Let’s get started…
The logical starting point before we close up the fuselage is the cockpit tub, which is primed, painted and the 3D Quinta decals applied. WOW, do they impress…
I have always been a fan of pre-painted photoetch, multi-layer and fiddly and sometimes a bit flat. They also can be a bit pixilated on the finish. In comparison the 3D decal is simple to apply, far higher detail and much more 3 dimensional, this has got too be the future.
The cockpit tub and wheel bay are inserted in one fuselage half before closing it up. No need to fit the exhaust can as I will use an aftermarket part which will slide in at the end.
Fit on the fuselage is good, with minimal filler for ghost seams. Nose weight to prevent a tail sitter is added into the nose cone later.
A coat of my preferred Mr Surfacer1500 primer sorts out those deep rivets and gets us ready for the NASA colour scheme.
Note I am leaving the intakes off for now, so that I can paint in behind them.
The NASA color schemes varied over the lifetime of the F104NA, the one I am selecting is the Light Blue underside with White upper surfaces and Cobalt Blue cheat line, edged with Gold stripes. You can opt for White undersides or a darker Azure Blue and the cheat line darker and closer to Oxford Blue should you so choose, all versions look good.
In any case a White base is required, so Mr Surfacer 1000 is applied at this stage.
Note that I have applied some pre-shading of panel lines, but overshot with more white to soften the effect.
Masking is then removed and reversed to work on the cheat line and upper surfaces.
A topcoat of Gloss White is sprayed in thin coats until the pre-shading effect is at the desired level.
To align the cheat line on the intakes, they were simply held in place with Blu Tac and masking applied for each band of colour, then the intake rings and shock cones sprayed in Semi Gloss Black.
nicolas keller says
Beautiful model!
Mick Stephen says
Thank you for your comment Nicolas, this was a fun scheme to do versus the standard Starfighters.
StefB says
Nice work!
However, the canopy opening on aF-104 is left, not right ;-)
Mick Stephen says
Stef, you are perfectly correct. That’s what rushing too finish gets ya, lol.