PREVIEW

1/48 Hasegawa F104G Starfighter

by Mike Reeves

I have the pleasure of previewing one of the "sexiest" aircraft of all time!! The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is arguably one of the coolest looking jets ever to grace the skies. Now thanks to Hasegawa we modelers have a new F-104C and a newer F-104J to build. Now hold the phone, Hasegawa gave us yet another F-104 variant a few weeks ago. Quite possibly the most popular and highly produced Starfighter, the F-104G!!! The kit has 143 pieces and every one of them is SUPERB!!! Hasegawa has really made something special here (Along with the A-4) and I for one will be buying many of these beauties!!

The kit is molded in the standard Hasegawa Grey plastic and all of the panel lines are recessed and superbly executed. Can you tell I like this kit yet??? The clear parts are thin and have no moulding lines in them.

As far as assembly goes well..... the cockpit is nicely done for out of the box guys, but for you Super detailers there are resin sets from Cutting Edge and Black Box to make the "office" that much nicer. You also get an option of the Lockheed or Martin Baker seat to add...nice touch Hasegawa.  The intakes and exhaust are both nicely represented although the intakes are blanked off so you cannot see the big fan down the throat.  I also found that the nose pieces fit very nicely. One nice touch is the separate flaps and slats so you can position them any way that you would like. The speed brakes are also positionable.

The landing gear is excellently molded and the main wheels feature separate hub halves so you don't have to mask them before painting. The struts are very nice, but mine had several ejector pin marks on the doors and struts. They are easy to get to and clean up though. On a side note, Aires has released a GREAT main wheel well insert to replace the kit offering. I bought several as they are that nice.

Aires also released an excellent new exhaust nozzle (one of the best pieces of resin I have ever seen) to replace the already fantastic nozzle in the kit. My only let down in the kit is the total lack of ordnance. All you get are two wing tip tanks....nothing else!!! You don't even get hard points for other ordnance other than a centerline hard point. One thing I forgot to mention..... THE WINGS!! The trailing edges are knife blade thin and are fantastic!

Markings in the kit include the Checkered one fro JBG32, Luftwaffe 1983. Also 6.0 Stormo, Italian AF and 312 Squadron Royal Netherlands AF (KNL) All three are camouflaged and look real cool!!

Overall this is my favorite kit this year. I just really wish the aftermarket decal guys would get on the stick and get us some more markings. If you buy it, I am sure you will like it. Now what do I do with my old Monogram and ESCI G models???

My thanks to Steve Stohr at North American Hobbies...www.nahobbies.com, for the review sample!