It was a nice day on Sunday so I decided that before I take the plane apart for the next bit of painting, I thought I would roll the F-104 out for a look in the sun. If you are thinking that it is big ..... yes it is! 

I will update after the last bit of painting. There are also a few more decals to put on after the painting and then it's time to reassemble the F-104.

Detailing The Wings

The wings are getting closer to completion with the roundels now painted. Next is the lettering and a little subtle weathering.

I will start painting the markings on the fuse this weekend if the weather permits. Once that is done I will finish the lettering ( nomenclature) and then put it away for the flying season. It will be used for a couple of displays this summer and next fall I will start the rigging of the plane. 

Cockpit and Little External Details

I must admit I am not very fond of doing the cockpits and find them to be a tedious task at best but important in the overall result. I am not finished the cockpit yet but you can get the idea from these two photos.  

You can also see that I have some of the rub on decals on the fuse. These are from Tailormade decals in Germany and are very nice but do require time and patience as they are very fragile until they are on and clear coated.

On the F104 the canopy extends back behind the pilots seat and therefore I need to have something under the canopy to simulate the real aircraft's structure.

You can see that I have built a curved cover with the same look as the full size but needed to simulate the raised battleship type rivets. To do this I take a syringe and some thixotropic epoxy glue and placed a small dot of it in the pre-marked positions and then painted it flat black.

These two pictures show the external temperature probe that sits on the lower starboard side of the forward fuselage. I take no credit for the finished part that you see as a friend of mine Jon Harwood used his $400,000 CNC router and some very expensive software to create this little part that would rest on the end of your finger. We will use the same method for the two transducers for the AOA and the stick shaker.

Before I put any more of the decals on the model and then find out that the paint mask covers them ( the problem is when you remove the mask it tends to remove the decal as well) so I will forge ahead with the painting of the RCAF 703 as these are the largest of the painted decals on the fuse.

The roundels that go on the wing are large but there is very little decals on the wings to interfere with. Now I need to wait for a warmer day to roll the plane outside and start the 4 colour paint process.