Weekends are usually lovely things. Mine was only a bit lovely, I made some more progress and promised myself I would upload some photos. That was before the worst cold I have had in years got hold of me. Achoo! Finally I have crawled out of bed and taken some shots. I’ve also thought about how we (or is it just me?) come to accept some modelling myths.
The myth I refer to is that photo etch improves accuracy. It can of course and it certainly adds detail, but its only as good as the researchers and designers that make it - just like a kit. I say this because in the process of building the F-104C’s cockpit I’ve come to realise that what you get if you diligently follow Eduard’s instructions and add them to the Italeri kit parts is a sort of hybrid ejector seat. Its somewhere between the seat found in A and C model F-104s it seems to me. Of course I realised this too late, so I restored some kit supplied details that I had previously removed and did the best I could to scratch an F-104C seat as it would have been in 1965. A bit more adjustment mainly to the joystick got me the parts below. By the way the main sub-assemblies aren’t glued in the second and third shots. Im keeping them apart to make painting easier and to add a few final details.



And talking of painting, one of the little gems in Italeri’s kit is the dashboard. Its very well detailed and looks to me like it will be fun to paint. I think it has more potential than the rather flat photo etch. The main advantage of the PE is the detail in the dials, but there are other ways of getting those. So decision made. I’m using the kit part and getting out the paints. I might add a few levers from the Eduard set just to add some final microscopic details that no one will see with the naked eye. Here’s the kit part compared to the PE.

Leave a comment below or thumbs up if you like the kit part better than the PE. Oh and don’t forget to scribe so I get more money. Wait, this isn’t Youtube is it? Achoo. Damn, still not fully better.