Hi guys,
Thanks for the nice comments, it the first time I've put something on this forum and it really nice to get some reaction and tips.
I'm planning to build it with in the dirty condition with the wing up & folded armed with 2 AIM-9D's. First I wanted the 4 Sidewinder configuration cause that something very typical for the F-8 but when I saw the Y-racks Trumpeter provided my stomach turned around
. They are just terribly wrong so I'll use the single racks from an older A-7 project.
Normally I'm nog going to rework the panel detail, I've read a few reviews and most of them say that Trumpeter has done an acceptable job on the rivets for once. I know other kits are sometimes horrible on the rivets...
So here I'm back with a second part of my build.
First I had to finish up the adjustment of the wing area. This involved the removal of the front end of the aft wing bulge which is molded to the fuselage.
The blue tape is there just to protect the surface detail during the cutting.
This removal went fine but as you see it creates a small hole. Again no problem as Fisher provides you with a piece of resin that fits the hole perfectly making it a lot easier to work the hole away. For now it just stays this way untill the fuselage is joined. But I'm still far from that.
Next thing I've done was to dress up the area between the fuselage and wing as the kit part is just way to empty.
As I'm planning to finish my Crusader with the wings in the up position you'll be able to peek inside that area so I decided to add some extra detail & plumbing.
I must admit it's not 100% as on the real aircraft but it's way better than the kit part. And in the end it will be just visible through a 5mm gap.
Added some extra wiring, plumbing, rivets and the fuel filter.
Basic colors painted
And finished it up with a wash to give it that weathered look. Kitchen foil was used for the thermal protection.
Once that was done I could begin working on the wheelbay set from Aires. The biggest concern I had was that it wouldn't fit well with the Fisher nose section.
The aft wheel wells are no problem at all cause the nose doen't go back that far in the fuselage. The front well has some more issues. But luckely they are again solved pritty easely. On the underside of the resin nose Fisher has molded the inside of the front wheel well and its at the same position as of you were building the kit OOB. So you can just use the Aires instructions onto the Fisher part, which tell you to remove the molded detail on the intake.
Thats gone!
Once the details are remove the Aires well fits like a glove.
Thats it for now, next up will be the wheelbays.
Greetz
Rick