The
1:72
community
has
always been envious of the 1:48 community’s
Hasegawa
Crusader. So
far, Heller, Fujimi, Revell, and ESCI/Italeri have created poor representations
of this aircraft in 1:72.
All kits have
the same weaknesses:
Too simply engineered air intake, not representable slats (which is important
with the F-8), bad cockpits as well as errors with the general shape. Halfway
accurate models could only be built with a lot of scratch building. Therefore,
it was no surprise that Academy’s release of a new mold of the F-8 stirred a
lot of excitement. Waiting was worthwhile - Academy did not fail the
expectations of the modelers and presented us with a highly detailed kit of the
Crusader. All parts are very cleanly and finely detailed and engraved. No flaws
are present besides two little details so inconspicuous they can only be noticed
if one paid enough attention to the authenticity of his model. In the following
buildup report, I will be thoroughly explaining the ups and downs of this kit.
The
beautiful surface engravings of the fuselage halves shows that putty work will
hardly be necessary. But first the detail rich aircraft interior must be
assembled. The two halves of the air inlet were first painted white and then
glued together. Whoever does a clean job here has no putty work to fear. The
cockpit was primed in gray and the details in the instruments were brought out
by dry brushing. A small bay for the arrestor hook was now installed into the
rear fuselage. I painted the afterburner with a very dark metallic paint
(exhaust metal from Model Master). The special characteristic of the F-8 is that
its wings could be completely raised for takeoff and landing purposes. Now the
point comes where one must decide: Do I build my model with raised wings or not?
Depending on the desired accuracy level, one should make this decision
accordingly.
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Who
wishes to present this model with raised wings must now install the three parts
on the area under the wing. Here a question about the painting guide arises:
Academy indicates a yellowish green. I could not find any photos vouching for
that fact. In my mind, this area must also be painted white, just like the other
bays. But since I do not have any photographic proofs, I decided to use
Academy’s color suggestion. First, I primed the area with interior green from
Model Master. Subsequently, I painted it using Revell’s pale yellow. At this
point, I put some ballast into the front part of the aircraft to prevent it from
sitting on its belly later. Now the fuselage halves could be glued together. The
fit was so good that only a few places required sanding and polishing. Special
attention was required when joining the fuselage with the fine rivet detailed
afterburner – putty work is not recommended here. Attaching the front
windshield and the infrared sensor to the fuselage was free of problems – but
just a little sanding was required. The drillings for the two cooling air
intakes at the afterburner should be done carefully.
My
goal was to make an
F-8J
from the OOB F-8E.
For this reason
a
sensor pod
must
be attached at the tail.
I filed one from the left over casts of the parts tree and glued it in place.
The gap behind the
tail’s
rear edge was
filled with plasticard
and then sanded
down.
The wing
area consisted of an upper and a
lower part, a
separate
"embossment", as well as four parts of the slats. Now
came
the soft
spot
of the kit - although Academy went
to great lengths
trying to make this kit as accurate as possible, we still
come
to two
flaws. These flaws
are only evident when the aircraft is modeled with folded wings.
Now – the slats are separate in the kit – yet
not in a way in which one could build them in the extended position.
Who
doesn’t wish to build the slats of his aircraft in the extended position can
simply skip the following lines and go straight to the buildup steps.
The
rear edges of the slats and the front edges of the wings can only be represented
in the open position. Thus the slats at the rear edge have to be lowered in
order to be represented in the open position – there must be no gaps between
slats and wings. Technically, the front leading edges of the wings should also
be in the open position when the plane is on the ground, I, however, did not
want to go overboard with the details and imagined that this detail would be
really inconspicuous in the 1:72 scale. Now, the second flaw would be the
one-piece wings and flaps - I sawed and divided these parts into their
respective parts. After these changes the model turned into a fairly accurate
F-8E. I however wanted a J... so there is another detail to pay attention to.
This detail is also important for those who wish to build a French E version:
The slats of the Js and also the French Es are bent in their cross section. I
solved this problem rather simply: I marked the spot on the underside of the
wings with a pencil, then I engraved this line very strongly (or rather
“sawed”), and now I could bend the slats into the exact position. This
process evoked an interesting question: The Matra missiles that came with the
kit indicate an upcoming French version, but has Academy thought of the detail
considering the slats?
The landing gear parts are very detailed and fit with no problems. After
painting, they received the decals provided with the kit and the typical
hydraulic wires. The wheels were flattened, painted and weathered with
watercolor. All flaps - also the two lower landing gear bay doors - were painted
separately, just like the air brake. The attachment of the air brake in the open
position is not necessary and only depended on the modeler. The two parts of the
afterburner were painted separately and glued together. The modeler has several
choices when it comes to the fuselage pylons: The E as well as all versions
starting from C could be equipped both with the simple and with the Y-shaped
missile pylons. I thinned the fins of the four Sidewinder missiles down and
drilled open the exhaust section. The seeker heads of the missiles were cut off.
After the paint job, these places were painted green and new seeker heads, made
from drops of Humbrol Clearcot/Clearfixm were added. This gave a beautiful
effect – only I will try using a darker green the next time.
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Before
the actual lacquer finish I preshaded
the engraved panel lines.
The
paint scheme consists of gullgray
FS16440 for
the upper fuselage and white for the belly of the aircraft, which is
typical of
U.S. Navy airplanes
of
the 60's
and 70's.
The already painted engine exhaust section was masked. Also, the demarcation
line was created using tape cut to shape. After letting the paint dry, I masked
and painted the glare shield as well as the radome black. I pretty much only
used the national insignia and stencils from the decal sheet because I had a
colorful Eagle Strike sheet featuring an F-8J from VF-24 (72005 Crusaders part
I). The aircraft was flown by Jack Datzler in the year 1972 and had markings of
a large shield and sword on the tail - which fit the name "Crusader"
very well! Be careful to not be misled by the name "Jack Dateler" on
the instruction sheet of the decals. On the nose of the aircraft, as well as on
Revi Nr. 27, the correct name is given as "Jack Datzler". Similarly,
one should paint the glare shield according to the instructions on the Revi –
Eagle Strike gives wrong information in this case. The Academy decals are very
thick and do nor conform well, thus, one should dip them in Micro SOL before
applying them to the model. Fortunately, the yellow stripes for the canopy
pieces were correctly printed, but only for the rear part of the canopy. I had
to hand paint the stripes for the front windshield.
I sealed the whole thing with a coat of semi gloss lacquer. Then I weathered the
aircraft with pastels and watercolor. The leading edge of the wing as well as
the tail should be painted in aluminum, which I simply painted with a brush. The
assembly of the landing gear went very smooth. The ejection seat was detailed
with belts made out of tape and wires and put in place. Lastly, the movable
canopy piece was installed. The canopy hinge must be sanded down a little bit,
after which the canopy can be put on even without the use of cement.
With this kit Academy did
a fine job: Finely
engraved
panel lines and
rows
of rivets,
beautiful details from the nose to the tail as well as outstanding
accuracy and a very good fit
leave
little wishes unfulfilled.
The
only criticisms go to areas around the flaps
and slats. I
have already gotten used to the quality of the Academy decals. We would surely
see the answer as to why
Academy only included markings for the Marines in future reboxes of this great
kit.
Arne
Visit
Arme's website at Arne's
Modellbauseite
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Thanks to
"Iron eagle" for Translation
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