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Dan DeSilva
72 articles

Hasegawa 1/72 F9F-8 Cougar

January 11, 2022 · in Aviation · · 17 · 1.7K

Hi all,

Years ago, I carefully sought out kits of all the Blue Angels Display aircraft, which led to also looking for 1/72 transport aircraft, then I went on to 1/48...you get the idea. Well, in my focus of getting the 1/72 kits, I also got some extras to build as in-service machines. Somehow, I got an extra to convert into an -8T- after getting one as part of the 1/72 Blue Angels set. I held on to the extra one in the Blue Angels stash, even after I sold off all the 1/72 NAVAIR kits, "Braille Scale" is a good nick name for 1/72- I have switched mostly to 1/48!

After looking over my 1/48 Cougar kits, I was checking the Blue Angel stash, and noticed this one. As I was painting one of the 1/48's as a White/Orange F9F-8P, I decided to throw this in the mix to take advantage of the paint session!

One of the weaknesses of the 1/72 Hasegawa kit, is the shape of the drop tanks, so I built one out of 1/72 spares, using the KittyHawk 1/48 kit parts and actual photos to help get the shape right. I cast some extras to outfit the 1/72 Blue Angels F9F-8T that I will build eventually. I used Testors Chevrolet Engine Red as the trainer orange, and Tamiya gloss White for the white. The kit and decals had waited for years to be used, so I had to gently scrape the paper backing off the decals with a brush after soaking them for ages in warm water, but was able to use all of them. I had to double up on the upper wing insignia (had extra from the other two kits). I really enjoyed finally building it, even though I have few 1/72 kits these days!

Reader reactions:
9  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


17 responses

  1. What a beauty. Very nice to look at . Panthers mature into cougars..
    I wanted to ask how ones scrapes the back off the decals. Is that a back way to recover old ones instead of using liquid decal ?
    I tend to buy older kits which begs this question more often than not.
    Thank you .

    • Thanks for the kind comment! I should have photographed what I had to do, as some others have asked the same thing. I am thinking to take some other decals from the same sheet, and photograph the process adding it to this, or doing a separate post. I am a bit tight for time now because I am back teaching a new term, but I will try.

  2. A real eye catcher, Dan @danfrombermuda
    Interested in your scraping technique as well regarding the old decals.

  3. That Cougar's looking mighty fine. Nice work Dan.

  4. Great result out of this oldie, Dan!

  5. Not an easy scheme to paint...you managed it perfectly.
    Great looking Cougar

  6. Paintwork looks great. I have this kit in the stash...one day!

    • Thanks Greg! A bit of advice- replace the oleo on the front strut early on with a wire! I should have- will probably do it soon, if not the front wheel will probably snap off soon!

  7. Very nice, beautifully done.

  8. Very very nice job!

  9. @danfrombermuda this is such a beautiful build - really really think it is world class - a beautiful plane, in beautiful colours and built and painted beautifully.

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