Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Corsair'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Calendars

  • Community Calendar
  • Group Builds
  • Model Show Calendar

Forums

  • Forum Functionality & Forum Software Help and Support
    • FAQs
    • Help & Support for Forum Issues
    • New Members
  • Aircraft Modelling
    • Military Aircraft Modelling Discussion by Era
    • Civil Aircraft Modelling Discussion by Era
    • Work in Progress - Aircraft
    • Ready for Inspection - Aircraft
    • Aircraft Related Subjects
  • AFV Modelling (armour, military vehicles & artillery)
    • Armour Discussion by Era
    • Work in Progress - Armour
    • Ready for Inspection - Armour
    • Armour Related Subjects
    • large Scale AFVs (1:16 and above)
  • Maritime Modelling (Ships and subs)
    • Maritime Discussion by era
    • Work in Progress - Maritime
    • Ready for Inspection - Maritime
  • Vehicle Modelling (non-military)
    • Vehicle Discussion
    • Work In Progress - Vehicles
    • Ready For Inspection - Vehicles
  • Science Fiction & RealSpace
    • Science Fiction Discussion
    • RealSpace Discussion
    • Work In Progress - SF & RealSpace
    • Ready for Inspection - SF & RealSpace
  • Figure Modeling
    • Figure Discussion
    • Figure Work In Progress
    • Figure Ready for Inspection
  • Dioramas, Vignettes & Scenery
    • Diorama Chat
    • Work In Progress - Dioramas
    • Ready For Inspection - Dioramas
  • Reviews, News & Walkarounds
    • Reviews
    • Current News
    • Build Articles
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Walkarounds
  • Modeling using 3D Printing
    • 3D Printing Basics
    • 3D Printing Chat
    • 3D Makerspace
  • Modelling
    • Group Builds
    • The Rumourmonger
    • Manufacturer News
    • Other Modelling Genres
    • Britmodeller Yearbooks
    • Tools & Tips
  • General Discussion
    • Chat
    • Shows
    • Photography
    • Members' Wishlists
  • Shops, manufacturers & vendors
    • Aerocraft Models
    • Air-craft.net
    • Amarket Modl
    • A.M.U.R. Reaver
    • Atlantic Models
    • Beacon Models
    • BlackMike Models
    • Bring-It!
    • Copper State Models
    • Freightdog Models
    • Hannants
    • fantasy Printshop
    • Fonthill Media
    • HMH Publications
    • Hobby Paint'n'Stuff
    • Hypersonic Models
    • Iliad Design
    • Hobby Colours & Accessories
    • KLP Publishing
    • Kingkit
    • L'Arsenal 2.0
    • Litaki Models
    • Maketar Paint Masks
    • Marmaduke Press Decals
    • MikroMir
    • Model Designs
    • Parkes682Decals
    • Paulus Victor Decals
    • Red Roo Models
    • RES/KIT
    • Sovereign Hobbies
    • Special Hobby
    • Test Valley Models
    • Tiger Hobbies
    • Ultimate Modelling Products
    • Videoaviation Italy
    • Wingleader Publications
  • Archive
    • 2007 Group Builds
    • 2008 Group Builds
    • 2009 Group Builds
    • 2010 Group Builds
    • 2011 Group Builds
    • 2012 Group Builds
    • 2013 Group Builds

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


AIM


MSN


Website URL


ICQ


Yahoo


Jabber


Skype


Location


Interests

  1. First off the F4U is my all time favorite aircraft. This should be a quick easy build. I had no trouble with my last Tamiya Corsair. The hardest part was building the wings extended. This build will avoid even that because I'm folding the wings to honor its carrier service. I bought this -1D kit when it was first released twenty something years ago and apparently started painting the cowling. Other than that, it's unstarted. All along I planned on doing the plane on the box art. I just changed my mind to do it as a FAA Corsair. I want something different looking than the GSB Corsairs in the cabinet. This scheme is a perfect pick for me. It gives me folded (and clipped) wings and an interesting scheme to paint. I know this scheme is probably played out here on Britmodeler, but it's new to me so I'm excited to do it. I know there's some different seat belts, additional vents and radio stuff to go with the FAA Corsairs. I close my canopies so I'm not going to concern myself with interior differences. I'll play the vents by ear when the time comes. The weather this week is going to be perfect for modeling (cold and nasty) so I'll start building tonight. If anyone has helpful information regarding the build please chime in. It will be much appreciated. Question is the fuel tank in the first picture applicable for these markings? Here we go! Ron
  2. With my current Mosquito build nearing completion I'm lining up my next build. I'm a big Corsair fan that has a bunch of late mark Korean war Corsairs to do. Unfortunately they will all be boring overall GSB. I have a Tamiya F4U-1D I wanted to build with folded wings. To get away from another boring blue bird. I'm thinking about clipping the wings on my Tamiya kit and doing this plane. This way I can fold the wings and get more interesting colors. That kills two birds with one bird πŸ˜‰. Also I can piece together all small markings from decals I already have. The larger markings will be a good test run for me and my new silhouette cutter. I'll need the sizes of the original markings to do this. I'm sure someone here knows this information off the top of their head. Where I fall more short is on the colours. I'm only learning about English aircraft now. I'm not sure what colors these are. I use Mr.Color. If you do and have paint numbers that are close enough to look good together please let me know. Any general information on the colors would of course be greatly appreciated. Thank you Be well Ron.
  3. I finished this kit a few days ago. It was a fairly quick and easy build. I added a Wolfpack resin cockpit, Quickboost resin exhaust & gun barrels, and Brengun resin wheels. The VMFN-513 markings are a mix of custom paint masks and Victory Productions decals. I love that black & red night fighter color scheme! I notched-out the wingtips to receive navigation light covers made from bits of clear sprue that I sanded to shape and polished smooth. The back of each cover is drilled out and filled with a tiny bit of clear red/green paint to simulate the colored light bulb. I also notched-out areas in the leading edges of each wing so I could add a gun camera and landing light. These are covered with tiny bits of clear tape to simulate the clear covers. The wire antenna is EZ-Line, and the T-shaped radar altimeter antennas on the belly are made from bits of stretched sprue. I added a full ignition harness to the R-2800, but it's hardly visible once buried inside the cowling. I used a variety of black-ish paints from MRP, Tamiya, and Vallejo to simulate the worn night-fighter camo. The color variations are more evident in person than in these photos. Weathering was done with hairspray chipping, artists oils, acrylic inks, and colored pencils. It looks good sitting next to its squadron mate the F3D Skynight.
  4. More than 10000 French soldiers survived the battle of Dien Bien Phu to become POW. They had a 700 km trek to get to their prison camps near the border with China. Around 3000 came back to France after the war. More than 7000 died during captivity or just became MIA. A few bits of History (with a big H!) On 13 march 1954, general Giap launch an attack with his Viet Minh Divisions against the finest of the French Army, paras Β« Metro Β» and Β« Colo Β» (metropolitans and colonials), the Big Legion, armoured cavalry, sapper and colonials troops, gathered into what’s beginning to be an entrenched camp, completely surrounded by the ennemy, Dien Bien Phu. The camp was setup to act as a forward operating base, as there were signs of a buildup of Viet Minh forces in the region. The provincial capital located in the depths of north-west Vietnam, approximately 300 km from Hanoi as the crow flies, the place is difficult to access and can only be supplied by the Air Force. The latter also provides support, in addition to around thirty 105 mm howitzer and as many 120 mm mortars with a handful of 155 mm guns, all distributed over the different fire bases which constitute the camp. There's also a squadron of Chaffee tanks. But what about the French Navy ? The carrier aviation regularly carries out campaigns in Indochina, with one of the aircraft carriers and an air group generally made up of a fighter flotilla on F6F-5 Hellcat and a dive bombing flotilla equipped with SB2C- 5 Helldiver. One of these campaigns has been underway since November 1953, with the aircraft carrier Arromanches (Ex-Colossus, Colossus class), with flotillas 11F (Hellcat) and 3F (Helldiver). In March 1954 when Giap start the real battle, the group had already been in the breach for 4 months, between the missions on DBP and the diversions launched by the Viet Minh in several places in Tonkin. It is therefore far from being at the top of its capabilities, both the equipment and the human resources having suffered during this period of time. For example, the 11F only has half of its fleet left, i.e. 10 Hellcats out of the 20 taken (including 6 as spares), flown by two thirds of its pilots (It will ultimately have lost 5 Hellcats on DBP, more than a third of its normal allocation). AΓ©ronavale is in a complicated situation, having to show itself capable of both taking its place in NATO and facing the Indochinese crisis. It decided at the beginning of April 1954 to send 14F to join the group, so as to allow 11F to slow down. 14F is the first flotilla to fly Corsair, F4U-7 model, ordered and produced exclusively for the French AΓ©ronavale. The aircraft possess the qualities of the AU-1, a real air to ground version of the Corsair, with the addition of hardpoints, cockpit and engine armor, but its PW 2800 engine , optimized for low altitude with a single-stage compressor, is replaced by… another version of the PW 2800, used on the F4U-4, better suited to medium altitude and therefore more consistent with a fighter intended for fleet defense among other missions. Problem, if the F4U-7 airframes are new, this is not the case for the engines, whose production has already stopped: Therefore, French Navy has acquired a second-hand batch which may not be in optimum conditions, making F4U-7 first years in AΓ©ronavale quite difficult. Deploying them to SEA was out of question. 14F then take matters in its own hands, and from April 20, training flights resumed. Then, on April 23, it was established at Bach Mai (one of Hanoi's airfields) with 16 planes, when 3F was disengaged. It start to gain momentum by carrying out missions in areas of secondary importance, and finally, on April 30, she began operating on the Cuvette (Cuvette was the place definition, a sort of basin with an airstrip bordered by hills where firebases where established, each one with a battalion or two. Cuvette became sort of a nickname for DBP). But it is far too late, even though volunteers are still being parachuted every night, the fate of the battle has already been decided, and the survivors are only fighting for honor, theirs and that of their country, country which will soon have no other choice but to abandon them to their sad fate. On May 7, 1954, it appears that Corsair from the 14F were the last French aircraft to fly over Dien Bien Phu as the garrison surendered. 14F will continue the fight on various hot spots in Indochina, until the signing of the Geneva agreements on July 21, 1954. A few days later, it brings its AU-1s back to Tourane where they are embarked on the Arromanches, who will return them to the Americans, before sailing back to the France… and Algeria, but that’s another story. The subject : The Corsair featured is the AU-1 BuNo 129343, a photo of which is present in an ECPAD booklet. The plane is seen on the ground at Bach MaΓ―, probably shortly after being taken into account by the 14F. It only wears its BuNo visible under the tail, only the fuselage roundel with the Β« fish hook Β» (anchor), without any badge or flotilla identifier. The rudder flag appears to be half painted, with a red (?) stripe present. The external stores configuration is shown in the photo of another Corsair in the unit. The aircraft was returned to the USA at the end of the campaign... then delivered again to France in 1957, as part of the purchase of around sixty machines this time, intended to compensate for the attrition of F4U-7, and certainly to stock up on spare parts. The model: Refer to the text on my model of the CANA F4U-5, the model being almost identical In summary, very nice model, easy to assemble, I built both F4U-5 and AU-1 in parallel in one weekend. What changes are the engine cowls (no more air intake for the AU-1), the 1/2 fuselages, very slightly modified to accommodate the new exhausts, but Hasegawa forgot to also modify the base support of the latter, and they are therefore impossible to put in place in their current state), the wing pylons, and some antennas that the brand has forgotten. On the other hand, I stupidly got stuck on painting at one point (Canopy, landing cross... and bombs!), and put everything aside, but I wanted to finish by May 7, and the resumption was catastrophic! Breakage, errors, burrs, etc... everything has happened, and more than once, it came close to a test flight across the workshop. Well, you'll understand that it's not my best model build so far.... Extras and doc: My confidence in the Hasegawa decals being quite relative, and the decorations of the box not offering an AU-1 from the first batch for Dien Bien Phu, I set out in search of a decal sheet dealing with machines from this period, and I found at my usual dealer the reference 48-013 at Modelart which offers this AU-1, as well as several Dash 7s from all eras. Absolutely no problems using this sheet, but at the same time I must point out that I only used two roundels, two BuNos, two anchors, with two side numbers. The red stripe on the rudder is painted, and there are no stencils, which can be obtained from Hasegawa. Concerning the doc, classic with In Action and Walkaround from Squadron, a few books from ARDHAN for context, and a small collection of photos published by ECPAD which devotes a chapter to the Corsair with beautiful photos which inspired me. And the pictures:
  5. Fresh not even off the bench is just another Kepford Corsair. I haven't really been doing anything original lately. This particular plane is supposed to Ira Kepford's first 29 when he only had four kills with it. This allowed me the artistic license to use the red boardered insignias I like and delete the weird darkened kill markings. If it isn't obvious to you this is Tamiya's 48th F4U-1A kit. Believe it or not it's only the third Tamiya kit I've ever built and my first Tamiya Corsair. It's a nice kit. I didnt have any real troubles with it. Other than the somewhat ambiguous fitting flaps the fit was excellent. I intended to build this completely OOB until I broke the propeller. I ordered the prop and much improved exhaust from Ultracast in Canada. I'm really impressed with their stuff. I used this plane to try out some new things. First was mixing custom colors. I wanted to mix my own blues. The full value colors I had would only represent a brand new plane and would be hard to weather the way I like. Second was using stencils to paint the major markings. I'm considering getting a cutter to make my own stencils to replace larger decals. These stencils came from John at Hawaiian Air Depot. They worked great. They're well thought out with almost idiot proof instructions. Almost because somehow this idiot put them in the wrong place. Always check your references beforehand. Oooy. I've been experimenting with different chipping methods. I haven't had much luck with hairspray. I'm a stickler for smooth finishes and hairspray always gives me a pebbly finish. Plus it takes forever to activate through my preferred lacquer paints. On this model I mostly used Testors silver enamel randomly applied with small pieces of sponge. The enamel over lacquer allows me to wipe away my many mistakes with mineral spirits and start over. I still haven't gotten good with it but you can see I got lots of practice with this plane. In fact I went too overboard for the age of this particular plane. For areas I needed more control I used silver pencil as usual. The rest of the model was my normal M.O. of Mr.Color paints, oil and enamel washes, and pastels sealed with GX114. Other than the excessive chipping, I'm pretty happy with the results and the things I learned along the way. Be well all, Thanks for looking. Ron
  6. Magic Factory (FB , homepage, X) from China is to release a 2 in 1 1/48th Vought F4U-1A/2 Corsair kit - ref. 5001 Sources: https://www.magicfactory.ltd/cn/#/news?goodsId=152 https://www.facebook.com/magicfactory2021/posts/pfbid031FZqUn4NcmsZK8ECKpqvCXcvKcA5wmXVMEhgFYGXDKhWCHoJkb7msyym47GDowUrl https://twitter.com/MagicFactory8/status/1693557919076508008 V.P.
  7. 1/48 Minicraft/Hasegawa F4U-4 Corsair, built as BuNo 96971 of VF-24, USS Princeton, Korean War, 1951. Aftermarket additions include a True Details cockpit, BrenGun 100 lb bombs and True Details wheels. Paint is Mission Models FS 15042 Glossy Sea Blue topped with Mr Hobby aqueous semi gloss clear. Decals are a mix of Eagle Strike and Microscale. The other paints are Vallejo Model Air or Model Color. I have a great disdain for trying to weather Glossy Sea Blue. I tried some new techniques for this one. The weathering was a multi step process, starting with some chipping, done with Vallejo Metal Color dull aluminum applied with a sponge and small fan brush. The decals went on, and a coat of semi gloss clear was applied. Next came a coat of "grime" Flory wash, wiped front to back after it dried. The next step was heavily thinned Mission Models transparent dust, applied unevenly via airbrush. After that dried, I removed and streaked it in the areas where the crew would be with a damp cotton bud. I then applied oils (raw umber, burnt umber, transparent white and black), streaking them front to back with a makeup sponge. I also applied a dark oil wash, and made a splatter effect on the wing roots by drawing the wash into a fan brush, and tapping it to make droplets. I used numerous Korean War era color photos as a weathering reference. I wanted a dirty, operational look. The exhaust staining was done with "engine soot", gray, NATO black and desert tan, applied by airbrush. I did some wear by the canopy rails and on the leading edge and rear of the propeller with a silver artist pencil. The rocket hard points were taken from a Tamiya kit, and I scratched out the bomb racks with styrene strips and U-channel. The kit engine was wired. EZ line was used for the aerials. I also made the wingtip lights with Micro Kristal Klear. The kit itself is dated, but is an easy build that looks the part. Best of all, it can be found relatively cheaply. The True Details cockpit is a must for this kit, IMO. I also made the wheels look a bit less flat, taking them down with a sanding stick. My experience with BrenGun resin has been mixed, but these bombs were great- no odd castings or pits to fill. The PE bomb fins were an exercise in origami and patience! The VF-24 decals, aircraft numbers and bureau number were cobbled together from a spare Corsairs Over Korea decal sheet. I must've looked mad, using a scalpel blade, cutting out letters and numbers like I was making a ransom note. The "M" on the tail and upper wing were done with homemade masks. I'm very glad I had a good reference photo to work from. I apologize for the dust specks on it, I was so excited that it was finally done, I took photos before wiping it down! I'm pretty satisfied with the end product. This is the only scale model of a VF-24 Corsair I've ever seen! πŸ˜€ Thanks for looking, and feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
  8. Hi everyone I just joined Britmodeller (although I was already a silent reader for a long time) and thought it's best to learn how this forum works if I start a WIP thread. Well, my build is nothing fancy or unique. It's just another Corsair... I usually build only 1/48 WWII props but I read such a lot of high praise about this 1/32 gem that I had to start and see one by myself. Started building many months ago without taking pictures, currently I am just beginning with the painting. i.e. all the building is basically done.
  9. Next Hobby Boss Corsair kit will be a 1/48th Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair early version - ref.80381. Release is announced for late August 2015. So should be available in the best hobbyshops in September-October. Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=product&a=show&id=1125 Box art V.P.
  10. My first time posting here so hopefully this works. Tamiya’s 1:48 F4U-1A Corsair, finished in the markings of NZ5262, Royal New Zealand Air Force, when it was with No.30 Servicing Unit on Green Island, March 1945. The aircraft would end up being destroyed in a takeoff accident on the 23rd of July, 1945. It was a good build with most of the time spent trying to get the paint fading to look accurate. I’m happy with how it turned out for the most part but there are a couple things I’m not too happy with, but that’s stuff to improve on for my next build. Decals were from Ventura and the resin wheels from Barracuda Studios.
  11. Like the French AΓ©ronavale, the Comando de la Aviacion Naval Argentina (Argentine's FAA) was a late user of the Corsair, operating 25(?) F4U-5 in all versions (-5, -5N, -5NL & -5P) from 1955 to 1966. Here's my interpretation of one of them, using Hasegawa's plastic, together with Aztec decals.. And for those among you that want to read a bit more about them..
  12. Here's my take on the Monogram Pro Modeller rebox of the 1/48 Hasegawa F4U5. I live about 80 miles from the location of NAS Glenview, so I felt compelled to do that scheme. This model was going to have that scheme, and that was that- more on that later. Aftermarket additions include a Wolfpack cockpit set, Quickboost gun barrels, and ResKit tires and wheels. Paints are Mission Models glossy sea blue, Mr Hobby aqueous semi gloss clear, and Vallejo Model Air colors and matt and satin varnish for the anti glare panel, cockpit, wheels, etc. Decals are a mix of kit decals, Super Scale, and Eagle Strike. I started off on the Wolfpack cockpit, which really was nice to work with. Minimal fitting was needed. The only issue was with the cockpit side walls- installed on the cockpit tub, they would have sat well below the cockpit opening. Those were glued to the fuselage sides instead. I used the included decal for the instrument panel, which was sealed with Vallejo satin varnish, topped with a drop of Mr Hobby aqueous clear gloss on each gauge. I used Vallejo metal color dull aluminum for some wear. I also scratched out armrests. I then set to work on the engine, which was pretty straightforward, except for drilling 36 tiny holes for the ignition wires. It was made to look grimy with oils. I used a shim, about .030", in the lower part of the nose to address the poor fit between the fuselage sides and lower panel that's part of the wing. The shim was glued on one fuselage side, allowed to dry, then the fuselage stump on the front clamped and glued. I had to open the notch in the exhaust mount to fit. It sat down snug when installed. The rest of the assembly was uneventful The seams were addressed with a thin application of Mr Dissolved Putty and careful sanding. Surgery was performed to put the flaps in the up position. The priming, painting and pre-decal gloss clear were equally uneventful. The adventure began when the decals came out! I bought this kit second hand, and it was still factory sealed. What I did not know is how it may have been stored! When it arrived, I took a quick look over the decal sheet, and it appeared fine. Wrong! I cut and dipped a national insignia in water, and to my horror, it was full of cracks! Thankfully, I have an abundance of aftermarket national insignias. A closer inspection of the kit sheet showed cracking in nearly every larger white decal! This Corsair was going to be a Glenview bird no matter what, and I saw no aftermarket NAS decal options, so I treated all the kit decals I would be using with liquid decal film, and set about using them anyway. They released from the paper just fine, and adhered wonderfully. Unfortunately, the cracks still showed. I made up a mix of Vallejo white paint, slightly thinned and mixed with retarder medium, and started filling the cracks with a fine brush. I then used micromesh to polish out the painted areas, and it came out acceptable. Photos are of the worst one, before touch up, during, and then after the final clear coat. This aircraft had distinctive exhaust pipes, which were replicated with bent styrene rod, drilled out. Weathering was kept minimal, as the real thing looked pretty clean. Tamiya Weathering Master was used on the exhaust, and I did some pin wash on the upper fuselage to replicate oil and fuel spills. Additional detailing was done to the canopy, gun sight, and upper switch panels. I cut the wingtip lights out, made a "bulb" in each with Micro Kristal Klear, painted the area silver, added red and green for the bulbs, and made lenses with Kristal Klear. I added a bit of wiring and tubing to the wheel wells, which wasn't worth the effort, or worth photographing. It all but disappeared once it was closed up and painted. I noticed the real aircraft had white overspray by the "6" on the nose, which was replicated. I took some artistic liberty in adding this on the starboard side too. There was a cutout in the lower part of the orange band decal, and I drilled a hole there for the "T" antenna, not realizing it's a bit far forward. Oh well! This build was fun, but not without a few hiccups. I rarely say this about my own work, but I am genuinely satisfied with the end result. It felt like it took forever to finish- it was started at the beginning of January and finished today. Here's the finished product. Photos were taken in indirect natural light and indoor light. Apologies for the novel length writeup. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking!
  13. OrHi all, I have a 1/72 Hasegawa Corsair F4U in the stash and would like to present it as an aircraft I know a relative to have flown (1830 NAS aboard HMS Illustrious). I've seen a number of aftermarket decals but while period correct, none of them are from the squadron or even ship. Does anyone have any tips on how to recreate a specific aircraft without it costing a fortune? I don't have the skills to be airbrushing stencils or creating my own decal sets. As an aside, when did the FAA move from the red and blue roundels to the blue and white SEAC? There is a specific date when he shot down a Zero so I'd like to be spot on with it
  14. I posted an RFI on 15th November, so was looking in the stash a day or two later, I saw this kit, the Smer Hi Tech F4U-1 Corsair, I was somehow drawn to it. A check of the plastic made me think hmm, another short run kit, bound to have fit issues. You can imagine my surprise when I'd put the wings, cockpit and fuselage together seemingly in a few days without any great drama? No major fit issues? What is this? Is this a Tamiya kit in disguise? Nope, it isn't. Scalemates has it reboxed from a 1976 Heller kit, which might explain the generally better fit all round. Funny thing is when I built the Smer Avia S-92 earlier this year, I seem to recall very few issues with it, and that too was a rebox of a Heller kit. There is a fit issue though. Someone at Heller/Smer was foolish enough (or in league with manufacturers of modelling putty) to make the cowling in 2 parts, that fit on a prong, is the only way I can describe it - though a picture makes clear. This did exercise my filling and sanding muscles, I can tell you! And not entirely successfully, I'm afraid. Apart from that, the tube of filler wasn't whipped out much, at all. A little bit around the wing fold joint, a little bit on the fuselage, but compared to some recent kits I've done, hardly any filler, really. Oh joy!! And so it was that this kit almost sees out this year on a positive note! I seemed to gallop along with it, no other great dramas or issues, the wings and fuselage went together fairly well - with a lot of dry fitting first, to make sure of alignment. Painting was a bit of a pain, my masking wasn't the best in one or two areas and I've had to do a fair bit of touching in, but that was me, not the kit. In truth, this is quite a simple kit, perhaps the best way for me to finish off this year, with the problems I had outside of modelling, and the number of kits which took ages to complete because they were frankly not very good. I am aware you could say a bad workman blames his tools, but I do think I hit a run of badly engineered short run kits - one of which I abandoned due to fit issues. This Smer Corsair is finished in an all NMF scheme, from VMF - 122 based on Peleliu in the Pacific, this scheme attracted me because the plane was named Sally, which is my daughter's name. Decals went down pretty well, too. Ummmm, almost! I had the dreaded "I'm going to curl up all around myself in a way impossible to straighten out" with the first decal that came out of the water - and which happened to be a squadron code. So instead of two, there is only one on the port side. All the others, including some vanishingly small stencils, went on pretty easily. Paints by Tamiya and Mr Color, a little bit of etch in the kit, seatbelts by eduard, some albion alloys tube for the pitot, Galleria satin varnish by Windsor & Newton and self cut canopy masking. Now for the elephant in the room. Some of you may have been thinking "hmmm, is there something wrong with the undercarriage? Well yes, there is; the wheels are in the wrong sides! In other words, the wheels should face outward, not inward. I looked at the kit quite closely to see if I could cut the u/c legs and put them the right way round, and you know, I thought I was going to do more damage than make anything look better. After all, I reasoned, my wife and daughter won't have a clue which way round the u/c legs ought to be, so I've left them as they are. Foolish perhaps, but pragmatic. I suspect this happened as I did the man thing of not looking at the instructions properly!! It will be a permanent reminder to me to "RTI"" All in all, the two Smer kits (this and the S-92) I picked up on impulse from Frome models at I think the 2019 Avon show have started and almost finished this year on a positive note indeed!`
  15. Quick Question - does anyone know if the above kit (Tamiya ref #61046) can be modelled with the flaps in the up position? They are made to be in the extended or down position, I don't really want to start hacking into the plastic only to find out that they couldn't be altered to fit in that way. Many thanks in advance. Treker_ed
  16. I'm struggling with a 1:48 Hasegawa F4U-4 kitbash. I'm thinking it might have been easier to fix the Hobbyboss F4U-4 by grafting the Hasegawa cowling parts on it. Had anyone here tried it???
  17. The later type F4Us are still quite underrepresented when it comes to kits in 1/72 scale. I guess I need not to stress the many flaws of the Italeri kits from the 90s since they have already been discussed here in many other threads. Of course, I am aware that Revell released a new tool F4U-4B in 1/72 not so long ago but this kit was based on their WW2 Corsair so it can be considered as an early F4U-4 at best. So my question is what would be the optimal strategy to create each variant of the F4U that was deployed during the Korean conflict? Apart from the versions listed above that would also include the recon F4U-4P and F4U-5P Corsairs. I know such a goal cannot be achieved without crosskitting, aftermarket items and some other modifications. Would it be a viable strategy to use the Tamiya F4U-1D as a base and add parts of the Italeri kits to create each variant? Would it make sense to invest in aftermarket items such as resin engines and which would be the best to source for such a project? What would be the best way to proceed?
  18. Ok I'm tired of waiting for someone to come up with a nice dash 4 Corsair. And no the Hobbyboss isn't a nice dash 4. I'm starting with sadly the best looking (IMO) dash 4. The Hasegawa rebox of the ancient Mania kit. I was initially was going to build OOB except for the True Details cockpit set. Then I bought a set of Minicraft wings from their clone kit to gain scribed lines and flaps that weren't split with a difficult seam to fix. Then I remembered, hey I can poach some parts from a Hasegawa F4U-5N kit. My initial inclination was to use the the engine, wing pylons and some other details. Then I started to think I can have dropped flaps and better details if I can add the appropriate fabric panels. The dash 5 wings were too long in front and short in the rear. Not nearly the drop fit of the Minicraft wings. After eyeballing it a while I decided to try adding the dash -5 wings. First I had to find a piece of plastic to fill the giant open space between the rear edge of the lower wing and fuselage. I found a P-47 engine cowling with close contours in the spares box. Cut that in half and dry fit it approximately to the fuselage. Next was to cut off the F4U-4B kit cowling and check the fit of the wing again before I cut back the lower fuselage extension. It's bad enough that I might have ruined one kit. I didn't want to cut up the wing and ruin a second kit if I didn't have to. So I'm at the point of no return. Normally I have a hard time finishing simple kits (like a Tamiya P-51B πŸ™„) without a lot of drama, so this should be interesting. Stay tuned and wish me luck. Cheers Ron
  19. Are there any photos existing that show the clear-vision canopy F4U-1 (retrospectively called F4U-1A) in the USN two-tone "gray camouflage" or at least with pre-1943 insignia (stars with no bars)? It is commonly said the US Navy introduced the three-tone "blue camouflage" in January 1943 and the red-bordered stars with bars in June the same year. On the other hand the 758th (and final) "birdcage" Corsair left the Vought assembly line in May 1943, thus finding a Blue Gray/Light Gray F4U-1A looks impossible. But F6F-3 Hellcats operated from CV-9 Essex and CV-10 Yorktown still in May 1943 wearing two-tone gray camo and in July (already in three-tone blue camo) still with giant stars and no bars... So maybe?
  20. Hi all, Latest one to roll off the production line and the last one for 2022 is a Hasegawa 1/48 A-7D built as a YA-7D from the 6512th Test Squadron, 6510th Test Wing, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB 1983. Built as part of my slowly expanding collection of aircraft from Edwards AFB this one would once more not have been possible with the excellent pictures taken and shared by our very own @Old Viper Tester, so another huge thank you to Sven for sharing these with us. Built mostly OOTB but with a Master data probe for an F-16XL grafted onto a piece of brass rod and a conical fairing on the tail made from scrap sprue, with the decals coming from the kit and various other decal sheets to make up what I needed for this fairly unique looking Corsair. Here are the pictures, i hope that you like them; And for those that are interested here is the build thread; thanks for looking, and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig. πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦
  21. Haven't posted in a while, so thought i'd post my latest project...not quite finished as i still need to add the rockets and may finish the included Tug at some point. Had a go at cutting my own USAF insignia stencils this time, which came out better than expected. i used Vallejo Model Air Glossy Sea Blue for the main colour, but it came out a little dark in my opinion, also used these Wire Ferrule Crimp Terminals (below) which make excellent gun barrels and exhaust pipes, the first pic looks like it only has two exhausts but there actually three. Aware the not completely accurate but they do look much better than the plastic moulded ones. Anyway pics below, let me know what you think!
  22. After having finished my wildcat I immediately started on my next FAA project. I enjoyed making the Martlet and its camo so I decided my next project would be a birdcage corsair (Tamiya 1:72 specifically). I got printscale decals ready and it will most likely be Corsair F.Mk.1 JT150. Cockpit Should be quite a quick build, similarly to the Martlet which I finished in six days.
  23. A quickie build for the long weekend. It's the Italeri kit which is surprisingly good, I picked it up second hand for a couple of bucks without knowing much about it. About the worst I can say is the canopy is a bit thick and required some thinning on the inside to fit and it would probably require a vac replacement to pose open. Other than that this is a decent kit. Decals were reasonably good, I did have one shatter but that might have been because of age. I did make a couple of errors, but for a quick build I'm not too bothered. Note also I only roughly painted over the spinner and white cap to the radome, they appear to have been roughly painted over in reality to dull them down, unlike the markings which were very nicely toned down. The model represents the aircraft flown by Guy Bordelon. Bordelon earned his wings in 1943 but did not see combat in WW2, posted state side as an instructor. Having various positions post war, he ended up taking charge of a detachment of all weather interceptor F4Us in 1952. He flew 41 low level interdiction missions against communist supply lines earning 3 Air Medals. In the summer of 1953, Fifth Air Force required help in dealing with North Korean night time nuisance raids, as several jet fighters had been lost trying to intercept Bed Check Charlies. VC3 post 3 aircraft to Pyongtaek on June 28th. They were immediately in action with Bordelon inception and shooting down two La 11s and two Yak 18s over the following 2 nights. On the 17th July he shot down another La 11, making him the only piston engine and only night fighter ace of the Korean War. He is also the last man to become an ace in a piston engine fighter. Post war he stayed in the Navy, being a part of, among other things, the recovery of Apollo astronauts. As for Annie-Mo, the Corsair in which he claimed his 5 kills, she was less lucky, being written off a week after the final victory by another pilot.
  24. The next Hobby Boss Corsair kit will be a 1/48th Vought F4U-1 Corsair late version - ref.80382 Release announced for late November 2015 in China. Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=51&l=en V.P.
  25. This is a 1/72 Tamiya Corsair I built for my uncle - hopefully it survives the journey to Los Angeles to give it to him intact. It's supposed to represent an F4U-1A that Greg Boyington flew - he was known for choosing the most beat up airframe available in order for the less experienced pilots to have more reliable rides, and this one appears to fit the bill as the ref pics seem to show that the left wing is a replacement from an old 'birdcage' model painted in light blue grey. Thanks for Looking!
×
×
  • Create New...