a series of 1/72 kits
1/72 scale kits of the F-104 Starfighter: ESCI / ITALERI / REVELL
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ESCI / ITALERI / (old REVELL)
The ESCI kit for a F-104G and presumably a F-104S.... It is an Italeri mould from 1980 and has appeared under various brands: ERTL AMT, ESCI, REVELL , MONOGRAM. (be aware that Revell later issued other and better F-104 kits....).
ESCI / REVELL / MONOGRAM F-104G
The ESCI box art shows the kit with
no. 9013 with a Tiger scheme.
The kit is very basic with a fuselage
in 4 parts with a separate tail. A single part seat is provided suggesting
a Martin Baker seat but very basic and hardly cockpit detail. The canopy
is one piece and a bit "flat and too wide". A refueling probe is in the
kit. (later I found out that the fueltanks which are a bit too small in
diameter make the wingspan too large when fitted on the wing tips).
Decals in this box 9013 are:
(1) Canadian Armed Forces F-104G
of no.439 squadron in yellow-black striping Tiger scheme;
(2) F-104G Belgian Air Force of no.31
squadron based at Kleine Brogel in also a yellow-black striping Tiger scheme;
A few decades ago I made an ESCI kit in the Canadian Armed Forces Tiger scheme (1). The black striping was applied with a black marker!! The model looks smart though.
I believe this same kit appeared in
several boxes like these:
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ESCI / REVELL / MONOGRAM
The kit issue no H2220-0351 is the
same old kit. A refueling probe is in the kit.
Decals are for:
(1) F-104C USAF 479 TFW as used in
Vietnam 1965 with a metal scheme;
(2) F-104C USAF TAC with a metal
scheme;
(3) F-104C USAF as used by the Puerto
Rico ANG with a Vietnam camouflage scheme;
(4) F-104C USAF 479 TFW as used at
Da Nang Vietnam with a Vietnam camouflage scheme;
This kit appeared in various boxes
I believe of also AMT and Italeri....
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and as F-104A:
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ESCI / REVELL / MONOGRAM F-104G
/ S
This box art shows also a ESCI /
REVELL F-104S kit no. 2216 which is again the same basic old Revell F-104G
seen above but with a few parts extra for the ventral fins for the
-S; these are only for the ventral fins parts 6+7 in the kit.
The gun port is uncovered, which is
correct for later aircraft as the -S got the gun again installed). The
fuel tanks are too small in diameter. As the -S has a more powerful engine,
it has slightly larger intakes and a bigger diameter afterburner rear exhaust
pipe. These parts are not in this kit. (better use a much better
Hasegawa F-104S kit, is discussed on another
page).
The main gear bay is barren but the
main doors are mostly seen closed on real aircraft.
Decals in this kit H2216-0531 are
for:
(1) F-104S Italian AF 53 stormo
in a camouflage scheme;
(2) F-104G of the West German MARINE
Flieger MFG1 in a grey - light grey scheme;
(3) F-104G Canada in an overall metal
scheme;
(4) F-104G Belgian AF of the 10 FBW
in a camouflage scheme;
I made one ESCI / REVELL F-104G kit no.2216 seen above, but I used decals of a newer HASEGAWA kit with included kit markings of the (West-) German Marineflieger MFG1.
Colours are RAL 7012 "basaltgrau" upper surfaces for which enamel Revell 77, Humbrol 79, Xtracolour X207 (or Gunze Sangyo acrylic 69 can be used); and use a mix of aluminium/light grey RAL 7001 "silbergrau" for the under surfaces. Nice is the dayglow RAL 2005 "leuchtorange" on the tiptanks using Revell aqua 25. All was airbrushed with masking.
NOTE: I drooped the inboard trailing
edge flaps and I used some spare Hasegawa kit fuel tanks on this
model.
Fill the gaps at the main wheel doors with white glue. I did not fit any pylons and armament on this model. The rest was completed as per kit.
GERMANY
[ West-Germany: area 248,717 sq.km | 1990 population: 63 million | capital: Bonn ] [ with DDR after 1990: area 357,000 sq.km | population: 83,2 million | capital: Berlin | GDP 50,000 Euro per capita nominal ]
The old German Luftwaffe was forbidded and disbanded at the end of the Second World War mid 1945. In 1955 West Germany joined NATO and a new West German Air Force was founded in 1956 during the Cold War. Still called the Luftwaffe it was part of the Bundeswehr and aligned with the Northern British command and Southern American command. Several American aircraft were made available such a the F-84 Thunderstreak and F-86 Sabres.
An air arm was also set up to execute naval strike, called the "Marineflieger". In 1960, the first F-104 Starfighters arrived that served with units like MFG-1. The first European Panavia Tornado's tactical bombers arrived in 1979 and the Marineflieger also use the Tornado. October 1990 saw the unification with East Germany DDR as the Iron Curtain had fallen with large political changes in Eastern Europe.
Here some old photos I took of 26+69 at an
USAF Open Day at Ramstein, probably in the late eighties. The intake protection aluminium
foil on the aircraft spoiled their appearance.
The model:
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A nice Marineflieger ESCI/Revell Starfighter sits now on my shelves.
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Created this page
August 19, 2014