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My latest build is Tamiya's 1/48 F4U1/2 Birdcage Corsair. I built it as a Marine Corps F4U2 serving with VMF(N)-532 during fighting in the Marshall Islands in February/March 1944. The kit is from the mid 1990s, and while it was on the cutting edge when it was released, it is starting to show its age, relative to today's incredible models. Still, it is a fun and very easy to build model, and I recommend it to anybody looking for a quick project. My build is straight from the box, as I really just wanted a canvas to build a heavily distressed airframe. If you look at photos of USMC corsairs serving from different Pacific islands, you can see how absolutely banged-up these aircraft got. The paint faded, but also got blasted with tiny bits of coral from the airfield runways. Fuel stains and patched up paint are common in photos. The combo of pink, green and yellow zinc chromate primers visible on this aircraft are based largely on photos of the F4U1 fished out of Lake Michigan some years ago. Painting began with patches Gunze silver and Tamiya Yellow-Green mixed with red. This was covered with a coat of hairspray, and followed by various thin coats of Tamiya paints for the camo. There are at least four shades of blue and two of the light gray, on there. I thinned these with isopropyl to have a less robust finish. I then dipped various old stiff brushes in warm water and began distressing the top coat and hairspray coat underneath, to get realistic scratches, exposing primer and bare metal beneath. I focused this on areas which would get blasted with coral when the plane was taking off an landing, but also where coral ground into boots of pilots and mechanics walking on the plane, would abrade the paint even further. A few random patches of Vallejo intermediate blue were applied over areas to simulate field repairs, and mismatched paint. Decals were applied directly to the flat paint, and given a generous application of Mr. Mark Softer. No need for clear coats! This was followed by washes of Paynes Gray, and various dirty brown shades mixed from oils. All that was sealed with a thin clear coat of Tamiya flat, mixed with a drop or two of clear, for just a mild shine. This was applied unevenly, and fabric surfaces were left uncoated. A patchy filter of highly thinned (with distilled water) Tamiya intermediate blue was dabbed on to selected areas (mostly the tops of the wings) with a torn sponge for more color texturing. Little dabs and washes of various oils, some thinned, some not, were applied to create various fuel and grease stains. The dust on the wheels was done with Vallejo acrylic wash. I think the product has potential, but I need to practice with it some more. Anyhow, less talking, and more pictures. I had an absolute blast painting this model! Here is Jimmy Marine Corps. I'm not much of a figure painter, but I like how he turned out, and I didn't have spare harnesses. So in he went!

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