The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic interceptor which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fighter aircraft for the United States Air Force (USAF), it was developed into an all-weather multirole aircraft in the early 1960s and produced by several other nations, seeing widespread service outside the United States.

This is the venerable 1981 Esci mold. Esci was really strong by those times, 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, also by Humbrol, Revell, AMT/ERTL, Classic Planes and, of course, Italeri which currently reboxes many Esci molds.

The specific kit is the 2023 Italeri edition and was a 2024 Christmas present from my good American friend George Blair. It comes in a small high quality but side opening box, with the very attractive box art depicting an Italian machine carrying a 50,000 flight hours commemorating scheme.

Upon opening the box, I was greeted with 63 light gray styrene parts arranged in three equally sized sprues. Italeri seems to maintain well their older molds, so molding is still clean and crisp with nicely done engraved panel lines. There is however some flash and a small number of sink marks in a few areas, all easily tackled. General shapes of parts look correct.

Cockpit, though not overly busy, is quite acceptable, with the instrument panel and side consoles provided as decals. The seat is also well done, with two styles provided (standard C2 and Martin Baker that was fitted to some export versions). Landing gear is well done, with sufficient detail allover (sans the top main walls, which are flat).

The intakes are well done; they look quite delicate, so some extra care when assembling them will not hurt. The exhaust looks good also, though I would not mind if it would have been tad deeper. The air brakes can be optionally attached open and they feature some interesting inner detail.

A good amount of external stores is provided, including the wing and tip tanks, the reconnaissance pod, a centerline pod and two Sidewinders, offering quite a few loading options.

Transparencies are well molded and crystal clear. Instructions are typical (excellent) Italeri, coming in the form of a 10-page fold-out pamphlet, including a short history of the type, a sprues map, with the construction spread in 8 clear and concise steps and color callouts given where applicable.

Four very nice schemes are provided, for two Italian, a German and a Dutch machine. Colors are given in Model Master codes and in generic form. Decals are supremely printed by Cartograf and include a plethora of stenciling, promising to boost the model looks.

Instructions want you to first assemble the cockpit and, together with the nose bay, trap them between the fuselage halves, followed by the correct for your version ejection seat. As with every F-104 (or F-4, by the way) model, no nose weight is needed.

The intakes are then to be assembled and attached, followed by the wings, the five piece tail (including the 2-piece exhaust) and the main landing gear. The air brakes are next, where you have to choose between “open” or “closed”, followed by the nose landing gear, the canopy and your choice of external stores, ending a relatively uncomplex build.

Though clearly superseded by Hasegawa’s Wunderkit, this is still a very nice kit of the iconic Starfighter, despite its age. General shapes of parts look correct, molding is good with some flash and a few sink marks easily tackled, 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 really attractive Starfighter can emerge, with the relative simplicity of construction deeming it suitable even for less experienced modelers. Offered at slightly lower prices than the Hasegawa, the Italeri’s offering is definitely a kit worth tackling.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

December 2024

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