Hasegawa 1/48 scale Starfighter

Improvement & Correction Set

Project Status:

Research: Finished

CadCam Design: Finished

Final price quotation:
Slightly above the original budget, but: let's GO

Tooling: Started

Test Shots: not yet

Production: not yet

Container shipment: not yet

Distribution: not yet

During the designing of the German & Belgian Starfighter decals, and seeing build-up models of the 1/48 Hasegawa Starfighters on various forums and model shows with highlightened rivets all over the wings, stabilo and other places, I started with the idea to do a "small" improvement set, as a) the real Starfighters don't have any rivets visible on these places - they were even putty-ed away before painting in real to obtain a smooth surface! - and b) my new decals deserve a more accurate kit...

This small set grew steady from just a few parts correcting the biggest "annoyments", to now up ending with 272 unique parts and up to 500 pieces in total.
It includes the wings and stabilo - without rivets and in the correct size: the Hasegawa wings are 2 mm too short in cord and the stabilo 2 mm in span - , the missing wing tanks, the three Sidewinder types, various missiles and practise bomb dispensers, recce pods, 2 different nuclear bombs, all known ECM & RWR parts for various air forces, everything you need to build a correct F-104S, a complete computer bay including variants on the individual computer boxes, canopy tubings for around the canopy, detailed back seat parts for the German and Italian MB ejection seats, 5 different types of helmets, tow bar and ladder, and so on... so this set will be very usable to improve any Hasegawa 1/48 Starfighter model.

Visiting many Starfighters across Europe and the States during the last four years, sometimes for just one specific part (like a quick citytrip to Rome for measuring the specific F-104S intakes, to Madrid for the Vicon camera pod, to Berlin for the German exhaust, once more to Italy for their version of the Orpheus pod and the Italian GPS part, to several places within Holland & Germany for the computers and various armaments, and not forgetting the frequent visits to "local" Belgian Starfighters & the several 1/1 parts laying around in my office) and with the big help of several other people in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Japan, this set will be THE F-104 set for everyone who's going to build a 1/48 Hasegawa Starfighter kit.

All parts are now on their way to the tooling company, after a long wait for the final price quotation.
At the same time as this kit I hope to have also the next title in my "Uncovering the..." book range available: The F-104 Starfighter !

Did I forget to mention: this set will be in PLASTIC INJECTION !!!, as the rest of the model kit ! so no resin ! & (relative) cheap (targeted around 35.00 euro) !

And on popular demand, the first sprue - with the wings and stabilo - will be available separately too (but only directly from DACO).

Latest news (September 2011): Still no news on the status of the tooling (or even an idea when I may receive test shots...) even after multiple requests about it: very frustrating...
You probably know the "selection story": High Quality - Reasonable Priced - Fast Delivery Time :
you may pick only two out of these three options (I selected the first two... time is now against me...)

Following images are previews of the final tooling layouts and the description of the parts.

(final layout version 12/05/2010)

.	Sprue A parts description:
1	Stabilo without rivets and in correct size
2	Closed gun mouth
3	Spare Pitot
4	Rudder F-104A/C without rivets
5	NACA air intake F-104A/C
6	Antenna F-104A/C
7	Rudder F-104G without rivets
8 - 12	Right Wing without rivets and in correct size
13 - 17	Left Wing without rivets and in correct size
18	Wing pylon Left
19	Wing pylon Right
20	Wing / fuselage / MLG-bay correct positioning tool
21	Nose wheel "closed" version
12 - 34	Canopy tubings F-104G / TF-104G & C2 / MB seat variants
35	TF-104 curtain container (aft cockpit)
36	Canopy ejector + alignment right hand Mono
37	Canopy ejector + alignment right hand Dual rear
38	Canopy ejector left + knive
39 - 41	Helmet DH412 (Canada) + mask & visor
42	Helmet Germany
43 - 44	Helmet P3 + mask
45 - 49	Helmet HGU-2A + mask & various visor types
50 - 51	Helmet HGU-55 + mask
52	Main Landing Gear Door left, with correct bulge shape
53	Main Landing Gear Door right, with correct bulge shape
54	Ejection seat MB German
55	Ejection seat MB Italy
56	Ejection seat MB rail
57 - 61	Parachute bay + packed parachute

.	Sprue B parts description:
1	F-104S air intake Right
2	F-104S air intake Left
3 - 4	F-104S wing BL104 pylon left
5 - 6	F-104S wing BL104 pylon right
7	F-104S central ventral fin
8	Engine exhaust inner ring
9 - 10	F-104S AIM-9L Sidewinder rail wingtip left
11 - 12	F-104S AIM-9L Sidewinder rail wingtip right
13 - 14	F-104S wing pylon covers
15	F-104S GPS
16 - 17	F-104G Sidewinder wingtip rail left
18 - 19	F-104G Sidewinder wingtip rail right
20 - 25	Aero-3A Catamaran (NATO)
26 - 29	Japan Catamaran (in combination with parts 16 - 19)
30 - 34	Access Ladder
35 - 36	Fuses container
37	Computer Bay center wall
38	Computer Bay
39	Ammo Box
40	Auxilary Fuel tank
41	Computer Bay hatch
42	Ammo Bay hatch
43	QRA Box hatch
44	Antenna Box hatch
45 - 63	Individual Computer containers
64 - 66	Towbar

.	Sprue C parts description:
1 - 2	SUU-21 with open and closed doors
4 - 5	Orpheus Pod Holland
6 - 7	Orpheus Pod Italy
8 - 11	Vicon camera pod
12 - 16	Dutch bomb & rocket dispenser
17	Camera fuselage side
18 - 19	RF-104G Recce Door Fairings
20	RF-104G Recce German Flat (Luftwaffe)
21	RF-104G Recce German Bulged (Marine)
12	RF-104G Recce Taiwan Flat
23	Recce Periscope
24 - 25	Belgian bomb dispenser
26	Centerline pylon fairing
27	Canada ECM pylon extension
28 - 30	German bomb dispenser
31 - 34	LAU-32 Rocket pod
35 - 40	LAU-3 Rocket pod with and without cones
41 - 43	ECM Germany
44 - 47	ECM Holland
48	ECM Canada nose
49	RWR Canada aft
50	Pylon Kormoran
51	Intake covers
52 - 55	Secapem Target Towing pod

The fourth sprue is going to be produced twice, as it contains almost all parts which are needed two times,
but with a interchangable upper toolings for the differences between the left and right sides of
the nuclear bombs, Sparrow, Aspide, AS30, Kormoran and the travelpod.

.	Sprue D / E parts description:
1	F-104S Ventral Fin
2	F-104S Italy LAU-7 adaptor
3	F-104S Italy ECM
4 - 5	F-104S Italy AIM-7E / Aspide launcher
6 - 7	Centerline Pylon + braces
8	F-104S Italy LAU-7 for wing pylon
9 - 11	Sidewinder AIM-9B
12	Sidewinder AIM-9B nose cover "sphere"
13	Sidewinder AIM-9B nose cover "tube"
14 - 16	Sidewinder AIM-9J/N
17	Sidewinder AIM-9J/N nose cover
18 - 20	Sidewinder AIM-9L
21	Sidewinder AIM-9L nose cover
12	Engine Exhaust parts position tool
23	Late-German / F-104S Engine exhaust pedals
24	Chaff & flare dispenser
25 - 27	Wing Pylon Fuel tank
28	Wing Pylon Sway braces
29	Wingtip Fueltank horizontal fin F-104G (without rivets and with a much better connection system)
30	Wingtip Fueltank vertical fin (without rivets)
31	Wingtip Fueltank horizontal fin F-104A/C/F
32 - 33	Twin Stores Carrier
34 - 35	B57 nuclear bomb
36 - 37	B61 nuclear bomb
D38 - D39	AIM-7E Sparrow
E38 - E39	Aspide Missile (F-104S)
40	AIM-7E Sparrow front fins
41	Aspide front fins
42	AIM-7E Sparrow / Aspide aft fins
43 - 47	AS.30 missile
48 - 51	Kormoran missile
52	Travel Pod

The tooling for the transparancies will be cast in four different colours: Clear White, Orange, Red and Green-Blue.
It will also contain parts which are needed multiple times, like the practise bombs, Vinten cameras and the ladder steps, to economise space on the main sprues...

.	Sprue F parts description:
1	HUD
2	Radar screen
3	Ammo hatch fuselage light
4	Fuselage / fueltank lights flat version
5	Sidewinder rail aft light
6	Wingtip light
7	Fuselage lights teardrop version
8	Fueltank light teardrop version
9	Fuselage Light F104A top
10	Fuselage Light F104A bottom
11	Fuselage Light Germany top
12	Fuselage Light Germany bottom
13	AIM-9B head
14	AIM-9J/N head
15	Helmet DH-412 Visor
16	Helmet P3 Visor
17	Helmet HGU-2AP Visor
18	Helmet HGU-2A Visor
19	Helmet HGU-26P Visor
20	Helmet HGU-55 Visor
21	Ladder steps
12	Vinten cameras
23 - 26	Vicon camera pod windows
27	German Recce fuselage camera window
28	Sway brace Belgian bomb dispenser
29	BDU-33 practise bombs
30 - 31	BDU-48 practise bombs

Following images are previews of individual 3D designs.

ECMs:

Sidewinders, Launch Rails & Missiles:

Bomb Dispensers:

Recce Pods:

Other pods:

F-104S specific parts:

Ground Support Equipment:

and MUCH more...

Expected release date: no idea...

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