When he modeled a CF-104 stationed at Royal Canadian Air Force Station Marville during the 1960s in northeastern France, Jean Paul had a lot to show in describing everything he did to Italeri’s 1/32 scale F-104 (No. 2502). But there was even more. As he said, “The main challenges would be a natural-metal finish and finding the appropriate ground crew and equipment — not to mention the sheep.”

In the December 2014 FineScale Modeler magazine, we concentrated on the aircraft. Here, Jean Paul will show you more about the display base he built to model a memory from his childhood.

I wanted to reproduce a scene to recall my days living in the Lorraine region in northern France. Based about 20 miles away, the maple leaf-marked Starfighters often flew over my hometown, Blagny. With photos I saw in Philippe Baar’s book Marville RCAF Air Base 1954-1967 (Michel Frères, no ISBN), I was determined to depict a CF-104, serial No. 12854, receiving a Vicon reconnaissance pod before a mission. In the photo, the ground crew worked under the watchful eyes of several sheep responsible for maintaining greenery on the base.