The First and the Last
F-104G, CF-104, F-104S ASA/ASA-M & TF-104G, CF-104D in NATO service

Armycast, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Marcus Thornley

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

A total of 2,578 Starfighters were produced, mostly by NATO members. A set of modifications produced the F-104G model, which won a NATO competition for a new fighter-bomber. Several two-seat trainer versions were also produced, the most numerous being the TF-104G. The ultimate production version of the fighter model was the F-104S, an all-weather interceptor designed by Aeritalia for the Italian Air Force, which was equipped with radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles.

Supplied in a zip lock bag with three sheets of decals and an A5 instruction booklet. These decals are a real treat to lay out and on the desk and review. The Starfighter had quite a long and varied career and the NATO aircraft themselves were used by their operators in quite different roles. Looking at the instructions your get that impression. Aircraft in natural metal finish, air superiority grey, all over green and then there is the camo, green/green, green/green/green, green/grey & SEA.

The two large decal sheets are the centre piece of this set and they are most impressive. Having previously reviewed an Armycast decal set you get the feeling that they really want to cover a lot of ground and give a great amount of variation in each of their sets.

The first sheet has most of the national markings and squadron crests and really is a pretty sight, so full of colour. It is packed full and El Negro Design have done a nice job on their artwork. It is very nicely drawn, the squadron crest are full of detail and the national symbols are sharp with bold colours, with one caveat. Unfortunately the orange centres of the Dutch roundels have failed to cover the underlying blue section and the colour shift here stands out. This and a hand mark up on the decal numbers is the only area of negative comment.

The second big sheet has a black theme, it covers all the black lettering, the German national insignia and in the bottom right corner the grey low vis markings for the later Italian jets. There is also a small addendum sheet for an aircraft code that was printed in the wrong order. Printing wise, perfect.

Symbols and rescue symbols for all the nationalities make up the third sheet. It provides one set of panel cheat lines, a set of symbols for the 60's era jets that all the NATO 104's originally wore and sets of symbols for all the later variations that emerged through the life of the aircraft in their various nations service. This symbols sheet is a part of Armycasts ACD 48 002 which provides full sets of stencils for the Starfighter. The BOA Agency has printed all these decals with a tightly cropped thin clear layer.

The instruction booklet walks you through all the options, there are are quite a few profiles per page so they are of necessity quite small, it would be nice to have some downloadable images from the website. Colour call outs are by way of FS numbers and Gunze Sangyo Mr Color paint. All the major aircraft decals on the two larger sheets are numbered but the warning and rescue decals on the on the smaller stencils sheet are not. The the final page of the instructions has examples of each nations warning and rescue symbol layout to follow. Still, tracking down reference pics of your actual aircraft is the only real way to overcome airframe to airframe variations. Being a fan of the family models two aircraft immediately caught my eye. First the Danish two seater in the later all over gloss green, which if you prefer could also be painted in the earlier flat green paint that weathered heavily into hues of faded green, green/yellow. The second being the TF-104G-M which made the last military sortie worldwide, air superiority grey with high vis roundels and blue codes with black outlines, smart.

So just how many of aircraft can you decal from this set? It is naturally dependant on the aircraft you pick but I counted 11 from the 19 possibilities. That has got to be pretty good from a single set. There is the possibility of more if you use a couple of the decals from the kits themselves and the stencils will need to be sourced from the kit or after market.

I am sure any fan of the 104 would be absolutely rapt with this sheet. It has huge variety and with the exception of the Dutch roundels is superbly printed.  The instructions are quite clear providing four views of each aircraft. That so many aircraft can be built from the decal set it pretty neat, enthusiastically recommended

Thanks to Armycast for the review samples.

Text and Images Copyright © 2015 by Marcus Thornley
Page Created 13 August, 2015
Last updated 13 August, 2015

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page