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Since the release of the 1/72nd scale series of F-104s from Hasegawa in the early 90s these kits have been the most detailed kits of this wonderful aircraft. So far the only F-104 kits in the 1/48th scale have been the old Esci and Monogram kits.
Luckily, Hasegawa has now released the first kits in their hopefully large 1/48th scale collection of Starfighters. Hasegawa set the standard with the 1/72nd scale series but do the 1/48th scale kits live up to this?
The kit in general:
The kit consists of about 150 parts on 15 sprues. Some parts are not needed and this - together with the high number of sprues - could indicate that Hasegawa plans to release several versions. All parts are excellent moulded although, unfortunately, some sink marks and ejector rings are present. The latter can be found on parts like the leading edge flaps and the undercarriage. Filling these marks is now a problem but it is a shame that such things are to be found on a kit this good! All panel lines are recessed and mould lines are barely visible on most parts.
The C2 ejection seat totals 13 parts. The seat belts are moulded on and can with careful painting be made very convincing. Unfortunately the seat belts do not extend all the way up to the headrest as on the real seat. The rest of the cockpit consists of the tub, aft bulkhead, stick and throttle. The cockpit sides inside the fuselage are sparsely detailed with vertical ribs only, which leave some room for all you super detailers out there! Instrument panels and consoles all have very nice raised details but decals are included if the modeller prefer to use these.
The rest of the fuselage in filled with a bulkhead aft of the nose wheel well, the main wheel well and the afterburner. The latter consists of four parts and even includes the flame holder. The main wheel well is so nice that I doubt Lockheed could have done it better in real life! Poly caps are included to hold the undercarriage in place after completion. Note that the main instrument panel has to be glued into place before gluing the two fuselage halves together or you will experience problems in step 7.
After the fuselage halves have dried the lower front fuselage can be added. Be careful and do a lot of dry fitting here if you want to obtain a smooth joint. The radome is split horizontally but with care no problem should occur. Note that the model needs a few grams of nose weight to avoid ending up with a tail sitter!
The intakes are simple but still the best in any scale. There is really no need for more in this area as the view into the intake is very limited. It is possible to fit the airbrakes on the aft fuselage sides in the open position - being the nicest airbrakes in any scale it is a crime not to do so!
Turning to the wings these consist of five pieces each: Upper and lower surfaces, leading edge and trailing edge flaps and aileron. Do not remove the small details on the wing tips (and be careful not to do so when removing the upper wing surfaces from the sprues!) as these represent navigation lights - this is only really important if the tip tanks are not fitted. I discovered that is was necessary to add some small pieces of plastic between the main wing and leading edge flaps, otherwise the leading edge of the flaps will not be flush with the leading edge of the main wing. The wing's 10 degrees anhedral is supported by the bulkhead that is part of the main wheel well. Simple but effective! Stabiliser and rudder are both separate parts thus giving the modeller the opportunity to place them off-centre. As mentioned earlier the flaps, rudder and ailerons all have ejector pin marks which need to be filled - not good if you are going to make a natural metal bird!
With the completion of the main airframe the undercarriage is up next. The nose landing gear consists of three parts plus nose wheel. Only one type of nose wheel is supplied so it will be exciting to see whether the G model includes the correct larger wheel. Anyway, the supplied wheel is correct for the C, J and CF-104. Unlike most other F-104 kits the main landing gear legs are moulded as two parts, not one, consist of three parts each excluding the main wheel. Both the small and large main wheels are included - as are the two types of wheel hubs - although only the smaller type is appropriate for the aforementioned three versions. Finally a kit that includes the correct wheels and undercarriage doors. Hasegawa has not been as thorough in showing the placement of the main wheel doors as in the 1/72nd scale kits; doors parts E1 and E2 hang down a little after shut-down due to the loss of hydraulic power.
Underwing (and fuselage) stores are limited to wing tip tanks and the double AIM-9 Sidewinder launcher mounted on the fuselage. As far as I know the use of this system was quite limited in the USAF. The horizontal fins on the wing tip tanks are the wrong shapefor a USAF bird (C model only, of course!); they should be equal size on either side of the vertical fin. This can easily be corrected though. All you need to do is cut reduce the span of the larger fin to the span of the smaller fin. I would have preferred if the kit had included AIM-9 Sidewinder launchers for the wing tips as well as some nice AIM-9Bs. Furthermore, a pair of underwing pylons, a centreline pylon and offensive stores like the M117 would have been nice too! On the positive side, both the tanks and launchers are some of the nicest items I have seen in any scale.
There are 19 clear parts of which 10 are not to be used on the C model. These make up the three-part canopy, the HUD, landing and taxi lights as well as aft ends of the Sidewinder launchers. I still wonder why the position lights (e.g. on the intakes and aft fuselage) are not to be used in the C model but only in the J model.
With the model ready for painting I can now say that the fit of parts is near perfect. A little filler was used but I guess that I am the one to blame for that! After painting all I have to add are the small AOA probes etc.
The C model
The C and D models (the latter not issued) sometimes used an IFR probe, which, of course, is included in this kit. Unfortunately the ejector pin marks are also present on this item.
The C model includes decals for two aircraft. Both are in natural metal finish with grey and white wings as well as from the 479th TFW from George AFB. It is not hard to guess why Hasegawa chose the 479th as this was the only wing to fly the C model under TAC. If you like colourful aircraft this one is the ideal choice as it includes shooting stars, lightnings, chevrons, stripes etc. Unfortunately, Hasegawa did not include decals for a SEA camouflaged bird from the Vietnam War nor from Puerto Rico ANG.
The J model
Like the C model this one contains decals for natural metal birds, although two light grey birds are also included. This time you have the choice between 10 different aircraft and by combining serials and unit markings the possibilities seem endless. The following units are represented: 201 (2 AW), 202 (5 AW), 203 (2 AW), 204 (5 AW), 205 (6 AW – two versions), 206 (7 AW), 207 (7 AW and 83 AW) Sqns and APW.
Conclusion:
This is simply the best F-104 in any scale! This is sugar for F-104 lovers!!! You better hope we get the F-104B/D, F-104S, TF-104G, RF-104G and CF-104 as well!