1/72 F8U-1 Crusader 140444 and 140446

[busnproplinerfan]

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.

Edited December 20, 2015 by busnproplinerfan

[Antoine]

Very interesting.

Did you get the conversions straight from Muroc?

Could you please try to post your pics in full view, so that we can have a smoother read of the thread?

[busnproplinerfan]

Very interesting.

Did you get the conversions straight from Muroc?

Could you please try to post your pics in full view, so that we can have a smoother read of the thread?

Yes I did get them from Muroc. Looking at it now I should have did as you suggest with the pictures. I hope I understanded you right.

[Gene K]

Could you please try to post your pics in full view ....

Yes, please!

Gene K

[Antoine]

It does look better, does it?

[David H]

A very cool project. I really like the looks of the early "pencil point" Crusaders. An early one viewed head-on, with the wing up and everything else down has got a lot of visual complexity and interest, as "Superheat" would say...

david

[busnproplinerfan]

It does look better, does it?

Did you use postimage? if so what selection did you pick? I like this a lot better.

[Antoine]

I did only use the options of your own host.

Just under each picture, you should have a link saying "show the codes" (montrer les codes in my exemple).

Just copy/paste the link as in the exemple below.

Should start with "http://" and end with the pic's format ".jpg"

That's the direct link.

[busnproplinerfan]

http://s5.postimg.cc/6jm02csjr/140444.jpgHers's '444, see how this photo looks using Antoine's method.

[busnproplinerfan]

It works as a link, but does work. My postimage is almost the same as the screen capture, language doesn't matter. The drop down is a little different. I don't have "show the codes" Is yours the premium version?

]

Edited December 23, 2015 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

I just went into "my images" and it does show there "show the codes" it shows the same drop down from there.

[Antoine]

it's an image, and not a link, so once you're done with the copy, you've got to paste between the image tag.

One tag in front, the one with the Salah behind, and the address of your picture in between.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Antoine

[busnproplinerfan]

.

Edited December 23, 2015 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

it's an image, and not a link, so once you're done with the copy, you've got to paste between the image tag.

One tag in front, the one with the Salah behind, and the address of your picture in between.

Can you paste the link with out the picture? Just trying to find it exactly. Also what's a salah?

Edited December 26, 2015 by busnproplinerfan

[Antoine]

I mean a slash.

Salah.... My iPad is a bit lost between english and French, and sometime I don't even notice that he write what he want...

[busnproplinerfan]

I tried a few things to try to get to what you said to do, to bad you weren't here in person, be a lot easier. Oh well. I'll try to make it look good somehow.

[Antoine]

Do not bother too much about that.

Did you already checked this?

[busnproplinerfan]

Do not bother too much about that.

Did you already checked this?

I think that works, see what you think, go up to the pic of '444. I think flying a plane is sometimes easier..kidding.

[busnproplinerfan]

Here's the work done to the wing off '446 with the flaps down and the area under the wing's center section detailed. The rivets are the 3D decals and brass wire for the plumbing. It took some finicky aligning to get the small flaps to fit, especially along the fuselage. They do magically get narrower when in the lowered position. The droops are the kit parts. I found out the resin ones are for a J and have the double hinge line. I added 1mm square strips to the top portions of the droops and made them into wedges. The top of the real ones are rolled slightly and go into the top of the wing under the skin just slightly. So they have to be slight curved and just below the top of the wing. All the flaps I've noticed in photos have a piano hinge along the bottoms.

Here it is from the top rear. The flaps and ailerons(outboard and work as flaps when down) are done similarly to the droops and work the same way, just a large strip is added. The hard part is getting the angle right and to do the same on both sides and carefully fill the rest with glue. . The small flaps I've seen at different positions, I guess like any flaps they are variable.

I thought I'd try to tinker with making my own early nose since I have four spares now. The Muroc ones are great, but I want to see if I can make one and then I can use the kit's windshield. First I cut out the center windshield because the kit has the IR sensor. I made a new one from clear evergreen sheet and glued it with Krystal Klear. I cut it out just on the inside line of the yellow weatherstrip. The inside of the nose was filled with superglue, epoxy might be better. I used super glue and when I put accelerator on, it got hot and put a dent on the tip, it's just a test part anyway. I ground down the sides a bit and took down the round profile of the kit nose. I then made a small sanding block with a clothes pin wrapped with sand paper. I also practiced sanding the seam inside the intake. The noses have a front part of the kit's intake trunk which is hard to get exactly lined up. I wrapped a paint brush handle with a couple grits of sandpaper. Seems to be working, of course there's no fuselage getting in the way. I'm going to try this one the next ones I make. I'm hoping to save some time by doing this and the kit's windshield has the frame thickness that the vac one doesn't and will look better if the canopy is open.

Edited January 5, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[Antoine]

That's way better!!!

[busnproplinerfan]

That's way better!!!

Thanks for all your advice, yes it does look better.

[Antoine]

Now, let's appreciate your conversion work.

[busnproplinerfan]

These are now painted in Alclad airframe aluminum(more shinier than polished aluminum). I put the Alclad gloss coat on to try it out, toned it down a little, doesn't look quite like chrome anymore. I also painted the tail sections with a very light mist of alclad titanium gold, then put on a light to medium mist of stainless steel to try to darken it just a bit. No pictures yet, still masked. I want to get some alclad satin clear to dull down the tail, to shiny.