM-9L Sidewinder racks are MC installed. I'll find my 72nd Scale Aircraft Weapons kit to grab a couple AIM-9L sidewinders to Hand Paint after the rest of the model is finished and painted.
Once I hand painted the Cockpit False bottom , partical ejection seat and dash the 3-piece Clear canopy was clear cemented on. Before the first Orange base color is applied I mask and knifed the canopy frame lines which will eventually be chrome silver.
The best looking orange i've found is a Rustoleum outdoor product, not their usual paint but one of the "Household" paints. has that nasty oversize spray nozzle but it bit the bullet, and used it anyway. This was applied over a single Walmart Colorplace Grey auto primer. two coats of Orange were applied. I wanted to be sure this paint was given more then enough time to outgas as I intended to use a Super OLD ChromePlate ColorWorks Spray enamel. I'm spending a lot of time explaining this Chromeplate spray paint because it is the ONLY ChromePlate Spray paint I've ever found that does Not go immediately to grey after being UV clear coated or Pledge w/ Future. ColorWorks is an Illinois Paints product I purchased this can of paint from Montgomery Wards in 1986. I've used it several times since that time and Hoped I'd have enought to complete this model and a replacement 1/48th F-104 that's also in the works. When this can is done it will spell the end of any real Chrome finished Rattle can paints other then the kit sold by Alsa corp. Sherwin-Williams bought Illinois Paints in the mid 90's and Krylon a bit later. I've done an extensive search of their data base looking for this product by number, batch ID and source code without a single find.
After more then a week the model was masked to ChromePlate silver the Wings, Lower Pods, Tail Section, Edges, Horiziontal Stab, Canopy Frame and Nose. After another day drying the masking was removed. I think the model paint turned out really well.
Next day the model gets the downscaled decals inkjet printed and clear coated weeks ago. The very next day the model was Plege w/ Future coated. She's ready for the Chute and first flights.

To Display this outstanding model I build a 1/2" Clear Acrylic stand with 1/2" Clear Acrylic rod motor mount stem. All but one of the band sawn edges were repolished to optically clear condition using progress finer sandpaper from 120grit to 8000grit.
Vinyl stats lable was printed on inkjet receptive vinyl with a clear vinyl protective layer.

Most PMC's are transported to the field in a box or plastic bin. These boxes are generally filled with foam Peanuts or bubble back or the like. These practices are also responsible for many broken small pieces, Finish Damage and other per-flight, Contest pre-judging damage.
While this model it NOT intended to be a Contest PMC I decided to make a styrofoam sheet Transport & Stroage container. using 3/4" and 1/2" Foam sheet and plain old wooden Toothpicks as fastener and locating pins this container holds the model securely enough that is can be dropped, shaken or tossed across the room without damage to the model. Yes I did in fact toss this elastic banded container across to living room with the model inside as a test. If you really want to make the bond between fitted sheet and solid bottom/top sheets I've found Aleene's Clear Tacky glue works like a charm.
Can't wait to get this model out on the field, but it looks like it's going to sometime after September since I have to start Radiation Theropy in the next couple weeks.

FANTASTIC BUILD! :eyepop:

Nice job John, as usual

Thanks Guy's Still have a bunch of PMC's in the que.

Dick: I haven't been over on the PMC group for a long time...is it still active and have you added any new PMC's to your fleet?

John, I haven't seen any activity over there for a long time....and I haven't done one in even longer. Maybe it is time....

Really nicely documented build and great final product. Hope the therapy goes smoothly. Looking forward to the September flight report!

Very nice! That's a sharp looking kit & paint scheme. Thanks for the documenting the process!
Hope the therapy goes well too.

Here is the 1/72 Scale F-104G build thread, covers most of the important construction. Due to lack of space the model can only be converted Wheels up, unless you neck down the stuffer tube to T3 Between the wheel wells. Guess it's possible but the added mass will make the model far too heavy to fly on 13mm A10's.

your F-104 looks extremely cool!! well done!!