USAF F-104C Starfighter - Da Nang, Vietnam 1965

[Michi]

I was given a free 3D-printed Starfighter model and painted it freehand in 1965 livery. The model is in 1/300th scale and shall be used with AirWar C21 rules as soon as I will have another one finished. The flying base is still to be made yet and shall be circular 20mm in diameter.

[bergschotten]

Great job with the painting.

[Splod]

Great work! I'm constantly amazed by how far 3d printing has come in a relatively short time.

[Storm Wolf]

The model is ace : , but the freehand markings are quite frankly superb👍😁😎

Top banana

Glen

[Michi]

The F-104 C was a filament print, that needed quite a bit of attention to smoothen the surfaces.

Now I received a resin printed F-104 G that was nearly paintable fresh from the print. I gave it a little care anyway and here it is. Both are in 1/285th (or 6mm) scale.

German Luftwaffe F-104 G Starfighter in 1970s livery

[carlos marighela]

Very nice! Pretty looking plane the old lawn dart.

[Gunbird]

Those are some pretty sexy rockets with wheels

[nickdives]

"I want to be a pilot, a Starfighter Pilot"
"Is that make up your wearing?"

Nice models.

[Joelegan]

Great job, particularly the German one.

[Vanvlak]

Freehand 
Grand job, they both look great.

[has.been]

Wot all the above said. 

[Daeothar]

Awesome work on both counts.

A filament printed model is decidedly not suited for a (non) paintjob of bare metal, especially at this scale. But you made it work all the same.

Interestingly, you've taken an obviously wargames miniature style of painting. I recently finished two F-104G's in Dutch livery, and automatically reverted to model kit building techniques and completely forewent all shading and highlighting; just straight up blocking like I used to do back when I was still in school (although I do now use dropper bottles of acrylics instead of tiny tins of enamel )

Your freehand is pretty good too btw! 

[Michi]

Thank you all for the nice comments! 

Interestingly, you've taken an obviously wargames miniature style of painting.

I recently finished two F-104G's in Dutch livery...like I used to do back when I was still in school (although I do now use dropper bottles of acrylics instead of tiny tins of enamel )

Yes, the Dutch camouflage pattern was exactly the same as the German one on the Starfighters in the 1970s. I also block painted numbers of plastic kits in 1/144th, 1/72nd and 1/48th using Revell enamels... 
I adopted that miniature highlighting when I started painting those tiny Crimson Skies planes 20 years ago and it's still quite rewarding... 

[bluewillow]

Great stuff Michi