The F-104 kit is the old Lindberg 1/48 kit. R2 updates the decals to match the show aircraft.
Oddly there is no pilot figure included in the kit.
I've started on the kit. Here are the Enterprise sub-assemblies.
Lots of seems clean up, bit so far no filler needed.
The F-104 is an old kit from the '60s or '70s. Its all raised details and the fit is what you
get from an old kit like this. The cockpit and gear wells are sparse on details. The gearwells
don't really matter as I'm going for an inflight aircraft.
Sadly there is no sky background to mount the ships to for a forced perspective display.
I thought that R2 would include one. It won't be hard to make, but I had hoped for it.
I can't stop laughing, that Enterprise reminds me so much of the Gamescience game miniature.
But wait. Does it have the three 'divots' on the underside of the saucer? What's up with that?!
What little research I've done on the Lindberg F-104 leads me to believe that as misshapen as it appears to be it's actually got the right shape for the XF-104 (I think Lindberg modified the intakes to more like 'factory' F-104 standards later) when we all know that the proper aircraft should be a F-104C.
blah blah. Full marks for the idea, one star for execution and that is mostly, IMHO, the decal sheet which should work nicely with the proper plane.
Yeah, it needed a stand and a backdrop to properly execute the 'forced perspective diorama' use.
So that's the Enterprise from the old 3-ship snap kit right? The one with the pylon vents on the outer sides of the pylons? I'd find a better F-104 kit to put the decals onto, even the old Monogram kit would do.
Someone knows better but I think they modded the tooling for that to make the nacelle pylons smooth. I see decals for the vents on the sheet.
So that's better. Still confused by the divots on the saucer. I guess AMT must have done that way back when so it looked like the other, only existing kit of the Enterprise.
Mach, you have the kit and know better, so you're probably right. I was going off pics of the F-104 Lindberg has been selling (and seen on the R2 site) where the pic of the kit had that odd short/chubby look to the nose/cockpit area. The pics you've posted look NOTHING like that kit.
So, good news, the F-104 isn't quite the trash fire we all thought!
Yah, it is definitely is not a XF-104. It does look a bit flat in the last half of the fuselage.
The Enterprise is about 4-5 inches long. Not the 2.5 I posted.
It looks the B/C deck is the same as the old AMT 1/650 Enterprise.
It has the 3 dimples under the saucer.
Did you sand off the raised window frames on the secondary hull or did they retool those parts to remove them? I guess they had to retool if there is now a hole for the stand. If those huge window frames are gone that is an improvement for the 1:2500 big E model.
Do the new decals include the landing gear triangles? I had to make my own when I build one of those 1:2500 kits. There were a few others missing that I had to make myself but I can't remember which ones.
I picked up the Hasegawa F-104C today at Piper Hobby, which sadly is liquidating due to the passing of the owner. Anyhoo, the decals that come with the (insanely detailed) kit are not the proper livery for the real plane shown in the episode, so I spent the whole night looking for aftermarket ones (and perusing accessories). And I tripped over some fascinating info about the real plane:
It turns out it was in Da Nang in 1965 and crashed in 1967 ten days before the episode aired, in Thailand. Pilot survived, plane was a write-off (eerie case of life imitating art).
The plane's serial number was 57-0914 (shown as 70914 on the tail). At least in Da Nang, the FG numbers were removed from the fuselage on the F-104s.
It looks like I'm going to buy the AMT kit just for the stupid decals. It's actually slightly cheaper than buying the Vietnam-era decals plus a set of 1/48 stencils just to get the damn 4 for the serial number. And doing my own is a non-starter -- doesn't save me any money, and then there's my time... :|
This just in! National Museum of the Air Force has one nearly identical to the TIY plane -- the serial number is only one digit off! And tons of high-res photos, which of course are now on my hard drive. Make sure you have smelling salts if you look at the virtual tour of the cockpit.
This just in! National Museum of the Air Force has one nearly identical to the TIY plane -- the serial number is only one digit off! And tons of high-res photos, which of course are now on my hard drive. Make sure you have smelling salts if you look at the virtual tour of the cockpit.
The F-104 is a damn sexy beast. To my mind, it and the F-106 pretty much are the definition of Cold War Jets. Yes, there are plenty of aircraft fielded in that period but man, nothing, nothing says 'fast' and 'powerful' like those two planes, at least in my mind.
The 104 has a sleekness to it. Pared down to the most essential parts-engine, pilot, just enough wing to keep it flying.
It's a worthy subject to be in love with, or at least infatuated for a time.
I was just looking over my Hasegawa Starfighter and I noticed that the center canopy is snapped in 2 down
the centerline!
Being a clear part it would be impossible to repair.
I called Hasegawa's US office and they say they will get me a new one in 6-8 Weeks. If I need it sooner maybe I can
borrow one from one of my F-104G kits. I'm sure the canopies are the same.
High-G chaps ain't gonna help you in the bedroom, friend.
For me it's always kind of strange to see a F-104 pilot that isn't in the David Clark T-1 high altitude suit*. Those two images are forever wed together in my mind.
*Everyone knows this suit and its distinctive helmet. It was the 'default' low-budget Sci-Fi movie's space suit. I think the best example is in the film 'Angry Red Planet'.
CONUS F-104 pilots were had an interceptor role. Since they were flying over friendly territory they wore orange flight suits. The idea was for them to be easy to find if they ejected.
Capt. Christopher should have been wearing the anti-G suit as I believe they were worn on every flight in a fighter from the mid '50s on.
I have a set of Cutting edge decals for my NF-104 conversion and It looks like it has a few full set of of numbers to make
any FG-XXX set.
Edit:
In the ground shot of the pilots running to the aircraft they look to be wearing olivedrab flightsuits and the F-104s have the refueling probes mounted. They have drop tanks and sidewinders.
The take off shot (actually a high speed flyby) is a clean aircraft.
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