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

Weathering

Weathering was done primarily with oils. First a wash was applied and then removed with a paper towel. This was then sealed with a flat coat (Gaianotes again) as I wanted the next lot of oil work to really stick to paint.

The ABT 502 oils Sepia, Raw Umber and Industrial Earth (not shown), were first put on a piece of card to leach out the linseed oil. The AK oils are much drier so it was applied directly from the tube.
The oils were worked into panel lines and other areas where I could see built up grime on the reference photos. Thinned oil paint was also flicked off a brush using an old airbrush needle and the splatters worked in.

Final Steps

As usual the fiddly bits like the undercarriage and canopies took way longer than I expect.
The main gear legs have nice positive attaching points and the Eduard wheels are keyed to match the kit legs. That’s a nice touch and I wish more aftermarket wheels were designed to match kit gear.

The attachment of the main gear doors are less than ideal however. The rear doors attach to the legs, fine, but where they attach to the fuselage, the joint is just a butt join with the thin edge of the door mating the thin edge of the main gear bay.

The main gear bay front doors are also just butt joins between the door and main gear edges. These doors bleed open on the ground so you need to leave a bit of gap. To provide some support I used white tac rolled into a sausage shape and placed near the join. I then used some Tamiya white cap cement on the joins and then pressed the door into the white tac making sure the joint between the door and fuselage is correct. This takes a bit of care and patience but works. Once I had everything in the right place, I let these set up over night.

I use Tamiya white cap glue often as it’s slow setting and thick so won’t run to places you don’t want it to. I ditch the white cap brush though and use an old Extra Thin Brush.

The instructions also call out the doors without the bulges but my references showed the doors have the bulges so I used those.

The fitment of the nose gear leg was also problematic. The instructions imply that it sits down on a platform with two lugs mating into two holes. However, there are two ledges on the side of the gear bay in the way. These ledges look like where the gear should sit but I assumed the instructions were correct and removed them.

With the gear positioned as per the instructions the sit of the aircraft looked off so I ended up pulling the nose leg out a bit to correct the stance. It was glued to the side of the nose gear bar, funnily enough this was about where those ledges I’d removed were. Next time I will fit the gear onto these ledges

The canopies have excellent detail that fits well as long as you fit the right parts to the right canopy. Of course, I misread the instructions and fitted all but the last piece before the penny dropped and figured out that I was fitting the forward canopy parts to the rear canopy and vice versa.

Thankfully I managed to unglue the parts and get them in the right place. Tamiya White cap glue was used to secure these bits as its slow setting and thick so won’t run to places you don’t want it to. The fit of the canopies to the airframe needs a bit a fettling but overall, it’s good. Better than the single seater.

The kit also has some PE for the canopy rails which is a nice touch.

The ladder is from 3DPM. It’s 3D printed and looks great but it took ages to remove the print supports.

Base and Gallery…