Julien (UK) Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 (edited) Just a quick note:It seems that about 99% of VF-84 F-8C decals omit the tailplane stripes. May wish to try to acquire/make some now, before you get to the decaling stage. (unless there were 2 variations and I'm just unaware of stripeless tailplanes on their jets--but AFAIK every pic which does show the tailplanes from above, shows stripes) (and reading this thread REALLY makes me want a 1/32 F-8C---Sundowners of course) After careful study of all my references I have come to the conclusion that David may be right when it comes to the tailplanes. There are very few photos of VF-84 saders, most of these are from the side, or poor quality black and white. I have foumd one excellent colour photo shot of 145572 "206" from the rear and you can clearly see the yellow/black stripes on the tailplanes. This is in the NAVA 1 book from the Naval Air Weapons Meet. One thing I notice from the Zoltz sheet is that the large AG on the tail does not have the yellow surround to the black letters. On all colour pics of VF-84 the tail letters have a yellow surround, however I have not seen a colour pic of the CAG bird. I would think it strabge though if normal sqn birds carried these cna the cag bird did not. On most black and white pics the yellow surround gets lost due to the poor contrast. Would be interested to see what ref pics Zoltz used. Julien Edited December 27, 2009 by Julien (UK) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sabre Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Holy Smokin' Rockets!....what an awesome build! I was kinda on the fence about getting the big Crusader....but after seeing your craftsmanship, guess I'll bite the bullet for it & some resin...."resin is your friend"....:) Looking most forward to seeing more...... Good to Go, Jim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rick De Smet Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 Hi guys! It's been a while since I posted some of my progres as I just couldn't find the time to get behind my computer. I was way to busy building my Crusader in my free time :) Once I was ready with the cockpit like you saw in my previous post I finished up al the loose parts and sub-assemblies. The front wheel is finished now, I took the metal parts from the conversion set and modified them to the early standard. This involved the removal of the wire deflector. After some grinding and sanding it now looks as follows : (the lower part is the one modified) So finally al the loose parts were ready :) And now all of that has to go in here. Fitting all the bays (wingbay, aft & front wheel bay, the new nose, speedbrake bay tailhookbay & refuelling probe bay)was quite a challenge as I had stuff from 3 different companies. The most difficult job was to get the Aires pit match the new nose. After sanding a lot of material away from both pit an nose it finally fitted. It was aslo the first time I used Tamiya's light curing putty, AMAZING stuff! It works really good and fast, curing in just 15min with a good UV light. The same putty was used to close the hole in the fuselage just before the wing. Fisher did a great job supplying a filling resin part to help closing the gap. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rick De Smet Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 Another thing, and a really visual one, Trumpeter forgot are the the afterburner cooling holes. From the F-8C on, all Crusader had these 4 cooling doors added to the rear fuselage just before the cooling scoops. I know they may be a little to big but I'm happy with the result as this was the first time I scribed a round panel... So that's it for the sanding, lets get some paint on this lady! First up was a Primer from Tamiya. Again some sanding followed by the usual preshading. I used black for the upper fuselage and a light gray for it belly. And the final coat with Mr.color laquer paints FS16440 & FS17875. After the fuselage was painted I also did the exhaust area. Being a CAG bird it should look a little better and better maintained like a regular line bird so I'll make this area quite shiny. Another first for me was the use of Chrome paint. Alclad II was used, first a glossy black base coat finished by Alclad Chrome. I was really amazed by the result of it! The reflection is just great, I've put some scissors next to it for the effect. So that it for now! The next big step will be the decalling, and there are A LOT of them so thats gonna be a big job. Thanks for watching! Greetings Rick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 Rick ma man, looking great! The pit is fantastic! Nice touch with the suck in holes. Good job scribing them. I take it you are putting the afterburner cooling scoops on? Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rick De Smet Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Hi Fellows, I'm back with some major progres this time. I must say this is the most enjoyable part of the whole project. The last week my big gray Crusader transformed into one big mean US Navy HOT ROD! :D The decals sheet is just incredible, the colors and the quality of the decals is just perfect. A real joy to apply them I must say. The only issue you could say is that maybe the data decals are a little bit to big for 1/32nd scale. But I don't have any real references to prove it. Lets get started : The major eyecatcher from the VF-84 Crusaders, the flaming intake! I must say I was a little bit scared to apply this decal as it is just HUGE! The whole intake flame is 1 decal. After trying some other decals first I tackled this one and I must say it went very good. The decals are strong and forgivable. To set the decals I used DACO's strong decal setting solution with good result. The other decals went on just fine and really give the Crusader a cool & mean retro look. And normally the tail antenna should be a decal to but I decided to paint it on. A little error when painting the red but no big deal. I added some wiring to the wing to present the fire detector loop. Not to detailed but just to give a general look when peeping down between the wing when its assembled. And this is were I am now. Next up will be the assembly of the flaps & slats, and all the rest of the assemblies. More to follow! Greetz Rick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twong Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 The finish and decals came out great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 That is turning out to be one Sharp Crusader ! :D Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmthamade Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Wow!!! That looks really sharp!! It`s great seeing colorful Navy schemes from back in the day. Look forward to see this completed. Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcatfreak Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hey Rick, you did an awesome job on your Crusader!! I currently build a F-8E with Marines markings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewS Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Gorgeous F-8, Rick. That's very fine modelling all 'round and the outcome will be excellent. I'm looking forward to more pics of your progress. Cheers, Andrew. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Looking good rick! Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 WOW, fantastic "Gunfighter"! Cant wait to see her all finished! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
POMPEO Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 fantastic job, your Crusader looks great, i love the vf-84 markings cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Timvkampen Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 This is a beautiful build Rick! A joy to watcht the sub assemblies come together! Best Tim, Amsterdam Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THX1138 Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Fabulous build !! Almost makes me want to get an F-8 too, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rick De Smet Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) Hi Fellows! I'm back with my the Final report for my Crusader. She's totally finished now and I must say I very much enjoyed building her There were a lot of "first" for me in this one and I really learned a lot and my way of researching changed a lot to with many thanks to all of you who gave me some great tips. I also really want to thank you guys for the nice comments during my build The reason it took me so long to get my final post together was the fact that I wanted to get me some better photo corner. I like to take a nice series of photos once a model is complete but in the past I always had some background issues so I went out to find me a nice black background. And that took me a little longer than I first had in mind. But I'm glad with the final result :) So here we go. My Vought F-8C Crusader from the mighty Jolly Rogers! :) Thats all folks, see you on a future GB :) Greetz Rick Edited March 5, 2010 by Rick De Smet Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jbrundt Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 For some reason I cannot see any pics posted of the build process.......... Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eli Raphael Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Congrats Rick! Thanks for using my decals. :( Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 TREMENDOULSY STUNNING build...LOVE the small detailing,, :( Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewS Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Very nice result, Rick. Very shiny back end and gorgeous decals/decalling. Well done. Andrew. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Wow best looking model ive seen in a long time now im never going to build a F-8 cuz i know i cant make it as potentially not ever near as beautiful as yours!! Cheers Neo btw do you have a web site with all your build models? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THX1138 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Stunning F-8. Great work on the wheelbays. Just fabulous. Very very nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Rick, that is one great job. Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kilroy Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Really well done. The exhaust in particular is gorgeous. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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