1/72 Hasegawa CF-104 "Checkerbird"

Gallery Article by Geoff McDonell on July 1 2002

  Canada Day 

 

This Checkerbird CF-104 is 1/72 scale, built from the Hasegawa kit, using Leading Edge Decals.  This model was built with some additional cockpit and canopy detail using parts from an old Waldron Models accessory pack of photo-etched F-104 canopy details. 

 

Click on images below to see larger images

An easy job for painting, using all gloss black, with the odd buff coloured fibreglass panel, with a shot of Testor’s Dullcote on the nose and jet intake edges.  The decals went on amazingly well considering their size, and the complexity of the compound curves.  I also polished up the black paint a bit using an LMG Polishing kit of superfine polishing cloths, and then added the hard shine by using some automotive Turtle Wax.  This waxing process left a fine light residue in the panel lines which I left alone as it added a nice “look” to the surface detail.  

I also added small photo-etched angle of attack vanes on the nose to enhance the visual appeal of a relatively eye-catching colour scheme.

Geoff McDonell

      

Photos and text © by Geoff McDonell