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

Painting

Some spot priming was done including most of the underside. This was rubbed down with some wet Micromesh.

The underside was painted with decanted Tamiya AS 12 Bare Metal Silver sprayed through the airbrush. After masking underside, AK Real Colours Basalt Grey was sprayed covering its approximate areas on the upper side and fuselage. This went down without issues.

More masking and then it was Mr Color 12 Olive Drab. From the paints on hand this looked the closest I had to the correct colour. References showed a big variation in this colour ranging from green to brown.

A couple of days after pulling the masking off I noticed a blemish in the underside paint. Closer inspection revealed it wasn’t a blemish but a missing bit. I assume it stuck to the tape and not the model when the masking was removed! A search didn’t uncover it so I assume it had made it to the bin. And the bin men had been.

A quick look at the F-104J I’d built a few years back revealed the ‘J’ doesn’t have this vent so into the spares box I went.

Result! That is a reason I keep old sprues of subjects I am intending to build multiples of.

Decals

Yet another Hamfisted moment, whilst putting the decals on I noticed I stuffed up where the radome colours are supposed to end. Thankfully an easy fix with some masking and quick repainting.

These are just the kit decals which were excellent (no surprise as they are printed by Cartograf). They were applied over a gloss coat with Micro Set and Sol used to help them settle into the recessed detail. I find the Microscale products the best solutions to use with Cartograf decals. After a day or so to dry the decals were sealed with another coat of Gaianotes gloss.

Now onto my least favourite bit – weathering!…