Kinetic (Gold Series) F-104G Luftwaffe Starfighter 1:48 - build review

Kinetic (Gold Series) F-104G Luftwaffe Starfighter 1:48
Full Review with Dave Coward

Background

I’ve always had a liking for the F-104 with its sleek looks and have built a couple of the Hasegawa kits in the past which to this day remain nice models but I was intrigued when Kinetic released this kit as to how it would stack up against the legacy offerings.
Kinetic market this as part of their “Gold” series, as to what the difference this is to their normal 1:48th aircraft I’m not sure. I’ve had a couple of ‘experiences’ with previous Kinetic kits (E-2, Sea Harrier F-16I Sufa, Su-33 & J-15) and they’ve always been a bit of a split personality. They look great in the box with nice surface detail but the build can be problematic with inconsistent parts fit, vague panel lining and poor instruction manuals, but great decals.

A quick note from Geoff C…
I thought you’d like to see how it all turned out… very nice Dave!
Kinetic (Gold Series) F-104G Luftwaffe Starfighter 1:48

First impression of this kit follows the above trend except the panel lining seems a lot more refined. The kit has 3 decal options from Cartograf; two Luftwaffe and a German Navy option. The decals are nice but they are lacking in stencilling as these aircraft are covered in them so I sourced a set of aftermarket decals to cover this omission.

My plan was to do the Marine option as I always had a soft spot for these machines, it’s just a shame the kit didn’t come with Kormoran missiles. Some internet research did provide some really nice reference pictures and one thing I really did like about these aircraft was the bright orange wing tip tanks which were very common and added a nice touch of colour to the aircraft.

M61 cannon installation of a German Navy F-104G. Courtesy Michael Wolf

References used:

My main reference source was the internet but I were I found the instructions to the Eduard release of the Hasegawa kit which was a useful colour guide.

The Verlinden Lock – On Series F-104G/I Starfighter

Photos from Geoff C’s collection

(All photos copyright Geoff Coughlin 2020 and supplied here solely for the purpose of helping you complete your personal build project and must not be shared anywhere. Most photos show a Luftwaffe F-104G at the IAT, UK 1987 and a couple of German Marine F-104Gs at RAF Alconbury in 1985)
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