The Duke Finishes Two Navy Aircraft

[Duke Maddog]

After a couple days of bench time I managed to get these two aircraft finished up.

This first one is the ancient ESCI 1/72 scale F-8H Crusader. This took me some time with all the fit issues it has. The canopy in particular is tough to get right:






Next is my effort in honoring Hippy Ed's memory with this Hippy Ed Tribute Build of the 1/72 scale Trumpeter RA-5C Vigilante done up in Hoot Owl's squadron markings. This was a good model, yet it still had a few fit issues as well. I am thrilled to have this in my Naval Air Force collection now:






That's all I have for now. With these done, I've managed to finish seven models before February. Cool! I do enjoy getting boxes cleared away by getting the models inside of them built.

Okay, thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

[Stikpusher]

That's a nice pair of Navy jets there Mark. Just curious, but on the F-8, are those kit decals or something from your decal stash?

[BlackSheep214]

Well done, Duke! I really dig the white tail on the Vigilante. What squadron did it belong to?

[KSaarni]

Great couple, i really like the Vigilante, have a very beautiful shape !

- Kari

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks guys for the great replies; my apologies for taking so long to answer. I missed this notification earlier.

Carlos, those decals were kit decals on the F-8. I had to coat them with Micro Scale's Liquid Decal Finish and yet I still had a few very minor issues with them. Still, they went on well enough.

Blacksheep, the Vigilante was from the Recon Attack Squadron nine; Hoot Owls. I did this as a tribute build to a fellow modeler who passed away recently. This modeler's uncle died on a mission while flying one of these over the 'Nam in '66.

Thanks Kari, that Vigi does look like she's going fast even while sitting still.

[Stikpusher]

Ok, I suspect that the company boned up on those markings for that kit. I believe those markings should be on a recon RF-8 and not a fighter F-8. But that is not on you my friend. It still looks good.

[BorgR3mc0]

Seven finshed models already? I am still waiting for it to stop freezing so I can do some airbrushing.

[Duke Maddog]

Ok, I suspect that the company boned up on those markings for that kit. I believe those markings should be on a recon RF-8 and not a fighter F-8. But that is not on you my friend. It still looks good.

Good to know. There was nothing in the instructions to indicate they were for a recon bird. I wanted to use the sharkmouth on it so that was the scheme I used. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Maybe I'll slap a recon pod under the fuselage or something later on.

Seven finished models already? I am still waiting for it to stop freezing so I can do some airbrushing.

Actually eight. I also finished up a sport fishing boat just before these. Right now it is close to freezing here so I might not get to airbrush some models today myself!

Thanks for posting here guys! I appreciate all the comments and assistance.

[Stikpusher]

Ok, I suspect that the company boned up on those markings for that kit. I believe those markings should be on a recon RF-8 and not a fighter F-8. But that is not on you my friend. It still looks good.

Good to know. There was nothing in the instructions to indicate they were for a recon bird. I wanted to use the sharkmouth on it so that was the scheme I used. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Maybe I'll slap a recon pod under the fuselage or something later on.

The PP tail codes caught my eye. Those are usually reserved for recon birds, IIRC. The squadron code, VFP, are also a recon identifier. Rex probably has far better knowledge of this, but Navy recon squadrons only have camera birds, and send out small detachments to the various air wings. Those wings have the squadrons with the standard fighters. The RF-8 had no armament. It was designed with cameras in place of the guns, and I don't believe it had wiring or hard points for the Sidewinder rails either. I do not know of any recon pods used by the Navy until the TARPS pod came along in the 80's to give the F-14 a recon capability as the RF-8s and RA-5s reached the end of their service life and were phased out. The F/A-18 has a set up for recon where the gun is removed and a sensor suite can be dropped into its place. That set up can also be removed and the gun re installed at the unit level.

[Gary Brantley]

Two fine birds! Very well done Duke.