F-8S "Super Crusader"

[Spino]

If I'm going to do this with HOBS missiles, the pilot will need a VTAS helmet-mounted sight.  Probably going to have to design that myself.  I've got a pilot model that I've been using for some of my modern builds (he's wearing a Scorpion HMS or something like it), but that's probably not going to pass here.  Something more like this is probably in order:

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[jcf]

I was thinking of coming in for a landing and having the fin fail to fold. That would probably wreck half an aircraft.

You increase stability in yaw by enlarging the vertical stabilizer, stabilizer and rudder or adding more vertical surfaces. In the case of the F8U-3 (just a "derivative" doncha know) Vought added the folding ventral fin. The only other option was greatly enlarged vertical surfaces, which wouldn't have been a great choice for a carrier based aircraft.
Hmm, the "Fin Mk.1"?

The need for more vertical area for
stability in yaw is why you often see ventral fins added to landbased aircraft that have been put on floats. Aircraft that have been built from the start to be convertible have the needed area included from the beginning. The neatest conversion from land to float is probably the A6M2-N, when Nakajima designed it they added the necessary area with an enlarged fin and rudder that blended almost seamlessly into the Zero. So cleanly that some model companies missed the differences.

[Spino]

Got the fuselage sections printed and glued together.  Unfortunately my 3D printer isn't the greatest, so this is definitely going to need some PSR, but I'll sort that out.

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[Spino]

I was thinking of coming in for a landing and having the fin fail to fold. That would probably wreck half an aircraft.

You increase stability in yaw by enlarging the vertical stabilizer, stabilizer and rudder or adding more vertical surfaces. In the case of the F8U-3 (just a "derivative" doncha know) Vought added the folding ventral fin. The only other option was greatly enlarged vertical surfaces, which wouldn't have been a great choice for a carrier based aircraft.
Hmm, the "Fin Mk.1"?

The need for more vertical area for
stability in yaw is why you often see ventral fins added to landbased aircraft that have been put on floats. Aircraft that have been built from the start to be convertible have the needed area included from the beginning. The neatest conversion from land to float is probably the A6M2-N, when Nakajima designed it they added the necessary area with an enlarged fin and rudder that blended almost seamlessly into the Zero. So cleanly that some model companies missed the differences.

The reason for that had something to do with stability at high speeds as I recall.  Apparently the Crusader III's profile was considered unstable in the Mach 2+ range or something like that.  I'm gonna probably just pretend the Navy realized that while being able to do Mach 2.35 is nice, in the real world it wouldn't be operating at speeds that high, so the folding ventral fins were removed in later versions of the design.

[Spino]

I did a quick and dirty model of a pilot with the VTAS helmet sight, any imperfections will be less noticeable when it's printed.

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[Captain Canada]

Wow. This is gonna be so cool ! Love the Crusader. Never seen that pic before of the low viz R jobs. Just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing that ! Looking forward to seeing more of this build.

[frank2056]

What software are you using to make the pilot figure?

[Spino]

What software are you using to make the pilot figure?

I took an existing pilot model and imported it into blender.  Then I made modifications to the helmet.

[Spino]

Most of those twin tails are on twin engine aircraft. The F-35 is the only current twin tail single engine type.

Not quite true, there is the T-7 Redhawk (though it's in development currently).