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Hi mates, Moving forward a few decades from my last build, I'm going to attempt to make a model of an airplane that doesn't have a propeller! My choice of subject is my favourite plane from the Vietnam War era, the Vought F-8 Crusader. What's not to like about this plane? Big honking J57 engine, a variable incidence wing, and a radome underneath its radome. And it just so happens that this baby first flew a few days prior to me being born, so you can kind of say we've been through life together. Not really, I'm not in the bone yard yet! I chose the Academy F-8J kit because, um, er, it was in my stash. I've heard it's the best in 1:72 scale and by looking in the box, it is certainly several light years ahead of my old Revell (Ace) 1:72 Crusader. The Academy kit is so nice, I immediately threw my build of the old Revell kit in the bin so I'd have room to display this new kit. I want to build this specific aircraft (note the typical F-8J fairing on the vertical tail): And it just so happens that Xtradecal provide this scheme: Xtradecal would have you believe that good old 150654 was an F-8E, which it was, but not when it had these markings. It was built as an F8U-2NE (F-8E) and assigned to VF-62. In 1965 the aircraft was transferred to the USMC and became part of VMF(AW)-212 as “WD-107.“ Note the lack of fairing on the top of the vertical tail. In 1966, 150654 was transferred to the USN and assigned to VF-111 as "AH-107." It was then upgraded to F-8J at some point before being assigned to VF-302 where it was ND-206 from 1971-1972 at Miramar. In July of 1975, the airframe was put into storage at the AMARC bone yard. I've read on-line that 150654 was then salvaged from the bone yard in 1984, but I don't know what's become of it. Probably in someone's garage. I started building the model and now I realize that I didn't take one of those shots that show the sprues and aftermarket goodies prior to starting the build. Oops. I don't have much aftermarket (nor does this kit need much) - I'll be using the Aires resin cockpit, the Master pitot, and the Xtradecal sheet. I'll have to "tweak" the decals a bit, as Xtradecal has "F-8E 150654" which will need to "F-8J 150654." (That's the decal that goes below the horizontal tail.) I want to model the wing up, the flaps down, and the slats "drooped." Like this: That photo appears to be an earlier mark of the Crusader as it seems to have the oval-shaped nose, and it doesn't have the fairing on top of the wing (which I think was for the ECM electronics). To make the job a little easier, I purchased the Obscureco Crusader wing with has all of that done for you. Unfortunately, when I bought that I was believing Xtradecal that the markings were for an F-8E, and that I was going to have to convert the kit. The Obscureco wing is for an F-8E. What's the difference? The biggest difference is with the leading edge flaps. Where the deployed flaps on the F-8E were "drooped," those on the F-8J were "double drooped." That means the flap actually hinged in the middle so that the forward half is at a different angle than the aft portion. Vought called these leading edge flaps "droops." Also, the Obscureco wing has no anhedral to speak of. The actual Crusader had quite a bit of anhedral (although not as much as the above photo suggests - that's an interesting optical effect caused by the sweep of the leading edge, the angle of attack of the wing, and the actual anhedral. Tailspin Turtle calls it "apparent anhedral.") I guess I'll have to cut out the flaps and ailerons from the Academy wing, and cut the droops (they're already separate) into two pieces so they can be double drooped. Let's get started, shall we? The Aires cockpit fits without much sanding, but the instrument panel coaming must be removed so it can be replaced by the Aires piece. Here is the cockpit all painted up with Gunze H317 Dark Gull Gray FS36231 and detailed with whatever other paint colours were on my bench: If you look close enough, you can find Mr. Fumble Thumbs has broken off the top of one of the launch rails for the ejection seat. I'll have to see what I can find to fix that. After removal of the kit coaming, and installation of the intake trunking, gear wells, and the top of the engine tunnel (which is visible when the wing is up), the cockpit can be added and the fuselage closed up. I think the fit is pretty good. You can see that I've blended the top of the side walls between the resin and the plastic. Let's add the main gear and the ventral fins while we're at it: Next, I'll clean up any seams where the fuselage join, and add the antenna fairing to the tail, removing the F-8L style antenna in the process. I had to drill some small holes for the fairing pegs to fit into, and Academy provided some starter holes on the inside to make sure they're in the right place. So, we're off to a good start I think. I'm not looking forward to cutting the flaps and ailerons from the Academy wing, and cutting the droops into two pieces, but it must be done. Cheers, Bill

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