1/72 Academy F-8F Crusader

Gallery Article by Sakis Georgiadis on Oct 25 2010

 

Hi fellow modelers for one more time!  This time I want to share with you Academy's 1:72 scale, F-8F Crusader.  One of the designs that I like allot.  It is a very good kit, with a lot of detail and very good fit.  There is also the possibility to have the wings in the upper position, but I choose to have them closed as I didn't want to spoil the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft.  The only improvement that I did was the use of a resin ejection seat from Aires.  I drybrushed the control column which has raised detail and used the decals for the side consoles which have raised detail too.  I also used the canopy masks from Eduard (which I find them very handy).  The yellow lines are from the decals.

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In the photo with the ejection seats, the seat on the left is the seat of the kit, and on the right the resin seat from Aires.  For the colors, I used Mr Hobby acryl H315 for the upper surface and H316 for the rest.  Also for the wash on the panels I used Mig products' dark wash.  For the smoke in front of the guns I used the powder from a pencil with a brush with a little help from Tamiya's acryl thinner.  The exhaust is Alclad's Stainless Steel (I don't know if its right but it was what I had available at the time for a metallic finish)

As the specific colors from Mr Hobby are glossy I applied the decals, which gave me some problems while I was applying them.  Later on I found out that Academy had another issue of the aircraft from the Vietnam Era with decals from Cartograf!  I will get in the future and built it again!  Finally for a mat look I sprayed Mr Hobby's flat clear with a small drop of flat base.  I built it while I was building the A-7E Corsair (another aircraft that I am a fan of), so I put some fotos of them together.  I want to thank Steve Bamford for his work, and the chance that is giving us to show and communicate about our favorite hobby!  Hope you enjoy it as I did.

Cheers

Sakis Georgiadis

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Photos and text © by Sakis Georgiadis