The origins of the “G” version of the Starfighter can be traced back in 1957, when the German Air Staff issued a Paper asking for a single aircraft to fulfill its fighter, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance mission requirements. Towards this direction, Lockheed would redesign the F-104C’s entire airframe, including 96 new forgings, additional skin panels and reinforced landing gear with larger tires and improved brakes.

 The resulting F-104G "Super Starfighter" would feature a more powerful J79-11A engine, a larger tail with powered rudder (the same used on the two-seat F-104B and D), upgraded blown flaps with a mode for improved maneuverability, electric de-icing equipment for the air intake inlets and a larger drag chute. Avionics were improved as well, primarily with the Autonetics F15A NASARR multi-mode radar and the LN-3 inertial navigation system, the first such system to be placed into operational service. The amount of external weapons that could be carried increased to 3,000 lb, with the plane also becoming capable of fulfilling the NATO requirement of carrying a 2,000 lb "special store" nuclear weapon under the fuselage.

Greece was one of the nations that would receive the F-104G through the Military Assistance Program (MAP). Starting from April 1964, the planes arrived in Greece by ship and then were assembled at the nearby Hellenic Aircraft Factory. 42 examples were initially received, supplemented by another 10 not long after. A decade later, 9 more aircraft were received from Spain, while during the next decade, an estimated 100 retired machines were received mainly from Germany, but also from Belgium and The Netherlands. Of them, around 60% were used operationally, while the rest were used as spares.

The type equipped the 335 and 336 Royal Hellenic Air Force (RHAF) Squadrons and was mainly used in the strike/bomber role, being a leading edge platform for more than a decade. During the first couple of its operational years, the plane was assigned to carry the B61 thermonuclear free-fall weapon on the fuselage centerline.

 The Starfighter's advanced design brought new, demanding maintenance requirements, with the Hellenic Air Force taking brave leaps forward in order to adopt radical maintenance practices, such as the establishment of a separate Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, a policy which was then standardized to all its combat wings.

Though demanding to fly, requiring total commitment and respect, the plane was loved by HAF pilots. Roof, rate of climb and acceleration were second to none with the ‘shaker-kicker” system being there to assist the pilot in case the angle of attack's (short) limits were exceeded. Those who flew it said it was an excellent plane, albeit it did not give you time to think. When treated right, it was just fantastic, when not, it would viciously bite.

It is true that the Starfighter is commonly  regarded as a partially successful platform. To take Tom Cleaver’s words,”this common wisdom might not be totally wise”, since with appropriate tactics that would make use of its particular qualities to their full potential, the plane would perform notably well.

This is the venerable 1981 Esci mold. Esci was really strong back then, treating us with kits that were really advanced, with one of them being this jewel of the iconic Starfighter. The kit has been reboxed more than 20 times ever since by Humbrol, Revell, AMT/ERTL, Classic Planes and, of course, Italeri which currently maintains, revises and reboxes many Esci molds.

The specific kit is the 2023 Italeri edition, being a 2024 Christmas present from my good American friend George Blair and for a look at its contents you may read its preview in the ever growing MM archives.

I started by joining the fuselage halves, trapping the cockpit tub and nose bay in between, followed by the 2-piece intakes and the equally 2-piece rear section (I did not secure the exhaust between the two rear section halves, hoping to be able to slip it in at end stages). No weight was secured in the nose, as no F-104 model will ever need one. The intake innards were painted silver and the gun port was drilled out for extra realism at this time, as well.

The wings were next attached at their distinctive anhedral (though the fuselage locating slots more or less ensure a positive fit, a front view printed at the instruction sheet would have been helpful). The air brakes had their locating pins shaved off and were glued shut, as were the main gear front doors, which had to be beforehand separated from the dragged doors (they are provided as single pieces, probably to facilitate a wheels-up build).

The underwing pylons were attached, and the distinctive wingtip tanks were assembled at this time, as well (pilots loved using the tip tanks, as, apart from endurance, they provided extra lift). The sensitive tail plane would have absolutely no chance to survive my less than delicate handling during filling and sanding, so I left it off, in order to attach it just prior to painting.

This concluded basic assembly, which, like almost every Esci build, was a positive, pleasant experience. Overall fit, though not perfect, was good, requiring small amounts of putty at various joints and also at a few sink marks - nothing the casual modeler cannot handle. After a not that extensive filling and sanding session, I attached the sensitive tail plane in position and took the Starfighter to the paint shop!

Opting for a “Vietnam” style camo, I first gave all undersides, including the tip tanks and doors, a coat of Hu28 Camouflage Gray, which I masked using tak strings on the camo borders, in order to achieve somewhat faded demarcation lines. The topsides were freehanded with Hu91, Hu117 and Hu118 for the dark green, light green and tan respectively. The nose and intake fronts were next painted black, with a coat of Future preparing the bird for decals.

I went for the FG-7409 machine, an ex-German bird, the main reason being that it carried the Martin Baker Mk7 seat that I preferred its beefier looks to the “standard” C2 seat. For the insignia, the codes and a few stencils I used the very nice but long (probably for good) OOP Afterburner 72/1 “Mixed vintage and modern Hellenic Air Force insignia” decal sheet, while for the rest of the stencilling I used the kit decals. Both decal sheets were excellently printed by Cartograf so I had no issues with them whatsoever, with a coat of Future sealing them.

The cockpit was finalized by attaching the instrument panel, the top coaming, the HUD glass, the stick, the seat and the aft compartment cover. Basic cockpit color was Hu140 Gull Gray, while the stick grip and front anti-glare area were painted black. I used the very nice instrument decals for the instrument panel and side consoles, beefing up their looks by randomly “pinning” red, yellow and blue paint, to simulate a few switches. Since in the real thing there’s no solid cover fore of the HUD but a sort of protective blanket, I shaved off the coaming’s solid front part and replaced it with a piece of wrinkled masking tape and painted it olive drab.

Though the kit provided seat is very well represented with top mounted dual ejection handles and  molded-on seat belts, I could not resist adding the lower ejection handle from stretched sprue and separate seat belts from masking tape. By consulting net available pictures, the seat frame was painted black, the head cushion was painted olive drab, the lower cushions medium green and all ejection handles were painted with yellow/black stripes. The small area between the top handles was painted red and the molded-on the side mounted emergency oxygen bottle was painted white. The seat belts exhibited three different shades at different areas (linen, tan-ish and blue) that I tried to replicate.

Onto the landing gear, where, despite the main legs being well represented (even having the distinctively looking connecting rods molded-on), I decided to beef up their looks by shaving off the aforementioned rods and replacing them with stretched sprue pieces. Simplistic brake lines were also added from thinner stretched sprue, while the l retracting cylinders were represented by thicker pieces of stretched sprue as well. The landing lights were represented by circular clear styrene pieces cut from a leftover clear sprue. All landing gear parts, wheel rims, bays and door innards were painted Tamiya X-11 silver, while the tires, after being tad filed to look weighted, were painted black.

I removed the exhaust inner end plate (which represented the burner rings) and added a cylindrical PVC extension of similar size, to add depth, then glued back the rear plate. After being painted Mr Hobby Burned Metal (together with the rear visible fuselage area) the exhaust was slipped into position and was secured with glue. The tip tanks were also attached at this time.

Time for some weathering, consisting of a black wash at the landing gear area and application of dark brown and black pastels to represent dirt, grime, gun stains and the like. A final satin coat (which, truth be told, turned out more glossy than expected - definitely Yours Truly error) gave the bird its final hue.

 The canopy had its well defined frames hand painted and attached in position. Fit was good at the edges with a small gap in the middle, easily faired with white glue. The various lights were supplied as decals, onto which I pinned like shades of clear paints to make them look more realistic. The top aft anti-collision light was not provided and was represented by a blob of white glue onto which another tiny blob of red clear paint was applied.

The distinctive pitot tube was finally painted white with gunmetal tip and had the red striped decal carefully applied. The sensitive pitot was the last item to be attached, before calling the beautiful Starfighter done!

Though clearly superseded by Hasegawa’s Wunderkit, this is still a very nice kit of the iconic Starfighter, despite its age. General shape looks spot-on, molding is good with some easily tackled flash and a few sink marks, panel lines are finely recessed, overall detail is good, transparencies are nice and clear as are the instructions, while the decals are really supreme. Out of the box, a very attractive Starfighter can emerge, with the relative simplicity of construction deeming it suitable even for less experienced modelers.

 I cannot really help but state how well Esci used to treat us (almost spoiling us) half a century ago with gems like this kit, easily holding their own today (2025). Offered at lower prices than the better Hasegawa kit, if you want to build a nice 1/72 F-104G, the Italeri 1/72 Starfighter is definitely a kit worth tackling.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

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