F-8S "Super Crusader" - Ultimate USN Dogfighter

HarryPhishnuts · April 09, 2025, 12:40:49 PM

Ok I've used my 3D printer to print out some parts here and there but this is awesome.

Spino · April 09, 2025, 07:38:26 PM

Yeah my M.O. is becoming something like "if I can't buy it, I'll print it!".

Speaking of printing, I've got some decal paper and clear-coat, so this build may get custom decals. I'm also probably going to have to re-print the nose section - it's a bit too wide for the F-8 canopy. I suspect the cross-section of the XF8U-3 is tapered a bit more near the top rear of the cockpit, but I should be able to sort that out.

Spino · April 14, 2025, 03:20:32 PM

Well the wings finally finished. Nose still needs to be either re-printed or modified so that the canopy will fit. But this is the basic look (and no, the wings are not going to stay black).

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Dizzyfugu · April 15, 2025, 12:28:53 AM

Elegant!

PR19_Kit · April 15, 2025, 01:37:35 AM

Very sharp looking, figuratively and literally too!

Wardukw · April 15, 2025, 01:52:48 AM

That's looking so sleak it could slice butter and not leave a mark

NARSES2 · April 15, 2025, 05:19:05 AM

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on April 15, 2025, 12:28:53 AMElegant!

It is

Spino · April 15, 2025, 07:28:24 AM

I was honestly worried that it would look a little fat compared to the regular F-8, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Makes sense it would be pretty sleek, being a Mach 2.35 airplane. Once I get that nose fixed it'll be time to fill in the gaps and start painting. The gun fairing position I currently have makes absolutely no sense, it's way too close to the starboard upper AIM-7 trough. Didn't really want the gun on the left side, but it looks like that's what I'm stuck with from an internal arrangement perspective. Ah well, that's where it is on the Tomcat. I'm also going to have to figure out how to print the Y-pylons. Those have very specific geometry and may be hard to get right. The good news is that thanks to computers and geometry, all I have to do is get one side right and then I can mirror it to get the other one.

It turns out the Crusader III is not actually all that much bigger than the F-8E, just three feet longer. The internal volume of the fuselage is presumably greater to keep that big hungry J-75 engine fed, and house the electronics for the AIM-7s, but presumably Vought was going for the same "smallest and lightest airplane around the biggest engine we can get" approach that they took with the original Crusader.

Dizzyfugu · April 16, 2025, 01:12:50 AM

IIRC, one of the original F8U designs had a 20 mm gun in the lower intake lip, and one on each flank of the duct. Not certain if that's an option with the different sugar scoop arrangement, though.

perttime · April 16, 2025, 01:32:38 AM

Earlier on, you mentioned putting a Vulcan gun on it. I guess that would take some space.

Spino · April 16, 2025, 07:55:37 AM

Quote from: perttime on April 16, 2025, 01:32:38 AMEarlier on, you mentioned putting a Vulcan gun on it. I guess that would take some space.

Yeah the A-7s eventually went to Vulcans, I figure this probably would too. I'm presuming that this is the third letter designation for the Crusader III, so starting at F-8F, then F-8M, then F-8S or something like that, so I figure by that point they probably would have been considering a Vulcan instead of the Mk-12s given all the issues those seem to have had.