Dimosthenis Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 (edited) Hello everyone, Just a very small update from the RF-8A build. I'm prepping the resin pieces. I'm trying to fit the Aires cockpit into the RVHP fuselage, lots of grinding with the Dremel tool here, and it still needs more! My progress sofar is less than minimal, but I hope I'll speed up as I go on. The VF-53 F-8E on the other hand is close to 0% progress yet. I'm having second thouhts about placing it in an inflight refueling 'diorama', along with an A-4E and I'm thinking of putting it on its wheels; what would you suggest? Anyhow, here are some pics. Hope you'll like them! <_< Edited January 23, 2006 by Dimosthenis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
melpas1013 Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Have you gone any further with it Dimosthenis? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted February 5, 2006 Author Share Posted February 5, 2006 (edited) Progress report (thanks for asking, meplas1013 ) Work on the cockpit was underway, but it's too far off for an early Cruz and I'll be getting the Black Box cockpit to make it more realistic. Moreover, the RVHP fuselage interior has been grinded so the camera window areas are paper thin, next thing will be to remove them and replace them with either clear plastic, or photographic film (ironic, isn't it?) to try to imitate the brown/green tint seen on pictures. Furthermore, I was thinking over cutting the aft part of the fuselage to replace it with Hasegawa's one. (they 're essentialy the same, apart from some minor details, and the Hase part would fit Aires' exhaust and the Vertical Stabilizers better); at the beginning I was hesitant to do it but after consulting with my friend Tom Weinel (superheat) I am now ready to do the cut. The advantages of this method far outweigh the disadvantages of the RVHP suggested course of action and even if there is a mishap, I hope I'll be able to cover it up, because the cut will be made under the wing area and at the main landing gear bulkhead, so a large reinforcement plate that was on the real a/c will cover part of the join. And that's the least of them all because once I'm done with those, I have to devise a neat way to make RVHP's wrong nose section look like an early Crusader nose section, without jeopardizing the cockpit's and intake's fit, or the correct size the nose should have, and convert Hasegawa's windshield piece to reflect the correct one for an RF-8A. I have no pictures yet, but I promise I'll upload some when possible. That's about it folks! :) EDIT: for some typos Edited February 5, 2006 by Dimosthenis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 (edited) Update: :) Work is proceeding steadily (that's strange for me, I assure you, usually I'm not like this! :) ) I spent most of my time wiring the main gear and associated bay. I'm almost there as few wires that lead to the brake disc are required. I used copper wire from an old cable and parts from the Eduard PE set for the torque links that support the gears from aft. Today I also took the deep plunge and cut the RVHP and Hasegawa fuselages, and mated them together. First, I dremel-ed each part so only a small of plastic (and/or resin) would be left, then with very delicate moves I removed the rest, always dry-fitting the pieces. I didn't avoid some overdoing but it was minimal. I then taped the "new" aft part to the other (whole) Hasegawa and attached the RVHP part as well, aligning it with Hasegawa's fuselage. Big surprise here, as the RVHP kit seems to be shorter than the Hasegawa in the fwd section by exactly 1mm. Will have to see what to do with it. Once this assembly is dry I'll repeat the process for the right fuselage half. Hope you like it! any comments and/or suggestions are most welcome! I'm also going to convert the Hump on top of the center wing area, as per some photos of the real RF-8 I received from Tom Weinel. I'll have to add putty and sand it to shape, the outline of which can be roughly seen on the pic below, but first the other fuselage half needs the 'surgery' treatment as well. Stay tuned! Edited February 7, 2006 by Dimosthenis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimitris Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 (edited) Nice work Dimostheni keep going and Good luck Edited February 8, 2006 by Dimitris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Damian Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Keep it up! BTW I know I'm too late but an in flight thing would have been cool! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted April 9, 2006 Share Posted April 9, 2006 Cheers, Forgot to say we cut nearly in the same place. In 1/72 I have cut at the forward gearwell bulkhead so as I can use the hasegawa gear bay. Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted April 10, 2006 Author Share Posted April 10, 2006 Julien, I was considering the same bulkhead position, but opted for the more AFT one, for reasons of obscurity, as it is below the flaps area, which when lowered, conceal it, and for reasons of weight support, as I thought the forward bulkhead would not be supported by the main gear well and would thus be stressed by being in the middle section of a half plastic, half (heavy) resin fuselage. But I'm building 1/48 so I suppose you shouldn't have any such problem with a 1/72 kit. And now to something urgent: Does anyone know where I can find a Seamless Suckers F-8 intake?? They seem to be out of the loop and nobody sells them anymore. The kit intake is very difficult to putty let alone be sanded (even narrower than the A-7 intake) Any help is really appreciated! Cheers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Superheat Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Hi Dimosthenes, As difficult as it is to get rid of the seam in the kit intake (and there were seams in the real one anyway), it is no more difficult than getting the SS intake to fit. It was made intentionally too large at the intake mouth area to account for possible shrinkage and has to have a great deal sanded away with a lot of judicious checking and dry fitting to make it fit properly. If you really want one, I have a spare I will give you (assuming I can find it after my recent move!), but I think you would find it as much or more work as the kit intake. Cheers, Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted April 14, 2006 Author Share Posted April 14, 2006 (edited) Tom, Thank you very much for your offer, it's unexpectedly good news! I do understand the problem you describe, but relatively to this project sofar, I feel it would not be as much trouble. Up to now, almost 40% of the project has gone into dremeling resin pieces and chopping plastic, dryfitting, pretending to be an octopus trying to hold too many pieces together and other funny moments... :) In any case, if you do find the spare intake, I'd be happy to buy it from you. Just drop me a PM or e-mail. Thanks again Tom, I appreciate it! On the kit itself, I'm ready to start detail painting on the BB cockpit, shouldn't be long before completing it. I've also found out a fact about the forward wheel hubs of RF-8As and in fact early F-8s in general, they seemed to have another type, other than that provided with the Hasegawa kit. Below I enclose a crop of a larger picture (© Richard Flake) which explains better. If you have any hints about similar looking hubs, let me know! Cheers! Edited April 15, 2006 by Dimosthenis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 pretending to be an octopus trying to hold too many pieces together and other funny moments... <_<Cheers! Hey you saw me trying to match my RHVP parts to my kit parts today! two hands holding the parts and another hand for the glue! By the way I am really starting to hate CA glue now, and that POS RHVP is really thin in places so you cant always apply as much pressure as you want! Julien (trying to remember its a FUN hobby!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Superheat Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Hi Dimosthenes, I finally found the SS intake, so shoot me a PM with your address and I will get it off to you this week. As to the early nose wheel, you can get one from Cobra Company in their Landing Gear Correction Set for the Monogram kit: http://cobracompany.com/48014.htm You might try emailing them to see if they will sell you just a nose wheel. It was not just a different nose wheel on early Crusaders, there were also different mains as well, but checking a photo of a VFP-62 RF-8 dated Oct. 62, it has the old spoked nose wheel with the new style mains, so you are OK there. One note on the Albatros decals, the stripes with the white stars should have a black stripe on either edge with the little white squares on them (simulating the sprocket holes in film), Eli just did the white squares on the maroon, no big deal, but not quite right. Cheers, Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 (edited) Tom, I can't thank you enough, if not for the offer, surely for the valuable help and info you have given! I'll try my luck at the Buy and Sell forum, in case someone can part with his early Crusader fwd wheel. Cheers! Edited April 17, 2006 by Dimosthenis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Superheat Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 Hi Dimosthenis The Sucker is in the mail as of today. I tried to find my Cobra set to include the nose wheel for you, but could not find it. Now that the intake is on its way, I am sure that the Cobra set will leap out of a box and bite me on the butt! (And note that the old geezer finally spelled your name right!) Cheers, Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted April 22, 2006 Author Share Posted April 22, 2006 No worries tom, Dimosthenis is the name by itself, but in fact Dimosthenes is the proper english way of calling my name to me! :D I'll be expecting the intake. Thank you very much!!! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dimosthenis Posted May 29, 2006 Author Share Posted May 29, 2006 (edited) Know I said I probably won't be making it with the Photo Crusader, but that does not mean I stopped with it. I'm going to press on regardless of the time required to complete... I have painted the cockpit and bang seat, although the cockpit still needs some details painted again (did a mess of a job there), cut out the photo windows and replaced them with clear sheet, cut out the boarding steps on left fuselage part, modified the windshield center section with clear sheet and the Eduard piece as a guide, reshaped the upper center fuselage part with Tamiya Epoxy Putty and Squadron putty for the details and now I'm trying to make some cameras for the photo bays, so they won't look void of detail and trying to fit the resin cockpit, the (unpainted yet) panel, the SS intake (thanks again Tom!)on top of the aires wheel bay, the camera fronts behind the windows and still have a good fit of the forward fuselage and nose cone, all of which then will get the 'early F-8' thinning treament on the fwd nose section. For a moment there I even thought of opening up the speed brake but on second thought this project would take more than the US Space Program in the 60s... So, here are a few pictures of progress. They are minimal, but I hope you'll like them. Edited May 29, 2006 by Dimosthenis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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