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A pair of Aéronavale AU-1s - Indochina 1954 **COMPLETE**


Tim R-T-C

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A little last minute entry to this group build. I hope you enjoy the project.

 

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In 1954 in the desperate final days of Dien Bien Phu, the French Naval Hellcat pilots were grounded after flying hundreds of sorties. Pilots from the 14th Flotilla were brought in to replace them - having trained on new-build F4U7 Corsairs in North Africa, on arrival in theatre they instead were given a fleet of AU-1s hurriedly shipped by carrier from US Marine service in Korea.

 

The planes were battered and worn and most were condemned on first arrival, but hard work from the ground crews quickly made most of them available for service

Edited by Tim R-T-C
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For tonght's episode, the role of AU-1 Corsairs will be played by the AFV F4U 144th scale kit.

 

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There will be some adapation needed - I will need to craft the 10 underwing pylons and the extra tail antennae. I will also be raiding some P47 kits (of which regular readers will know I have many!) for the Hamilton four blade propellors. However I won't be attempting to reshape the canopy or the nose profile.

 

The paint scheme is of course blue, but the planes were in a very worn state as supplied so there is some great weathering potential. I don't usually weather my 144th scale planes too much as it is easy to overdo it on a small scale, so this should give an interesting chance to try this.

 

Markings will be a mixup since no-one makes a suitable set for these planes. However I have a Berna Decals set for the Dauntless and the Helldiver (they made a set for an obscure kit last issued in the early 90s but not the readily available Corsair?!) as well as decals that came with my Eduard Spitfire and Dora Wings P63, which need to be shared among these two planes, plus a Hellcat and Dauntless which will be featuring in the Vietnam GB next month.

 

Fortunately the Corsairs were pressed into service so fast that they had very varied logo application so I should be able to mix and match a little!

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Today's work. Both planes are largely assembled - this kit is superbly engineered, it feels so strange to have actual locating pins and slot tabs that fit into where they are supposed to fit!

 

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Made up the underwing pylons from a sheet that came in a cheap picture frame, I drikled through the 4-hole rocket plyon locating points for fitting reference.

 

I was going to spray-can a coat of metal for the chipping underlayer, but its raining outside so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

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Last couple of days have been busy.

 

Sprayed the birds in silver

Added chipping fluid and USN Blue

Got distracted and made a Uruguayan Hellcat

Applied US decals to the Corsair... 🤔

 

All will be revealed!

 

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Edited by Tim R-T-C
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Latest progress - on track to finish Saturday I hope!

 

Extensive weathering courtesy of Mr Flory to represent the exhaust staining and other grime.

 

Hamilton Standard props stolen from Platz P47 kits, painted and weathered. Decals tomorrow night.

 

Canopies fitted and painted.

 

Stores and aerials to fit.

 

Spent a few hours knocking up a homemade PSP matting for the base. Not the best, but I couldn't find a readily available alternative (Sweet do make one but I'd have to order from Japan)

 

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So missed the boat here, need to pay more attention to the dates!

 

So I added the three aerial wires to each bird with 0.03mm Uschi Line and stole a few figures from my old N gauge box to be ground crew. One of the planes received armament - a fuel tank/1000lb bomb combo from a photo reference. I suspect the fuel tank was for napalm.

 

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I then made a junk pile of fuel tanks awaiting napalm use and assortments of debris with a few ferns growing up through the PSP. Placed figures and it was complete.

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