Just got my F-104S Italian Starfighter kit. Of course, Hasegawa gives you no under wing pylons or weapons, or even fuel tanks other than the tip tanks. I can’t find the Cutting Edge or Black Box upgrade kits anywhere, so i’m looking for ideas. I can scrounge for missles or bombs, but what about the plyons? Should I buy and rob them from the old Lindberg kit? Or are those parts real poor quality? Any other ideas? Scratch build the pylons I suppose?
Hmmm, great question. I’ve got a Hase 104 G?? in the "to be built"pile, but my Italian bird will be for show and go, no stores. I’ve got some leftover bits from somebody’s low budget 104 (repop of the Lindberg??), built a few years ago for my nephew as a ‘play with it’ version. The only thing that comes to mind from that kit other than some Sidewinders is a practice bomb dispenser.
As I recall, Belcher Bits had some 104 goodies, but that might have been only 1/72.
I’ll root around and see if I can put some details on what the other kit was, and see what parts I might have laying around.
Thanks MAgather. Belcher Bits makes a conversion for a Canadian F-104 in 1/48. Looks like you do get 2 wing pylons and some bombs, not sure all what would be applicable to an Italian Starfighter. But I’d like to load mine out, with all wing pylons. They had two underwing plyons per wing, right?
I believe the ultimate version had two under wing pylons and three( maybe) under fuselage pylons
well wikipedia says there were seven hard points total, I just cant seem to find a good picture to post
Yes, the 104S had two underwing hardpoints per wing, the fuselage centerline hardpoint, and the fuselage “outrigger” hardpoints where the sidewinder rails could be mounted.
Nathan,
Looks like my Hase is an S too. And no, there weren’t any pylons in my kit either. The old mold I had was the Scale-Craft ESCI F-104C. It was pretty basic. Not sure where the spare sprues ended up at this point, but when I come across the parts, I’ll see what I’ve got and take some pics.
How accurate they’d be for a late model S I don’t know, but they’ll provide a bit of info.
Best, Marty
Thanks Marty and Stik. Here’s a link to the Belcher Bits CF-104 set. How much is applicable to the 104S other than the 2 wing pylons?
http://www.ultracast.ca/products/BelcherBits/Aircraft/BB014/default.htm