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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?

Evening all, Having run out of steam a little with my Battle of Britain project, I've switched my attention to my main area of interest, naval aviation. I started a Hobby Boss F9F last week, but couldn't resist making a start on another couple of classic fighters whilst the Panther trickles along in the background. Having been o impressed with the Defiant, I wanted to crack open another of Airfix's recent toolings, and having picked up the Wildcat and Kate dogfight double, the F-4F seemed an obvious choice. My pair of Tamiya Corsairs have been screaming at me from the stash for some time now too, so I thought, given the similar schemes worn by the Wildcat and the Birdcage variant of the Corsair, I might as well crack open the latter at the same time. Both seem lovely kits, the Tamiya especially, though I guess that's to be expected. So, first progress, and after a bit of construction the cockpit interiors have been sprayed. Whilst not altogether interesting in itself, the answers to my questions in my other thread, and the IPMS Stockholm website proved to be fairly enlightening regarding the colours. The IPMS Stockholm page contains information regarding these colours specific to the types, revealing that my usual go-to colour of interior green was not accurate for either of these aircraft. For the Wildcat, and indeed most Grumman types it seems, a darker, Bronze green was used, whilst the Corsair had a dark dull green interior, as confirmed in my question thread. The latter is a little less clear cut it seems, but images posted by LanceB in my question thread of a recovered wreck seem to match with this green rather well. For the Wildcat, the Stockholm colour charts recommend Hu 75 plus a touch of other greens, which I was happy to ignore, as the neat 75 looked reasonable to my eye, whilst Hu 149 was suggested for the Corsair. This seemed a little bright straight out of the (very old!) pot so I darkened it a little with some of the Hu 75 and some black. Neither are 100% perfect, but not too bad I reckon, and lets face it, it'll be pretty difficult to see inside either cockpit once everything is closed up. Next step will obviously be to detail paint and weather the interiors, and I shall also set about getting the remainder of the interior colours laid down, notably that wonderfully garish pink in the corsair tail Thanks for looking, comments welcomed Cheers Shaun

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.

Hi all, My entry for this Group Build is going to be the Revell boxing of the excellent Hasegawa F4U-7 Corsair in 1/48 scale. These aircraft were used extensively by the Aeronavale during this bitter conflict and were operated from both shore bases and carrier decks, their good range and ability to carry a large amount of just about anything you could possibly want to drop on or fire at people making them very popular (with the French at least, probably less so the Algerians). Here are the usual "kit in bits" shots. Striking box art of the usual Suez marked aircraft. The contents and decals sheet laid out. A closer shot of the excellent Revell decal sheet. And now a couple of shots of the real thing to give some idea of the finish I am going to try and achieve, and to prove that they were also shore based, and very, very dirty! I hope that this choice of topic meets with the approval of the other group builders (there are some great topics on the go already). Any help and advice (and criticism) is always welcome. Thanks for looking. Craig.

The next HobbyBoss 1/48th Corsair variant is a Royal Navy Mk.II - ref.80395 Sources: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=product&a=show&id=63&l=en V.P.

My son was diagnosed with ewings sarcoma (bloody nasty bone cancer), which turned out be a bone infection. Yes a relief. How anybody would get an infection on a bone has got me beat, and he hasn't had an injury. I lost interest in modeling, I lost interest in most things. I am going to build this nice little kit, and turn it into something better than my previous attempts. Another one from Toyworld Winenut. Box art; The little bits of pleasure and things to go wrong. If anybody can give some guidance in the building of this kit I would be appreciated. Thanks for looking. Stephen

My latest build , and its a big yin 1/32 corsair, went together reasonably ok , some really bad flash, and some intresting shapes (esp the rear wheel) was more a trial one for me.wanted to work on my shading/sun bleaching .am quiet happy with it , sorry my photograhpy is poor all picts took on a I phone for convinience.

Hello All, Here's my build, from my late Dad's stash, from I guess the 1970s or 80s. So it may have been under a quid! This is the original 1/72 Revell F4U Corsair, and it doesn't look too bad for its age: I am building more or less out of the box. The cockpit insert is reasonable (compared with the contemporary Airfix peg for the pilot to sit on) and I didn't want to spend too much effort because the canopy is pretty difficult to see through, so I just added a rough control panel and a harness for the pilot: And the pilot needs to see! Thanks for looking, Adrian

Just an amazing kit and I've built almost every Tamiya aircraft. The fit was perfect in every aspect with many parts clicking into place. The whole thing was painted, decalled and washes applied in sub assemblies before bring together in the end. WIP thread is here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234955962-1-32-f4u-1-april-1-finished/ Commments/critiques welcome.

Here is another one started - this will be strictly OOB as it is for Tamiya Canada. I think the cockpit is done... These are the included belts. yes they are very stiff material but they can be manipulated into place. I know the new fabric style would be better but these are good for "standard equipment". The engine so far... After an airbrush of X-18 semi-gloss black it was dry brushed heavily with Humbrol flat aluminum. Washes next. more to come... Bill B.

I still remember one of the early models my mother bought for me, at a time I was very young to go to the centre of Athens and buy kits myself. It was an Academy F4U. I even bought my first reference book for a model back then. That was some 25ish years go. Ever since I always felt that the F4U was the most striking WW2 airplane along with the Spitfire. When Tamiya introduced their 1/32 gem I began contemplating building one. However, for reasons of space and (at the time) money, I decided to try the 1/48 first - kind of like a rehearsal. Tamiya's 1/48 is a good kit. A very good kit. But when its big brother came out, I felt it was kinda felt left behind - even after one considers the scale difference. In my eyes it got left behind big way. Especially when it comes to the cockpit, lots of details (granted, not easily visible in 1/48) are omitted. So, I set out to add some detail, not with expensive after-market kits - which would increase my budget for his kit but with a bit of scratch-building here and there. Along with Tamiya's kit I will use photo-etched parts from Eduard, including the placards and resin wheels and control surfaces just to add a bit of character there. In the process some more after-market kits where added, so the original plan was somewhat... extended. My first modifications were to rebuilt the mounting mechanism for the pilots seat (Tamiya has a hideous solid slope-y mount there), add the front plates of the feet-rest, add wiring here and there and replace some of the clunky controls. Below are pictures of the cockpit parts and the sides which detail reworked and added where missing. I also added the air-hose and the map pouch.I removed the headrest as well - seems that many early Corsairs did not have those so I thought I'd do mine that way too. The instrument panel and harness from Eduard. The latter was modified with some brass foil to add a bit of depth and 'randomness' (sec photo). Prior to painting, everything was primed with AK Interactive grey primer. I have to admit I quite liked this primer, easy to spray and my wife did not complain about the smell! Awesome! The cockpit was then pre-shaded, especially on the head-rest and seat-mount mechanism. I mixed my own shade of Dark Green and washed everything with Light Earth oil. I have to admit working with a dark-coloured cockpit was something I have not done before in my 'second modelling life' and I was afraid I was going to mess it up. But I am happy with how things turned out.I had do omit the bob lever by the pilot seat - I need to think how to rebuilt it and fit it in the space I got there. 'Till next time, thnx for watching

Hi guys. I'm Winenut and I'm having a crack at modelling again after a 32 year break! Yes I'm one of those fat old blokes who fell in love with the original releases of Matchbox kits in the late 60's and through the seventies. I'm trying out new things now and I hope to improve. I've just completed a small scale Corsair from Airfix and I'd like to post it for fun and also to try and learn about all this crazy internet forum, picture upload, weirdness that everyone except me seems to know about these days. Anyway for the record I got back into modelling when my own lad recently turned 5 and I decided to buy him a kit and do one together. Looks like I may have started something...... Anyway the kit is an old production cheap and a bit nasty Airfix Corsair.. I'll try and load a photo of the box next! Cheers Winenut

Does anyone know if Lt. Robert Hanson, I believe the highest scoring F4U pilot, fly a birdcage F4U-1 in combat? If so, do you have any info about it (pics, side numbers, paint scheme/markings, etc.)? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Michael

Here’s my version of Tamiya’s 1/48 F4U-1 ‘birdcage’ Corsair, finished in the nondescript markings of a Marine squadron based in the Solomon Islands in 1943. This build was almost straight ‘out-of-the-box’ – the only things added were seat belts, a rearview mirror, and some brake lines to the main gear. These kits are real treats to build – if you are careful, you won’t have to fill a single seam. I realize a Marine Corsair based in the Solomons would be probably not have the wings folded, but I really like the look of a plane with dropped flaps, folded wings, open canopy, etc. I also kept weathering to a minimum, mainly because I don’t know how to portray a heavily weathered effect properly. These Tamiya Corsairs are arguably the best in 1/48 scale - I just wish they’d do a -4 version…

Hi Guys I am about to start a Tamiya F4U-1A and make is as close as possible to the FFA museums FG1-A in the all over blue scheme. I just need to find a supplier of the correct serial numbers for the E2-M. They seem slightly strange in the way they are styled and not like anything I have on my sheets at home. I have tried Hannants (all white serial sheets are out of stock) and a few other places but cannot find anywhere that has these as an option. I am willing to make a small compromise on the font to get them very close bit would like them to be as near as possible. I have the roundels and small serials from the tail already. Also, would there be any stencils/markings other than the obvious large ones on the fuselage? There does not seem to be any on the aircraft at Yeovilton but could they have been removed when the paint was restored? Any help would be great. Cheers Dave

Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=product&a=show&id=382&l=en V.P.

Pics mine of the one at Duxford