Vought F-8E Crusader
VMF(AW)235 "Death Angels"
Eduard (ED11110)
1:48

For some time now Eduard have been reboxing Hasegawa kits, adding a bunch of resin & photo-etch goodies and marketing them as 'Limited Edition'. They come at a premium price and for the most part I personally have not been tempted by these kits, mainly because I had the original Hasegawa releases with heaps of addons already. When the F-8E Crusader boxing came along I paid attention as I have always liked the Crusader and figured that doing a build & review would be a great way to motivate me to finally get one finished.

I was immediately attracted to the heavily worn and bombed up finish of the Da Nang based US Marine F-8E's and given the Furball decal sheet that Eduard includes in the box includes a VMF(AW)235 'Death Angels' option I had my plan. Along the way I used a bunch of extra addons (like an Aerobonus Pilot, some Eduard Mk.82's etc) above and beyond what was included and I took the opportunity to stretch myself by trying out many new weathering techniques.

The Hasegawa kit has always built into a very convincing model of the 'Last of the Gunfighters' and for those of you have never picked one up the Eduard boxing maybe a good option. In my opinion it has enough extra's to justify the 'Limited Edition' asking price and will probably remain the best option in 1:48 for some time to come.