1/48 Revell F-8 Crusader

by Pablo Ggirgulsky

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At a time when planes were obsolete as soon as they flew, this nice fighter set a speed record with John Glenn at the controls, flying across the States in 3 hrs 23 min, shot down some Migs in Vietnam, took photos over Cuba and....got replaced by the Phantom.  Its unique shape was then seen over the French skies. This is another favourite plane from my childhood, so when I pick it from "my boneyard" I decided to put some extra effort into it

I searched in the gallery and saw the much superior Hasegawa kit and I tried to make mine as good as those.  I think that each plane has unique things to show...so building the crusader with the wings down should be a lazy act. The problem is to put something under. That was made with curved plastic from medicine blisters (I collect all things made of plastic!) Not that hard... Then taking out the slats, flaps and airbrake and replace them, scratch built the folding wings mechanism and adding a oxygen bottle behind the seat, which came from a helmet cut in a half with lots of wire. The rest of the kit has nice detailing (I can live with those panel lines).

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Fit is good, but had  to trim the slats to match the wing.  Painting is standard light gull grey and white.  The decals are thick, but with a bucket of setting solution they went ok...

Looking back, using the airbrush to remark panels wasn't the best choice, I think it gets a little overdone in the tail, anyhow, I like devastated planes.....nasty photos were improved by my old man, thanks Dad....

Pablo

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Photos and text © by Pablo Girgulsky