update: F-104 New project

Hey chas,
Either check w/ Verlinden or Cutting Edge(www.meteorprod.com). Ya know I think(I said I think) that Black Box may also have a reesin interior for the 104 as well?
Please keep us posted w/ updates on your project
Flaps up, Mike

Thanks for the heads up on the Blackbox kit. I checked and CE makes a beautiful set but only in 48th. Too bad.

Charles, how is that kit, anyway? I see 'em on the shelves here all the time, and have come very close to picking one up several times. They sure are cheap enough! About 30 bucks, US.

QUOTE: Originally posted by chasblake99 DId F-104 pilots have a seat parachute or a back pack style with a seat survival Kit?

F-104 pilots had the back pack chutes. It was not kept with the aircraft and each pilot had his own. The seat contained the survival kit which stayed in the aircraft.

Berny13
Thought so, but wasn't sure. Thanks, I'm using a pilot from a newer kit and have to add the back pack parachute so he'll sit in the seat better.

Big J
The kit is not bad, just old. The instrument panel is pretty good, the seat is terrible. Exterior shape is good as is the engine and landing gear. Only drawback is raised detail but that looks prettty good witht the foil. Got to looking in my collection and I have three others. On the next one I'll go for recessed panel lines

Thanks for the info, Charles.

Solved the parachute problem. I used a Tamiya pilot and cut the chute off the Hasagawa one in the kit. If you seperate the back of the head and cut at the bottom of the chute it'll fit nicely on the new pilot. Fill the sides with putty and paint.
The Hasagawa pilot was only suited for use as spare parts. I'll post a picture if I ever get it figured out.

berny13,

I remember reading somewhere that ejection from an F-104 was downward in order to avoid hitting the stabilator. Further, the early variants used an ejection seat made by Lockheed. Did the F-104 ever get an upward fireing "zero-zero" ejection seat?

Any F-104 lover,

I have been wanting to do a CF 104 (CANADIAN) IN THE BRIGHT RED with the white arrow that runs the length of the fusilage. I would be grateful if anyone could tell me which variant was used for this aircraft. Was it a "C" or a "G" as far as the fuselage and flying surface dimentions are concerned. I have not been able to find a Federal Standard Color reference for the red either. Do the Canadians have such a standard color reference chart? Any information would be apreciated.

Lastly, you want to look into the F-104 pilot's high altitude pressure suit and helmet if you are doing an F-104 from it's early years. Let us know how the foil job goes. rangerj

The F-104A and B models were the only ones that used the downward firing ejection seats. The F-104 was the second (F-106 was first) aircraft to be equiped with rocket assisted ejection seats. The A & B models were later modified with the rocket ejections seats.

The old style catapult ejection seats were not powerful enough to propel the seat past the stabilizer in a high speed ejection. Once the rocket seat was perfected, all front line aircraft were modified with rocket powered seats.

Now you know the rest of the story.

rangerJ
For the pilot I decided on a late sixties/eari;y seventies orange flight suit and same era harness colors.
The foil is going on well execpt for the large flat surfaces (wings and stab) Seem to always catch dust under the foil but I'm still working on it.

I think our neighbors to the North had the CF-104. It was basically similar to the F-104G, but was fitted with equipment specialized for RCAF requirements. It differed from the F-104G in being optimized for the nuclear strike role rather than being a multi-mission aircraft. It had other differences as noted on this site:
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f104_27.html
Lots of good info on that site