Last Of The Gunfighters

[Paips]

Great job, one of my fav planes lookin forward.

[Nige201980]

Stunning work mate love what your doing to her.

[AlkaSeltzer]

Great call on the missile ends! Can't wait to see it all come together

[snappercity]

Great work so far. She is a beast.

[chief5437]

Hi guys, another update on the crusader. Again thanks so much for your comments

I noticed there is no 'gun sight' provided in the kit, so I knocked one up from spare parts.



Then I had some fun with ejection marks on the panels!



I gave the fuselage a coat of primer, which showed a couple of spots that needed more work



Once that was sorted, I made a start on the exhaust. Started with a silver base...



Followed by some titanium gold streaks...



Added some metallic brown streaks...



Then a light oil wash with blue...



Finally, a misting of alclad burnt iron to blend...



It doesn't look quite so stark in real life, it actually looks quite good, honest!

That last section of the jet is a paint jar lid I've stuck on to mask off the inside of the jet, btw, lol!

Then I moved onto the wings, sprayed grey with a lighter shade to add interest to some panels.



Next I had a look at the rear stabs. The black decal is supposed to fit between the first and last panel line. As you can see, it's the wrong size!



So I masked it off and painted it instead, much better!



Front canopy has been masked and sprayed. But the mask set doesn't come with masks for the yellow sealant part. I've had this provided on 1/48 kits, so I don't know why they can't do it for 1/32?! Anyway, I masked the sealant lines off myself.



Fingers crossed!!!



Nose painted and masked. Also the underside painted and masked. Ready for the grey upper now.
I did fit the metal pitot tube, but after knocking it off for the third time, I decided to leave it til later. Just hope I can get a seamless fit!



That's where I'm at for now, no real problems so far, still enjoying the build!

Thanks for looking guys, much appreciated

[SyntaxModels]

Hi guys, another update on the crusader. Again thanks so much for your comments

I noticed there is no 'gun sight' provided in the kit, so I knocked one up from spare parts.



Then I had some fun with ejection marks on the panels!



I gave the fuselage a coat of primer, which showed a couple of spots that needed more work



Once that was sorted, I made a start on the exhaust. Started with a silver base...



Followed by some titanium gold streaks...



Added some metallic brown streaks...



Then a light oil wash with blue...



Finally, a misting of alclad burnt iron to blend...



It doesn't look quite so stark in real life, it actually looks quite good, honest!

That last section of the jet is a paint jar lid I've stuck on to mask off the inside of the jet, btw, lol!

Then I moved onto the wings, sprayed grey with a lighter shade to add interest to some panels.



Next I had a look at the rear stabs. The black decal is supposed to fit between the first and last panel line. As you can see, it's the wrong size!



So I masked it off and painted it instead, much better!



Front canopy has been masked and sprayed. But the mask set doesn't come with masks for the yellow sealant part. I've had this provided on 1/48 kits, so I don't know why they can't do it for 1/32?! Anyway, I masked the sealant lines off myself.



Fingers crossed!!!



Nose painted and masked. Also the underside painted and masked. Ready for the grey upper now.
I did fit the metal pitot tube, but after knocking it off for the third time, I decided to leave it til later. Just hope I can get a seamless fit!



That's where I'm at for now, no real problems so far, still enjoying the build!

Thanks for looking guys, much appreciated

You impress me every time cheif! I'm so jealous of your skills! Keep it up!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Great painting work going on there !

[rwsmith14]

She's coming along Great ! Wings look Excellent love the detail. The black stripe look good Painted. Exhaust looks great !! I'm just about to the painting stage on my A-4. I'm really liking the Trumpeter kit. It has been a real joy to build looks like the F-8 Kit is about the same way.

[UKguyInUSA]

Great work on her so far Leo...the paint job looks fabulous, looking forward to your next update!

[Nige201980]

She is really coming together mate looking stunning

[SyntaxModels]

Great work on her so far Leo...the paint job looks fabulous, looking forward to your next update!

Err ummm, is that a mistake or is cheif's name Leo? I don't know 0.o.

[snappercity]

Looking forward to seeing this finished.

[chief5437]

Great work on her so far Leo...the paint job looks fabulous, looking forward to your next update!

Err ummm, is that a mistake or is cheif's name Leo? I don't know 0.o.

Lol! Chiefs name is Chief, ha! Although I have been called a beast in the past, lol!

[chief5437]

Thanks for the comments guys

[SyntaxModels]

Great work on her so far Leo...the paint job looks fabulous, looking forward to your next update!

Err ummm, is that a mistake or is cheif's name Leo? I don't know 0.o.

Lol! Chiefs name is Chief, ha! Although I have been called a beast in the past, lol!

Heh, I suppose that makes sense

[felisbarcinonensis]

Looks fantastic Chief. Love those metal effects

[Loopyduck]

Awesome work on the exhaust. This is going to look awesome when it's all done.

[chief5437]

Been a while since I updated this build, but I've been steadily making progress!

Had a few more decal complications! Firstly, the decal below is way too big and also the wrong colour!



So I decided to paint it instead, which leads on to the next problem decal....



You can see the rudder decal (11a) is out of register where the stars are. So chose to paint these as well.

First I sprayed and masked the yellow bar at the top of the tail. Then masked off the rudder. While doing this I also masked the walkways on the rear fuselage.



Disaster!!! This is when I remembered that I hadn't put a clear coat over the Bu No decal!



Have to sort that out later

After thinking long and hard (fnarr) about how I was going to get the black background with coloured stars with white borders, I came up with a plan. Started by spraying the rudder white.



Then went to find some star shaped masks..... Change of plan! After searching round all the craft shops in Hull, I couldn't find anything suitable. I needed two sizes of stars, one slightly bigger than the other.

I did come home with these though, so I've made the decision to go without the white border.



Sprayed the rudder with the colours for the stars.



Then stuck the stars in position with a dab of liquid mask



Then sprayed the required areas black.



And this is the outcome. Doesn't look too hot in this light, it's better in reality!
Touched up that decal as well.



Mounted the undercarriage




I added a few hoses from copper wire, yet to be painted here.

Then I started weathering the control surfaces and panels.



I used spare decals on some of the doors to match my refs.

Also started on the weathering by adding some scuffs and worn areas on the white paint.




I did this using a cotton bud and a little white spirit, rubbing away the upper coat of paint. Again, following reference pics as a guide.

And that's where I'm at right now. Not too far from finishing, I hope! I've noticed a few more decals that are missing from the kit, so I'm thinking about solutions at the moment, as they're quite prominent ones!

Still really enjoying this build though, should look pretty cool when it all comes together!
As ever, thanks for looking guys

[DBMiller]

Even with the decal problems this is coming out super! You almost never see anything about the F8 in shows about the Vietnam war yet it was such a hot jet! I love the improvisation with the stick on stars as masks!

[LudvigN]

Is it just me or does that decal "problem" look like some kick-ass weathering? I dont know how it looks in the flesh, but on that picture, it looks very cool

[chief5437]

Is it just me or does that decal "problem" look like some kick-ass weathering? I dont know how it looks in the flesh, but on that picture, it looks very cool

Good point, and I did think about leaving it, but couldn't see any pics of this plane with similar weathering in that location. Easy enough to touch up with a fine tipped ink pen.

[Ozzie21]

Fantastic build Chief. I have the Hasegawa 1/48th one but it's going to need a lot of work.

[SyntaxModels]

Again some amazing content mate! I couldn't see the photo of the finished rudder sadly but I'm sure it's great! . Keep it up, the weathering looks great so far!

[rwsmith14]

Looking good.. Very nice recovery from the decal drama.

[chief5437]

Thanks for the comments guys I've got all the panels on now so I'm calling it done. I'll post the pics in the reveal section.

Thanks for looking

[JayCub]

Chief this is an amazing build log as always, a real masterpiece which would make any modeling magazine a much better read
Tom

[Nige201980]

She is looking sweet mate.

[martin57]

you have made a great job of it. like it lots keep it going .

[chief5437]

Thanks so much guys, much appreciated!