Eduard F-104C Starfighter “The Zipper” 1/48

[Green KreationZ]

When I saw this kit a year or so ago, I knew I had to have it. Such a cool looking aircraft. The plastic is from the Kinetic F-104, with additional resin pieces included by Eduard. I will be doing a NMF scheme on this build.  

I am building this as a “break” from my other build since my other build is very mentally exhausting. Additionally, there is a very large Vietnam group build taking place on Instagram which this will be a part of. 





This kit seems straight forward with not that many parts. 

I started the build on Saturday night with the resin ejection seat included by Eduard in this limited edition box:

[lyle]

outstanding work on the seat.

[tcoat]

Oh this should be good!

[keavdog]

Love an f-104! Interested to see how the kinetic kit goes together. I have the Hasegawa kit in the stash.

[TJ]

You got my attention

[kyledehart5]

Good stuff!! I will be watching. 104s are very cool

[crown r n7]

Beautiful seat awesome detailing.

[Green KreationZ]

Thanks for all the interest and kind words everyone! I finished up the cockpit tonight-

[project510]

Holy smokes that looks incredible Keith. My goodness...

[kyledehart5]

James said it. That’s amazing!!

[handiabled]

I just caught up to this one. The bang seat and cockpit look outstanding!

[Medicman71]

The cockpit looks great! Can't wait to see the rest of the build.

[Green KreationZ]

Finished the engine up last night. Most reference photos I saw showed a pretty heavy amount of soot and dirt which I’ve tried to reproduce here.

[spook]

Off to a fantastic start !
Cockpit and Engine look amazing Keith .
Have a deep passion for Vietnam Aircraft !

[kyledehart5]

That’s incredible!! Really fantastic paint and weathering.

[handiabled]

Outstanding weathered look you put on this!

[TJ]

Oct 5, 2024 11:34:58 GMT -5 Green KreationZ said:

Finished the engine up last night. Most reference photos I saw showed a pretty heavy amount of soot and dirt which I’ve tried to reproduce here.

Didn't the 104 use the same engine as the Phantom?  That explains the soot.  Looks fantastic by the way

[Steve Zuleski]

Okey dokey, I'm in!

[themongoose]

Those cloth belts are awesome!

[Green KreationZ]

Been a hectic week preparing for the new arrival to our family on 10/24.

Over the past weekend I got majority of the aircraft together. Sunday I primed it with Alclad Gloss
black. Yesterday I applied Alclad White Aluminum. Tonight I applied Alclad Aqua Gloss.

Next step will be to mask areas off and paint panels different shades of aluminum. Additionally, the wings as well as a few other areas of this aircraft are
White. I’ll be hopefully tackling all of this this weekend.

[handiabled]

I was wondering if you had become a Dad yet.... Keeping my fingers crossed all goes well!!

That's a great NMF on this!

[crown r n7]

Nice progress on a very cool looking F-104. 

[Steve Zuleski]

Excellent, Brother, sounds like you'll have a future modeler in no time! I'm looking forward to how you do the different shades on the panels. I'm thinkin the taping off in many places can be a bit tedious, but necessary.

Ruck On, standing by for more. Cheers, Ski.

[stuart]

Very nice work indeed!

[eaglecash867]

Incredible work on this!

[TJ]

Fantastic, about the new baby. The model is really nice too.

[Green KreationZ]

Oct 17, 2024 1:54:00 GMT -5 handiabled said:

I was wondering if you had become a Dad yet.... Keeping my fingers crossed all goes well!!

That's a great NMF on this!

Haha, I'm actually already a dad of a 2 year old. Baby on the way in number 2. Thank you my friend! 

Oct 17, 2024 10:48:20 GMT -5 crown r n7 said:

Nice progress on a very cool looking F-104. 

Thank you!

Oct 17, 2024 11:27:38 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Excellent, Brother, sounds like you'll have a future modeler in no time! I'm looking forward to how you do the different shades on the panels. I'm thinkin the taping off in many places can be a bit tedious, but necessary.

Ruck On, standing by for more. Cheers, Ski.

Haha, yeah. My son actually loves sitting in my lap when I work on my builds. I plan on getting some time at the bench tonight and will hopefully get all the panels and wings done.

Oct 17, 2024 12:21:53 GMT -5 stuart said:

Very nice work indeed!

Thank you!

Oct 17, 2024 13:32:24 GMT -5 eaglecash867 said:

Incredible work on this!

Appreciate it! 

Oct 18, 2024 3:36:24 GMT -5 TJ said:

Fantastic, about the new baby. The model is really nice too.

Thank you my friend! We are very excited! 

[brandonk]

That box art is awesome!! Your work so far is fantastic. Love it!

[benb]

Looking good!

Congratulations on the upcoming arrival!

Ben

[kyledehart5]

Great progress and many congratulations as well!!