Egilman

Thank you for joining in Craig, I only hope I don't flub it....

I agree Lou, it is a bit pricier than I remember.... but then we are getting subjects that would have never seen the light of day without it. New kit production was stagnating. Photoetch and a new round of manufacturers have rejuvenated the hobby... So it's not all bad....

Late to the party here.. looks nice... who's plane have you decided to paint it as?.... Anyway, some of these 1/32nd scale aircraft just plain make you work for it.... Good work my friend..

Well I'm learning this, I just got back into the hobby about a year ago, and it has changed so much it is almost unrecognizable..... now it is not just the kit and supplies, it's extra, better parts and better supplies..... It has expanded the hobby so much that you almost can't build without them now.... And forces you to expand your skills if you want to stay up on the presentation level... I mean you can still build OOB and do it very well, but the level of detailed info available today make OOB building almost passe'.... WE used to have the brain tell us that hey it looks like the real thing, and our imaginings would fill in that we couldn't replicate, today that window of imagining is much much smaller than it was when I started...

I know it's a matter of opinion, but I've never had any of the negative experiences others seem to have with enamels, all of my negative experiences have been with acryls and the tons of extra work needed to use them..... I mean it has gotten better over the last 30 years or so, but still, Acryls are more hassle than they are worth in my humble opinion.... At this point there are a lot of model builders that grew up on acryls and really have the same opinion of enamels as I the other way around..... so at this point I think it is even on the opinion department. as far as the health benefits of acryls over enamels healthwise? marketing hogwash.... Use normal care and proper techniques and neither is any worse than the other... the main issue today is mixing the two, that has caused many more problems than any other issue out there... {stepping off soapbox, chuckle} EG

I think it's looking VERY VERY nice, probably more than you really wanted to do, but she is worth it....

She's really beginning to look the part....

Yeah, I know, I think I mentioned something about spending more for the AM than the kit is worth.. well I just broke down, got the cockpit set, the cloth seatbelt/harness set, the C2 ejection seat and the canopy masks from Kitlinks, (cheaper than Sprue Bros still three times as much as I paid for the kit) They are made for the Italieri series of kits so there will probably need to be some surgical scheduling in my future..... Like I said, there is no AM for this 45 year old Hasegawa kit so I'll have to make due... So much for Common Sense....

Ok My first real problem, kinda..... The cockpit floor.... Back in the day this would be considered nice, sufficient for a modeler to do a decent impression of a cockpit, today's world is another story. The only thing accurate is the throttle quadrant at the upper left and the shape and angles of the side consoles, the seat base is a lump in the center and all those lines and nubbins are nothing. Not even close to what was actually in the cockpit... The instrument panel is closer, it actually looks like an F-104 instrument panel but more like an "A" model than a "C" model..... No one makes a resin and etch cockpit for any model other than a "G" model. At this scale it does make a difference..... So I think if I am going to have a slightly "OFF" cockpit I want to to be the nicest slightly off cockpit I can produce... Of course no one is really going to know the difference and that is if they get close enough to actually look in the cockpit.... So, I'm in the middle of a quandary right now, do I want to fork over as much as the kit is worth to bring it up to today's standards or do I just give it the best I can do with the limited, inaccurate details the kit offers.... I've already bought resin replacement wheels and tires, cause the kit tires and wheels are for a "G" model and the difference will stick out like a hammer mashed thumb.... The real problem is my brain and what it wants to do vs my common sense and what I should be doing..... Gimmie a bit and I'll get it sorted... (probably build it as is) EG

Yep FS 36270 USAF Medium Grey a shade darker than aircraft grey which is a half shade darker than Mr Paint Sky Grey FS 36473.... (a bit more bluish imho) The sad thing is I can only seem to find Aircraft Grey flat in rattle can....

Given the light grey of the plastic, your going to want to primer it with Grey if you want to brush paint it with Model Masters... You'll have an easier time covering that way....

Well then we agree Dan, most of us start out as kit builders, and grow into model makers.... The basic skills and tools are the the same, model building is where you decide to do it your own way instead of the way the kit manufacturer says it should be..... That is when the artistry comes out...... (and you realize you can model anything)

Well back then the AF brass had real big ones, they managed to get all air to ground delivery declared as their sole purveyance!!!! Yeah, the Air Force was declared the only service that could deliver air to ground ordnance!!! Both the Army rebelled especially about helicopters, (read about the Howze Board and it's determinations), and the Navy about aircraft carriers and missile carrying submarines. (look up the Revolt of the Admirals) The Repercussions of that is still being felt in our weapons systems acquisition and development process today, 60 years later..... The Airforce was going to win all wars with nuclear weapons...... Talk about some big brass ones.... and convinced McNamara that they would....

I agree Joe, and Gunship Grey is very close to brand new Panzer Grey maybe a quarter shade on the dark side.

AS a member of the family, you gotta show your brothers and sisters what your doin, we all want to brag on you also....... {chuckle}

With the quality of what is being built here, the modeling experience and talents being shown, you may very well have to... {chuckle} I've always said that applying the techniques of building wooden and multimedia ships are exactly applicable to the plastic modeling world, and I am not afraid to state the fact that many, (if not most) of the ship models in the US Navy museum are at least multi-media and a good portion of those have some form of plastic on them.... Plastic is nothing but a medium with it's advantages and disadvantages..... This is a good place to show off skills/techniques that don't often get shown... EG

All Right, I need to get on with this... first step is the Cockpit, the base color called out in the instructions is FS 36231 light grey.... Actually this is Model Masters Flat Dark Gull Grey.... but I have a problem.... It is clear that the cockpit is grey base color from this B&W shot.... But that don't look like dark Gull Grey to me more closer to light gull grey.... But then, look at this shot.... The Two color shots are of the same aircraft, the C model at the US Air Force Museum.... and under different light conditions the grey changes color... this is not gull grey at all. more like plain ol' US airforce aircraft grey.... it shows as dead light grey in medium yellow light and tinged blue in white light... (same issue as my Bandit trailer) So I think I"m going to have to decide between lightened ghost grey or plain old aircraft grey... More pics... So yeah that looks more like aircraft grey the more I look at it... What do you guys think...

One more note, early in the War, Tiger Tanks came off the assembly line painted yellow, yeah, the same yellow that became desert yellow in the Africa Corp. The Grey tanks used early in russia were painted in the field... later in the war, they painted some gray out of the manufacturer, but that wasn't many.... They switched from dark grey base color to yellow brown around september 1940 in contemplation of the coming areas they knew they would be used. (Africa & the Russian Steppes)

I think that was your best option my friend... The world hands you lemons, make lemonade.... I think that bird wants more than a pretty paint job, it wants to depict itself as the workhorse it actually was.... You have a special bird my friend....

It definitely looks the part, "HONEY, I shrunk the Railroad!"

Used to have it in the Model Masters line also, until the model shops stopped selling it, Dunklegrau, RAL 7021 is another one that works just as well. And your right, depending on where it was painted and how long it was out in the elements there are almost a dozen different variations of what is called "Panzer Grey"

Oh, I'm pulling up a chair also....

Mark, FS 36118, Gunship Grey, it's not Panzer Grey but it's close and does work well...

Yep, there really wasn't much to bomb in North Korea and CAS was the rule of the day..... It took the AF a year to get around to giving it serious consideration... The whole ideal for the F-104 came from the pilots that were flying the early jets (F-80's & 86's) in Korea against the Mig-15. even with a 10 to 1 kill ratio, the pilots didn't like the fact that overall the Mig-15 was a superior aircraft....... Their WWII experience made up for the airplanes.... But they wanted more. Kelly Johnson learned this in several tours he made of the front line fighter units and conversation about what they wanted in the next fighter plane..... Almost to a man they said more power, altitude and rate of climb..... They did not like dogfighting with the Mig-15, they wanted to boom and zoom using ingrained air superiority tactics like they did over Germany... Kelly went back and on his own initiative started the design of the 104........ They got more boom and zoom than many pilots could handle.... The airforce was in it's SAC days, it was being run by the biggest Strategic Bombing acolyte WWII produced, Curtis Lemay would regularly tell people that we wouldn't have won WWII without the precision daylight bombing campaign, hell they even made movies about it.... Used Jimmy Stewart for all he was worth..... (when the war was over) It took the B-29 losses to convince him that his judgment was a little off..... But on the other hand, his push gave us the B-52... a lot of people do not know how many lives were lost getting us that airplane..... Or how one man was a huge factor in it... The total war concept is dead, it has to be if we are to survive as a specie...

Andy, this is live rolling stock correct? I mean we are going to get to see this live on the rails? It's absolutely gorgeous....