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War Eagle 1/48 RF-8 conversion: anyone ever used one ?


Giorgio N

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I bought a 1/48 vacform RF-8 conversion from War Eagle at a local swap meet over the weekend. This is meant to be used on the Esci kit, guess because this was the only one available when this conversion was first issued (lindbergh apart...). It sure shows it's not a modern product, but the price was very low and an RF-8 is one of those subjects I've wanted for a long time.

Has anyone ever used this conversion ? Any comment ?

Now in these years we've had kits from both Monogram and Hasegawa and I wonder if anyone has ever used such conversion with one of these more modern kits ? If so, which of the two would best fit the conversion ?
Since the vacformed parts include a full new fuselage I guess that I could use this on any kit, but really I'd rather only use the front part with the specific RF-8 features in order to keep the rear of the donor kit with what will sure be better details.

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Nice find!

Been after one for years but never seen one for sale.

If you are cutting up a F-8 then I would suggest using the monogram kit as its fairly cheap and should be easy to find.

Julien

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Thanks for the advice Julien. Actually I can see another good reason to use a Monogram kit: the conversion needs rescribing and maybe better rescribe the whole kit and have consistent panel lines

Didn't know it was a hard to find conversion, I came through it by accident and grabbed it

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Well grab another if you see it!

If it all needs rescribing then I would leave it, the monogram kit is very good. My RF-8 in 1.48 has been on the shelf of doom for a while as when I joined the monogram kit to the maintrac conversion I went ad dropped it! split it all open. Maybe need to get it finished.

I do have the decal sheet from you conversion and its pretty good.

Julien

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I started the rvhp some time ago , but now exams are over ,I am restarting the kit.

I am using the monogram kit as the donor , couldn't bear to donate a good hasegawa kit.

Does the 1/48 RHVP suffer the same problems as the 1.72 one? in that the rear fuselage is shaped like a banana and has to be cut off and replaced. Also my 1.72 decals were next to useless! Turned out OK in the end;

RF-8GNo2.jpg

This is my stalled 1:48 RF-8A

RF-8A2.jpg

RF-8A4.jpg

wing2.jpg

I really need to get it finished as I have decals for it now as well.

Julien

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Giorgio.

I was watching a crusader docu on youtube tonight about the sader and saw this very unusual LE flap configuration.

Have you seen it before?

I have checked all of my squadron and osprey books , but have seen nothing similar.

IMAG0359.jpg

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Giorgio.

I was watching a crusader docu on youtube tonight about the sader and saw this very unusual LE flap configuration.

Have you seen it before?

I have checked all of my squadron and osprey books , but have seen nothing similar.

IMAG0359.jpg

Hi,

Looks like the leading edge fitted to F-8J and F-8E(FN) which helped to lower approach speeds to the deck. They were also equipped with larger stabilators.

regards

Andrew

Edited by TEZ
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Hi Giorgio,

I started one years ago using the Monogram kit. I decided I would only use the front part of the vac fuselage but found after cutting it that it was too tall! Note the cut line along the vac parts which shows where I decided to remove some plastic to adapt it. I also decided it would be wise to have the Monogram canopy area next to the fuselage transferred to the vac part as that would provide a good fit for the canopies while also enabling me to use the plastic cockpit. The lower camera fairing was removed as, according to the drawing supplied, it was a few millimeters too far forward.

I lost interest as there were too many things to correct or deal with, like obtaining a full intake trunk or something to fit in the fuselage area which is visible when the wing is raised, but seeing the pictures I took for you makes me kind of wish I carried on with the build. :hmmm:

Hope the pics are of any use to you.

IMG_7456crch.jpg

IMG_7461crch.jpg

IMG_7457crch.jpg

IMG_7459crch.jpg

IMG_7462crch.jpg

IMG_7460crch.jpg

IMG_7463crch.jpg

Best regards,

Jorge.

Edited by f4h1phantom
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Hi Giorgio,

I started one years ago using the Monogram kit. I decided I would only use the front part of the vac fuselage but found after cutting it that it was too tall! Note the cut line along the vac parts which shows where I decided to remove some plastic to adapt it. I also decided it would be wise to have the Monogram canopy area next to the fuselage transferred to the vac part as that would provide a good fit for the canopies while also enabling me to use the plastic cockpit. The lower camera fairing was removed as, according to the drawing supplied, it was a few millimeters too far forward.

I lost interest as there were too many things to correct or deal with, like obtaining a full intake trunk or something to fit in the fuselage area which is visible when the wing is raised, but seeing the pictures I took for you makes me kind of wish I carried on with the build. :hmmm:

Hope the pics are of any use to you.

Best regards,

Jorge.

Hi Jorge,

thanks for sharing those pictures and your experience. I see what you mean, fit is not going to be good. You've done a very good job on this one, hope you can find the interest to start working again on it.

Even if the fit is not going to be great, I'm still inclined to use the Monogram kit. The Hasegawa is expensive while the Esci one is bad and not too easy to find... or maybe I should sell the conversion on Ebay and use the money to buy a 1/72 one... :lol:

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