Fox_Two

As I'm working on filling the gaps and damage done by the gear bay I also wanted to close up the speed brake. Like a lot of kits where things are "deployable" (gear, speed brakes, flaps, etc.) usually dont fit right when retracted. The speed brake is no different. There are a lot of gaps around it along with a depression where one piece is higher than the other. On the real F-8 this is a flat smooth area. Ignore the two sharp gaps on the speed brake as those will be filled in when the rest of the gear bay is installed. Although that will need filling as well. You can also see the milliput i used to fill in the gear bays i mentioned in the prior post. We can tackle this one of three ways. I can sand it smooth which will leave a U shape depression (NO). I can fill it with putty (Meh, that would need a lot). Finally I can fill it with some plasticard and sand smooth (BINGO). The plasticard will also be easier to rescribe.

As long as you're not stupid like me there should only be a very subtle step and gap on either side. But DONT fill it. It's supposed to be like that as the gear doors essentially sit in the gap flush. So you don't need any filler. My mistake caused such a misalignment that I had to fill it in flush

No build ever completes without some sort of royal f*** up. In this case we have three so far. All of them stem from sealing the two fuselage halves together without more dry fitting. 1. As always I forgot to add weight to the front end of the fuselage. I really need a large LED sign telling me to ADD WEIGHT in front of my bench. Luckily I don't think the F-8 is rear heavy and shouldn't tail sit when built. If it does, I have some deluxe liquid gravity i can pour in the front intake (which has a sealed end). 2. I forgot to install the top fuselage wing bay. For whatever reason I though i could install this later. Nope needs to be installed before assembling the fuselage. So I to cut open the fuselage and install it. 3. Because of 2, the gear bays are all sorts of out of alignment. Also because i tried to force the fit, the shard edges of the gear bay, which align inside the fuselage, ripped through the plastic or stressed it (white spots on the left of the first picture and right on the second) See pictures below. These types of gaps are a perfect candidate for some milliput or styrene sheet.

IF you can strip them without cutting them - because they are so thin. I've been having a helluva time doing that. I've resorted to burning the insulation off.

Added some detailing to the wing bay. I really need to get some better wiring. Up close the larger wire is starting to fray. I should just suck it up and get some lead fishing wire as opposed to twist electrical (speaker) wire. It really won't be too visible as the deployed wing hump isn't that high. But it's enough detail to make it interesting if you peek quickly with a pen light.

Work on the cockpit is complete. Both the seat and the IP are pretty well detailed. I would recommend forgoing the decals and just paint and drybrush everything. It's 1/72 scale so the details are insanely small. The seat is also pretty basic but it does include the ejection handles which a lot of 72nd kits don't even include. For the tub the instructions call for Dark Gull Gray and afterwards I gave it a dirt wash.

Yes! I stand corrected: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/academy-12559-f-8p-crusader-french-navy-last-flight--1139425 Not sure how I missed that.

This is a project I've been really itching to do after first completing this kit about a year ago. You can review my old build HERE (which also includes some thoughts on the kit). The kit comes in two flavors, VF-162 "Hunters" or VF-103 "Sluggers". My first build was the Hunters so in this one I'm going to do the Sluggers. In addition there were a few things that I want to do differently in this build. The slats are separate but not the flaps. All in the retracted position. This is wrong when building the kit wing "hump" up as the flaps and slats drop in conjunction with the wing (literally the whole wing raises if you're not familiar with the Crusader. So my first goal is to saw off the flaps and attach them with the slats to be in the deployed position. While the kit comes with bombs and missiles I don't like how the F-8 has the rails on the side of the fuselage. It covers up a lot of detail so I'm going to leave them off but keep the bombs. Since I built the Hunters already I'm going to do the Sluggers. The Kit The kit comes with 3 sprues and 1 clear part. The parts are highly detailed like most 2010's new tooled kits by Academy. Also flash is non existent although there are the few ill placed ejector pin marks. It's a fairly simple kit that you can build up in a few weeks or less. The main feature is the wings which can be raised (deployed) in takeoff configuration with moderate detailing inside the upper fuselage. Regardless of how you build it, this is extremely beneficial as the fit is essentially a drop fit so you can feel confident painting, weathering, and detailing, the wings and fuselage separately. Also, the landing gear can be installed and configured (sans the tires) right away since it is the same color as the bottom fuselage and gear bays. So no fiddling with gluing and securing small parts after painting is completed. Another takeaway is that academy loves to provide ordnance. In this kit you get 8x Mk.82 bombs, 4 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, and 2x French R.550 Magic missiles. Yes, you read that right, 2x French missiles. Why they're in this kit I have no idea. The French navy flew the F-8 Crusader but Academy has no boxing of that so it's a curious addition. Cut them out and add them to you spare pile. Here's a the kit box and some sprue shots.

Forgot all about this project! I've had a lot going on lately. I finally finished it though. All that it's missing is some antenna wire I'll attach later.

More progress on the Corsair. All stencils and decals have been applied. Just needs some minor painting on wheels, gear, etc., and assembly. Again, all insignia and squadron numbers/symbols have been masked and painted using a Cricut cutter. I had a few peel off paint that I had to redo but it turned out great. Not entirely happy with the chipping overall but I do like how the chipping turned out on the leading edge. Also some of the small decals still show some thick film so I might brush on some aqua gloss and sand it back. Because of the gloss sea blue paint from Model Master, a clear coat before weathering might not be needed. So barring some minor touch ups this should be ready to weather.

Most stencils have been painted on. It looks really good. I will for sure not be going back to decals. Just need to do the side of the fuselage and then add the smaller decals that are too small to paint.

Thanks for the post. Interesting story you have there. For point 2, I am building a late '45 corsair -1D. Not sure if that helps or if the step was there post '45.

Painted, chipped, and now applying insignias. Who even needs decals, I'm painting those suckers on! Stencil printed on oramask 810 using a Cricut. Exacto blade for scale. Painted up. A little bit of lifting on the arrow but I'll leave it as it looks weathered. Squadron insignias on the wings and tail. Also applied the tape decal to front fuselage (not pictured) that late corsairs are famous for. Takes longer than decals but definitely worth it. Next up is to apply US insignia and the remaining smaller decals that can't be stenciled out. Tamiya decals are pretty thick but seem to respond well to mark fit strong.

Base chipping is done. Zinc chromate chipped with silver underneath. Matte varnish on top to seal it in. Ready for sea blue base coat now!

How is this kit? I've heard people say it's an absolute dog fit wise and others say it goes together fine. Seems really polarized but Tornados in 1/48 are really limited.

This is actually a really good kit. Especially in price vs value. I think I got this for like $10. It builds up great but the decals are SO bad. You actually used the same aftermarket decals that I did! Those superscale ones are fantastic. You did a good job, looks great. Here's mine:

Nicely done. Is this the new tooled kit or is it their 1970ish tooling? Overally though I like the weathering and fading.

Academy decals not printed by cartograf are steaming piles of dog crap. I did this kit as well and it is very nice. Part of academy new line of hybrid snap fits with "MCP" (Multi colored parts). It builds into a very nice kit though. You did a really good job.

Some examples. Bunker Hill 1945 - chipping in expected areas - virtually no fading at all. Another carrier based one. Lost of chipping in leading edge/walkways. No fading.

Thanks for the post. I disagree a bit though. From what I understand the glossy sea blue did not fade much (if at all) when they switched paint from the tri color scheme. The new formula used was much tougher - but it still did in fact chip around the heavy traffic areas. Fading and chipping are two completely different reactions to the environment. Chipping is due to force. Wind, dirt, debris, etc hitting the aircraft and chipping or forcefully removing paint. No matter what paint they used this happened - no matter the station. Just flying through debris of a shot up Zero could chip the plane. Fading can happen when an aircraft doesn't move at all. Just sitting in the sun. The new formula was much tougher and would not fade - even on fabric surfaces. As for the fuel tanks I took some liberties since there isn't much reference I could find. They were the lowest hanging painted surface on the aircraft and were prone to all the crap kicked up on takeoff landing. I'm sure there were instances too of the tanks hitting the deck on landing. Not to mention the transfer on an off the plane onto the deck or onto loaders. I'm sure those weren't lined with packing peanuts 😆

Been doing some work here and there. The fit is great so there really isn't to write much about. The worst fit was attaching the outer wings. They didn't want to fit snug and even. Just needed some sanding and rescribing. No filler needed. All other seams just needed some minor sanding as well. In fact I think I only used filler on one area of the fuselage and it was a very small spot probably due to my error. Otherwise the fit is fan-freaking-tastic. I'm going with Model Master Sea Blue for the main color since it can be chipped easily. As test of the color, chipping, and overall weathering I went ahead and completed the drop tanks. There isn't much mud or paint fading since this is a late '45 plane and it will be Carrier based (USS Bunker Hill). Here's a before/after weathering (with oils) shot. Top is weathered, bottom hasn't been touched. Final product. Like I said lots of water splooshes and salt. Wings attached, Flaps attached, seams spot primed and checked.

Here's the wheel well painted up and glued. I don't think the wiring looks too bad (although probably not real to the aircraft). Cockpit shot. Nothing special but I've come to the realization that unless it's a show build no one is ever going to see it. So I wont spend too much time detailing it. Here's the engine and cowling all put together and painted.

Well this is one way to fix it. Not sure if accurate to the aircraft but it looks good!

Gear bays need some work. A few seams to fill and some bad ejector pin marks. I dont have the right tools to get rid of them since they are in some tight spots so I might have to just leave them.

Ah, I didn't notice the 4 prop blade. Anyway it wouldn't have been a "realistic" build. Just an F4U-1D with an interesting color scheme. But I think I'm going to go with the traditional blue.