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Here's my second completion for 2025. Another Tamiya 1/48 British flown aircraft. There's a WIP on this that I unintentionally abandoned a few days ago because I finished the days work too late at night to stay up and write about it. My apologies to those that were following it. The kit is the venerable Tamiya F4U-1D kit with a few minor changes. I added the CO gas extraction vents found on FAA Corsairs. I made the side intakes from 1:48 Fujimi Bf109 cowl cooling vents and bent up a ventral exhaust vent from sheet brass. They're both only approximates. I also added Ultracast raised flaps because I couldn't find any pictures of FAA Corsairs with wings up and flaps down. The flaps fit well but necessitated a different length connecting link. I made new ones from brass rod. The only other additional aftermarket parts were PE seat belts and the Ultracast exhausts which were a vast improvement on the kit parts. The kit paddle blade prop was swapped with one from a Tamiya F4U-1A since this particular plane was produced with the last batch of F4U-1As. I built the kit with my normal disregard for fine detailing and my normal focus on general accuracy, clean construction and smooth paint finish. For the first time in decades I went open cockpit. I normally like the aerodynamically cleaner lines of closed canopies but since folding the wings destroyed that, I opened up the office. For the first time ever, I made the masks for the minimal markings with the Silhouette Cameo 5 my wife gave me this Christmas. I spent more time researching the markings and learning the Silhouette than building the kit. I'm happy with the results and looking forward to learning the Silhouette Studio software better. The Royal Navy, serial and door numbers are 29 year old White Dog decals that worked great. I decaled over the painted white number and then carefully trimmed out the decals. The airframe was painted with my beloved Gunze laquers. Details were picked out with a mix of enamels and acrylics. Well that's it. A simple, hopefully well executed build that I hope you enjoy. Now I have to figure out what I want to build next. Be well all Ron

I found this profile and I really like the markings. I have a few questions on this. First are these Markings even real? If not we're done now. If they are legit what sizes are they? Codes and roundels. I need to now so I can create them on my new Silhouette cutter. Third. Is this an abnormal camouflage pattern on the starboard nose? Looks odd to me, but what do I know? Thank you Ron

Hello everyone.. While digging up markings options i came across this profile. I cant seem to find actual photo’s though ? Im curious to know the story behind this particular plane, why USN camo on an atlantic RN corsair in Ireland ? Are the codes in fact yellow ? Or should they be grey or sky ? If I can nail the info down on this particular Corsair. Then this would become a quick contender, for one of the three builds I'm doing in the Corsair STGB. Dennis

Here's my offering...Straight OOB... Profile... I'll get to it eventually... --John

I will jump in with this old kit - I am sure I built as a young lad many moons ago.... To try to do something different I will use some aftermarket decals... From what I can find and see the Portuguese airforce effectively bought USN A-7Es - so I am not going into mega detail changes - the main obvious item is the refuelling probe...I can't see any after market and its a bit crazy to by a 1/72 E so i will either go with out, or try to fashion something that will look ok ish! I have bought a couple of quick boost A-4 Skyhawk probs - I may be able to cut them up to get something.... Earlier probe later Probe If anyone knows better please do let me know!

Hi, Wonder if there is any pictures and/or decals (1/72 scale) for those Brittish Corsair's that took part in Operation Tungsten against Tirpitz? Cheers / André

Hi everyone, First posting here so be gentle.🤪 Multiple questions i'm afraid and i hope you can help me... I purchased a HobbyBoss 1:48 scale A-7 Corsair2 kit first before doing homework and i want to give it to my son to make, getting a better more accurate kit. Can you advise a better kit of the same aircraft for me to make please? Secondly, i want to do the model justice with after market detail packs, etches, masks etc, but cannot seem to negotiate the plethora of these bits and kits that are available. Can you please help? Ideally i want to purchase all that i can to allow me to make a fully detailed and authentic greek A-7 in either camo, or if i can get the decals the 'Olympos' special. All help gratefully recieved. All the best David

Build details here Great kit to work on and well worth the time & effort

Hi, gentlemen, I am planning to build a BPF Corsair II, JT533/P120 from 1834th NAS. I have a profile from the special BPF issue of Model Aircraft Monthly, which is clear enough (full BPF markings, P120 in Light Grey -guess Sky would be the second option) What puzzles me is a small picture in Osprey's "Royal Navy Aces of WW2", page 81, where a personal marking, like an elongated figure can be faintly discerned. Does someone in the readership have a hard data on this? Regards to all, Fernando, home at BA

Successful visit to Scale Scotland 2019 @ BT Murrayfield 👌🏼... worth a visit if you havent been. Only downside .. wishful thinking that I could do as well as this ... Superb 👏👏👏 So after a few weeks and the envy having subsided , I've started on the Hobbyboss Corsair II , the A-7k version. Really like this kit and looking forward to having it in the blue/grey scheme. First up, removed the canopy crease by sanding it and polishing, then it was dipped in Klear ( or latest Johnson product equivalent) Next up was the cockpit.. basic seats but raised detail on IP which should be ok with supplied instrument decals. Ejection seats painted up and little bits n bobs added from spares box and wire to add interest. Seatbelts made from tinfoil sandwiched between some Tamiya tape. Excuse the poor photo but you get the idea .. Cockpit decals added and micro sol used ... Seatbelts might not be perfect but I'm well happy for a first time effort .. Cockpit fairings are a snug fit.. no glue needed but some weathering required later before the canopy is fitted. Overall fit of parts is superb in my opinion. Just a couple of gaps filled and sanded, especially the join in the engine intake ( moulded in two halves). Two halves now glued together and the centre fuselage seam filled and sanded. Taking care not to destroy any of the recessed panel lines and detail on this kit. Wings on and various underside pods and ventral spine fitted. Filler required for the wing joints but to be honest, not that much. Looking at reference pictures, the small arial between the rear cockpit & extended spine should be removed. I think this would impede the intake for air to air refuelling. Going to leave the horizontal stabilisers off until paint applied, as they are molded in one piece and a great fit. On the real thing, there appears to be a swash plate or similar ?? on the fuselage at the front end of them. This will be much easier to paint with the stabilisers added after. That's it for now... enjoying this kit but starting back shifts tomorrow so build on hold until later in the week. Happy modelling 🤝👍

Hello, Here are my two 1/72 Fujimi A-7E Corsair II's that I just finished. The US Navy one was done in VA-146 markings during the 1971-72 cruise on the USS Constellation. Decals from Wolfpak, Rockeyes from Eduard, painted with Modelmaster and Tamiya. The Greek one was inspired by one of the Corsairs that participated in that big live firing demonstration that was all over the internet a couple years ago. M117's are from Eduard, decals from Icarus, painted with Gunze paints. And both of them together. Thanks for watching. i hope you like them. Pete

This is the Tamiya 1/72nd scale Corsair with the wings clipped to represent a Fleet Air Arm machine. I used a Eduard etched zoom set for the cockpit. The paints are all Xtracylix, and the decals are by Techmod. Vought Corsair II. Set 72014. The Aircraft is from 1834 NAS HMS Victorious 1944. Thanks for looking, Joe

Ok my second STGB for the year! I have been tossing around whether I was or wasn’t going to do a build for this one but the calendar is sort of free so why not! So for this one I’ll be building a Fleet Air Arm Corsair II JT 410 off the carrier HMS Victorious, this will go along nicely with the Avenger/Tarpon I that I did for the FFA GB. The base model will be the lovely 1/48th Tamiya F4U-1A. Plus a few extras thrown in, Eduard PE bits… …..UltraCast seat with the right seatbelts…though it does look a wee bit small! ….plus decals from EagleCal. Being a FAA Corsair there will be a couple of mods required, most notably I need to clip the wings. A simple task on the Tamiya model…luckily! Plus there are some other minor changes needed as well, and if I can’t be bothered to do them from scratch then I may get the MDC Corsair Mk. II & Mk. IV conversion kit. Hopefully I can make a start this weekend, whilst I’m waiting for bits to dry on the Thunderbolt.

I will do the Academy 1/72 Corsair almost straight from the box. It will be the Corsair II or III. I haven't decided jet. The wings will be clipped and some seatbelts made from tape. The pictures will come soon. Cheers

Hi All, The Hasegawa 1/48 A-7E Corsair is a wonderful example of the state of the art in the late '80's as far as the mainstream injection Molded manufacturers are concerned- it has a level of detail and features, such as detailed avionics bays, separate flaps and detailed cockpit that set Hasegawa at the top of the tree in those heady days, and as a kit it outstrips it's contemporary's such as the Hasegawa 1/48 F-16 and F-15. It also sports the finest injected molded AIM-9's I have encountered in any kit to date, although more modern toolings may have overtaken this aspect of the kit. This is the Revell of Germany boxing of this venerable classic, and I snapped this edition up around 10 years ago, being familiar with the contents and harbouring a soft spot for the good old "SLUF" (Perhaps I feel a certain kinship with it's sobriquet!) I utilised the Superscale VA-97 Corsair decals, to depict the aircraft as it appeared in April 1980, part of the USS Coral Sea's air wing, and sporting the identification stripes applied to the US Navy aircraft as part of Operation Evening Light, which itself was the Airpower component of Operation Eagle Claw, the mission to rescue the Americans held in Tehran who didn't make it to the Canadian embassy. The sheet is still around in various outlets, and I also understand that Hasegawa released the kit with these markings as a special edition some years ago. Many hours of searching the web for the few photographs of the VA-97 aircraft of the period resulted in the identification of the weapons load as a pair of Rockeye II CBU on the middle pylons, two fuel tanks on the inners and a pair of AIM-9's for self defence. I used the kit's AIM-9D as they are superb, although some grainy black and white shots hint that AIM-9L's may have been utilised at the time, although I am unsure as to the Lima's in service date. I added a pair of the Eduard Brassin Rockeyes and Bob's your Uncle: I am very pleased with some aspects of this build, although there is a lot of room for improvement, but overall an enjoyable build. As always, thanks for looking, Cheers, Troffa (edited to correct Photobucket ineptitude)

I recently bought this kit on a trip to Madrid, and then I saw a post here about this particular aircraft with the goofy teeth (which only lasted less than a day before being painted over, I think in fact it probably never flew with these markings!) and I knew that I had to build my Corsair II as the "Molar Marauder"! I contacted Two Bobs decals and ordered this set directly from them. In addition I got a set of decals for the canopy seals, some resin wheels, a resin seat and the appropriate Eduard photoetch set for this kit. I've still a little work left on my RAF Mustang III and I keep promising my daughter to do some work on her Red Arrows Hawk, but I hope to get started on this one soon.

Hi, Next calssique machine - Chance-Vought F4U Corsair. I have three F4U on my shelves. The most old one is F4U4 made out of Matchbox kit, with Esci decals. The markings are of pilot John Glenn, later fameous astronaut, first American who orbit Earth on board of Mercury capsule. The machine is belived to belong to VMF 155, China , early 1945. I made her about 1980. Here she is: Second one is F4U2, a scratch conversion to nightfighter and birdcage canopy variant made out of Heller kit. Those days there was no Hasegawa kit of this variant. Unfortunately I did not corrected the shape of engine... I made this model about 1982. Markings are of machine "Shirley June" piloted by commander of unit, Mjr. Everett M. Vaughan, VMF(N) 532, 1944 (Saipan and Guam). Here she is: The third one is much more recent, only about 5 years old. This is a Tamiya F4U1d converted to British Corsair Mk II (tappered wings). It is in markings of FAA unit from HMS Illustrious, during operations at Okinawa, summer 1945. I was trying to paint it with well faded-out colours. Please note, that national roundels were not so badly faded, since they were painted quite recently. On right wing roundel was freshly overpainted in summer '45: Comment welcome and regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Finished this one a few weeks ago, the HobbyBoss 1/48th A-7A Corsair II, finished as Bu.No 153177 coded 'AC-15' operated by VA-105 off USS Saratoga in 1973. This Corsair II was retired from the US Navy and was then converted to an A-7P and served with the Portuguese Air Force, she is now in store at Alverca. The downsides of the HobbyBoss Corsair II series have been long debated here and elsewhere but I can live with the faults and this was a straightforward build. It goes together quite well and needed very little filler. The instruction sheet can be a bit sparse especially regards the cockpit but I like researching so no real problem. My airbrushing was less than brilliant unfortunately and I ended up drenching the model with too much Klear in one application! The two things I did mess up were the jet air intake (more filler needed!) and the wing centre stations weapon loads. I originally intended for her to carry a pair of AGM-62A Walleyes but I had some spare Mk.82's so I made up two TER's and they just did not go at all well, sort of hang like coconuts! I also put a pair of LAU-10 rocket pods on the outboard stations. When I get the inclination I will complete the Walleyes and take the TER's off. Still, learned a lot from this one and will be happy to try another HobbyBoss Corsair II, maybe the next one will be one of the two-seaters. Michael