When you’re out of Crusader’s, you’re out of fighters ! Once the hottest thing flying of the carrier deck in the 50’s & 60’s, by the 70’s, the F-4 had largely taken over its role, with the F-8’s relegated to the 27Charlie class carriers, which were to small to operate the F-4.

This is the first sheet in the 4 sheet (so far) Colorful Crusader series. The instruction sheet is in full color, & the decals are on two sheets. All three aircraft are in the gloss gull gray over white scheme all the fighter versions wore during their service life. Enough common markings are provided to do 2 aircraft. The left fuselage national insignia is a 4 piece decal, since it goes over the refuel probe door, with a top & bottom, split along the door opening, & two red stripes. The other national insignia are 3 piece decals. Four ejection seat triangles are provided, along with 2 different styles of intake warning triangles (one style incorporates a red stripe for the intake lip). No maintenance stenciling is provided, nor do the instruction show any, so check your references

Also included in this set is a resin vertical fin tip with the long ECM fairing fitted to the F-8 late in its service life. All three aircraft require the long fairing, so you have a choice to make.

The first a/c is the skipper’s F-8J from VF-24 "Fighting Checkertails", the second highest MiG killing F-8 squadron, with four kills. Markings are standard for the type & time period (1972). Special markings are the cartoon pirate dog below the canopy, & a red pirate sword with the C.O.’s name on it directly below the canopy rails. I have seen photos of variations of this cartoon pirate dog on other VF-24 a/c during the same period.

The second offering is the CAG’s F-8J from VF-194 "Red Lightnings". This a/c has a Bicentennial marking on the tail. Notice that the ECM faring on the tail is shorter, having a blunt end instead of the pointy end. Also notice that the rudder is painted the same gull gray as the rest of the tail, and not white. The instructions incorrectly state the name of the squadron as "Satan’s Kittens", which was VF-191’s name, so do not use decal # 24 on the wing bulkhead. Save it for decal sheet 48-450 (pt. 4 of this decal series), which has a VF-191 a/c on it.

The final a/c is the CAG’s F-8H from VF-201 "Hunters ", one of the four naval reserve fighter units. Co-located at NAS Dallas with VF-202, this unit was located right across the runway from the Vought Aircraft factory, where all the F-8s were built. It has a spectacular multicolored fin flash as its CAG marking. The squadron badge at the base of the rudder comes as a one piece, or two piece decal, with the option left up to the modeler. One note about accuracy. The Monogram kit builds into a correct F-8H from the radome back, if you use the enclosed resin fin tip. The radome is only correct for the E & J models. The radome in the Cobra backdate set is also incorrect. Having said that, I don’t know how many modelers care about such a fine detail. I believe the main purpose of this hobby is to have fun ! If you must have the most accurate radome out there, the one included in the C&H Aero Miniatures RF-8A/G conversion is by far the most correct.

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