Looking for an F-8B Crusader

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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My grandfather was in the Navy, he served during peacetime and just never really said much about it so other than knowing it happened I didn’t know many details. He passed recently and upon going through his papers I found out some pretty neat things and some ideas for new projects. He served from '56 to '60 and was stationed out of NAS Moffet Field and was part of VF-154 as a mechanic. In '59 VF-154 set out across the Pacific on USS Hancock and my grandfather was part of the flight crew of Crusader number 145477.

Ok, now the question part, as best I can tell 145477 was an F-8B, what kit would be the best starting point? I’d like either 1/72 or 1/48 scale, it kind of depends of what scale I can find Black Knight decals in. I’m most likely going to end up backdating an E model, I just didn’t know if any of the available kits have some parts for earlier models inside.

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None of the kits out there contain parts to make an F-8B. In 1/48 Cutting Edge made a conversion for he Hasegawa kit (but it is long OOP), Muroc made and F-8C conversion (which you would then have to further backdate into an F-8B), and Cobra Company also made one for the F-8C. In 1/72, I can’t think of any conversions other than the old old Airmodel vacuform one.

3

Crusaders aren’t my area of expertise, how much different visually is the E from the B? I know there is a “spine” between the canopy and wings that would need to be removed and there are some slight differences with the nose cone but I can’t see much else.

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The main areas are the upper fuselage and the nose cone / intake. There are also interior differences and a few other details differences that I would have to look up.

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Hey Brian,

Thought I’d chime in here. I know that Revell of Germany does an F-8E kit (#4547). I can check mine out when I get home and see what decals and details it has if it would help you out. I see them on eBay all the time. Hope this helps.

Eagle90

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It doesn’t have to be perfect, just getting it to the same basic look without any glaringly obvious issues will be more than enough.

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Ah, the F-8, one of my all time favorite birds. I have had at least one Monogram kit in the stash since it came out in the 80s. Now that the Hasegawa kit has supplanted the Monogram kit, I’m going to ship all this overseas to myself when I’m home this summer, build them all, and not really worry about having them survive the trip back across the pond in the future:

Bravo model Crusaders didn’t have the strakes under the tail or the afterburner cooling scoops either. Back then, the bare metal area on the aft fuselage that we are used to seeing was painted the same gull/white as the rest of the aircraft. Also, the nosewheel was a spoked design. I would go with the Muroc Models F-8C conversion kit for the Hase kit:

Leave off the strakes & afterburner cooling scoops, and if you have the tools to do so, drill 6 holes in the nosewheel to give it that spoked look, fabricate a saber drain for the aft left bottom fuselage, and you will have a very passable F-8B.

Decal-wise, I can’t recall seeing any sheets that included early VF-154 Crusaders. I had a plan for this build about 15 years ago, but for the life of me, I can’t recall exactly what I came up with. The Black Knights had two main schemes, a very plain scheme with nothing but the “NL” tailcode, plus a variation of that scheme with the squadron badge under the tailcode and a broad orange stripe at the top of the tail. The other main scheme had orange or red downward pointing stripes on the tail and two lighting bolts on each side of the fuselage. I think my plan was to cut the orange stripes and lighting bolts out by hand from solid orange decal sheet stock, and cobble together the rest of the markings from the various F-8 sheets I gathered up over the years.

Ish

8

you have options in 1/72 scale as well

Muroc makes an F-8A/B conversion set, and an F-8C/D conversion set,along with a separate nose wheel for early aircraft, which is a spoked wheel to replace the nearly solid wheel seen in later years

I am with Ish on the decal problem, I have never seen a Grand Slammers (the other nick for these Black Knights) decal sheet in 1/72

The Muroc conversions are easy as any conversion has ever been, if you use it on the Academy kit it was designed for, you just cut off a section on the front, replace the nose, leave off the overwing avionics hump and install the sleeker one in the conversion, install the separate nose wheel, then leave off the ventrals, the afterburner scoops, and the tail ECM parts

then you trim the new vac canopy that comes in the conversion set to eliminate the shape difference at the bottom front of the windscreen on the kit part

you could probably use another 1/72 base kit, except that the widths are different, so the conversion part might not fit at the back end,and the wing hump won’t just swap out, you would have to grind off the old one on all but the Academy kit

the paint scheme back then is Orange lightning bolts (they used 32246, not 12197) with thin black outlines, and 400 series nose modex (rob a Skyhawk model)

edit: here is a picture of the cover that you can zoom in on, on Amazon, Ginter is sold out of #19 on his site

http://www.amazon.com/Voughts-Crusader--Part-Naval-Fighters/dp/0942612191/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392318241&sr=1-4&keywords=Ginter+F-8

Rex

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Thank you both for the breakdowns on all of the differences in the models, this is getting involved quickly. I would prefer to build 1/72 scale since all of my other aircraft and most of my armor is that scale as well. It sounds like I will be ordering the Academy E kit in the next few days. As for decals, there were a few pictures of his plane he took and the markings are incredibly simple, he was one year after the had they orange lightening bolts on the sides so the only color is a little orange on the tip of the rudder. Below is a picture I scanned that he took in 1959, I’m guessing this was at Moffet Field since there are trees in the background.

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I’m pretty sure thats not Moffet NAS. I grew up down there and there isn’t any port since it’s far down the bay in pretty shallow water.

I really have no idea, but if it’s in California I’d take a WAG that it might be Mare Island.

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I didn’t scan the back of this picture and I don’t remember it having a location on it so I’m not sure exactly where this is.

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It looks to be on a flight deck definitely in a port as you can see the tops of buildings in the background and the crane.