The Last Gunfighter

Historical Background

In September 1952, the United States Navy announced a requirement for a new fighter. It was to have a top speed of Mach 1.2 at 30,000 ft with a climb rate of 25,000 ft/min, and a landing speed of no more than 100 mph. Korean War experience had shown that 12.7mm machine guns were too light for arming fighters and in its place, 20mm cannon was specified. The Vought design team came up with the V-383 design. The most innovative aspect of the design was the variable-incidence wing which pivoted by 7° out of the fuselage on takeoff and landing. This gave increased lift due to a greater angle of attack without compromising forward visibility because the fuselage stayed level. Power came from the Pratt & Whitney J57 afterburning turbojet. The armament, as specified by the Navy, consisted primarily of four 20 mm autocannons. They were supplemented with a retractable tray with 32 unguided Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket ("Mighty Mouse" FFARs), and cheek pylons for two (later, four) AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

Competition came from Grumman's F-11F Tiger, the upgraded twin-engine McDonnell F3H Demon (which would eventually become the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II), and North American's modified F-100 Super Sabre dubbed the "Super Fury". In May 1953, the Vought design was declared the winner and in June, Vought received an order for three XF8U-1 prototypes (after adoption of the unified designation system in September 1962, the F8U became the F-8). The first prototype flew on 25 March 1955 and exceeded the speed of sound during its maiden flight. The development was so trouble-free that the second prototype, along with the first production F8U-1, flew on the same day, 30 September 1955. On 4 April 1956, the F8U-1 performed its first catapult launch from USS Forrestal. Crusaders went into squadron service with VF-32 Swordsmen in 1957. Since the Crusader happened to be the last U.S. fighter designed with guns as its primary weapon at that time, it was nicknamed 'The Last Gunfighter'. The fighter community also came up with the slogan 'When You're Out Of F-8s, You're Out Of Fighters' (which was later adopted by Vought) as a dig to the gunless F-4 Phantom.

The F-8 was in the thick of the fighting in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968 (plus a lesser role from 1969 to 1973); the Navy's Crusaders flew from the smaller Essex-class carriers whilst the Marine Corps flew theirs from land bases. All deployed Crusaders flew air-to-air and and ground attack missions. The F-8 shot down 19 enemy planes and lost 3 in aerial duels over North Vietnam. Despite the 'Last Gunfighter' moniker, only four of the kills were made with the cannon. This was mainly due to tendency for the cannons to jam in high-g maneuverings. Despite having the best kill-loss ratio, the Crusader was actually ranked third, behind the 'bomber' F-105 in overall kills. The F-8E (originally designated F8U-2NE), introduced in 1961, was equipped with a larger APQ-94 radar, IR seeker and ground-attack capability. 296 were built.

The Kit

Modelers around the world eagerly anticipated the release of Academy's F-8 a number years back; I was one of them. I unhesitatingly bought one when it was available at Miniature Hobbies (then at SS14 PJ). The kit is well-moulded although a number of parts were marred by ejector-pin marks. For those who want to show the Crusader's unique variable-incidence wing, Academy allows the wing to be posed in the raised position. The cockpit is nicely done with good (but not great) ejection seat. Unlike Hasegawa kits, Academy includes a decent weapons options: four AIM-9 Sidewinders, four Zuni 5-inch twin rocket tubes and eight 500-lb Mk 82 Snakeyes plus the related single and twin launch rails for the Sidewinders and Zunis and MERs for the Snakeyes. Also included is a pair of Matra R.550 Magic AAMs, indicating a future F-8E(FN) release (since released as an F-8P). Markings are provided for two machines : VMF(AW)-333 'Fighting Shamrocks', MCAS Yuma, March 1967 and VMF(AW)-232 'Red Devils', NAS North Island, November 1967. The decals are nicely printed but having built a number of Academy kits before, I was quite wary of their usefulness. 

Construction

The cockpit was painted Gunze H317 and details in Flat Black. Decals were applied to the instrument panel and side consoles. The seat was assembled and it looks quite good OOB, except the faceblind ejection handle is overscale and best replaced with wire. I painted the intake trunk halves white and then mated them carefully to avoid seams which would be next to impossible to sand. The main landing gear bay parts were assembled and painted. The sub-assemblies were then glued to one side of the fuselage halves, but before that, holes were drilled where needed.  The wing parts were then glued; I chose to pose the wing in its neutral position. As for the airbrake parts, I glued them in the closed position. The air scoops for the afterburner were attached and the exhaust was painted Burnt Iron before being inserted into the exhaust shroud. The rest of the parts (landing gears and their doors, stabilitators, canopy, windshield and ordnance) were left off, painted separately and attached later.

Painting and Decaling

As this was a 1960s US Marine aircraft, it was painted using Gunze H51 Light Gull Gray and White. Gunze 61 Burnt Iron was used to paint the exhaust shroud and the radome was painted with Tamiya XF69 NATO Black. The wheel wells were painted XF2 Flat White.

For the markings, I chose the VMF(AW)-333 option - an out of character option I might add. When modeling military aircraft, I usually choose markings for 'war veterans' - aircraft in which markings that have fired shots in anger. In this case, both VMF(AW)-232 and -333 served in Vietnam but the latter's tour in Vietnam was done with Phantoms. However the green shamrock motif on the tail was pleasing to my eyes, so it won over VMF(AW)-232's 'Red Devil' markings. And as I feared, the decals were hard to fix in place but nevertheless I managed to get them all done. To Academy's credit, they provided decals for sealant tapes usually placed on the edge of the cockpit transparencies - both on its own and with the black anti-glare panel (which I use). But because of the un-stickability of the decals, part them were torn off as I handled the model and had to be replaced with the spare decal and black paint. 

Finishing

The remaining parts were then glued to the model with the nose probe, the IR seeker on the nose and some lights being the most vulnerable to the Carpet Monster. As for weapons, I armed my Crusader with air-to-ground load : Snakeyes on the wing pylons and Zunis on the cheek 'Y' pylons. Finally I attached the canopy and voila! The Crusader is completed...or so I thought. When I took the photos, I realised that I forgot to attach the panel (or whatever it is called) at the rear of the canopy! By that time however, the sprues were somehere at the local dump site. Arghhhhh!!!

Conclusion

Academy's release of a 1/72 F-8 was eagerly awaited by modelers and they duly obliged with one of the nicest model kits in 1/72. Shame about the decals though although I believe there are a number of aftermarkets sets available. Academy have also reboxed this kit as F-8J US Navy and F-8E 'VF-111 Sundowners' with waaay better decals from Cartograf.