**** DONE: GB-51 1:72 F-104 Starfighter - No Propellers.

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Well it's a bit scrappy looking and alittle bit not so accurate but I think it looks better than it would have with the decals if they had made it. I hit a home run out of the park with the control stick while I was cleaning it up so I'll have to make a new one. Then time to close up the fuselage. I wonder why the military never used a giant pair of tweezers to launch mortar rounds ?

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Sometimes opportunity knocks, other times it's a 16oz ballpene to the forehead. The cover on the front I covered with toilet paper glued down. It looks like some sort of canvas cover. The canopy I want to pose open so I cut it up but kind of fumbled it a bit so I had to ad a small shim for the rear part to line up. The fit is off a bit but with a bit of putty and more sanding and paint I think I'll be OK. It's REALLY thick and I wish I had just vacu-formed my own but alas past that point. I decided to cut the flaps out to pose them along with the rudder. Then the brain freeze set in. Wanting to pose the elevators I cut them out as well. After they were separate from the stabilizer I realized I had the stabilizer backwards and what I thought were elevators turned out to be leading edge panels. Not only that what I found was that the whole stabilizer moves as one complete unit ! Glue them on and fill in the cracks. In the mean time it's starting to look like an airplane !







 
Into the paint booth. I never used to "prime" any of my models but pre shaded panel lines with flat black. Never could get a good effect doing that. Instead I now prime every thing with a 2:1 mixture of Krylon flat black. Then build up thin layers of paint over it till I'm happy with how it looks. Slowly I'm weaning myself off my dwindling supply of Model Masters Enamels. This is the first plane I've painted with AK acrylic Lacquer and I have to tell you it's liquid gold !! Better than the MM paint. The down side is the lacquer thinner which is stinkier than mineral spirits but if you have an exhaust fan shouldn't be an issue. Medium gunship grey and forrest green over medium grey is the best match I could find.





 
Decals ! Hundreds of them, tiny, invisible ! I did something I never do and that was to spray a coat of clear on before the decals. I know lots of people do this but I've never really had a problem applying decals to matt paint. I noticed it's a bit easier to position them, most with a toothpick but I doubt I'll bother again with the clear coat. The other thing I noticed is that the version I'm building, some have the center wing pylons installed others don't I think I'll instal the ones in the kit even though the decal instructions show no pylons. Otherwise nearing completion.
 
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