Hasegawa’s 1/48th scale F-104 kit has been around for a while and it is a very nice kit making the grade at many shows all over the world. One thing missing from the standard kit is any underwing pylons. Granted, there are a lot of pictures of F-104’s with any pylons attached but they were able to carry one under each wing and also a centerline pylon also. Eduard gives that option in spades with this newest release- a complete set of pylons for the entire airframe.

Inside the package, you’ll find 25 beautiful resin cast parts, a photoetch fret with 25 detail parts for the pylons and also a full set of decals. This is a very comprehensive set for $14.95.

Let’s take a little more detailed look at what the pylons are and what they are used for:

• Two- Red Dog Wingtip Launch Rails
  • These are for wing tip missiles and require the very tips of the kit wings to be trimmed to accommodate them. They also include clear resin to represent the light at the aft of the pylon.
• Two- BL75 Underwing Pylons
  • This pylon is for fuel tanks only or bombs only and has PE and resin parts.
• Two- AS.34 Kormoran Pylons
  • These pylons include resin sway-braces and PE attachment surface details and are for use with the AS.34 Kormoran anti-ship missile which is offered by Eduard.
• One- Centerline Pylon
  • Contains resin main pylon and four different specific attachment lugs.
• One- Aero-3 NATO Catamaran Launch Rails
  • This contains resin adapter rails and cross braces for use with under fuselage sidewinders.

Assembly is straightforward with each resin part being removed from the casting block. From there:

• The Red Dog Wingtip Launch Rails require sanding eh back edge flat and attaching the clear lamp to each side. The outer wing tip then has 2.5mm of material removed and the launch rail positioned as detailed in the instructions.
• BL75 Underwing Pylons can be configured in any one of two ways. Either requires three photoetch detail parts be added to the bottom of the rail. First option for fuel tanks requires the addition two attachment lugs in photoetch. The second option is for bombs and first requires that the indented notches be removed. Resin parts R32 are then added.
• AS.34 Kormoran Pylons are configured by adding resin part R35 and then adding photoetch to the bottom
• Centerline Pylon is built by removing four very small sway braces. The first thing to note is that these are not interchangeable and are very small.
• Aero-3 NATO Catamaran Launch Rails which fit to the belly of the aircraft. You first build the two part adapter rails for each side. The two cross braces are specific to back and front.

To add any of these to the Hasegawa kit is simple. The two wing pylons are added by opening the flashed over holes in the kit. The centerline and Aero-3 are added directly to the bottom of the plane and the instructions show the exact location. The wing tip additions require surgery as mentioned above.

This set gives you options that can add visual interest to the kit. It is superbly made and has a lot of parts with resin, photoetch and decals and allows use of the Kormoran as well as many other fuel tanks and bombs.

Highly recommended. My thanks to Eduard for the review kit.