F-104c - gpm - 1/33

[ricleite]

@ Gary - There should be no need for nose ballast. The heavy engine is at the back, with a relatively short tailpipe. It pushes the center of gravity aft and the rear wheels must be behind it. In the model, the weight is more evenly distributed and the CG is not as far aft as in the real plane. Ballast is more likely needed on older jets with mid-mounted engines or in propeller driven aircraft, with heavy engines in front. The Tigercat is a good example – it needed a lot of ballast in the nose!

@ Erik – I bet you didn’t need to put nose ballast on your KK F-104
Yes, the rear spar is very fragile and the front spar, in the model, doesn’t cross the fuselage. I’ll get there…

As you can see in the first picture, the airbrake panels have many parts. I’ll keep the assemblies apart, as the links to the fuselage are fragile.
The stabilizer assembly was easy.

[Mike1158]

Extremely shap and clean build, nice.

[smithdr]

More amazement. I love the tail hook. I could only get that if I used wire!

Keep cutting...and we'll keep learning...Dan

[Richschindler]

Fantastic build. Lots of detail.

[MichaelS]

Really coming along nicely.

[Tino]

Ricardo, the way you tell and show your models it seems that everything its easy!!

[Erik Zwaan]

Beautiful, clean work Ricardo. Yes, it is a very good idea to keep the air brakes for last. I did the same for the KK F104G. It surprises me that so many details are seemingly different between the C and G versions, like the air brakes, arrestor hook and also the tail section is different. C-version looks narrower. By the way, the horizontal stabilizer is also quite fragile....

Erik

[ricleite]

Thanks, friends

@ Tino - discounting the difficulties, it is easy
@ Erik - the only thing that does not look fragile in this plane is the fuselage! The stabilizer is a bit thinner than the wing and not much smaller...

The main gear compartment has a left/right separation. It is modeled in left/right halves. The number of holes to cut doubles but they are not so hard to make. The picture from above shows two paper rolls solidly attached to the frame. The main gear wires will go inside the tiny holes in the paper rolls.

[ricleite]

The wheels are very small and the spoked rims don’t make the assembly any simpler. The spokes are modelled as “ring” stacks. It might be nice for the laser cut version. For the basic kit, I made spokes out of thin card rectangles and used only the cover part, not reinforced as it would be much harder to cut.

[Isaac]

Ricardo

Great work on the wheels


Please make sure that the main gear doors are in their proper position which is closed, and only a small gap is shown . Some modelers have them fully open which is only done during maintenance


Isaac