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Crusader Mk.III / British Cruiser Tank Mk.VI T126799 - 6th Armoured Division - Tunisia Kit: 1/48 Tamiya Paints: Humbrol and Revell - all applied by brush. The tank is built OOB but I have added some stowage items WIP: Here This tank was built for the Made in Britain Group Build and was great fun to make. I had originally planned on making a base for it but my commitments in other GBs means I'm not going to get time - so the photos here are ones I took after I'd finished the tank a while back. Troy Smith posted a photo for me in my WIP thread of one of the actual Crusader tanks. Thank you Troy! The original photo (below) is from Wikipedia and was taken by Sgt. Lambert of No.1 Army Film & Photographic Unit and shows a British Army Crusader Mk III tank in North Africa in 1943. Wikipedia says the image is in the public domain but if there are any issues with me including it here then I can remove it. The original image can be found on this page. I have edited one of the photos above to make it lighter and black and white: I reckon Tamiya have done a pretty good job with this kit. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Another project, the XF8U-1 Cruasder prototype, Bu no. 138899. This is the 1/72 Academy kit. I plan building a few of these, so I may end up boring everyone about F-8s. The guns are filled in, the first bunch were. I found some CMK wheel well replacement parts. The kit parts are still quite useable, but these have the plumbing added. I actually like the Aires parts more, but they are out of production now. If nothing else, use the aftermarket parts for referance, be a lot cheaper. It has an Aires cockpit with a backdated instrument panel and a soon to be modified A-4 seat to represent the Vought seat. Luckily the actual aircraft was just restored and I found a few pictures online. The nose and wing top are from David Newman of Muroc models and fit quite good, just need some tweaking since it was meant to be used with the kit cockpit. I also have the second prototype being built alongside, just no pictures yet. The dolly is the 1/48 one from the B-29 kit, Good use for it. I fixed two of them up and they make great dollies for holding aircraft and look good to.

Designed and manufactured by Nuffield Mechanisations and Aero Ltd. the Crusader tank was one of the main British cruiser tanks during World War 2. In total over 5,000 were built and mainly saw action in North Africa where they made important contributions to British victories in the North African Campaign. I'm going to be using this kit of the Mk.III Version and, because I've got quite a few GBs planned in the next few months, I'm going to make it OOB: The tank I'm going to make it as is T126799 from the 6th Armoured Division in Tunisa: As of me posting this, the start of my thread, it's currently the only tank in this GB - so it would be good if we could have a few more British AFVs to keep this company. I'll get some photos of the sprues, metal lower hull and other bits and pieces when I get chance over the next few days - I'm currently trying to get my Australian Centurion finished in the Vietnam GB. Kind regards, Stix

Avis is to release in 2016 a 1/72nd American Gyro AG-4 Crusader kit - ref. BX72023 Source: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234994158-avis-new-172nd-kits-in-2016-update/ V.P.

Just started the next two F8U-1 Crusaders, these will be built very similarly to the earlier two prototypes 138899 and 138900. This time I'm making 140444, the first production plane. It's the one with the nice red/white outline colour scheme. It crashed in 1960. It was used for flight testing and not armed. The second is 140446. This one was the first F-8 to do a cat shot and carrier trials and is the lesser know one, '445 is in more pictures. These are still bare aluminum and silver. Here's the link to the other builds http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234985180-172-xf8u-1-crusader-prototypes-138899-and-138900/If I do anything really different I will post it so I don't repeat everything. Here's what I have so far. I tried to improve the fit of the Muroc nose which is very good already. '444 will use the instrument panel I made and '446 will use a modified and backdated kit panel. '444 will have the wing down and canopy open, whereas '446 will have the wing up and canopy closed in case I decide to pose it on a carrier dio. Both are using the kit cockpits since I just have on resin cockpit left and they are not being made now by CMK and Aires one is hard to get, plus I'm trying to budget myself sine I spent way to much on models this year. The resin cockpit will serve as a pattern. The wheel wells have the same issue. These two planes will get the resin ones while future ones will have modified kit parts. I also had to scratchbuild the control sticks from the ends of stretched sprue.

Hi folks, After checking with the Powers That Be it looks like I can join in with a big Crusader. This was a birthday present from my parents a year or two ago - I saw it discounted in the model shop and pointed it out to my dad who mumbled something. I looked a while later and it'd gone, so I asked if they could get another at that price. Mike said it was unlikely and so I gave up hope. Then it appeared wrapped in paper weeks later - result! They had both played it very cool and I was totally fooled. Anyway, it looks like a good kit, not over-complex although there are a lot of panels that probably won't fit that well if I close them up. Apparently the raised cooling vents on the nose should be faired in or sanded down and re-cut, but I think that might be more trouble than I want in such a visible area. Here are the bits, by the way: I'll be leaving out the invisible engine and all those etched fans, and I probably need to find some bombs since the armament seems a bit sophisticated for Vietnam? There are two schemes in the box - at the moment I'm leaning towards 400 NM Although there are some cool Marines schemes with the colourful strakes which look good, I currently only have the kit decals. Construction starts with the cockpit, which looks on the face of it quite good. I shall try and actually finish it - the generous deadline is great and I could do with actually building a model this year! Cheers, Will

Following hot on the heels of my 1/32 F-8E - here is the F-8J. yes, i liked building the "-E" so much, i wanted to do another. This time I dropped in the AIRES cockpit - no sanding required, perfect fit. Fit was good, but takes some effort to build with the wing DOWN and the Gun bays etc closed. Sadly, the TRUMPETER decals were poor, so i hand painted/masked/spare decals etc 2 schemes on opposite sides of the aircraft. I think there were only 4 sqns that flew with the "-J2 so i had to find 2 aircraft with same MODEX numbers AND white nose cones! not so happy with the wash on this build - but this kit also suffered from the Trumpeter curse of a plastic finish that just rejected paint (despite numerous washes before trying!)

Hello, In between bursts of enthusiasm for my ongoing 1/24 Tiffie build I've scaled right down and been gradually working on the very fine 1/72nd Academy Crusader. I've always liked this US jet, building the old Hasegawa version many many years back and trying/failing to do something decent with the Esci 48th version a while ago. In this scale I can afford to visit the aftermarket, and have added Eduard's Zoom, Quickboost slats (with Flaps to follow) and intakes. I've read that the slats set is too short - we'll see, they certainly have finer edges than the kit parts, which itself is beautifully moulded with very fine panel lines and riveting, which I'll do my best not to foul up! You'll see I started work before taking this pic - Eduard didn't send me a used fret! ll be building it wing up, flaps down, probably with one of the kit decal schemes for two US Marines users. As this has been a slow burner build, I'm presenting quite a lot in this first post, including the cockpit with the pre-coloured etch adding lots of detail that while I know others can replicate themselves, I know my limits! That ejector seat pull is lovely but fragile, it's pinged off twice know, but is now kept in a very safe place. Strangely Eduard only printed the yellow and black on the topside, so some very careful paintwork will be needed below, as it will be visible. Wheelbay and speedbrake inserts, excellent moulding here painted with Tamiya pure white spray can and some washes of grime: The closed up fuselage happens early on, with the various sub-assemblies dropping easily into place: The cockpit in place, with a little scratchbuilding for the gunsight and shroud - spare etch and kitchen foil... Very unforgiving in close up, this scale - dust issues in the black paint I think... The hollowed-out Quickboost replacement intakes - nothing wrong with the kit ones other than no openings, but very fiddly job to open them. So, that's pretty much up to date on this build. This is a very clean and crisp kit to build, so I'm hoping I can show more progress soon. Welcome all your constructive comments, Take care, Matt

Vought F-8E Crusader VF-162 "The Hunters" 1:72 Academy Vought designed the F-8 (Then the F8U) in the early 1950s in response to a US Navy requirement for a supersonic fighter to be armed with 20mm canon as Korea had shown the short comings of aircraft armed with the traditional 0.50 calibre ammunition. The F-8 would be the last USN aircraft designed with guns as its primary weapon, indeed the F-4 which followed never has a gun in USN service. This lead to the F-8 being called "The Last of the Gunfighters". A novel feature of the F-8 was the fitment of a variable incidence wing. This afforded extra lift without compromising forward visibility as the main fuselage stays level. The F-8E was a major development of the Crusader. A new AN/APQ-94 Radar unit was fitted giving the nose a new profile with its larger nose cone. Another noticeable addition was the dorsal hump. This contained the electronics needed to fire the new AGM-12 Bullpup missile. Weapons pylons appeared on the wings able to carry a combined 5000lbs of ordnance. A new J57-P-20A engine was also fitted. A total of 286 E models would be built. The Kit Academy's Crusader was first released in 2004 and welcomed by 1.72 scale modellers. It is as good now as it was then, the mould still producing crisp parts, with fine recessed detail. The kit arrives on three main sprues, with a smaller sprue for weapons; and a clear sprue. Construction starts with the cockpit. The four part ejection seat is assembled and then installed onto the cockpit tub. The instrument panel is added complete with its gunsight, a control column is added as is a rear cockpit bulkhead. Following this the engine intake, and main gear well sub assemblies are made up. Once these three sub assemblies are complete they can be added to the main fuselage. Also to be added to the main fuselage before closing it up are the main ventral airbrake, arrestor hook bay; and the bay under the main wing. The main wing can then be assembled. It is worth noting that the kit allows the modeller to make the variable incidence main wing and allow it to be shown in the raised position. For this separate leading edge slats are provided as they drop when the wing is raised. However at the same time the slats drop the flaps also drop. Academy do not provide this as an option in the kit so the modeller will have to cut these out if they wish to raise the wing. To help there are a number of aftermarket kits to replace the flaps. It is slightly annoying Academy have not fixed this error. To make the main wing the electronics hump for the to is added along with the leading edge slats. The next area to receive the attention of the modeller is the underside of the Crusader. The nose wheel is built up and installed along with the nose wheel bay doors. The nose wheel is a three part leg with a one part wheel. The ventral airbrake is installed in either the open or closed position. It is worth noting that on parked Crusaders there is some droop of this as pressure bleeds of the hydraulic system. The main gear is then built up next. There is a two part leg with a one part wheel. The main gear bay doors are then installed. The tail planes and ventral strakes are then added. Again if the crusader is parked the tailplanes tip backwards slightly as the hydraulic pressure bleeds off. The modeller is now on the home straight. The canopy is added on the front, and the exhaust nozzle to the rear. Also at the rear the afterburner cooling scoops are added. If the modeller is going to arm their crusader up single and double "Y" racks are provided for the nose to hold either Sidewinder Missiles, or 5" Zuni Rocket Pods. For the wing pylons Multiple Ejection racks and 500Lb Snake eye bombs are provided. The bombs sit on the pylons in slant configuration where by only the bottom and outer parts of the rack are used. The last items to be added are the pitot tube and finally the main wing. Decals Decals are by Cartograf and should pose no issues, markings are provided for two options; VF-162 "Hunters" - USS Oriskany 1966 VF-103 "Sluggers" - USS Forrestal 1964 Conclusion It is good to see this kit re-released with new decals, in particular a non Vietnam Squadron. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for

So, it looks a bit like the F-8 are a bit en vogue these days. Well, I just finished mine, and would like to show it. The build was very straightforward, except of the flaps, which needed some sanding to fit beside the fuselage. Apparently, it's a common problem with this kit. And on the approach for landing, with the backgound my daughter painted... Thanks for watching, if there are any questions, I'm happy to answer! Alex

My second F-8 project, the XF8U-1 Cruasder 2nd prototype, Bu no. 138900. I didn'want to confuse this build with my other one #899. Here's the link http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234985180-172-xf8u-1-crusader-prototype/ I thought it might be easier to copy some of the text since it's largely the same and I didn't feel like typing to much. This is the 1/72 Academy kit. I plan building a few of these, so I may end up boring everyone about F-8s. The guns are filled in, the first bunch were. I found some CMK wheel well replacement parts. The kit parts are still quite useable, but these have the plumbing added. I actually like the Aires parts more, but they are out of production now. If nothing else, use the aftermarket parts for referance, be a lot cheaper. It has an Aires cockpit with a backdated instrument panel and a soon to be modified A-4 seat to represent the Vought seat. Luckily the actual aircraft was just restored and I found a few pictures online. The nose and wing top are from David Newman of Muroc models and fit quite good, just need some tweaking since it was meant to be used with the kit cockpit. A few small differences on this one. The wing will be up with the flaps down and the canopy will open. There were four-five paint schemes used on 900 in it's short life, it was scrapped at the end of testing. I modified the original instrument panel instead of using the photo reduced one I have in 899. This one needed a lot more finishing around the cockpit opening. I added most of the plumbing under the wing and in the top fuselage area. The rivets under the wing are the 3D printed HO ones from Micro Mark. I remade the HUD mounting, didn't like the one shown here.

Hi mates, My latest project is the superb Academy kit of the Vought F-8J Crusader in God's Own Scale. The Crusader has always fascinated me, since it's such a dichotomy. Winner of many aerospace awards for technical achievement, yet a very dangerous aircraft to fly based on its accident record. Known affectionately as the "Last of the Gunfighters" yet it achieved the overwhelming majority of its combat kills with missiles. Nonetheless, it looks the part - it's menacing yet graceful, both important attributes of a fighter jet. In its day, many pilots preferred the Crusader to the Phantom II, and that says a lot. The build process is detailed in the WIP thread here. The model won Gold (1st place here in the US) at the recent Buffcon competition in beautiful downtown Cheektowaga, just outside of Buffalo, NY. Project: Vought F-8 Crusader Kit: Academy Kit No. 12412 Scale: You have to ask? This is me you're talking to! Decals: Xtradecal X72160 markings for VF-302 Stallions; stencils and other decals from kit Resin: Aires cockpit detail set 7110; Wolfpack F-8J Crusader “Flap Down” set WP72026; Quickboost Martin Baker Mk.7 ejection seat set 72406; Quickboost F-8 Crusader Flaps set 72269, Air Scoops set 72107; Eduard AIM-9D Sidewinder set 672043; CMK 72062 Crusader wheels Photoetch: Frets included with Aires cockpit set, Quickboost ejection seat, and Eduard Sidewinder set; Eduard Remove Before Flight set 73008 Turned Brass: Master Model F-8J Crusader Pitot Tube Canopy Masks: None - Ha! It can be done! Paint: Gunze H3 Red, H4 Yellow, H26 Bright Green, H77 Tire Black, H70 RLM 02, H90 Clear Red, H94 Clear Green, H305 FS36118 Gunship Gray, H317 FS36231 Dark Gull Gray, H319 Light Green, H315 FS16440 Light Gull Gray; Testors 1180 Flat Steel, 1181 Flat Aluminum, 2143 Semi-Gloss White RLM 21; Floquil 110004 Crystal Cote, 110015 Flat Finish; Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black; Alclad ALC101 Aluminum, ALC103 Dark Aluminum, ALC115 Stainless Steel, ALC314 Klear Kote Flat Weathering: Just a panel line wash - I kept the model pretty clean, after all there must have been a time when the actual aircraft had just rolled out of the paint booth. Improvements/Corrections Replaced kit cockpit with Aires resin cockpit set and ejection seat Replaced kit missiles with Eduard resin AIM-9D Sidewinders Seemingly random position and alignment of missiles on their pylons is intentional, and is required so the missile can clear the refueling probe, the RAM air turbine, leading edge flaps, and each other (during firing) Added Eduard “Remove Before Flight” flags Aftermarket decal sheet for U.S. Navy Reserve Squadron VF-302 Stallions Replaced kit pitot tube with turned brass part from Master Models Added canopy restraint strap made from photoetch metal Replaced kit parts with Quickboost afterburner air cooling scoops Replaced kit wheels/tyres with CMK resin wheels/tyres Added Wolfpack “double drooped” resin leading edge flaps Cut out kit flaps and ailerons, replaced with Quickboost resin and posed in typical parking position Detailed top of engine tunnel (underneath raised wing) with tubes, conduits and other fiddly things Elapsed Time: Only a month! I know, you want the pictures. OK, here they be. The oddball alignment of the Sidewinders in this head-on photo is accurate. The missiles were mounted in such a way to make sure they cleared everything when fired, including other missiles, leading edge flaps, ram air turbine, etc. Kudos to Academy for paying attention and getting this right. Adding the photos to the post has made me realize that I didn't take any photos of the underside. Let me do that and I'll add them soon. Thanks! Cheers, Bill

Good morning, just to show some progress of the Academy Crusader. I will add the aires cockpit set (the first I ever used), and the quickboost flaps. As you may know, if the wind is raised, the flaps/slats will automatically come down. It's something which academy has forgotten. For the decals, I will use the excellent sheet from Xtradecal. I started with the white parts, which are built into the fuselage. It's all gunze flat white acrylic, then a brush cote of the german "clear" (Erdal Glänzer), and some oil wash. Wheels are done with revell anthrazite, brush painted, after a drop of highly diluted oil colour where the tire meets the rim. That give a sharp edge. Airbrake is shown without washing, to show the difference. A detail photo of the main gear bay. The lowered slats. Since the parts are already separate, I just needed to sand the edges down, and fill the gap with some sheet. On the underside, I filled the gap with some stretched sprue, glued with extra thin cement. right hand side already filled, left side to go. The cockpit. Nice details, however I prefer seats with moulded harness. A coat of primer, then DSG, some drybrushing, and detailling with revell acrylics. The dashboard looks also better than the kit part. HUD will be added later, just before the windscreen. Thanks for attention! Alex

Hi folks,decided on this as my fourth entry for this GB,I love the old gull grey/white era of U.S, navy aviation but over twenty years since I have built anything from it.heres a box top photo of my boxing £4.95 from King Kit,parts are off the sprue and a dry run reveals a superb fit for the kits age,decals very usable too.

Hi folks built for the under a tenner GB( bought for under a fiver) this is the old Hasegawa kit.used the kit decals but added weapon load from spares,I used to build loads of this period US navy aircraft as a kid but this is the first for many years.thanks for looking

Vought F-8 Crusader. Pic is an F-8K thanks to Bootneck Mike.

Well... after finishing the Rafale M, I got carried away with the French Navy and decided to try my luck with the Revell F-8E Crusader, no updates just straight out the box! I will, hopefully, recreate a bird from 1987 aboard the Clemenceau! So first pics coming up and thanks for watching! See you soon! Iuri

Hello, Here is my latest build. It was in fact a "common build" with a friend. I decided to depict the bort number 35 of French Navy. It was the last cruise "Crouze" (its nickmane)catapulted from Foch carrier in 1999 during Operation trident in Kosovo. I added Aires cockpit and the decal a mixed between SMDS, Hasegawa and MDC. Painted in Humbrol 157 and 144, sealed with Microscale gloss varnish. Weathering done with oils: "gris de payne", sepia and black. One more time sealed with Satin/matt Microscale varnish. Metal areas are airbrushed with Humbrol Metacote 27003 then polished with cotton. Complete build process here: http://fighters.forumactif.com/t59829-montage-en-commun-rom1-et-snow-white-f8-crusader-1-48 ..but in froggy language... sorry ;^) Hope you like it! Thanks for passing by! cheers! Rom

OK everyone, Here for your delectation is Trumpeter's F-8. I'm glad I finished it, and it looks pretty handsome, but it won't ever be one of my favourites, probably because it lacks propellors! Augmented with an Aires cockpit which, despite dire warnings all round, fitted perfectly with no serious sanding required. Weapons load entirely ficticious! What I like: * It looks like an F-8 (to me...) * Nice Trumpeter moulding and plastic What I don't like * Canopy doesn't fit (could be my fault; couldn't be bothered fettling by the time I got to it!) * Lacks a few important decals (warning triangles and arrows; huge thanks to Steve Parker (spfparker) for supplying these to me! * Tail flash decals are a bugg3r... * LArge quantity of stencil decals with no hints as to where they should go. So I guessed... * I don't know what either Vought or (more likely) Trumpeter were smoking when they organised the in-flight refuelling probe and the weapons load on that side, but I can't see how it would have been able to take a drink whilst loaded for bear, as it were. I had to move the pylon back a few scale feet and it still doesn't 'work'. So, on with the show... A couple of overviews: Lightnings aren't the only jet that can stand on their tails: Close up of a wheel well, loaded with pipes and other technical stuff: Crowded weapons bay. The camera really isn't forgiving, is it? More plumbing, plus some guesstimated srtencil placement: Aires cockpit: Trumpeter *do* like to load their kits with detail. I thought this was pretty good for OOB: So, there she is. I'm now going to kick back over the summer and wait for a Zoukei-Mura Uhu plus (almost) no aftermarket to arrive via HLJ, which I reckon will keep me going until at least the Spring of 2014... Cheers everyone... Mike

Here’s another of my collection of F-8 Crusaders, a 1/48 Hasegawa F-8E. I finished it in the markings of 'Superheat 210', a jet flown by VF-162 commanding officer CDR. Richard Bellinger from USS Oriskany, when he downed the Navy’s first MiG-21 of the Vietnam War in 1966. I used a mix of Eduard and kit decals, a Cutting Edge cockpit, and Aires resin gear wells and underwing bay. I scratch-built the boarding steps and ladder, and added brake and hydraulic lines to the gear. In the cockpit I added a flap handle and emergency canopy release to the insturment panel, a grab handle and standby compas on the windscreen bow, and added a canopy restraint strap and the canvas cover to the hole in front of the gunsight. As per my research, the jet carries a dissimilar weapons load of an AIM-9B and an AIM-9D, since there was a shortage of the newer sidewinders at that point in the war. While Hasegawa's F-8 is the best in 1:48 scale, I had numerous fit issues, most likely due to all the aftermarket parts I added and my own building errors. It’s no contest winner, but it’s finished, and on the shelf!

Here’s my attempt at backdating the 1/48 Monogram F-8E Crusader into a DF-8A drone controller/utility aircraft from the Naval Missile Center at Point Mugu, California during the late ’60′s-early ’70′s. I started this project ten years ago, but shelved it when I realized how involved it really was, and that I lacked the proper references. I finally resumed the project last fall. I used the venerable Monogram 1/48 F-8E, and a few parts from the Cobra Company F-8 backdate set. Monogram’s Crusader makes a decent F-8E out of the box, but there are many minor and a few major changes you must make to any F-8E kit to backdate it to the earlier A version. I’m sure I missed some things, but here’s what I did: I removed and filled in the dorsal avionics ‘hump’ on top of the wing, filled in the holes and slots for the afterburner cooling scoops and ventral fins, installed a fuel dump vent on the rear port side, removed the ECM fairing from the vertical fin, and filled in the vents just behind the nose cone ( though I should have left the three vents on the right side!). I used a resin replacement cockpit from Black Box (but the intsturment panel isn’t right for the -A version). I used the white metal main landing gear from the Cobra Company backdate set to correct the kit gear, which sits too low, along with the earlier spoked nose wheel. I also used the Cobra replacement nose cone, but heavily modified it. The hardest – and most crucial – part of the project was getting the shape of the earlier nose correct. It’s more of a flattened oval when seen head on. In profile, it’s almost flat on top, and slightly curved on the bottom. While no where near perfect, the shape I wound up with is at least in the ball park. The afterburner section on Monogram’s kit is incorrect – the burner nozzle is missing. I used a cut-down section of an old Monogram F-18 exhaust cone to replicate the nozzle. The antennas and pitot probe were taken from leftover parts from a Hasegawa A-4 Skyhawk kit. I also scratchbuilt the ejection face curtain pull rings, refueling probe light, tail hook, a canopy restraint strap, steps and a boarding ladder. I also added lots of plastic rod and wire to the main wheel wells to busy them up some. The decals came from several different sheets from my scrap box, with the Naval Missile Center markings courtesy of Mike Grant.