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1/48 F-8H Crusader ESCI


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Since a long time I have wanted to build an F-8E (FN) Crusader. In my search for Crusader kits on the inthernet I found a nice Hasegawa kit, but also the quite old (end of the 70's) ESCI kit. So I decided to build that one as a USN Crusader. This kit is quite easy and straightforward to build, but it has a lot of mistakes. The detail in the wheel wells is quite wrong, and also the shape of the forward fuselage and the canopy are very different from the Hasegawa and Monogram kits, which I guess are more correct. 

Still, I enjoyed this build very much. I like to think that somewhere around 1980 this kit was bought by a small boy, perhaps together with his dad, but somehow, it was never built. It was lying around for decades, until I bought it. I built it OOB, except for the decals, which are from SuperScale Decals (no48-775). the decals are nice, but gave me quite some headaches, as they were very thin and fragile. Especially the multicolored 'Sundowners' tail I had to touch up quite a bit with paint. But in the end, when I look at the kit I think, 'yes, it looks like a Crusader :) '

 

I used Vallejo and MiG Ammo acrylics on my Crusader. The surface detail on this kit is all raised, but I hate rescribing panel lines. Fortunately, the model is molded in quite dark silver-grey plastic. This makes it possible to use polishing sticks (nail buffers) to polish away the layer of FS36440 and show the panel lines nicely. 

 

Now it is on to my Hasegawa F-8E (FN)..

 

Kind regards,

Gerben

 

Crusader1

 

crusader4

 

crusader3

 

crusader2

 

Edited by PhantomLover
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1 hour ago, PhantomLover said:

.......But in the end, when I look at the kit I think, 'yes, it looks like a Crusader :) '

It sure does! :thumbsup:

 

I've never seen an ESCI 1/48 Crusader, only it's smaller 1/72 scale brethren, which are nice kits in their own right. :D

Your F-8 surely looks the part and that is all that counts! :goodjob:

 

Cheers :bye:

Hans J

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Goedenavond Gerben,

 

your F-8 is fantastic! This brings me back many years int he past, when I was a fan of these Esci kits.

Your model looks like a great looking Crusader. No kit is ever perfect. Yours looks terrific!

 

JR

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