F-104G Starfighter (Turkey, Italy & Canada) Set

Six shades for three Starfighter users

The Lockheed F-104 was born as a light interceptor with a short straight wing and enormous thrust, which is exactly why pilots nicknamed it the missile with a man in it. The European F-104G version was, contrary to the original intention, rebuilt into a multirole machine with a strengthened airframe and new avionics, so it could carry bombs and reconnaissance pods as well. It was built under license in several countries at once and became the backbone of several air forces for two generations to come.

This set is aimed at three of them. The Canadian CF-104s from Canadair served in Europe for low-level strike and reconnaissance, at first in bare metal and later in a green and gray camouflage. The Italian Air Force built its own Starfighters and, in the later form, kept them in service longer than anyone else. The Turkish Air Force operated a large fleet made up of its own and of taken-over machines and used them in the fighter and the strike role alike.

What is inside

The package holds six shades: a satin white, a forest green, a flat aluminum, a dark green matching the German designation RLM 81, a dark gray listed to the standard FS 36152 and a further dark tone to the standard FS 34086. The combination covers both a natural metal finish and the later European camouflage schemes.

These are acrylic paints with a water-thinnable binder. For an airbrush they are thinned so that the consistency matches milk, and with a brush they are applied in two thinner coats instead of one heavy one. It is good to even the surface out with a base coat, and on a smooth metallic shade it then pays to fix the surface with a clear coat before applying decals.