Italeri 1/72 Lockheed F-104G/S Starfighter

ITALERI 1:72 LOCKHEED F-104G/S STARFIGHTER

Reviewer: Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 10 February 2008

Kit Details:

Italeri #1223 - F-104G Starfighter

Aircraft History:

The needle-like profile of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is perhaps one of the most distinctive US Fighter profiles of the 1960's and lead to nicknames such as "Manned Missile". I recall as a youngster seeing this aircraft for the first time on television, in a book and so forth and thinking that there could not possibly be any other aircraft faster than this unbelievable design - although at the time there wasn't. The Starfighter was a very powerful supersonic interceptor with a light airframe and was in all respects a fantastic warplane, however, its success was doomed by virtue of the limitations of the aircraft in its ability to carry stores, pack in new avionics systems and its reputation as a hard aircraft to handle by anyone other than a fully trained pilot. The F-104S version was developed for the Italian Air Force and they were one of the last official operators of the Starfighter.

The F-104G was an improved version of the C model built in the US under the Military Assistance Program (MAP) and internationally by Consortium. The USAF never bought any G models; however, the aircraft was operated by the USAF for training of non-USAF pilots primarily from Germany.

The Kit:

A nice sized box adorned with eye catching boxart houses 58 light grey injection moulded parts and a single clear canopy. The look about the kit exudes quality with lovely surface detail that is recessed from apparent new tooling technology. I am not aware if this is a reboxing of another manufacturer’s. There is a fair amount of detail in areas such as wheel wells although the cockpit is fairly lacklustre in many ways.

Instructions:

This follows Italeri’s standard format starting off with a brief history of the F-104 Starfighter on the opening page. Modelling information, sprue diagram and labelled paint call outs from the Modelmaster range with some FS numbering is next. Following that is the dozen or so assembly steps which again are standard for Italeri and relatively straight forward to follow. Marking and decaling guide rounds out the instruction sheet, although there is colour information on the bottom of the box too.

Construction:

Construction was very straight forward with only the major problem being a few gaps to fill and sand. Also the breakdown of the starfighter parts makes an absolute flush fit a bit of a challenge in a few places, particularly around the mid fuselage section.

The cockpit is fitted with stick, panel and a nice looking ejection seat in a tub. Some more detail could be included as the clear canopy will allow a bit to be seen later. There are decals to be applied as console instrumentation which will please some but not everyone. These were a little difficult to apply because of the overhanging carrier film so they need to be carefully cut and applied. There were no real dramas fitting the cockpit into the forward fuselage section.

The fuselage sections go together quite well but the rear tailpipe needed to be carefully placed as it was easy to get off alignment. It also needed some filling and sanding around the join to the fuselage to blend it in nicely. The intakes were quite a challenge, needing a lot of dry runs and careful alignment to get them flush with the fuselage. It is also easy to get them the wrong way around so it pays to attach the first one while the other is left on the sprue.

The wing halves didn’t create any major hassles at all with only a small joint gap to fill afterward. The alignment tabs help to get the right dihedral of the wing but again it pays to just take care to make sure it is attached correctly. There are some options for the wingtips which include Sidewinder AAMs, recce pods and fuel tanks. Underwing there is a pair of large drop tanks to affix if you wish.

Undercarriage is fairly simplistic and if built straight from the box just does not look quite right. I think this is highlighted by fairly small undercarriage doors and it probably just needs one of the actuating struts adjusted to get it to look more accurate. I built mine straight from the box so did not discover this until afterwards. Also if you are building the S version you need to remember to affix the ventral strake underneath the rear fuselage. With careful alignment and attention the nose cone and its aerial (which is best left off until late in construction to prevent accidental breakage) goes on quite well.

The one piece canopy is quite large but fits nicely onto the model, but does require a fair bit of painting around the frames afterward, particularly around the smaller rear window.

Colour Schemes:

This kit allows you to choose from four possible examples with most of them being G’s and the Italian being the S example. These are:

F-104S, Italian Air Force, 4 Stormo, in the standard NATO scheme of Dark Green and Dark Grey over Silver undersides with the medium Grey nose cone.
F-104G, West German Air Force, Jabo 31, in the same upper NATO scheme as above but with light aircraft grey undersides and day-glo on the wingtips.
Another F-014G of the Netherlands Air Force, No.312 Sqn, featuring identical camouflage scheme to the German example above.
Final example is Belgian Air Force, 1^st Wing, featuring a three tone Dark Green, Green and Tan camouflage over Grey (not white as the kit would have you believe). If you follow the instructions though it will give you the wrong FS 34097 for one of the greens (typo), the other one FS34079 is correct. The lighter green needs some further research.

I used the standard Humbrol enamels to paint up the Italian F-104S NATO scheme which are easy to cross reference, using the “century series” Dark Green and Medium Sea Grey, and gave it a gloss cote.

Decals:

A reasonably sized decal sheet is supplied with all the stencilling and roundels etc needed on a light blue backing paper to assist identify any white decals. These are pretty standard for Italeri, have quite a good register although you could be a little critical with some off-centre roundels but dots are supplied separately to assist in achieving a decent roundel. Overall I encountered no problems with the decals and they bedded down very well with decal setting solution.

Conclusion:

A straight forward build that provides another nice century series subject to the modelling cabinet. Other than a few small gaps to fill and a bit of extra care needed in areas as noted above the kit didn’t have any real issues to contend with. The finished product looks right, and that’s what counts. Recommended!

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