Kinetic 1/48 F-104G Luftwaffe Starfighter

[boatman]

They crashed about a quarter of them Chris….……more than a few

WELL Tim knew that but i dint want to say to much but we had our fair share of E/E LIGHTINING crashes i went to some around where i live with my dad to pick up the bits exciting times them back in the late 6o's
chrisb

[rtfoe]

Hi Mick, it's one of their better kits and many swear here it's better than the Hase kit. Goes together well, not complicated but you still have to be mindful of the destruction sheet.
Jim, surprised you haven't heard of Kinetic. Rumour has it that it's popular in the west. I think the packaging is great and solid...the kits are like stars in the night as you get some good flickers. If Dragon is Hong Kong based then you know what the destruction sheets are like. Doesn't mean you can't build a nice one.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

They crashed about a quarter of them Chris….……more than a few

The German experience with them is not necessarily typical, it seems, though. I’ve got a book from 1970, titled Militaire Straalvliegtuigen (“Military Jet Aircraft”) that has a chapter on the F-104 and says:—

In contrast to Germany, where over 120 Starfighters have already crashed, our [Royal Netherlands] air force flies very safely with the plane. The assumption was four write-offs per year, but accident statistics have stayed far below that.

This with 947 Starfighters bought by Germany, and 138 by the Netherlands. A few pages on, the book doesn’t outright say, but implies, that Dutch losses by that time were seven planes, or 5% of the total inventory, against 13% losses in Germany (120 planes on 947 bought — but divided the wrong way round, so it seems only 8% ). Italy fared even worse, by the way: 30 losses on 120 planes … The book attributes the difference in accident rates between German and Dutch planes because of the greater jet experience of Dutch pilots, since “[the Germans] skipped the Meteor-age, so to speak, and the accidents we suffered in that …”

[yak face]

Nice choice mick , looks a very good kit , ive seen a few kinetic kits up close and they always seem very well tooled . The kriegsmarine scheme is a great one and seldom seen modelled too , cheers tony

[Mickc1440]

Thanks for coming to join my build. First off the cockpit which is almost complete now. I added an Eduard set and put pva in the dials. The parts fit really well so far. Someone mentioned keeping an eye on the instructions and I can see why. There are quite a few parts on the sprue that don’t go anywhere including an almost complete ejection seat, I’m presuming this is for a variation in another version. A painting guide would be good as it only covers bits of the assembly so studying pics it will have to be. Here’s where I’m up to.

[adt70hk]

Mick,

Is there room for one more? You've made a nice start!

ATB.

Andrew

[Mickc1440]

Mick,

Is there room for one more? You've made a nice start!

ATB.

Andrew

There’s always room Andrew, welcome along

[Mark1]

Never did get mine quite finished, had a few paint issues and lost interest! Up until that point I really enjoyed the build thought it a great kit that went together very nicely.as you say paint instructions could be better but look forward to seeing how this turns out and nice job on the cockpit:thumb2:

[papa 695]

Nice start Mick.

[JR]

Bit late , sorry Mick .
Office with those additional seat belts looks good.
I'll sit with Andrew at the back .

[scottie3158]

Mick,
That's a great start, the office looks good.

[Tim Marlow]

Love the start on the office Mick.

[Geoffers]

Great looking cockpit :thumb2:

Geoff.

[Mickc1440]

Many thanks gents, always nice when a little crowd gathers. My other half tested positive for covid on Wednesday and timed it perfectly for my leave from work She’s doing really well and I’m the butler service, thankfully so far it doesn’t like me. Plus side is extra desk time. The kit is still going together well and I’ve made good progress, the main construction is done just the fiddly bits to sort out. Looks like the guy who did the instructions walked off the job as there’s some parts not covered and even less painting guides. I was going to include missiles but they’re not covered at all so just just drop tanks. They’re not difficult but it’s more looking stuff up
Here’s where I’m at.

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Mick. Very much the missile with stubby wings isn’t it.