Thank you guys!
PJ, I have the rest of the Monogram Century Series kits in my stash. And this one really got my interest going on those kits. I am not sure which one I want to tackle next. But my recent Mirage does have me hankering to do a 102 or 106…
Sub, I am very happy with the worn look of the lacquer too. That was what I wanted.
Tex, the Hun sort of reminds me of a big angry fresh water fish with that silver finish, the shape of the fuselage, and that open mouth. The look certainly grew on me as I built this beauty. But I don’t think there was much wrestling done here. Maybe its because I cut my teeth on kits like this, but I do not think it was particularly challenging. (You want a challenge, go build Tamiya’s 1/48 Sea Harrier)
MV, The fuselage seam was not bad. There were a few places where I had to use some gel super glue filler (my preferred type- won’t chip and can be sanded/polished mirror smooth), but not many. I just was bummed over losing some of the panel detail in that area, but with all stenciling and surviving detail, and as busy as that area is, it is not really noticed except a Hun expert. The fit of the gun bay and ammo doors was actually pretty good. In hindsight, I should have installed the ammo bay into upper fuselage after gluing the cockpit tub in place, instead of before, as I did. This probably would have given a better fit in that area. The gun bay door actually fits in more snugly and has less of a gap than the molded in seam lines on the opposite closed sides so I had to go back an re-scribe those to make them more equal.
Peter, the kit itself has no major issues. It does show its age in some areas, but nothing critical. There was a slight gap in where the vertical tail meets the fuselage, but I solved that with a shim of thin sheet styrene at the rear base. Much easier to do than filler after the fact.
Fly, when I first airbrushed on the Tamiya Aluminum, it was a bit grainy. But after the Future coat, decals, washes, and finally the Humbrol Satin top coat, that is very much reduced, and that aspect came out as I intended.
On a side note of this, some years back I went to McClellan AFB in outside Sacramento and visited their museum while I was there. An Outstanding museum if you ever have the chance to go look. All of their USAF aircraft were restored to service looking condition. They had an F-104 on display there, and I was surprised to see that it was in Aluminum Lacquer and not bare NMF. The lacquer had a noticeable amount of graininess visible when you saw it up close. And all the reading that I have done indicates that during the early 1960s, NMF Century Series aircraft were changed into overall aluminum lacquered finish as a corrosion control measure.
