1/48 ESCI F-104C Puerto Rico ANG

One reason why I am loath to just throw some things into the trash. I have a spare 1/48 Hasegawa Nozzle/Burner Can that I will be using for this Starfighter build. The older mold 1/48 ESCI F-104 kits are seriously lacking in the detail department. But by cutting off a section of this dried-out permanent marker body, I now have a half-decent 'burner can' to mate with the ESCI 'exhaust' which will look pretty good in a Hawk/Testors or Lindberg Zipper!! ? 

May have to do a hair bit of trimming but looks like it won't be a problem. 

Was not planning on replacing the bang seat. But it looks like a cross between a Stencil seat and a Lockheed Martin C2!! I have the spare Hasegawa parts so I might as well use them. Cockpit will be closed so I don't have to worry about superdetailing it or anything. 

May not seem like much but almost 5 hours of work there. Went to cut the bang seat back off the sprue and it rocketed off to Never Never Land! Dug one out from a F-104J (same seat) and I'm in the process of making a replacement. I did fit the Hasegawa field arrestor hook well into the ESCI rear fuselage but forgot to get a pic of that. Oh, and I also tried to fit the Hasegawa Main Landing Gear Center Keel into the ESCI fuselage but that wasn't going to go in unless I did some MAJOR surgery. 

Not perfect but once I get the seat belts in and painted I don't think anyone will really notice that it is not OEM! 

The Hasegawa pit fits fairly well into the ESCI fuselage with just a bit of scraping & sanding! 

Because the ESCI kit has the open gun bay, I could not put the Hasegawa Nose Landing Gear wheel well onto it without some major surgery. But I was able to use the kit's NLG wheel well to add some support to the Hasegawa cockpit. 

Pretty sure my clumsy, always having the 'dropsies' azz shouldn't be playing with surgical scalpels but here we are! Maybe I should get the needle & thread ready, just in case... 

Not sure why I'm obsessing. The canopy is going to be closed. As long as it turns into a halfway decent 3-footer! 

I couldn't breath very hard with all these small, light parts around! 

Parts wanted to stick to everything EXCEPT where it need to be! 

I think next time I am just going to stick an aftermarket bang seat in!! 

Cockpit sides are pretty much done. Still have to get some wiring to the chart lights. 

Yeah, a few more small items and the cockpit will be complete. But I swear I spent as much time looking for parts that fell on the floor or remaking parts that I couldn't find as I did actual modelling! 

Chart light wires done. Some primer & paint next. 

The wires are a hair bit oversize but it was the smallest I could work with and still be able to manage. 

Finally got some real paint on this kit. 

The bang seat webbing did not come out exactly as I had hoped but it should look OK painted and under a closed canopy! ;-D 

I guess some progress is better than none.