F-104 "Last Starfighter"

If we're talking Italian F-104S....
Cutting Edge had a really nice one for the 96' Tiger Meet.... 32 and 48th verisons sold out.
You'll want to check out Tauro Decals, they have a few commemorative schemes- mostly in 48th. A few in 32, but nothing recent. Hasegawa released a 1/48 F-104S in 2002 with a decent yellow/black scheme. Haven't seen 32nd decals for it. F-104S Starfighter '82nd Anniversary' #09443 I'm sure it's only a matter of time before some decal company prints ones for the recent schemes like 'Ducati 999.'
Sat

Do you mean a scheme in particular? I.e. Tauromodel has issued some decal sheets for Italian A.F. fancy F-104, but here the "Last Starfighter" has still to come ;-)
-- Luca Beato - del plastimodellismo su

here the "Last Starfighter" has still to come ;-) Luca:
This thread has struck a nerve with me. You may be the one person on this newsgroup with the answer. As far as I know, no one has actually released an accurate kit for an F-104S. All Hasegawa did was re=pop their G with new decals. Has anyone done an accurate F-104S. More to the point, are there any accurate drawings/publications that would tell a Modeler exactly what the changes were so he could use sheet styrene and Milli-Putt to make an S from a G? I always thought that the S with those extra missile rails was the meanest looking of all the Starfighters.
Bill Shuey

but here the "Last Starfighter" has still to come ;-) Esci did something similar with their F-104Gs. I'd like to know just how much difference there was externally, too. I know about the extra missile rails and the additional ventral fins but was there any other noticable difference?
Bill Banaszak

There are no accurate F-104S kits at all, in any scale. I repost an excerpt from a very old message of mine (1998) about the main external differences between F-104G and F-104S:
* reshaped and smaller underside central fin. * addictional fins added aside to the underside central fin * thicker main u/c wheels * bulged main u/c doors * slightly different shape of main air intakes (a matter of some centimeters on the real thing, almost unnoticeable). * proper wing pylons for the AIM-7 Sparrow if installed * Vulcan gun removed and bay plugged if the AIM-7 Sparrow are installed, to leave room for their wave generator device.
Today I'd list also the engine nozzle feathers as a difference. Search the message ID " snipped-for-privacy@news.iol.it" on google groups to get the full original thread.
I'll ask to some friends modellers far more informed on this fetish subject, both for suggestions and for publications, BTW you see that apart from the tail fins and the obvious Sparrow's fittings, differences are rather small. What scale are you interested in? -- Luca Beato - del plastimodellismo su

1/48 or 1/32. My eyes aren't up to the little bitty scale anymore.
Bill Shuey
Luca Beato wrote: external differences between F-104G and F-104S: the full original thread. both for suggestions and for publications, BTW you see that apart from the tail fins and the obvious Sparrow's fittings, differences are rather small.

There is some difference around the intakes, especially the blow in doors.
Bill Banaszak wrote:

Cutting Edge does a conversion kit.
"William H. Shuey" wrote: external differences between F-104G and F-104S: get the full original thread. both for suggestions and for publications, BTW you see that apart from the tail fins and the obvious Sparrow's fittings, differences are rather small.

If you reshape the ventral fin, the 1/72nd Hasegawa F-104S kit is pretty close. It has the larger intakes.
Cheers,
Andre

Have a look at - there you'll find a list of the differences.
HTH

That CE conversion set isn't correct either. The ventral fin is still wrong! HTH

The CE conversion is only wrong in that it does nothing about the ventral fin. Otherwise, the CE set is excellent. I simply reshaped the leading edge of the kit part. Took all of a minute or two.
Dave
Starfighters.