A coat of High Gloss Clear goes over the top, prior to decals. Note I have already applied the Yellow Nasa tail stripe at this point.
Underside Stencils are applied first from the kit decal sheet.
The aftermarket set I obtained for the NASA scheme comes from Xtradecal F104 Set Part #2.
Apart from the tail stripe, included are the NASA insignia, logo and tail code, along with sufficient Gold striping to highlight the cheat line Blue. Applying the strips is tricky, but worth the effort. You could try and paint these, but they are extremely narrow and I thought decals a better option.
With all the stencils and decals sealed under a final Gloss coat, we finish construction with the undercarriage legs, tyres and gear doors.
The aftermarket resin Stanley C2 ejection seat replaces the kit supplied MB Mk7Q.
Now you can see the completed cockpit, with that lovely Quinta 3D decals.
As I am posing the canopy open, this was painted separately.
The last act of this build is the aftermarket resin exhaust can and burner ring. In comparison to the kit part it really sets off the final touch.
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.