Here’s another one of my collection of US Navy MiG-killers, a 1/48 Hasegawa F-8E Crusader. The Hasegawa F-8 is by far the best kit in this scale, but it does have issues. There are bumps on top of the wings at the wingfold joint that need to be removed, and you can't drop the flaps without serious sanding of the inside pieces to get them to clear the fuselage. The cockpit is really basic, especially for a kit of this price, and needs at least an aftermarket seat to dress things up.
I tried to replicate a faded look by preshading with flat black over major panel lines, then lighlty applying the flat gull grey top color. I used the Aires cockpit and wheel well sets, and a Seamless Suckers intake – which left as many seems to fill as the kit intake. I also scratchbuilt a boarding ladder and steps, a standby compass, canopy restraint strap, and used a few other Eduard cockpit detail pieces. The AIM-9B Sidewinders are from my spares box, and I used afterburner scoops and a pitot probe from Quickboost. Finally, I replicated powder burns around the gun ports by using a small brush to apply graphite from a drawing pencil.
I finished it in the markings of ‘Nickel 103′, an F-8E from VF-211 when deployed aboard USS Hancock during an eventful Vietnam War cruise. Cdr. Hal Marr was the commanding officer of VF-211 and piloted this jet when he shot down a MiG-17 on 12 June 1966, scoring the Crusader’s first kill of the Vietnam War. Out of Sidewinders and returning to his carrier after the engagement, Marr attacked another MiG-17 and scored hits with his canon, for which he was later given credit for downing. The decals are from an Eduard sheet of F-8 MiG-killers, though more accurate markings of this jet are available on the excellent Furball Designs sheet of F-8 MiG-killers. VF-211 went on to become the top MiG-killing Navy squadron of the Vietnam War, with seven MiGs shot down.
All the resin aftermarket parts somehow threw off the fit – I had to do LOTS of filling and sanding on the fuselage seams, especially in the bottom of the fuselage, and I had to reposition the right main gear slightly to correct a list to starboard. I usually don’t use more than an aftermarket seat or cockpit, but I traded for this kit and it came with all these extra resin accessories, but they wound up causing lots of construction problems so I wouldn’t use them all again. Still, it was an enjoyable build of an attractive and historic aircraft.
