1/48 Tamiya F4U1 Corsair

[Totalize]

Hi Gang,
Well, I have been visiting this site and other aviation modelling sites for a while now as I been wanting to build some aircraft kits since my return to the hobby 2 years ago. Since my return I have been building armour kits and have completed a few builds of various world war II allied and German armour. You can see my work to date at:

http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/home?userid=9A0366359C50455AA272DFEDACC95C32

And my blog at:

Total War in Scale


I currently have 3 armour projects in progress and will be finishing those soon but I have been itching to build my first Aircraft kit and so I decided to jump in with both feet and build Tamiya's excellent 1/48 Scale F4U1 Corsair. See below.

References:

For my build I am using Aero Details F4U Corsair, Squadron's Detail and Scale Part 1, Fighting Colors F4U Corsair in Color and Squadron's F4U Corsair in Action No.145 and of course this excellent site.

Add-ons I am bringing to the party.

Verlinden's F4U1/2 Super Detail Set
Vector VDS48-047 Detailed Cowl Kit for the the Tamiya kit
Ultracast 48204 F4U-1 Corsair Exhausts
CMK 4073 F4U-1 Corsair Control Surfaces
True Details 48045 F6F Hellcat/Corsair Wheel set.

These upgrades may be a bit much for my first aircraft build but I want to challenge myself on this build as I have a number of other aircraft kits in que to build including Tamiya's new 1/32 scale P51 Mustang which is a beautiful kit but not one I wish to tackle until I get some more experience in the smaller scales.

In terms of the actual aircraft to do I have the sky models F4U Corsair decal set but I have also thought about doing Robert M. Hanson's Corsair. His aircraft No. 596 was fairly plain looking but he was the highest scoring Corsair Ace of the PTO so it might be something to consider. Strangely, there are no decal sets that I am aware of for Hanson's aircraft so I would have to come up with the aircraft numbers myself but have an idea that might work but more on that later.

Here's a color plate of the A/C that he was lost in.

Of course all constructive comments and suggestions are much appreciated.

Dave.

 

[Totalize]

And here are some shots of the cockpit build.
I used Vallejo's Black for the side panels and a mixture of Testor's Enamel interior green and zinc chromate green.

 

[brucejscott]

Welcome aboard David. You could not have picked a better kit for your first foray into aircraft (except for maybe the Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat, a personal favorite of many here). Checked out your blog and your tracks look great. Always nice to meet another tread-head.

 

[Catch22]

Looking great so far, and yes, you're hard pressed to get a better first aircraft kit. I'm working my way through the 1/32 Mustang right now myself, the odd tricky bit but it's really gone together quite easily so far.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Crimea_River]

Great work. I really liked your Pzkw III

 

[le_steph40]

Great start

 

[Airframes]

Some nice models there, and good work on the Corsair so far.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Excellent work so far on the Corsair!

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nicely done Dave, great pit detail.

 

[N4521U]

great stuff there matey

 

[Wayne Little]

great start man.....look forward to more....

 

[Totalize]

Hi Guys,

Thanks very much for all your comments. They are very much appreciated. I will get some more pictures up shortly. The kit I must say is going together very well. The fit and finish by Tamiya is excellent. Now for some additional pics of my work on the engine.

For the engine I use the Verlinden set as it is slightly more detailed than the Tamiya one. Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Totalize]

Thanks Wurger. Much appreciated.

Corsairs had a ribbed section in the front cowling panel which I suspect was to provide support and stability for the cowling. Vector makes such a kit for the Tamiya F4U corsair and I elected to add this to the kit to provide some additional detail.
There are 18 supports per cowling. I decided to use the kit cowling/front cowling panel vs. the Vector add-on. The Vector solution would have required me to saw off the Tamiya front cowling panel and replace it with the Vector part. Seeing as I had never done that before and having only one cowling, I decided to play it safe and stay with the kit cowling. I used .50mm evergreen rod for the rib supports.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work on the engine and cowling.

 

[Totalize]

Thanks Airframes,

The Vector set also provides detailed resin cowl flaps as well. I added some copper wire that on the real flaps assist in controlling their extension and retraction.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very well done and as you say a nicely detailed kit.

 

[Catch22]

Very well done.