Colorful Crusaders

Part Six

 

AeroMaster Decals
 

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Aeromaster's 1/48 scale Colorful Crusaders Part Six is available online from Squadron.com

Here are some other F-8 Crusaders from AeroMaster and the title is certainly descriptive of the contents of the sheet – Colourful!

This sheet is the second of the two recently released sheets by AeroMaster covering the Crusader. This time it provides markings for two F-8s, one from the Atlantic fleet and the other a United States Marine Corps (USMC) aircraft.

First is the USMC bird:

F-8E Bureau number 150852 as flown by a Captain Corbett of VMFA-33 “Fighting Shamrocks”. Finish is gull grey and white with a black radome and fin cap as well as a (burnt) natural metal exhaust. Markings consist of:

• Green and white band on the vertical stabilizer with VMFA-33’s green shamrocks over the white band.

• Black DN airwing identifier and Bureau number on the vertical stabilizer.

• Black 7 modex for the nose and rudder.

• Black MARINES titles, squadron titles and Bureau number block for the rear fuselage.

• Pilot’s name in black (stencil-style) for the canopy rail.

Next is F-8U2NE (A decal review is not the place to try to explain the designations applied to the Crusader. The best and most easily understood reference for this would have to be the Squadron/Signal F-8 Crusader In Action book) Bureau number 149191 of VF-33 “Tarsiers” depicted when she was aboard the USS Enterprise. Finish is also gull grey and white with a black radome and fin cap. The markings are pretty much consistent with the time period:

• Black AF airwing identifier and “last four” of the Bureau number for the fin. There is further AF for the top of the right wing. The guys at AeroMaster were not sure that this was applied to the real aircraft so have provided it as an option.

• Black USS ENTERPRISE, NAVY titles, squadron titles and Bureau number block for the fuselage.

• Black 210 modex for the nose and wing top with an abbreviated 10s for the vertical stabilizer and the ventral strakes

VF-33’s squadron applied markings were comprehensive to say the least! They consisted of yellow lightning bolts edged in black for the fuselage sides with smaller ones for the ventral strakes as well as a yellow painted rudder with six black stars. The wing tips also carried the yellow and black treatment with solid black lightning bolts on a yellow background. The good news is that all of these markings are supplied as single-piece decals.

The decals have been printed by Cartograf in Italy. They are sharp, clearly printed and in perfect register. The decal placement guide is printed in full colour on both sides of an A-4 sized sheet. The placement guide gives a list of suggested references as well as advising you that you need to remove the ECM fairing from the Vertical stabilizer. The decal sheet and placement guide are packed AeroMaster style in a clear plastic zip-loc bag.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The suggested kit is the Revell/Monogram one. I have dry fitted the decals against a Monogram kit that have in my stash and the critical one – the rudder decal fitted perfectly.

There is one set of national insignia provided on this sheet. The one for the left hand side of the fuselage is supplied in two pieces to allow you to place the top half of it over the open in-flight re-fuelling door if you opt to model it in the open position. Stencil data is minimal with only the larger items being supplied.

A nice sheet from AeroMaster! Recommended