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Academy F-8E Crusader


Lifeline

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Hi All,

I'm going into the build with Academy 1/72 F-8E Crusader.

 

20200910-232724.jpg

 

 

I planned to make F-8E Mig Killer from VF-24.

The plan is to add a small bits of photo-etched from eduard zoom, and use leftover decal from Italeri kit for the markings, and kit's decal for the stencils etc. As you can notice from the photo the decals seemed to be "broken" because of many causes. I will try to fix it up by applying decal film solution later on, but if that doesn't work, then the plan B is to build this one using the Kit markings (The Hunters) which also shows Vietnam bird.  

20200910-233019.jpg

 

As for the plastics, its still sealed and secured;

20200910-233122.jpg

 

Will start the build ASAP and update the results

Cheers,

Mario

Indonesia

 

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Enjoy the build.  It really is a great little kit out of the box.  I ended up buying a bunch of resin bits before seeing the kit...while I did end up using them, I don't know the improvement over kit parts was really worth the cost to me.  In hindsight I probably would've left it at just seats.

 

Use caution when handling the canopy though.  They are a little thinner than usual.  It looks great for aesthetics...however also makes them more prone to cracking when handling.  I managed to put a nice split right down the middle of mine while masking.  Must've had fat fingers that day.....  Now to get back to finishing it one of these years.

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welcome along Mario, and with a very welcome addition to the build as well.....a Crusader!!!

 

Looks to be a nice model, I wonder if it is an improvement over the old Hasegawa one, I built one of those many years ago.

 

I do hope the decals you'd like to use are ok, they look nice and colourful.

 

well good luck with the build, look forward to seeing her built.

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Whoa, not even start this yet, but so many response already... thanks gents :)

Thanks @helios16v I secured the clear parts after I read your heads-up.

@trickyrich I must say this kit is waaay better than Hasegawa... And looks good when I dry fit several parts last night, too.

@Vultures1, @modelling minion wish me luck on the marking 🙏 The Italeri Mig Killer decal was dry and a lot of splotches on the paper, I really hope I can salvage it.

I did little research last night and I can't find any photo of the F-8E I want to build (VF-24, BNo#148648), only painting/profile drawing all with many difference with one another.

Xtradecal issued a decal for this particular aircraft 

https://www.squadron.com/1-72-XtraDecal-Vought-F-8E-H-J-Crusader-XK72160-p/xk72160.htm

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which have several different configuration than the decal I will use. Which one I will trust on? I really have no idea yet.

 

Anyhow, here's small update.

I have start by prepping the parts which will be detailed by Eduard PE

20200912-220440.jpg

Mainly the canopy area including the adding some plastic sheet on the ejection seat headrest and shaving off 0.1 mm from the side of canopy base (not shown)

 

I plan to build this kit with open canopy, wings lifted up with slats, aileron, and flaps down. Academy provide the slats to be posed down, but not the aileron and flaps. So I mark the line to cut the aileron and flaps section and pose it down later.

20200912-235320.jpg

 

 

Now looking for more reference on the markings...

 

Cheers,

Mario

 

 

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1 hour ago, Lifeline said:

I did little research last night and I can't find any photo of the F-8E I want to build (VF-24, BNo#148648), only painting/profile drawing all with many difference with one another.

Hows this ?

 

 https://www.airlinefan.com/airline-photos/United-States-Navy/Vought/F-8-Crusader/148648/2000894/

 

Dennis

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44 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Always happy to help, Im Disabled and have a lot of free time. If you ever need help just ask. 

Thanks Dennis, will do...

Love your O-1 by the way. I actually considered to built another cessna (Arii 1/72 O-2) for the GB but I got lesser reference on that one, while Arii kit is a rarity here, so I still trying to search more reference first.

 

Cheers,

Mario

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14 minutes ago, Lifeline said:

Thanks Dennis, will do...

Love your O-1 by the way. I actually considered to built another cessna (Arii 1/72 O-2) for the GB but I got lesser reference on that one, while Arii kit is a rarity here, so I still trying to search more reference first.

 

Cheers,

Mario

On a Quick look 67-21296, I found it supposedly still is in existence in California but not found a photo yet. 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Hi Mario! :)

 

I'm currently building the Academy F-8 and have a couple of heads-up for you.

The fit of the kit is very tight so you must be on the lookout for alignment of parts - especially the main wheel well! 

I wasn't which resulted in the tail leaning to the left when I installed the undercarriage! :o

Turned out the wheelwell was 1/2 mm higher on the right than on the left and I had to put in a plasticcard to level it out. Looks OK now! :phew:

Take your time and I'm sure you will get it right and make a beautifull model! :thumbsup:

 

Cheers :bye:

Hans J

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On 9/13/2020 at 7:16 AM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Not wanting to be awkward, but isn't that an F-8H (upgraded F-8D) and not an F-8E?   Key visible difference IIRC is the radome, which is smaller and more pointed than the E.

 

On 9/13/2020 at 4:23 PM, HansReggelsen said:

Hi Mario! :)

 

I'm currently building the Academy F-8 and have a couple of heads-up for you.

The fit of the kit is very tight so you must be on the lookout for alignment of parts - especially the main wheel well! 

I wasn't which resulted in the tail leaning to the left when I installed the undercarriage! :o

Turned out the wheelwell was 1/2 mm higher on the right than on the left and I had to put in a plasticcard to level it out. Looks OK now! :phew:

Take your time and I'm sure you will get it right and make a beautifull model! :thumbsup:

 

Cheers :bye:

Hans J

 

I would definitely second what Hans says about the tolerances.  I thought I would be clever and pre-paint the wheelwells in white ... only to find that they no longer fitted!  I would suggest making sure all the mating surfaces are clear and well-aligned.

 

Enjoy!

 

Chris

 

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First of all,

Thanks for all the input guys!

As soon I read Hans @HansReggelsen post, I dry fitted the parts and he is right, everything fits tightly! And like Chris @Vultures1 said... I will paint the wheel well (and hook and wingbox well) later on when it's already installed in the fuselage.

 

Like Chris has said, it is F-8H... It's apparent Italeri screwed up. 🙄🙄

So.. I guess it's plan B after all. It will be wearing VF-162 CAG scheme, decal will come from the box.

As for the progress...

Painting the cockpit (add some PE), and the intake... Plus, I have cut the flaps and ailerons too.

20200918-105650.jpg

 

For the ailerons, F-8E has vents on the leading edge of each aileron. And it shows on several pictures I found. So I try to simulate it with several plastic taken from cotton buds stick.

The dry fit looks ok...

20200918-112749.jpg

 

20200918-112902.jpg

 

Originally I planned to add ribbing details for the side of the Flaps.. But I choose not to because of the small size and I didn't bring enough tools with me right now. So probably I will just going to pose both aileron and flaps on more less the same angle to cover the absent details...

 

Cheers,

Mario

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Thanks for all the comments, guys..

 

Thanks for the link you've shared Chris @helios16v, I made a lot of notes out of it...

One is about the flaps. I realized I should've modeled the BLS since apparently F-8E I'm building doesn't have it.... luckily, the positions looks the more less the same with the notches which was the flaps' joint mechanism, so I think a simple fix with putty and sanding it will do good.   

 

Getting new knowledge on the airframe itself is really fascinating. This really shows that F-8 is a subject I'm not really knows about, But reading It's stories during vietnam war really interest me to build one (that's why the original plan was to builld a 'mig killer' aircraft). 

 

Cheers,

Mario

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  • 1 month later...

Almost a month!

And honestly I lost the mood after my last post.... Job, and life issues. :(

 

But when I arrived at home few days ago, I decided to continue the build.

I assembled all the parts for the fuselage section, and prime the major parts.

I decided to have some fun and (at try to at least) play with tonal variation..

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Sadly, I was too concentrate to take other pictures.

 

Cheers,

Mario 

 

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Main scheme on, 

20201103-153041.jpg

20201103-153101.jpg

 

I use Mr.Color paint, and after a mist of 

Mr.Color Leveling Thinner, the result was gloss enough. So directly to decals.

20201105-002739.jpg

 

All the color variation has done enough to weather the appearance. So I only lightly wash the model with light enamel washing using Tamiya enamel.

20201105-100344.jpg

 

Cheers,

Mario

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