The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was a supersonic fighter-interceptor- bomber and fourth in line of the iconic Century Series aircraft. Author Jaroslaw Dobrzynski describes the Starfighter evolution and technical history in great detail. Mushroom Model Publications is highly regarded in the modeling world for providing top quality books at a fair market price. Written specifically with the scale modeler in mind, Mushroom Model Publications has released another illustrated masterpiece. Featuring 40 beautiful color profiles including data from the original technical manuals plus photographs of contemporary and surviving examples. The author examines and presents a completely documented, comprehensive coverage from the prototypes to the final export and license-built versions. They are all fully described and beautifully illustrated plus he listed all the changes in specification, equipment and performance records. The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was operated by the air forces of more than a dozen nations with a career spanning from 1958 to 2004. As a modeler, I found lots of cool and interesting paint schemes and different versions of the plane. It’s all here; the color illustrations, the color walk around photographs and rare b&w archive photographs that all modelers love. If you’re looking for unusual European camouflage or bare metal airframes chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for and more.

Table of Contents

• The birth of a Starfighter
• The Starfighter for NATO
• The Ultimate
• The Ultimate Starfighter- F104S
• Operators
• the F-104 in Combat
• Special versions
• F-104G and F-104S technical description
• Specifications
• Flying the F-104
• In Detail
• General View
• Fuselage
• Wing
• Electronic Systems
• Cockpit
• Radar
• Cannon
• Stores
• Engine
• Fuselage Details
• Undercarriage
• Bibliography

The book itself is a large 11.75 X 8.5 inches and is very well made. Featuring a glossy soft-cover with a corded-gum binding with very nice opaque pages.

The Bottom Line

It’s a great read with great information and illustrations. I highly recommend it to the F-104 modeler enthusiast. I would like to thank Mushroom Model Publishing, Casemate Publishing and IPMS for the opportunity to present this excellent book.