For such a revolutionary aircraft, the F-8 Crusader has been woefully underserved in 1:72. The Crusader, the first Navy aircraft capable of sustained supersonic flight and the first carrier plane capable of over 1000 mph, has been molded in a slightly misshapen form by Hasegawa (the gear bay is of an inch too far aft), in crude kits by Fujimi and Revell, and in an accurate in shape but clunky-in-detail Heller kit. Italeri threw one on the market late last year, but it was less than stellar.
Enter the new Academy F-8E. This is the 1:72 kit Crusader fans have been waiting for: accurate, with scribed panel lines, a complete load of ordnance and some very clever engineering that may make this not only the most detailed kit of the Crusader but the easiest to assemble as well.
The cockpit includes a four-part ejection seat, a cockpit tub with a very detailed rear bulkhead and sidewalls, a correct control column, and a control panel and separate clear gunsight. All of this is quite good, and while some might use the inevitable aftermarket parts that are sure to come, the kit cockpit would work just fine. The intake, always an iffy area, is handled by a two-part trunk that’s split into upper and lower halves. There are some small ejector pin marks on the top half, but these can be easily reached if one feels the need to address them. The nose gear bay is included in the bottom half of the trunk, and it is splendidly detailed.
This kit, unlike any other Crusader in the scale, is designed to depict the variable-incidence wing in the raised position. Because of that, you get a part to depict the area under the wing, which is very nicely detailed. The main gear bay is a six part assembly and is magnificently detailed. Inserting into the fuselage just ahead of the main gear bay is a plug for the positionable speedbrake, which has a couple of ejection pin marks in readily-reachable locations. Another neatly-detailed box houses the arrestor hook. You’ll end up sticking five assemblies into the fuselage before you seal the halves.
The wing is molded in halves, with the upper wing containing the entire outboard folding portion. A separate “Bullpup hump” goes on top of the wing, evidence that the kit is set up to provide an earlier F-8 sometime in the future. Also separate are the leading edge flaps, which can be positioned in the correct lowered position for a raised wing. Unfortunately, the trailing edge flaps also ought to be lowered; you’ll have to cut and reposition them yourself, or you could wait for an aftermarket set that is going to hit the market shortly from a local source. A plate goes on the front of the “hump.” Of course, you could build your F-8 with the wing lowered, but you’d miss out on the chance to show a lot of red-painted structure, and anything that adds color to a gull gray-over-white airplane is welcome in my book!
The scribing on the model is fantastic. All the small fasteners are there, but they’re in scale. The gear is also terrific; the nose gear includes a separate wheel, main strut and a second part to trap the wheel while the mains each have two separate strut parts. The decal sheet includes placards for the struts! The gear doors are very nice, and the main gear doors are actually molded into the belly plate. Landing and signal lights are provided as clear parts.
The burner can is a two-part assembly, saving the annoyance of sanding the seams inside of a two-part can. The tube-like rear of the engine has compressor detail on its bottom, and the external can goes on top of this to form a complete and seam-free assembly. The two cooling scoops added to the later Crusaders could stand to have their fronts hollowed out with a pin vise.
With the addition of the horizontal stabilizers, the wing and the pitot tube, you get to choose what your F-8 will be taking to visit Charlie. Your choices include AIM-9 Sidewinders carried singly or on Y-rails (correctly depicted for the first time ever) or 5-inch Zuni rockets in twin pods (again, a first), plus up to eight Mk. 82 Snakeye retarded bombs on multi-ejector racks on the wing pylons. All of these are done very well, and that makes this the first Crusader with truly representative ordnance.
Decals in the first issue are for two Marine Corps Crusaders: BuNo. 150852 of VMF (AW)-333, the Fighting Shamrocks, with a band of green leaves on each side of the fin, and BuNo. 150329 of VMF (AW)-232, the Red Devils, with its devil-in-a-diamond logo on the tail. These are somewhat plain-jane colors, but the real beauty of the decals lies in the details. They start with exceptionally detailed data stencils, including markings for inside the gear doors, a legion of “no step” markings for the movable wing and tail surfaces, and ejection and rescue warnings, and they’re crowned by two sets of decals for the windscreen: one set in black which gives the entire frame and the thin yellow seal around each panel, and a second set that has just the yellow seal. The yellow seal is also given for the canopy. The printing is tremendous, with all the small stencils legible if you get close enough to read them.
My only concern about this model is that, once finished, it will make all of my other Navy jets appear amateurish. This model will build into something truly special, and I am eagerly awaiting my chance to build this fantastic new kit.
