# Not the Galileo, but an F-104 Starfighter?



## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

Another board listed upcoming releases from Round 2 and one is a 1:48 F-104 Starfighter for Star Trek's 50th, presumably with markings for the one in "Tomorrow is Yesterday".


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## BWolfe (Sep 24, 2013)

fire91bird said:


> Another board listed upcoming releases from Round 2 and one is a 1:48 F-104 Starfighter for Star Trek's 50th, presumably with markings for the one in "Tomorrow is Yesterday".


Probably not new tooling, most likely just a re-issue of the old Hawk F-104 from the 1960's. It would be cool if they did the aluminum plated version that was available in the late 1960's or early 1970's, I would buy that one.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Interesting choice, if maybe just a tad too 'inside baseball' for mass consumer knowledge. 

Still. Was this the kit that had the working 'downward ejector seat' thing, and moving control surfaces and retracting landing gear? Well, not working as in spring powered but you could pull the panel down and the seat/pilot would be on it. 

As stupid as it sounds, I kind of miss the fun of that sort of thing in a kit.


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## BWolfe (Sep 24, 2013)

Steve H said:


> Interesting choice, if maybe just a tad too 'inside baseball' for mass consumer knowledge.
> 
> Still. Was this the kit that had the working 'downward ejector seat' thing, and moving control surfaces and retracting landing gear? Well, not working as in spring powered but you could pull the panel down and the seat/pilot would be on it.
> 
> As stupid as it sounds, I kind of miss the fun of that sort of thing in a kit.


I have one of the Hawk kits and it is a very basic kit, around 40 pieces total, no movable control surfaces but it could be built so that the pilot and ejector seat could drop out of the bottom. I had one of the plated kits in the early 1970's and loved it, mainly because you could get a good looking model straight out of the box with minimal painting. Some of the panels had a slight frosting to them, giving the impression that the model was made up of various aluminum panels. You could also buff the aluminum plating to get a nice shine to the surface. Oddly enough, I bought this model way back then because I recognized it as being the plane seen in Star Trek, I think that it was either the second or third model kit I ever built.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Being Hawk, I think 'basic' was the word of the day.  

Not in a bad way, I want to say. I recall many of their kits were credible. 

It's amazing to think of how many companies were making kits back in the old days. Hawk, Johan, Revell, Monogram, Aurora, MPC, AMT, others, all with their little specialties and quirks. All of them willing to make kits of just about ANYTHING.

So, it could be the Hawk kit. I think MPC had a F-104 (either ex-Airfix or Frog if memory serves), I'm pretty sure Lindberg had OH! That was the one with the moving stuff! *ahem* Lindberg has a F-104 in its inventory, so there's options depending on scale/size they want on the shelf.


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## BWolfe (Sep 24, 2013)

Steve H said:


> Being Hawk, I think 'basic' was the word of the day.
> 
> Not in a bad way, I want to say. I recall many of their kits were credible.
> 
> ...


A minor correction, the Hawk has around 50 parts, not 40 as I stated above. I had to get mine out of the closet just to check:










This is also possibly the oldest unbuilt model that I own, the copyright date on the box is 1964!


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

memories, memories. I see a boarding ladder and standing pilot. Ah, the David Clark T-1 suit, classic...


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

AMT also had an F-104 but it was 1:72 and this one is listed as 1:48. My guess is it will be a reissue of the Hawk kit.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

fire91bird said:


> AMT also had an F-104 but it was 1:72 and this one is listed as 1:48. My guess is it will be a reissue of the Hawk kit.


You and Wolf are probably right. Will they do something about the embossed Lockheed mark on the tail?


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

It would be fun to issue a 'crushed' 1/350 scale F-104 to display with the TOS-E.

It would be tiny, but if you aimed a blue LED from an aft emitter location (conjectural) it would look cool...


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Richard Baker said:


> It would be fun to issue a 'crushed' 1/350 scale F-104 to display with the TOS-E.
> 
> It would be tiny, but if you aimed a blue LED from an aft emitter location (conjectural) it would look cool...


By amazing coincidence, I happen to have a friend who made up a 1/350 F-104 for just such displays, altho it's not crushed.

I'll get a link


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

Steve H said:


> By amazing coincidence, I happen to have a friend who made up a 1/350 F-104 for just such displays, altho it's not crushed.
> 
> I'll get a link


Sounds great!
The aircraft was described on the bridge and breaking up so I suppose you could cover the replica in some shredded aluminum foil and stretched sprue...
I really wanted to see in on the remastered edition but they didn't choose to do so. THat episode has also one of the best teasers of Trek IMO (aside from ST-E (In the Mirror Darkly Pt1))- you have no clue it is a Star Trek episode until you see the Enterprise in the clouds...


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Richard Baker said:


> Sounds great!
> The aircraft was described on the bridge and breaking up so I suppose you could cover the replica in some shredded aluminum foil and stretched sprue...
> I really wanted to see in on the remastered edition but they didn't choose to do so. THat episode has also one of the best teasers of Trek IMO (aside from ST-E (In the Mirror Darkly Pt1))- you have no clue it is a Star Trek episode until you see the Enterprise in the clouds...


And here's his Shapeways shop!

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/geektown

Looks like he made a F-104 with gear down as well, for your extensive '60s Air Defense Command interceptor diorama


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

I have one from Shapeways just for this reason.

I agree about the trailer for this episode. The first time I saw it was in reruns on WSBK in Boston at 5pm. I rushed through my chores/homework to watch Star Trek. When this episode came on I thought I had the wrong channel on!


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

BWolfe said:


>


I remember building that kit. Seems like a neighbor gave me some model kits and that was one of them. I liked the fact that it was the plane from STOS but only had it hanging from the ceiling in line with a lot of other plane kits going from WWII fighters and bombers up to what was then modern planes.

I really liked the chrome plating. I remember being a little skeptical at first but it turned out really well.


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

mach7 said:


> I have one from Shapeways just for this reason.
> 
> I agree about the trailer for this episode. The first time I saw it was in reruns on WSBK in Boston at 5pm. I rushed through my chores/homework to watch Star Trek. When this episode came on I thought I had the wrong channel on!


Same here. I was bitterly disappointed at first figuring the channel had decided to preempt the rerun of Star Trek that evening for some special programming.


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

Jamie said the F-104 kit will be the Lindberg kit matched with the 1/2500 TOS Enterprise in a forced perspective display.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

mach7 said:


> Jamie said the F-104 kit will be the Lindberg kit matched with the 1/2500 TOS Enterprise in a forced perspective display.


Well, that's interesting and imaginative! Almost old school in conception!

Could be a fun kit.


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

mach7 said:


> Jamie said the F-104 kit will be the Lindberg kit matched with the 1/2500 TOS Enterprise in a forced perspective display.


Clever. Just curious, I wonder why they chose the Lindberg over the Hawk.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

fire91bird said:


> Clever. Just curious, I wonder why they chose the Lindberg over the Hawk.


Could be that the tooling is on-hand and ready to go?

http://www.round2models.com/models/lindberg/f104c-starfighter

Mind, I think the Hawk kit looked a bit better, but that box art may be deceptive.


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

Steve H said:


> Could be that the tooling is on-hand and ready to go?
> 
> http://www.round2models.com/models/lindberg/f104c-starfighter
> 
> Mind, I think the Hawk kit looked a bit better, but that box art may be deceptive.


You are most likely correct. I don't think the Hawk one has been reissued after Testors.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

mach7 said:


> I agree about the trailer for this episode. The first time I saw it was in reruns on WSBK in Boston at 5pm. I rushed through my chores/homework to watch Star Trek. When this episode came on I thought I had the wrong channel on!


That's why "Tomorrow is Yesterday" has the shortest pre-credit teaser of any TOS episode -- just 1 minute 20 seconds. Just when you're about to change the channel, thinking you're watching the wrong program, along comes the familiar Enterprise (and the familiar fanfare) up in the clear blue sky!


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