CVW-16 Crusaders double build: RF-8G with F-8E escort
BuNo. 146871. This jet survived flights over Cuba and Vietnam, including some over very hostile territory. It was flown by some noteworthy RF-8 pilots, including William Ecker, Andre Coltrin, and Tom Tucker. Remarkably it survived great battle damage, serving into the 70s when it met its fate in an accident.
One of the F-8Es assigned to VF-111 during the 1966 USS Oriskany cruise. I find photos of F-8Es in Sundowner livery are not as common as F-8Cs, maybe because not as many were assigned to VF-111. This is the aircraft that can be built straight out of the Academy box.
An example of RF-8Gs assigned to CVW-16 during 1966. They had the blended "AH" that VF-111 also wore on the tail, which was an uncommon practice for recce attachments, who almost always had their own tail code. These RF-8s also had no distinctive unit livery at the time--nothing on the strakes, tail, fuselage, nothing.
A view of 146874, another Det G RF-8. I cannot find any photos of the upper starboard wing, which is where they often had codes. CVW-16 F-8s from VF-162 and VF-111 however did not carry them on this cruise, so I can probably omit the wing AH code for the RF-8 as well.
Originally I planned to use the Academy decals for the VF-111 jet, but I have an issue with the red wingtip decals that come with the kit--they're way too wide looking. In every picture I see of VF-111 F-8s, the wingtips are much more narrow. So Furball decals it is.
Kind of a nitpick but it just doesn’t look right to me being that wide, and the red color is too bright, probably because it was printed the same shade as the Marines jet. Also, the blended "AH" tail code is really “thin” and doesn’t look right either. Fortunately I now have two Furball sheets with the AH so both planes codes can look the same next to each other.
The VF-111 pilot has his flashy sunset helmet design and army camo uniform, while the RF-8 pilot has a tan uniform and plain helmet, like how his aircraft will be painted
The pilots who I chose to depict in this build, Lt. Andre Coltrin (left) and LCDR Dick Schaffert. Coltrin and Schaffert flew many hazardous missions together. Said Schaffert, he had “chased Andre across the Thanh Hoa Bridge and uptown Haiphong more times than I care to remember.”
I repainted Schaffert’s helmet—I like it much better now
The fuselage section of the RF-8’s wing is substantially different
The forward fuselage is much larger and differently shaped, extending to the variable incidence wing
After a lot of fussing with the pilots, the seats and cockpit tubs are assembled. I added some Eduard ejection seat handles and installed the control sticks, properly gripped
Comments
39 26 February, 14:43
RandoBeen cooking up this idea since I got the 1/72 RF-8. My original plan was to build the plane in the cover of the Osprey RF-8 book, flown by Lt Andre Coltrin over Vietnam. With a little help from a 1/72 version of the Furball MiG Master sheet, I will rearrange the nose and tail numbers to make BuNo 146871 as it flew in Vietnam during its 1966 cruise off the USS Oriskany.
I also found an Academy F-8E, which has decals for a VF-111 jet that flew on the same cruise, so decided I will build it as the RF-8's escort, which they often had during their photo runs. I also figured, why not build them together? They will be displayed in flight.
26 February, 22:47
RandoGood to have you gents, looking to start this one soon! I like researching and adding reference photos, so I just added some in the meantime.
29 March, 13:32
Jos JansenNormally I don't follow 1:72 scale models...for this one I'll make an exception...😅😉, grab myself a seat here! Love those Crusaders...
23 April, 12:53
Patrick HagelsteinGot intrigued by Rando's comment on Jos' build, so I popped over here. Looks like a very interesting build as well!
23 April, 13:10
RandoHappy to have you gents here, I'll be getting to this one just as soon as my elaborate P-51 build is done...
24 April, 14:14
RandoHere we go, double Crusader build. Gonna be comparing the short-run Sword RF-8 with Academy's F-8, which has been the go-to in 1/72. I have extra Academy kits so I'm swapping out the RF-8 kit's nice resin seat, I'll use it for a future open canopy build. The pilots will be obscuring seat detail in a closed canopy anyway.
15 May, 03:54
RandoWelcome David!
I assembled the PJ pilots and started nipping off parts to assemble the fuselage. Getting the pilots to fit in their seats is tricky so far. Fit on the Academy kit parts is pretty nice. Sword kit is not as easy since there's no locator pins but they align well
19 May, 04:25
RandoPilots are fully painted now. The F-8E pilot is based on Dick Schaffert, who was a pilot on this 1966 cruise. While I don't know of any specific plane he flew, F-8 pilots often flew jets that were assigned to others, so he's flying 149180 on this escort mission. In order to accommodate them, I had to remove the rudder pedals and front of the cockpit tub on the F-8E. It won't really be visible when the cockpit is buttoned up anyway.
27 May, 14:17
RandoI didn't like how the Sundowner helmet turned out so I stripped the paint and airbrushed it this time with tiny wedges of tape, then shaped and touched up everything. Just need to add a black stripe for the visor groove.
29 May, 03:49
RandoThanks and glad to have you J35J! Pilots, seats, ejection handles, and joysticks are all in place. Time soon to start putting the jets together.
31 May, 04:40
