Goodyear FG-1D Corsair IV of the Fleet Air Arm - Hobbyboss 1/48th

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi - so I started this a week or two ago with the intention of a quick-ish build, but......

 

I decided I wanted to build this old girl

 

 

KG572 of 1386 Sqn on HMS Colossus- the white fuselage band has always seemed rather chic and natty to me- and sets of the Corsair's shape nicely especially in overall GSB, plus it carries mixed BPF and FE roundels on the wings. So having tracked down an old Aeromaster sheet for the decals, that was sorted.

 

Next up it was time to look at the wings. I'm building HB Corsair MkII boxing which features the shorter wing tips of FAA Corsairs, but a cursory check of wing span and dozens of photos seemed to show ( well to me at least) that they needed to be a tad shorter - so they were shortened by about another millimetre. This pic shows the end result, plus you can see the  "bomb aiming" window has been added and filled in - as this was not present on the Mk IV. You'll also not that the exhaust openings have had some trunking added (HB give you a full set of exhaust pipes like some crazy car Hot Rod - but theres no trunking so you just have pipes and a hole - which is great if you are going caving in Scotland, but not so good here...), and the bifold cooler flap under the wing centre section has been modified to replace HB's rather too open and gaping effort. The fabric portions of the wing were masked, given a decent thick layer of Mr Surfacer from the jar then sanded back to make them less crenellated too. 

 

 

HB 's prop is erm......"not good" the blades are paddled and parallel sided, with very thin attachment point so the hub ( which is nice), so blades were separated, roots lengthened to give some attachment points an the roots were wound with paper strip attached with CA, soaked in CA and then covered in CA & Talc. Then they were sanded down to shape, while the blade profile was refined to give a better representation of the Hamilton Standard 13' 1" prop ( but not perfect i freely admit -I'm OK with it)

 

I also added the very prominent hub bolts in between each blade socket from plastic rod.

 

While I was in the engine area, and having stared at the cowling to fuselage relationship for  A  L O N G   T I M E   I decided the cowling was out in 2 ways: First the lip is too "square" - easy - sand it out to smoother profile: Second the cowling as provided is pretty much a perfect cylinder, whereas form studying photos it seems to me it's a very very subtle cone shape. So some splints were added to bring out the rear of the cowling to a slightly wider diameter... still unsure of this - it looks better but not perfect yet.

 

 

 

Right - now the fun bit - I needed to add the FAA corsair cockpit mods - so heres the start. Starboard sidewall has has the FAA radio gear added - using the Pilots Notes as a ref. Plus the starboard console has had some extra detail added - the map case, plus levers at the front. Theres still a flare cartridge rack to add plus some more cabling. Port side wall will be dealt with next, and seat.

 

 

 

Right thats the catch up done. Watch this space for more Bent-Wing action

 

Cheers

 

Jonners

 

 

 

 

 

[85sqn]

Good work Jonners especially with the busying up the cockpit items. I'll follow with great interest.

 

Nick

[Crossofiron1971]

Nice work sir!

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Evening all - so I think I'm ready to paint the pit now.  I rebuilt the throttle assembly and added a few more details.

 

 

 

slow progress, but tomorrow is paint

 

Jonners

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Stage 1 of painting is done:

 

 

 

Jonners

[phildagreek]

That cockpit is looking good!

[Thom216]

Some nice scratching and good looking paint.

[k5054nz]

Superb scratching in the cockpit, Jon!

 

So I guess it rather goes without saying that when I've enough pennies for an F4U-1 I should stick to Academy or Tamiya?!

[Grey Beema]

Oh I'm in on this.  Mind if I sit in, although I'm also keeping an eye on a Martlet build and a Hellcat build so I might be jumping up from time to time..

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Morning all! Well my freebooter fancying fellows, I think I'm calling the cockpit done. I used the Yahu pre-made etch instrument panel ( designed for Tamiya's F4U-1A, but it fits with a wee bit of a furkle) - primarily to see what they were like: Very nice is the answer.  Seat belts are Eduards' fabric Q type ( I meant to try their new steel ones but bought the wrong set - so they'll have to go in a Spitfire...)

Details picked out with vallejo,  everything matted down with Superscale matt ( which I'm very happy with) and then knobs and some switches picked out with a bit of X22 clear to add a bit of life.

 

I'm just trying to figure out a way to modify the tail gear now so I don't have to insert it all before buttoning up the fuselage.

 

 

 

 

cheers

 

Jonners

 

[Max Headroom]

Excellent progress so far.

 

I'm intrigued by that crescent shape thingy on both inner sides of the rear fuselage. I assume it's something to do with the tail wheel?

 

Trevor

[corsaircorp]

Hello Jon,

Not easy way to let the tailwheel tailhook mechanism for after closing up the fuselage !

I did'nt glue the tailhook in the Crescent shaped box and did'nt glue the tiny rods, so the hook can be stored in the fuselage.

You did great on your interior, Congratulations.

Really like corsairs

Sincerely

CC

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

1 hour ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

...they'll have to go in a SeaSpitfire...

Fixed that typo for you, Jonners

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Morning all.  Right - you will notice in the following pics that the airframe is now together. Not much to report other than a bit of filling at the rear wing to fuselage join (pics will follow).

However - in the mean time I've addressed the exhausts. HB give you a full set of pipes which are meant to poke through holes and out of the fuselage exit tunnels. It does all fit, but the pipes are a bit thin in my view and its hard to keep the alignment of the 3 tubes stable as the plastic is thin and wobbly.  As you'll have seen I've added exhaust tunnels around the exit holes - which at least prevents a big gaping hole.  My plan was to cut lengths of brass tube and slip these over the cut down pipes - but, while this worked it lead to the plastic stressing and snapping. So I came up with a better idea.

 

First up 6 pieces of 1.3 diameter brass tube are cut to the same length.  These are then CA'ed  to some stout plastic card  - in 2 sets of 3, all in a line. Then sanding sticks are used to add the angled end shape ( by doing them in 3's you get the same angle on each pipe - so they all look the same once finished). The tubes are then debonded from the card and clean up.  Then using some 1mm thick plastic card 3 holes are drilled in a triangular shape, pretty much as close together as you can manage.  This is then trimmed out to leave a small vaguely-triangular mounting block for each set of exhausts. The tubes are cut to 3 lengths, long, medium, short using the kit exhausts as a length guide, and then CA'ed into the blocks - making sure the quill-lip angle of each pipe matches rotationally.

A bit of CA and talc mix is dribbled into the base area to provide some extra grip.  Then its just a case of trimming the holes on the fuselage/engine bulkhead a little to allow the "organ pipes" to fit in.
Once happy the plastic exhausts on the engine are cut back, et viola! Nice neat exhausts which will drop in.  The pics will give you a better idea!

 

 

 

 

 

cheers

 

Jonners

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Brilliant!

[Graham T]

Great work on the exhausts!  I love that particular FAA scheme too.

[jean]

This is real modelling. Fascinating and outstanding.

 

JR

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Righty-ho. Time to tackle some of the FAA specific features:  First up we have the two intakes on the rear fuselage to help clear carbon monoxide build up inside the fuselage

 

 

A piece of kit sprue was squared up, shallow-drilled, and shaped to make the two vents. However what I realised was that once cut from the sprue, the vents still needed reducing in depth, but were far too fiddly to hold in any practical way. So (and I'm pretending this was my plan all along... so there!) I glued them to the fuselage sides....

 

 

And as you can see I had a Corsair that's been crossbred with Gary Lineker ( a most unpleasant thought - think of all those crisps on the cockpit floor...)

But, as I could now hold the fuselage to work on the vents it was a simple task to sand them down to lower profile....

 

 

....attach a thin piece of plastic card on top of each.

 

 

Then trim this to rough shape and finish off with some sanding sticks....

 

 

And then a coat of Mr Surfacer as a check to see if it all looks ship-shape. (or at least not Gary-Lineker-shape)

 

 

They both need a little more refining, and one is a tad longer than the other ( But I won't say anything if you won't). Overall though, I'm reasonably pleased with outcome.

 

The exhaust vent under the rear fuselage will be tackled in a similar fashion too. That's tonight's task.

 

Cheers

 

Jonners

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Ayup!  Some shots of the airframe - which still needs a few little things adding ( like the webbing between the inner flap pairs, and flap actuator fairings).  The Attack Squadron resin wheels and hub cabs have been drilled to fit the wheel axles and test fitted here, and the engine has been wired and primed.  Need to do the internal windscreen armour-glass next and the gun site, then it's windscreen on, and prime-time.

 

Cheers!

Jonners

 

 

 

 

[woody37]

Lovely progress Jonners

 

[Grey Beema]

Nice work there Jonners.  I am looking forward to see how this one turns out.  I am just about to embark on the Tamiya F4U-1D to build a Corsair II or IV.  Mine will be TSS BPF though.  I'm definitely going to rob your exhaust idea.  I was going to get the MDC conversion kit but I'm now tempted to scratch up the CO intakes and vents I just need to figure out sizes but wasn't there a third bigger vent under the fuselage pointing aft?

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

47 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Nice work there Jonners.  I am looking forward to see how this one turns out.  I am just about to embark on the Tamiya F4U-1D to build a Corsair II or IV.  Mine will be TSS BPF though.  I'm definitely going to rob your exhaust idea.  I was going to get the MDC conversion kit but I'm now tempted to scratch up the CO intakes and vents I just need to figure out sizes but wasn't there a third bigger vent under the fuselage pointing aft?

Sorry - forgot to post pics of the underside vent. I worked out location from photos, the underside vent is wider and shallower from what I can make out.

 

 

 

Jonners

 

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi all - so yesterday was spent getting the windscreen area sorted.  I added the armament selector panel on the upper coaming, and cut the internal armour-glass from a piece of calendar case clear plastic. The gunsight had a new crash pad  added and sighting glass.  And - what's more - it actually all fits under the windscreen! ( and believe me - that has not happened in the past!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Jonners

[rob Lyttle]

Something about that last photo - it seems to capture the whole character of the plane. And the quality of the build too.

I didn't even know they suffered from CO build up in fuselage, never mind the fitting of (3) vents to sort it!

Looking forward to watching through to completion now.

Lovely job...

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

A quick update while I watch Russell Crowe murder the English language as "R'oh'bin 'Ood"

 

The engine is almost finished and painted - just the ignition wires to touch in, and some ancillaries to add plus the magneto housings.
It's not perhaps the most accurate rendition of PW-2800 as the cylinder length has been shrunk to fit the cowl and the gap twixt front and back row is too great, but by making the front face busy and adding a few bits, and exaggerating some of the metallic colour contrasts, it looks OK....

 

 

Right back to Russell!

 

Jonners, pondering if a wee bit more cowling detail inside would help too...