This is the third
installment in a series of CF-104s that I am building in honour of my late
father. He loved the 104, which he flew for 5 years in Germany with 439
Tiger Squadron. This particular version is the overall green camouflaged
one that he is pictured standing in - the hero shot was taken when he arrived at
Baden-Soellingen in 1972. The Hasegawa kit is excellent. To make a
Canadian version, make sure you get the C2 ejection seat (the 104J and "Starfighters"
demo team versions have them); don't use the 104G with the other seat (the one
with the yellow ejection handles on the headrest). Also, it is necessary
to chop off the bulge on the front of the windscreen. I used Leading Edge
decals for this one.
Click on
images below to see larger images
One thing I experimented
with was the Leading Edge red strip for the pitot boom. I had a
tough time getting it to stick all the way around, and to get the lines
nicely parallel. Next time, I will go back to using a red permanent
marker freehand to make these red lines - I find it easier to get them
parallel that way. Another thing I did this time was not use the
transparent light parts (4 on rear fuselage, 1 on top grey patch behind
cockpit, and one each side between wings and intakes, others on tip
tanks). I instead painted silver backgrounds on the spots, then used
coloured markers for the lights. Next time, I will use this same
method; the results are not bad. Using the clear parts involves more
work to drill out all the holes, and it is hard to get just the
right size (easy to end up with gaps around the clear part). More
patient modelers than me, though, will probably like the more
realistic look when those clear parts are installed right.
This jet now sits
proudly with its brothers (a natural metal early 3 Wing single, and a variegated
single, plus its big 1:32 scale overall green clone) on the 104 shelf in my
office. Still to come are a tiger striped version of this tail number from
1976, and a silver Cold Lake dual.
Dan
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