The Base Model

The base model was a 1978 Monogram 1/48 F-104C #5409.

This was not a great model to begin with – the Hawk (1964?) kit #504 was much better in most aspects. In addition, this kit had already been started to kitbash something else. (Probably a spaceship, since the wings and tail had been broken off flush!) Not only that, pieces were missing or damaged.

On this model, the fuselage is split horizontally rather than the more typical vertical split. And it was a poor fit. Also the surface detail on this kit is lower than the Hawk. (Based on a couple of leftover Hawk pieces to compare.) I glued the wings and tail back on, fortunately with little mismatch or distortion in the breaks.

Missing Nose Cone! Arguably one of the most distinctive and irreplaceable features of the F-104 “Lawn Dart”! I turned the cone on a lathe out of nylon. The fuselage had a step in the firewall. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to hold the cone to machine the recess to match the step on the front of the fuselage. My wife pointed out the obvious – cut the step off! (I was hesitant to remove more from the fuselage than what I was already missing!) With the fuselage flat on the end, all I had to do was turn a relatively straight cone. (It only has a slight curvature.)

Pitot-Static Tube. I was now faced with the challenge of drilling a hole in a sharp point. Gluing the kit boom onto the nylon was never a remote option. And, at that scale, even a few thousandths off is really obvious. The smallest steel rod I had was 1/16” (not too terribly out of scale). I drilled a 1/16” hole in a 1/4” thick scrap of aluminum and countersunk it with a sharp pointed Dremel bit. Then I was able to just hold the countersink of the aluminum block on the sharp point of the nose cone and use it for a drill jig. Painting the candy cane spiral required 1/32” wide masking tape (and I thought the standard 1/8” tape was small).

The main landing gear was very delicate and had some missing or damaged struts. I managed to find and reglue one microscopic strut. I made the one on the other side out of a single strand of 18 gauge copper wire.

The front gear was incredibly delicate. Just from handling the model, I broke and reglued it several times.

The engine inlets were a very poor fit.

The arresting hook was very small and delicate. After carefully holding it and painting it, I accidentally brushed against it and lost it in the carpet! I saw the glint as it flew through the air. I had to make a whole one from scratch out of 1/32” square stock.

The pilot, for some reason, had a clipboard – and one arm was separate (in order to position it on the joystick?). Of course, the arm was missing. (Good. I hated the clipboard anyway.) I found one suitable pilot of reasonably similar style and vintage but it wouldn’t fit into the cockpit. The F-104 has a sizeable hump in the center which the pilot straddles with very little room to spare for the feet. I had to cut the legs off and reposition them to fit.

Sidewinder missiles. The model had two close-mounted launch rails for center mounted Sidewinder missiles. This was a bad location. They were so close to the ground that the seeker heads would be damaged by dust or debris. Besides, this was where the Mk 43 nuclear bomb had to go. Most F-104’s had to choose between wingtip tanks or Sidewinders. This model had to have the tip tanks. I discovered an example of an F-104 with Sidewinders in a position I had never seen before – underwing pylons just inside of the tip tanks, not instead of. I used the center launch rails with additional flat stock to make pylons.

The pylon mounted tanks really are supposed to be angled down that much – apparently to insure them cleanly leaving when they were dropped. They probably emptied so fast that the additional drag didn’t matter.

Wingtip Tanks. The wingtip tanks were high quality – much better than the Hawk! I wanted both tip tanks and underwing tanks but wasn’t sure they were similar enough. The tip tanks were almost all I had left of a Hawk F-104 model – probably because they were so ugly. They were split horizontally (which would have fit poorly on the wingtip) and they had separate nose cones (why?!?). Not only that, the fins were really wrong. They had two small symmetrical fins. The real tanks have three fins – all different! I had just about decided that they would be ok for underwing tanks when I found actual drawings! The Hawk tip tank fins looked like the underwing tanks were supposed to look! I made pylons out of flat stock.

Mk 43 Nuclear Bomb. DB-127 is on static display at Bundeswehr Museum of Military History – Berlin-Gatow Airfield. The bomb on it is NOT a Mk 43. It is probably a dummy or practice bomb of some sort. (I guess, for obvious reasons.) I made one from something WWII German. I cut it to length and made fins from 1/32” stock.

ZeLL Launch Mods to the Model

Rocketdyne Booster. The tube shell, end bells, and nozzle were adapted from misc. Shuttle pieces. The Rocketdyne logo was painted by hand with a #70 brush. The booster framework was scratch-built from flat stock with 1/16” steel insert pins.

Launch Pad. The launch pad display base was cut from a 2 x 10. The 1-1/2” thickness was required for the trench which enclosed the hanging booster. The concrete surface is scale 2m squares of vinyl floor tile.

The concrete support pillars were cut from nylon stock. The sign (seen in one of the pictures at one of the US launch sites) reads “World’s Shortest Runway.”
The control box pushbuttons are the tiniest available decorative fingernail rhinestones. Why is there a control box that close to the launch exhaust? I don’t know, but it was really there, you can see it in one of the pictures.

Rolling Ladder. The remarkably tall rolling ladder was entirely scratch-built using Plastruct O scale ladder #90673, 1/32” square stock, sprue, and misc. wheels. The one-piece handrails are the same ladder, split into two halves. The upper handrails were formed with a heat gun.

The crewman was a mechanic from a Monogram P-61. The Lockheed Flying Star logo on the back of his uniform and the “World’s Shortest Runway” signs were inkjet printed on plain paper applied with Testors Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker.

Until the booster is attached, the F-104 can be towed normally on the landing gear. It was backed up to the pillars and lifted onto the stirrups with a small cart. Notice the nose cone doesn’t appear to quite touch the ground.