Kinetic TF-104G Starfighter JaboG 33 Luftwaffe 1:48

Onto the cockpit and instrument panel (IP). I had a Quinta set but it was for the Hasegawa kit. It probably would have been fine but I decided to go old school.

The moulded detail on both the IP and side console is excellent. The IP really just needs a custom decal but sadly the kit doesn’t supply one. (C’mon Aftermarket decal dudes).

I ended up using mainly Anyz 1mm decals for the panel. Whilst these are pretty generic in design (i.e. they aren’t modelled on real instruments) they are the best decals I’ve used for this task. The biggest advantage is that they have decals 1mm in diameter which are the smallest I’ve found. This size is perfect for many 48 scale instruments. I also used a couple of Airscale decals, whilst these are good, they all tend to be a little big for many 48 scale instruments.

I painted the whole tub black then roughly masked out the consoles and painted the tub a lightened mix of Mr Color 317 and white. It’s probably a bit dark, and I should have used Mr Color 306 as usual but never mind.

The consoles were simply dry-brushed to pick out the knobs etc and then the red switch guards were added with a fine brush. All in all I was pretty happy with the tub and IP. I actually think the painted console detail looks better than the Quinta sets. Yes the Quinta detail is finer but it disappears when the tub is in the aircraft. The Quinta IP is better but I didn’t want break up the set. I’ve grabbed some Eduard Zoom sets for the IP for future Starfighter builds.

I did have to remove some of the detail from the sides of the KASL Hobby seats to get them to fit into the tub. I really enjoyed painting these and can’t wait to use some more.

Noting how much is going to be seen the kit exhaust is probably fine. That said I had the Wolfpack exhaust so I figured I’d use it. I painted it Tamiya Dark Iron. It needs a dry brush using model master jet exhaust enamel.

As it could fitted at the end of the build I removed a bit of material from the rear of the aircraft and a curved blade was used. I did take some material from the internals of the speed brakes but it wasn’t necessary.

The gear bay is quite well detailed and fits well into the fuselage

Assembly of the kit is pretty straightforward. I closed the speed brakes before joining the fuselage halves. These are designed to be displayed open but fit fine closed when you remove some material from the speed brakes. Some light clamping was used to make sure things stayed in the correct location when the Tamiya white cap glue set.

Before fitting the intakes, I painted the areas behind them with the camouflage colour.

Fitting the intakes, I chose to align the outer edges and have a tiny gap where they mate the fuselage. Before fitting them I painted the cones and the area behind them.

The rest of the construction is straightforward. Like every model there are some seams that need cleaning up but nothing notable. Some spot priming was done to check the areas I had worked on and then painted the nose with Gaianotes German Grey and SMS Insignia White. I couldn’t resist sticking the tip tanks on after I’d painted them. (more on colours later).

The clear parts were fitted. I didn’t get these fitted correctly as can be seen on the following images. But as the canopies were going to be open this wasn’t an issue. If I was doing the canopies closed, I’d have started with the rear piece and worked forwards making sure each piece mated correctly with the next.

Painting…