Monogram's Old F4U-4B: wings and things

[DMC]

5 hours ago, David H said:

I think you managed to capture the profile of the -4 fuselage better than either Academy or Hasegawa.

 

Just now, Johnny1000 said:

The fuselage profile looks great.

Thanks guys, perhaps I am getting bolder in the use of the knife and razor saw.  The good plans in Detail & Scale and Modelmania and a couple of good profile photos were necessary.  Of course this old kit was never meant to be the ultimate Corsair model, more of toy to be flown around the living room (taka taka taka) and landed on the coffee table.  

 

My head is still spinning a bit after trying sort out a decent looking wiring setup for the F8F P&W and as I've a couple Corsairs, a Tigercat and an Invader in the queue, all with P&Ws, I really need to crack on.  However, I'm also keen to get back on the Corsair for a bit.  

 

So much to do, so little time to do it.

 

Cheers and thanks again

 

Dennis

 

 

[CJP]

Great to watch such neat remedial work and scratch building on your Corsair

CJP

[DMC]

2 hours ago, CJP said:

Great to watch such neat remedial work and scratch building on your Corsair

CJP

 

Thanks for that!  More to come I hope.

 

Dennis 

[DMC]

 

Made a little progress over the last couple of weeks.  Cockpit finally finished, installed and the fuselage cemented together.  I had to trim a little off of the "dishpan" firewall to get the snout of the Quickboost P&W to just clear ring cowl.  There is a slight hollow behind the cowl scoop that needs to be filled in.  The bottom right photo is of the Otaki F4U-1A with the "firewall" cut off and another Quickboost P&W fitted to the opening.  A perfect fit and there is just the right amount of the redactor protruding for the prop to clear the ring cowl. 

 

The kit tailwheel needed a little refining so I added a couple of styrene braces and fashioned a strut and fork out of brass for the wheel.  Can't see much of the cockpit in this shot be it looks ok.  Not as good as an Eduard Zoom set would look but ok.  I found the "Magic Fabric" seatbelts easier than the brass ones to work with.  And because you can see in there,  I added a section of the main wing spar.   A little experiment with tape and Mr Surfacer produced satisfactory results for the ribs on one side of the rudder and I will proceed with that method for the remaining control surfaces.   

 

This has been an interesting project so far.  I am following the plans and reference photos I have very closely, or as close as I can.  Overall the kit seems to me to be slightly undersized.  Perhaps around 1/50 instead of 1/48th.  

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

 

[hacker]

Gee we really need an correction/update set for that Trumpeter 1/32 F4U-4B . l am watching this with interest. By the way where did you get the line drawings for the 4B?

 

Hacker

 

[DMC]

Hi Hacker

 

Plans are from Detail and Scale Vol 56 and Modelmania no 9  (A J Press).  Both sets are very close in shape and dimensions.  Modelmania book is probably the best option.  Plans for Birdcage thru -4 in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. Also two complete builds: Tamiya  -1a in 1/48 and Trumpeter -4 in 1/32, decals in three scales, colour profiles, walk-arounds, etc.  Really good book for Corsair aficionados. 

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

[Jbarry911]

Nice work here too! I've been thinking of juggling in another build myself.

[DJJunis]

Dennis,

I have to ask...why didn't you start with the old Hasegawa kit...admit it was it the old Monogram box wasn't it.

You just couldn't help yourself.null

Just fabulous modeling...especially for those of us who grew up with the Hawk and Monogram kits.

That's for sharing.

 

All the Best!

Don

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Jbarry911 said:

I've been thinking of juggling in another build myself.

Well, depending how you look at, either twice the fun or twice the aggravation.  But why not?

1 hour ago, DJJunis said:

You just couldn't help yourself.null

True true , something about those old Monogram kits, even in a Revell box.

 

Thanks guys

 

Dennis 

[DMC]

I'd been putting off moulding the starboard wing intake as it's a bit of a faff and these plunge moulded bit sometimes takes two or three takes.  Went ahead with it, however, using a thicker styrene (.040) and dang me if it didn't turn out pretty good.  Good enough, in fact, that I was encouraged to remould the port one as I've never really been that happy with it.

So, I'll fix both of them in place and then be able to cement the wing tops on and get on with the rest of it for the pleasure of the Corsair fans on here.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Dennis

 

[Azgaron]

Nice work! Intakes looks great!

 

Håkan

 

[DMC]

Okay, this wing intake business is getting a little tiresome but I just wasn't happy with the results so far so I decided to take one more shot at getting them the way that would satisfy me.  The intakes are a very complex shape to be plunge moulded and I must have at least 15 failures in my attempts to get them right.  The styrene must be very hot, turning yellowish, and soft in order for me to turn them quickly over and press the intake opening with the male mould (a Magnum ice cream stick).  I also had to add a little more clay to the mould and re-bake and re-shape it.  Another plunge with .040 styrene and I think I finally got it right.  In fact, the result is much better than the bodged up port one, that I spent hours on, so I've decided to do that one over again.  I still have the baffles and filters to do on both sides but based on my experience so far I hope to get that done pretty quickly and then get the wing tops cemented on.

 

I am curious about how these intakes might have been painted.  I'm thinking the wing internals might have been sprayed with ZCP and the intakes caught any of the blue overspray when the wing was painted.  I'll give that a little more thought.  Also going to edit in a link to Tommy Thomason's Tailhook Topics which deals with the F4U-4.  Good pic of the intakes on there.

 

  http://tailspintopics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/f4u-4-modelers-notes.html

 

Cheers and thanks for looking.

 

Dennis

 

 

[GREG DESTEC]

Hi Dennis,

 

I like what you are doing with this old classic. A lot of TLC is going in to your build and its paying out in spades.

 

I look forward to the next update. Keep up good work.

 

All the best Greg

[DMC]

4 hours ago, GREG DESTEC said:

Hi Dennis,

 

I like what you are doing with this old classic. A lot of TLC is going in to your build and its paying out in spades.

 

I look forward to the next update. Keep up good work.

 

All the best Greg

Thanks, Greg.  As soon as I get these blankety blank intakes sorted I should be able to make up for lost time.  

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[DMC]

After struggling with these intakes over several posts I think I've got a pretty good matched set.   The port intake, baffles and filter had been reworked several times and still didn't quite satisfy me so out came the whole set-up.   And, rather than remove the top of the intakes and fashion the baffles (vanes?) and filters from the insides, I've made them as inserts that I can install from the back keeping those pesky intakes in one piece.  Much neater.  (In the second photo the intake is slightly out of place. Sloppy photography.)

 

Also made a new firewall as the first one was starting to look pretty beat up.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Dennis

 

[Azgaron]

Very nice work with the intakes!

 

Håkan

 

[DMC]

13 hours ago, Azgaron said:

Very nice work with the intakes!

 

Håkan

 

Thank you, Hakan, pleased you like them.

 

Dennis

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Im curious Have you decided on markings or which squadron you will go with ? Or have I missed that in the mix somewhere ?

 

Dennis 

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Im curious Have you decided on markings or which squadron you will go with ? Or have I missed that in the mix somewhere ?

 

Dennis 

Actually haven’t given it that much thought, Dennis.  The kit decals are for VMF-214, Black Sheep, Korea, and VMA 332, Polka Dots, Korea, and look pretty good.  Not sure, however, about the Revell decal quality.  The Modelmania book came with a decal sheet in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 with markings and stencils, etc, for three different F4Us but appears to be a mix of -1s and -4s.  Not sure and not specified. 

 

Open to suggestions, late War or Korea.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Dennis ... If your doing a late world war two -4 it would need to be converted to 6 x .50’s. Let me know if you are backdating the kit to an early -4 ? I can get Squadrons for WW2 and immediate post war ? However there are so many post war & Korean war options thats where I would focus. If you're set on a Korean war USMC corsair I’d go with VMF-214 Blacksheep, VMF-312 Checkerboards, VMF-323 DeathRattlers, or the VMF-332 that you have. US Navy options are VF-53 Blue Knights, VF-54 Copperheads, VF-113 Stingers, VF-114 Aardvarks. 

     Im not including the various Reserve units called up during Korea. If you want them i will see if i can dig around and get a complete list. I also have a list somewhere of airgroups and code letters for immediate post war in 1945-46, carrier air groups from 1945-1956, aircraft #’s correlating to trim colors, & US Navy Reserve units called up in Korea. I hope that helps you and let me know if you need more info. 

 

Dennis

[DMC]

Well, Dennis, clearly going to have to give it some thought.  I favour Korean Corsairs and using what I already have but will look into some of your suggestions.  Very much appreciate your taking the time post them.

 

Hope to have a long modelling weekend without very many interruptions.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[rbeach84]

Dennis, the word 'masochist' comes to mind!  I do not mean this in a bad way as actually taking on a project in this manner taps into the core of 'modeling': solving challenges, in effect modeling engineering, and exercising a range of skills.  Very much like the occasional 'traveling project kit' I've made of the venerable Monogram 'Zero'.  I am actually using a Hasegawa Zero as a 3D reference so when I corrected the wheel well openings, I matched to the Hase wing which had a different location and was smaller, using sheet plastic and putty same as you did.

Thanks for sharing your project it is very interesting.

Regards, Robert

[DMC]

Thank you Robert, true in every respect.  The downside is I have yet to complete one of the extensive “rebuilds” I started since taking  up modelling again some three years ago.  Never mind, however, it’s the problem solving that provides me with the most pleasure in modelling, not necessarily the idea of a finished build.  Although I have to admit I’d provably enjoy the sense of accomplishment should I ever finish one,

 

Incidentally, speaking of unfinished builds, I referenced your excellent Seasprite walk-arounds when converting my Airffix SH-2 to a Super Seasprite.  I hope to get back to that build later after I take care of some unfinished business that is ahead of it in the queue.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Terry1954]

Some beautiful skilled modelling going on here Dennis. And it involves a Corsair, so can't be bad!

 

I'll tag along here.

 

Cheers

 

Terry

[DMC]

10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Some beautiful skilled modelling going on here Dennis. And it involves a Corsair, so can't be bad!

 

I'll tag along here.

 

Cheers

 

Terry

Excellent! Welcome aboard and thank you for your complimentary reply.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis