Last fighting Corsairs. El Salvador - Honduras

[Marco1965]

Well the title might be more than the "last fighting" Corsairs, as the project covers more than only the Corsiairs involved in the 1969 conflict. I started recently a project to cover 4 out of at least 6 paint schemes used in salvadoran FG-1Ds Corsairs: 1957 Light Gull Grey delivery scheme, 1957 Dark Sea Blue delivery scheme, 1962 overhauled Corsairs Dark Sea Blue overall scheme, and the poorly documented El Salvador-Honduras July 1969 war wraparound camo scheme (I had already assembled the remaining white acrobatic scheme and the post-war with yellow bands scheme years ago). And as these would be the last salvadoran fighting Corsairs, I had to have their honduran nemesis, the F4U-5NL FAH 609. The first four will be based upon the excellent 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1D kit, and the latter in the Hasegawa F4U-5N 1/48 kit. Eduard PE was used in all Corsairs, plus Obscureco correct late wheel rims, and AIRES MG gunbays in one of them.

1. 1957 Light Gull Grey Delivery Scheme

2. 1957 Dark Sea Blue Delivery Scheme

3. 1962 Overhaul Dark Sea Blue overall scheme

4. El Salvador-Honduras July 1969 scheme, Three tone wraparound

And 5. Honduran F4U-5N FAH 609

Used Eduard photoetched for both the FG-1Ds and F4U-5, checking on available salvadoran and honduran references.

Wings & more wings. One of them will hve folded wings. Position lights were issued with scratch clear parts.

I used AIRES set for the gunbay and 0,50" in one of the salvadoran Corsairs,

The correct armoured glass under the winshield was scratchbuilt for the FG-1Ds (the one provided in the Tamiya kit is for earlier F4U-1 versions).

The correct wheel rims for salvadoran and honduran Corsairs came from Obscureco (Corsair wheels, late style).

Bombs provided in the Hasegawa F4U-5 kit are nice... but wrong for the Honduran Corsair. They represent 1000pd bombs, but hondurans had up to 500pd (and 250 & 100pd) bombs. Thus some Tamiya spareparts 500pd bombs came to the rescue.

And here we are, about to start painting after the primer and preshading... and this is as far as I have come. TBC

Marco

[Les Moore]

Excellent start. I haven't done anything like this in 15 years. It was 5 Fw-190s at once. I was confused more than once during that build. Best of luck..keep up the great work.

[luis pacheco]

Great project.

Looking forward.

[Blitz23]

Looks like a great start, I look forward to seeing them finished.

[Antoine]

What an interesting project!

The pits look beautiful.

Could you explain what you did with the armoured windscreen?

Add a clear panel in front (or behind) the windscreen, right?

[Bob Henry]

WOW !! That's quite an undertaking. Everything looks great so far. Bob H.

[Winenut]

Speechless!

[85sqn]

Wow, I love corsairs and that is a great undertaking!

[Marco1965]

Wow, so much time since last posting! Some advances, but first let me amswer Antoine question about the Armoured Glass. Early Corsairs (F4U-1, the birdcage) had a square armoured glass, which is the one Tamiya kit provides. The square armoured was substututed by an "A" shaped armoured glass from F4U-1A and on. The new scratchbuilt part goes right behind the windscreen. Here a couple reference pictures.

Armoured glass

Armoured glass installed behind windscreen

I finished already one of the 1957 Corsairs, FAS 217. Dark Sea Blue allaround, I finished it using mostly Aztec, Aeromaster and some spare decals (for the wing roundels). This scheme was used in most salvadoran Corsairs since delivery in 1957 until around 1960. FAS 217 became non-operational soon, left to pasture until donated to the Sikorsky Memorial in Stratford, CT, currently being restored.

And made some advances in another Dark Sea Blue and the very attractive Light Gull Gray scheme, used 1957-1960 as well (contrary to the popular belief that the Light Gull Gray Corsairs fought during the 1969 war with Honduras, this is not correct. That scheme was not used beyond 1960, and the was happened July 1969).

I decided to paint the "FAS" lettering as I wanted the letters to be a little bit smaller and bolder.

And this one will have the wings folded

Marco

[Bob Henry]

Looks pretty good. Thanks for the update. Bob H.

[Marco1965]

The front doors of the wheel wells did show the instructions for tire pressure (not the a/c number as sometimes depicted).

Faps in place.

The walkways decals were cut in several parts to correctly represent the original ones (as they are in the decal sheet, they will extend onto the flap, which is not correct, and the angled area should be corrected as well). Still glossy due to future. Notice the correct position of the "RESCUE" letters, on top of each other.

Marco

[Angels49]

Man you got some guts; five at once......keep it up looking forward to the finish....

[luis pacheco]

Looking great.

Edited March 13, 2016 by luis pacheco

[rob85]

Your made 5 at once! They look stunning

Rob

[Scooby]

Awesome work! I love the Corsair, I thought I had my hands full building two at the moment (1/32 Tamiya & 1/48 Hasegawa -5).

I will be following this thread!

[Bob Henry]

They are looking good !! Bob H.

[Marco1965]

And this is the Honduran F4U-5, already painted, partially weathered, semigloss finish applied. Still pending are the black antiglare panels and walkways on the wings.

Marco

[Bob Henry]

You are definitely making good progress. Bob H.

[Marco1965]

I wonder why Eduard provides only a big, chunky rearview mirror for the canopy frame when standard issue was 3 rearview mirrors for the F4U-1D... I sanded the rearview mirrors slimmer to give a better appearance, and of course, put three on each frame (I will eventually run out of Eduard rearview mirrors, only got 5 and need 15!).

Marco

[Marco1965]

Antiglare panels, walkways painted, windshields and canopies clean.

Marco

[Scooby]

Inspiring work!!

[Bob Henry]

This is turning out to be a very interesting project !! Bob H.

[Marco1965]

Almost done, the two initial paint schemes used in the El Salvador´s Corsairs when delivered in 1957-58 (5 delivered in Light Gull Gray, 15 delivered in Dark Sea Blue). This paint scheme remained in use until 1961, with few variations (not used in the El Salvador-Honduras war, which would take place only 8 years later!). Markings are a mix of Aeromaster and Aztec decals, and painted FAS lettering. Only mild weathering was applied, although some finetuning will be made when adding the bases/dioramas. Notice that several details often shown in yellow in the Light Gull gray Corsair, were actually either white, or blue or even the same light gull gray color. The real FAS 217, BuNr 92460, is currently being restored at the Sikorksy Memorial Airport, and the real FAS 203, BuNr67070, was restored to flying condition as NX29VF.

Marco

Edited July 27, 2016 by Marco1965

[Marco1965]

The next salvadoran Corsair paint scheme, chronologically speaking, was used between 1961 and 1965 (not used in the El Salvador-Honduras war either!), and it was a simplification of the Dark Sea blue scheme, without FAS lettering and probably using roundels only under the wings. Spinner and wheel well front doors were painted orange. Arresting hooks were not used anymore in this scheme. I added AIRES gunbays, Eduard PE, moved control surfaces. A nice touch in this scheme are the massive napalm bombs.

The main markings have been applied, Aztec FAS coat of arms and roundels under the wings, Aeromaster numbers on the tail. There was not much else apart from stencilings which I guess were used as well.

Marco

Edited July 27, 2016 by Marco1965

[Bob Henry]

Definitely a labor of love. Keep up the good work. Bob H.