F4u5-N, Korean War, Italeri 1/72

[Brad]

A quickie build for the long weekend. It's the Italeri kit which is surprisingly good, I picked it up second hand for a couple of bucks without knowing much about it. About the worst I can say is the canopy is a bit thick and required some thinning on the inside to fit and it would probably require a vac replacement to pose open. Other than that this is a decent kit. Decals were reasonably good, I did have one shatter but that might have been because of age. I did make a couple of errors, but for a quick build I'm not too bothered. Note also I only roughly painted over the spinner and white cap to the radome, they appear to have been roughly painted over in reality to dull them down, unlike the markings which were very nicely toned down.

 

 

The model represents the aircraft flown by Guy Bordelon. Bordelon earned his wings in 1943 but did not see combat in WW2, posted state side as an instructor. Having various positions post war, he ended up taking charge of a detachment of all weather interceptor F4Us in 1952. He flew 41 low level interdiction missions against communist supply lines earning 3 Air Medals. In the summer of 1953, Fifth Air Force required help in dealing with North Korean night time nuisance raids, as several jet fighters had been lost trying to intercept Bed Check Charlies. VC3 post 3 aircraft to Pyongtaek on June 28th. They were immediately in action with Bordelon inception and shooting down two La 11s and two Yak 18s over the following 2 nights. On the 17th July he shot down another La 11, making him the only piston engine and only night fighter ace of the Korean War. He is also the last man to become an ace in a piston engine fighter. Post war he stayed in the Navy, being a part of, among other things, the recovery of Apollo astronauts. 

 

As for Annie-Mo, the Corsair in which he claimed his 5 kills, she was less lucky, being written off a week after the final victory by another pilot.

 

 

 

[kapam]

Looks great!

The post-WW2 Corsairs were near perfection in piston-engine fighters.

Well done on a fine build!

👍👍

[noelh]

Corsairs are a favourite of mine. The Italeri kit is OK. The fuselage is slightly too short apparently not that it's really noticeable. 

 

I'm also glad you didn't fall into the usual trap and ignored the instructions to paint the anti glare panel and radome black. So many kit makers get that wrong.

 

Excellent work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brad]

Just now, noelh said:

Corsairs are a favourite of mine. The Italeri kit is OK. The fuselage is slightly too short apparently not that it's really noticeable. 

 

I'm also glad you didn't fall into the usual trap and ignored the instructions to paint the anti glare panel and radome black. So many kit makers get that wrong.

 

Excellent work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was working off pictures of the real thing. Even though they are colour, that anti glare question I pondered over right till the end of the build, but I just couldn't make out a flat black anti glare on the colour pictures.

[Ed Russell]

The black anti-glare panel probably originates from this picture

 

On higer resolution pictures the panel is missing altogether, not black. This also shows that Lucky Phil Bordelon, unusually, had kill markings on both sides! The Insignia White is toned down much more than on the model. There are correct after market sheets.

Nice model for a quick build.

 

[Brad]

2 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

The black anti-glare panel probably originates from this picture

 

On higer resolution pictures the panel is missing altogether, not black. This also shows that Lucky Phil Bordelon, unusually, had kill markings on both sides! The Insignia White is toned down much more than on the model. There are correct after market sheets.

Nice model for a quick build.

 

 

Yeh there's a picture from the front which clearly shows that upper panel missing. The kit comes with kill markings for both sides, that's the decal that shattered on me. The markings aren't bad, they come in that colour, I didn't paint over them. Close enough though.

[noelh]

I've seen so many beautifully made models of Annie Mo with either the black anti glare panel, black or white  radome or both. Surprising for such a well documented aircraft. 

 

There's a readily available colour picture online which shows the  matt Sea  blue anti glare panel. But I eventually found a colour photo in a 2004 Flight Journal special on the Corsair taken  from the front. The anti glare panel is obviously matt sea blue as it was delivered from the factory and the radome is clearly overpainted roughly with GSB. Probably done at the same time as when the markings were oversprayed.

 

So you definitely got it right.

 

 

[Mig88]

Absolutely lovely!

 

Miguel