Golden Oldies

Do you recognise this one? The long vanished Esci produced this kit back in the seventies. In those days, Esci kits were quite well thought of. I daresay this 1/48 F8 Crusader was state of the art.


Today, this has been overtaken by the Hasegawa F8. It's a gem, but it is £30. I bought this kit last year, for old time's sake, I suppose. The cockpit is bare, the ejector seat is hopeless and of course it has raised panel lines. But the basic shape is good.

I have loads of references on the F8, so I decided on some surgery. This was centred entirely on the wings, to drop the flaps and slats and incline the wing incidence. Also, I found an old resin ejector seat and some photo etched cockpit parts. As you can see it has the makings of a real project.