CDW

No Ken, it's one seat, the dark grey part is the vertical ejection rails in styrene. The brassin seat kit comes with a resin seat, resin cushions, (two options) and a styrene full rail piece then the photoetch.....

What I called the seat kit is the part you sit on in an ejection seat bird; you called it the cushion, with 2 options. Nomenclature.  The seat kit is the survival gear storage. That real "cushion" is about a foot deep with a 1 man raft and a bag holding all the rest of the gear. All tied to the pilot's harness via a big clasp.
 
You look like you have a jigsaw puzzle going on there, rearranging parts to build the cockpit. Ain't it fun.

Ok, starting out on the cockpit...
Right off the bat, we have three different sets of parts to correlate with each other representing three different models.... I have the Hasegawa base kit from the '70's and an Eduard resin set from the early 2000's and two Eduard photoetch sets from the late 2010's.... All represent a "C" model F-104.... The photoetch sets are designed for two different Italeri models....
 
Problem, I need to fit them all together into a presentable arrangement that looks sorta like the real thing.....
 
These are the parts that make up the kit cockpit and the first part from the resin seat kit.....

Adding the kits rear cockpit bulkhead and fitting them into the fuselage side shows where the cockpit sits in relation to the rest of the parts. and yes the nose wheelwell locates the cockpit.... (also note that the upper portion of the ejection seat rails is molded onto the fuselage sides easy to remove but that make the locator reference for the aftermarket parts) the rail section in the above photo has to sit in the same place as the molded on part....

The rail section positioned over the fuselage side lining up the upper support section to find out where the floor needs to be located...

And the upper rail support structure looks to be in scale meaning that the rest of it is probably in scale also.... 

With this pic being taken at a slight angle the floor, wheelwell, (which locates fore and aft the cockpit floor) and the rear bulkhead in place, we line up the seat slide tracks and see where the end comes out.... It clearly appears to be longer than the kit parts so, the floor needs to be lowered. While the side panels remain at the current height in the cockpit...
 
First step will be to cut off the cockpit floor and find out just how much we need to add to the sides to get the correct height for the ejection seat kit to fit....
Looks like Hasegawa took a little designers license back in the 70's when they created the kit.... (they did mold the seat cushion into the floor though probably to make the manufacturing process easier) I suppose back in the '70's this was considered acceptable and it was the only game in town, but today, it just doesn't cut it....
 
So I will be cutting it....
 
Next up fitting up a new, rerranged cockpit....
 

We'll be staying near Manchester at our oldest daughter's home. Our youngest daughter is going to stay with her sister to finish college. Not sure how much we will be able to do while we are there, will just play it by ear.

Me and my family are flying up to NH next week.

Good find Ken. Thanks for posting the link.

scalehobbyist.com
 
Excellent online hobby shop that's near you in New Hampshire. They carry a full line of Mr Color paints and everything else.

This may be, but I'm not so sure of that. Seems to me if this were true, the inside of the coil would be flat, but it's not. The spring coils are round inside and out. For sure you can see the parting line down each outside half of the coil. but the inner coils retain their perfectly round shape. That's what I can't compute.

Me and my family are flying up to NH next week.

We'll be staying near Manchester at our oldest daughter's home. Our youngest daughter is going to stay with her sister to finish college. Not sure how much we will be able to do while we are there, will just play it by ear.

We'll be staying near Manchester at our oldest daughter's home. Our youngest daughter is going to stay with her sister to finish college. Not sure how much we will be able to do while we are there, will just play it by ear.

Ironically my youngest daughter used to live in Keene! She was Guidance Dept Chair at Keene State College. When she first moved to NH, they lived on Gilmore Pond in Jaffrey before moving into Keene.  Now she's in Maryland.  Used to drive up to Keene a lot, only about a 3 hr drive for us. 

We'll be staying near Manchester at our oldest daughter's home. Our youngest daughter is going to stay with her sister to finish college. Not sure how much we will be able to do while we are there, will just play it by ear.

Me and my family are flying up to NH next week.

Good find Ken. Thanks for posting the link.

scalehobbyist.com
 
Excellent online hobby shop that's near you in New Hampshire. They carry a full line of Mr Color paints and everything else.

We'll be staying near Manchester at our oldest daughter's home. Our youngest daughter is going to stay with her sister to finish college. Not sure how much we will be able to do while we are there, will just play it by ear.

Me and my family are flying up to NH next week.

I agree Craig it would of found the shelf of doom for me Great Work OC Kevin

Beautiful Mossie, OC.
You deserve some kind of medal for perseverance. You really hung in there thru thick and thin.

Sounds like a plane Tom  - both the food and the  decal solutions.
 
With the micro sol  Please - please be carful  Not to mess with the decal after you have applied it over the decal, you will see some reaction on the decal - thats Normal  (but you Must Not touch the decal  till the micro sol has completely dried)
 
OC.

your giving me fitz!...........she's a biiiig girl   now I can't wait to start building mine!   I don't think you answered my question at the beginning of this log.  in my kit,  I got two decal sheets {they are the same},  and two complete sprues of clear parts.    is that what you got?
  
here is why I ask......  these two sprues are identical........I have not seen any differences between them.  the tab at the bottom of the sprues has the mold number on them,  and they are different.   easy assumption is that there is more than one mold......but it's a mystery.   why the duplications?
 
it is a milestone....I'm about ready to close up the Memphis Belle.    heck....I've done it.......close the fuselage and find that I forgot to add the windows!  it quickly becomes an art to install the windows,  unless you have a tube of window maker.........if the window is large......well,  your in for some scratch building.  now you can move on to the external    good show!   ....a more perfect union...... 
 
good to hear you have the weight question covered.......I was hoping you had that in mind   

Evening, 
Hope everyone is well. 
 
Thanks for all the likes and suggestions! I'm humbled by all the suggestions. Never in my little head would I have thought of half of those. 
That's the best part of MSW!!!!!!
Thanks fellas!
 
As towards the weight issue, I could see that being an issue.
As a kid, I remember the plane models where always so weirdly weighted. The nose would shoot straight up like the pilot missed the landing. 
I've always had a base in mind for this model.  
Michaels sells a variety of sizes of bases/blanks, usually basswood, cut horizontally with the bark left on. I used the same base for my James cannon build.
I might even take it a step further and paint the base to make it look like an airfield setting of some type. But that's a ways off!!! 
 
Lately, I've been feeling pretty good about bringing the fuselage together.
The below pic is just a test fit. That seam down the middle is not that big!

I can see now why it's better to bring the fuselage together first, then paint. 
You can clearly see the two halves, I'll try and dull that down with a light coat of the same color once it's together. 

One last look at the interior. 
Think I have everything. But the "I think I forgot something" feeling is ever present!!!!

Well, there she is.
Taped up and drying. 

The fit was excellent. Even with everything inside needing to mesh together. 

I put the wings on temporarily just to see how she looks. 

I'm really enjoying this kit. 
She's a big bird!

The engines will be attached next.
I am going to paint a neutral grey on the underneath. That I'll do while it's still unassembled. 

Check in on your neighbors!
 
Tom E 
 
 
 

We'll be staying near Manchester at our oldest daughter's home. Our youngest daughter is going to stay with her sister to finish college. Not sure how much we will be able to do while we are there, will just play it by ear.

That's awesome CDW!
Should be a fine week. Maybe some weather mid week, but that's a ways off.
Little bit of Florida tonight. Hot and steamy. Well hot and steamy for this pale New Englander!
 
Where are you going to visit?
 
I hear Hampton Beach area is somewhat open. Limited capacity I imagine. 
But I'm pretty sure the restaurants should be open with outdoor dining.
June is a fine month for fried clams, lobster and some chowdah outside by the beach. 
 
Up north, things seem to be a bit more relaxed. 
 
Tom E