Hasegawa 1/72 F9F-8 Cougar
Hi all,
Years ago, I carefully sought out 1/72 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 Cougar to convert into an F9F-8T- after getting one as part of the Hasegawa 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!
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.
A real eye catcher, Dan @danfrombermuda
Interested in your scraping technique as well regarding the old decals.
Hi John, Thanks very much! I will be trying to post something detailing what I did about the decals, check the post above to Bernard.
That Cougar's looking mighty fine. Nice work Dan.
Thanks Jim- really appreciate the comment.
Great result out of this oldie, Dan!
Thanks again Spiros!
Not an easy scheme to paint...you managed it perfectly.
Great looking Cougar
Almost needed a big magnifying glass! Thanks very much for the comment!
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!
Very nice, beautifully done.
Thanks Robert!
Very very nice job!
Much appreciated Aaron!
@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.