Revell/Germany 1/48 F-104G Tiger Meet

I have always loved the look of the Tiger Meet schemes used for the annual world air forces competition. I saw this kit and I said I had to build it! Not knowing if the tiger stripes were decals or I would have to make masks to paint them. I was happy to see that the decals were included for the complete scheme. All 87 of them!!! The decals are printed by Cartograph of Italy. Very crisp and right on register. The kit itself is the old Revell mold that has been in the catalog for many years. It is starting to show its age with gaps and poor fits. Lots of filler was needed to get things looking good. The plastic is molded in yellow which made painting much easier.

The only aftermarket part is the ejection seat. The kit seat was very bad and incorrect for a Belgian plane. It is from Modelchoice made of resin and separate etch belts. Once the main air frame was completed, the painting began. I shot the plane with Ace Premium Lemon Yellow spray paint. It was a near perfect match and provided a glossy enamel base to place decals on. Then the very slow process of decals started. I could only do a few and had to let them dry. I started at the tail and worked my way forward. They must be placed very precisely so they will all fit. I used just a bit of Solvaset to get the decals to settle into every groove. Decals took a bit over a week to do. One glaring omission was the refueling panel just behind the cockpit. No decal was provided and no panel lines to follow. Using the surrounding tiger stripes I was able to use my calipers and measure out a panel and cut it from white decal sheet.  Touch ups in the black areas was done with Tamiya Semi Gloss Black. Perfect match to the decals. After all the decals were on a sprayed the plane with Minwax Satin clear. The plane was not in a high gloss finish so this was a good choice. Then the last of the small parts were attached. It is an eye catcher!