Official Freewing 90mm F-104 Starfighter Thread

[nuts-n-volts]

That 104 just became a little more important for you. There's probably not a one of us that wished we couldn't have lived that life.

[Waconut]

That 104 just became a little more important for you. There's probably not a one of us that wished we couldn't have lived that life.

A little ironic, I have been gather things for this build and didn’t order the plane until Monday morning.

[Corsair Bill]

[Corsair Bill]

F104 comin in hot and dirty at ARCs field in San Antonio.

[flyinhigh042]

F104 comin in hot and dirty at ARCs field in San Antonio.

Great pic!

[Waconut]

I got started my on my F-104 yesterday. I stripped all the paint and decals off the fuselage. The starting weight of the fuselage was 2255 grams. It is now 2205 grams. I also removed the pilot and ejection seat and will be installing an JH pilot and Freewing 3D ejection seat they sell for the F-4. The new combination is 4 grams lighter than the stock pilot and seat. I will be filling the seams and panel lines with lite balsa filler and sealing with Polycrylic before primer.
I will be weighing the plane through the entire process to see how much weight is added at each step.

[Waconut]

I sprayed 2 light coats of Polycrylic yesterday and let it dry until this morning and gave it a light sanding with 320 paper. I am now spraying high fill primer. Will give it 2 coats then sand and 2 more coats with sanding in between.

[Waconut]

I sanded the fuse this morning with 220 until I could barely see the top of the foam beads. This plane had some pretty bad gatoring from the factory. About 50% of the fuse sanded out smooth. I have sprayed 2 more coats of primer and will repeat the process tomorrow.
It sounds like a lot of primer and weight but the majority of it gets sanded back off. It’s already looking better.

[Waconut]

I have the fuse ready for applying the Flite-Metal. After the final coat of primer I wet sanded with 400 grit. The fuse now has a nice smooth base to apply the Flite-Metal too. I am now working on the tail surfaces.
All the work I have done to the fuselage has added 85 grams.

[Waconut]

I started adding Flite-Metal to the fuselage today. It is a very tedious process to say the least. I think I may not have ordered enough to do the job. We shall see.

[EA-6B Geek]

I started adding Flite-Metal to the fuselage today. It is a very tedious process to say the least. I think I may not have ordered enough to do the job. We shall see.

Sure looks nice! Should make for a spectacular finish.

[Waconut]

It is slow going, I placed an order for more Flite-Metal as I will not have enough.

[Waconut]

It’s far from perfect but will look good on high speed passes down the runway.

[Evan D]

Looks nice. Can't wait to see the finished plane.

[Waconut]

To break up the monotony I polished the stab and elevator and added the rivet detail. It really made a huge difference.

[Waconut]

I worked on finishing up the JHH pilot and 3D printed ejection seat. I used the remaining flite metal I had to finish the canopy and hatch. I am pretty much on hold until my order of flite metal arrives.

[DCORSAIR]

I worked on finishing up the JHH pilot and 3D printed ejection seat. I used the remaining flite metal I had to finish the canopy and hatch. I am pretty much on hold until my order of flite metal arrives.

I have to hand it to you, you have patience that's for sure, that thing is going to look awesome when your finished. Good luck on your maiden flight or have you flown it yet?? I've had two of them so far, both flew great but a handful on landing until you figure it out, this is one jet that you do not come in with a high AOA, keep it kind of flat with maybe just a slight nose up and let her come on in that way and flare at the last minute and add a little power and she will kiss the runway nicely, I think I was the only one around using 80mm of flaps, it loves it but you have to keep on the power with that much flap but it slows it down nicely, I don't recommend it on your first few flights, but after a few flights, give the 80mm of flaps a try.

[Waconut]

DCORSAIR I haven’t flown it yet. I am a fair weather flyer it will have to wait for spring. Thanks for the tips. I will give it a try.

[Waconut]

I am still waiting on my order of Flite-Metal to arrive. I usually don’t bash any company on forums but.... both orders I placed took over 2 weeks to be shipped and 3 weeks in total with shipping. So if you plan on using this product plan accordingly.
I like the product but I am going to research a different source. This is not a specialty product it is an off the shelf item that is repackaged for re-sale.
Ok enough venting.

[themudduck]

I am still waiting on my order of Flite-Metal to arrive. I usually don’t bash any company on forums but.... both orders I placed took over 2 weeks to be shipped and 3 weeks in total with shipping. So if you plan on using this product plan accordingly.
I like the product but I am going to research a different source. This is not a specialty product it is an off the shelf item that is repackaged for re-sale.
Ok enough venting.

Its not the company, its the postal service. USPS is having a massive problem. Packages mailed before Christmas have been 3-4 weeks late. Packages more recently mailed have been 2-3 weeks late.
It's affecting the entire country but some areas are worse than others. This is an interactive map that you can use to zoom in and see which USPS centers are having problems.

https://istheservicedown.com/problems/usps/map

So.... this may not be the company's fault, they may have mailed on time but tracking won't show anything. USPS has suspended all in-transit tracking.

UPS and FedEx are not having this problem, except that some of FedEx's packages (Smartpost) go through USPS for the final delivery.