Small Scale Military Headquarters

something was missing on my F 104 smoke II : the airbrakes ! if you see all teh pictures on badcataviation or evrywhere you can see t smalls
airbrakes deployed but not on the real one in my possession ! i know there is differences between prototypes and production samples that s no problem you can go for it with closed eyes !
it sure is fantastic !

None of the production XD F-104s ever had airbrakes. The picture on the box is a prototype model (probably in 1:48 scale) that was used as a referece and paint master for building the 1:18 version. You'll notice that the pictures on many 21c boxes are of the paint master version and often have a little better detail and weathering than the final product...

My F-104 just arrived! This thing is huge, my bbi zero and old crow have sadly given up their shelf space to make room for the thing - just as well it's wingspan is narrow. Few gripes - some of the part lines are a bit to big for my liking, especiallly the one behind the canopy which is allowing light through. But I guess it is still a "toy" and not a perfect replica. Also the missle cradle was a pain in the arse to pin in because of the extremely tight fit (better tight then lose I guess). Builds up into a really impressive bird though. All it needs now is some weathering, ground crew and some remove before flight tags to make a nice display. Wish I had a digicam. Now lets see that avenger!

i did receive my smoke II F 104 one week ago (thanx to Badcataviation) here is my first try picture

here is the rest of the photo :

<a href="http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... all5pd.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/4851/1 ... 5pd.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

plastic pitot tube (there is a soft one provided)

in a corner of my bedroom (big mess) but theses are so huge !

Nice pictures of Smoke II. I love the pilotws helmet. Thanks for posting them.

my final comment is that with moveable leading edge flaps and tail + fully fonctinal landing gear + incredible look + history (first vietnam plane in our scale) and captain america at the control , you can have one : actually it s a MUST have item

Man this F-104 sure would look good parked next to a 1:18th scale F-4 Phantom!

yeah ! my favorite flight simulator is wing over vietnam (project one) and i wish to see a lot of SEA camo planes : Skyraider + Phantom + F100 supersabre (considering size the A4 skyhawk should be cool + F8 crusader )

Great pics. That plane looks alot better than I expected. Does anybody know if these are going to show at WM? I believe somebody has said they would, just wondering if they are in the WM distribution pipeline yet since BCA already has them.

gotta love that south east asia scheme. Sure would love a wild weasel f-105 (all four feet of it ).

By the way, is it just me or does the bbi f-16 look too big compared to the F-18?

Yeah, that size didn't look right after you mentioned it.

However, as per Wikipedia
F-16 length: 49' 5"
wingspan: 32' 8"
F-18 length: 56' 0"
wingspan: 40' 0"

Size of models from varias web sites
F-16 length: 33"
Wingspan: 21"
F-18 length: 38"
wingspan: 28"

There pretty close to the right relative size.

as you mention it now , i was suprised by teh relatives size of the radars and it always surprised me that the F 18 was so thin...

but anyway they look great !

i just measured my F-16. The wingspan, without the wingtip missiles, should be 31 feet. The BBI measures to just over 33 feet.

The actual length of an F-16 should be 49.5 feet, including the nose probe. The BBI fuselage measures to about 49.5 feet without the nose probe.

Bottom line is the F-16 is over scale....it's about 1/16. It looks like they misinturpreted the dimensions. Wingspan of 32.5 feet includes the wingtip missiles but they made their f-16 with that wingspan without the wingtip missiles. And for the length they took the 49.5 feet and made the fuselage that length, they forgot about the length of the nose probe.

This would also explain the mystery of why the sidewinders on the F-16 are so much bigger than they are on the F-18. They scaled them up too much as well, so they'd look right with the larger wing.

i am really desappointed and after seeing my models i really believe that the F 16 is over scaled !!!! tht's the explaination for the funky looking sidewinders ... but ther is a problem : the wingspan of theses sidwindesr are the same as the F 18 ones !!!!!! that's why i display my F 16 without ordonnances !!!!

it's a surprsingly large mistake from a company whose motto (right on their packaging) is 'exact 1/18 scale'.

Interesting that nobody caught this before now. Oh well. I'd rather have it over than under....

-Ski

Not that big of a deal in the grand scheme but it does seem to happen once in a while. Wasn't it decided the Zero was too big - maybe the wingspan a bit long? On that note I can't wait to see the AT Zero...