discussion Andrew's 1/72 Tamiya F4U-1D Corsair

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So now the Tempest is over the line, this will be my next victim - only my second Tamiya 1/72 wingy kit, only my second US aircraft and my first Corsair. It will be my usual straight OOB.

I've been lucky and already have some decent reference material on the topic in the library. I have also come across a couple of useful internet threads on the topic that help. One includes a comment by a Dana Bell, who is seemingly an authority on the topic, having published a well received book on Corsair cockpit colours - albeit someone quoting one Dana's earlier articles seems to contradict the post Dana himself put up...but we're a way off that point......

The Corsair is of course rightly seen as one the war's best aircraft, even it's carrier career was late starting, and of course was one of the best US aircraft.

However, whilst I knew it saw service with us Brits in the Fleet Air arm in the war, I didn't realise we took so many until I started doing my research. I gather more than 12,000 of various versions were built, with us Brits receiving just over 2,000 i.e. one sixth. It also saw extensive service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, with them apparently receiving over 400. And then of course there was it's post war service with a handful of other nations.

Interestingly Tamiya don't do a boxing with RAF/RNZAF markings, so if this goes well I might invest in a second kit and track down some AM decals....after all I need to fly the flag for us Brits!

Oh and I gave my work bench a deep clean after the Tempest build....clearing everything off I gave it a good wipe down, laid new paper to protect the surface, put fresh paper and a filter in the spray booth, and just had a general tidy.....the end product made me realise how bad it had got.

ACW as usual

ATB

Andrew

--------------------------------------------------


Now isn't this looking nice and clean and tidy!







Obligatory box art and sprue shots.....












Reference material
The Warpaint book is the main source. It is one of their larger volumes and packed full of detail.

The Carrier Pilot book is by a former British Fleet Air Arm pilot who learned to fly in one the US based wartime training schools before flying Corsairs off Royal Navy Carriers in the Pacific, and is well worth a read. I found one easily for less than £6 delivered four years ago.










[

 

[yak face]

Fantastic , love the Corsair and love these excellent Tamiya 1/72nd kits ! Looking forward to this one andrew. Like you I’m surprised Tamiya dont offer a Fleet air arm decal option on any of their 1/72 corsairs . I know Revell do on their recent tooling ( 2014 tooled kit no 03917 ) f4u-1b , which is regarded as a very nice little kit and will be well cheaper than getting a Tamiya combined with aftermarket decals . Downside is theres only one option for an overall sea blue machine so if its the dark slate grey / extra dark sea grey scheme you fancy then aftermarket decals is the way to go . Anyhoo enough waffling , on with the build!

 

[Geoffers]

Nice choice Andrew

I think the Corsair used by the FAA had a slightly shorter wingspan to help ease of operation on the Royal Navies smaller carriers.

The Revell kit Tony mentioned has this feature and does build up into a nice model. I think I have some spare Transfers from when I built one that might be of use to you somewhere in the stash if you do go ahead with a British version.

Good luck with your build, I will follow along

Geoff.

 

[adt70hk]

Nice choice Andrew

I think the Corsair used by the FAA had a slightly shorter wingspan to help ease of operation on the Royal Navies smaller carriers.

The Revell kit Tony mentioned has this feature and does build up into a nice model. I think I have some spare Transfers from when I built one that might be of use to you somewhere in the stash if you do go ahead with a British version.

Good luck with your build, I will follow along

Geoff.

Hi Geoff

Good point.... you're right about having shorter wings, which I knew about. I've JUST read that this was because British escort carriers had lower ceilings than their US counterparts. I'll have to look the Revell kit up.... And thanks for the offer of some decals.

ATB

Andrew

 

[Richard48]

The Argentinian version on the Warpaint book looks interesting.Something a bit different to FAA or US ones.
Looks a nice model.
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Good luck with your "Bent Wing Bastard". Being Tamiya is should all fit well. All things considered it surprises me that we don't see more Corsairs modelled.

 

[adt70hk]

The Argentinian version on the Warpaint book looks interesting.Something a bit different to FAA or US ones.
Looks a nice model.
Richard

Good luck with your "Bent Wing Bastard". Being Tamiya is should all fit well. All things considered it surprises me that we don't see more Corsairs modelled.

Good to have you in board chaps.

Richard - it does indeed. There is part of me that would like to have a go at doing a different version with a different camo scheme but we have enough kits......but never say never....

Jim - The reports - both reviews and from someone I know - are very positive and it's apparently the best out there, albeit it is the most expensive from what I understand. You're also right about it not being seen much on forums....maybe the often monotone scheme puts people off....??

Thanks again chaps!

ATB

Andrew

 

[colin m]

Nice subject Andrew. This actual kit was one of my first builds on returning to the hobby. I wonder if I thought all kits were this good back then ?

Anyway, it might be in Norman's book, I read that the Americans weren't initially impressed with the Corsair, as it was difficult to land on a carrier. The British, who were in a bit of a pickle at the time would take just about any aircraft on offer, said yes to the Corsair. And it was the British who developed a method of landing the Corsair on carriers. This was passed back to the US, who found a new love for the Corsair.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Missed this one Andrew. Following along.

 

[adt70hk]

Nice subject Andrew. This actual kit was one of my first builds on returning to the hobby. I wonder if I thought all kits were this good back then ?

Anyway, it might be in Norman's book, I read that the Americans weren't initially impressed with the Corsair, as it was difficult to land on a carrier. The British, who were in a bit of a pickle at the time would take just about any aircraft on offer, said yes to the Corsair. And it was the British who developed a method of landing the Corsair on carriers. This was passed back to the US, who found a new love for the Corsair.

Missed this one Andrew. Following along.

Thanks chaps. Good to have you on board.

colin m - I've read the safe about the Corsair being tricky to land and us Brits finding a solution. It's certainly mentioned in the Warpaints book, which also mentions that the approach meant higher landing speeds and dropping quickly from higher than anticipated when touching down. Apparently this caused excessive tire and undercarriage oleo leg wear.


ATB

Andrew

 

[minitnkr]

....can't see over the long hood where I'm going for almost a three point landing to catch the wire.....

 

[adt70hk]

....can't see over the long hood where I'm going for a three point landing to catch the wire.....

Indeed Paul.... It is a very long nose isn't it!

If I'm honest, it makes the proportions look slightly wrong.

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So been plodding away and not far from buttoning this up. Colours are as per a post by the author and Corsair expert Dana Bell....or at least my take on them.

Summary as follows:

• Rockets assembled and now painted in their main light grey paint. Have to say the definition on the moulding of these is much better than Airfix's offering and so painting the remaining colours by hand will be straightforward.

• Internals painted. I know the cockpit green is probably a bit too dark/olive but I was trying to get a close-enough match from my existing supplies without having to order yet another green paint....so apologies to the experts out there.

• Engine cowling front and wing tips have had the yellow applied. Did the cowling now and over a light primer as I didn't fancy doing the yellow over the main dark blue. I also thought it would be harder to do the yellow once the engine was in place given it is a large open radial engine. No matter what I just couldn't work out how to mask it easily once assembled.

• Inside of cowl and flaps painted light grey, again as per Dana Bell's post.

• Pre-decal and pin wash gloss coat applied, hence some parts looking a bit shiny.

I had started to assemble the wings but found some un-Tamiya-like fit issues so will now wait until I'm buttoned up before completing them, in a hope to avoid any major fit issues when joining the wings and fuselage - but more about that later.

ACW as usual.

ATB

Andrew

PS jut noticed that shot came out much darker than in real life.

 

[scottie3158]

Coming on nicely mate.

 

[colin m]

can't see over the long hood where I'm going for almost a three point landing to catch the wire.....

I think (I'd actually have to check a model) but there's a window near the pilot's feet so he can see the deck of the carrier. Now then, I'm not a pilot, but I'm fairly certain, I would be looking forward at the bat man, not down at my fight as I was trying to land on a carrier.

 

[Richard48]

Coming along a treat mate.I did see one done as an Argentinian one at Littleport show the other week.Looked really great along with a Buckeye.Im sure i remember in an old Military in scale magazine somebody did an article called The Football war and had honduran airforce aircradt etc.Will shut up now im rambling

 

[flyjoe180]

The floor window on earlier F4U-1s was meant for bomb aiming and was deleted as production progressed. It certainly wouldn't be present on the -1D version Andrew is creating.

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice progress Andrew.

 

[colin m]

The floor window on earlier F4U-1s was meant for bomb aiming and was deleted as production progressed. It certainly wouldn't be present on the -1D version Andrew is creating.

Ah, nice one Joe, I thought it was mad to look down at your feet when trying to land on an aircraft carrier.

 

[adt70hk]

Fantastic , love the Corsair and love these excellent Tamiya 1/72nd kits ! Looking forward to this one andrew. Like you I’m surprised Tamiya dont offer a Fleet air arm decal option on any of their 1/72 corsairs . I know Revell do on their recent tooling ( 2014 tooled kit no 03917 ) f4u-1b , which is regarded as a very nice little kit and will be well cheaper than getting a Tamiya combined with aftermarket decals . Downside is theres only one option for an overall sea blue machine so if its the dark slate grey / extra dark sea grey scheme you fancy then aftermarket decals is the way to go . Anyhoo enough waffling , on with the build!

Coming on nicely mate.

Coming along a treat mate.I did see one done as an Argentinian one at Littleport show the other week.Looked really great along with a Buckeye.Im sure i remember in an old Military in scale magazine somebody did an article called The Football war and had honduran airforce aircradt etc.Will shut up now im rambling

Nice progress Andrew.

Ah, nice one Joe, I thought it was mad to look down at your feet when trying to land on an aircraft carrier.

Good to have you all on board chaps!


Tony - sorry, think I forgot to acknowledge your post on Revell's Brit Corsair kit. Good to know and I'm watching a couple on Fleabay at the moment!

Richard - My book actually covers the so called Football wars....in fact it was the last time Corsairs saw combat....somewhat ironically fighting other Corsairs. It's also likely to have been the last dogfights between piston engined aircraft!

Joe - Thanks for the contribution on the bombing, you got there before I did!


Ok chaps, so a bit more on the bombing front, my Warpaint series book on Corsairs has this to say on the topic from a design perspective:

"At the time a theory existed that a fighter could fly above an enemy formation on which small fragmentation bombs could be dropped. For this purpose the V-166B [prototype Corsair]. was designed to have a teardrop-shaped sighting window in the lower fuselage beneath the pilot to enable him to aim and release up to forty 5.2lb (2.36 kg) bombs stored in two small bomb bays within the wing outer section . This feature explains why the Corsair remained with a floorless cockpit throughout the production life of the F4U-1 until the F4U-4 arrived."

The book then goes say that this was changed to the square one and moved slightly aft for the production version.

Oh and for those of you that may not be aware, dropping bombs on enemy formations was something some Luftwaffe units tried....successfully....as things got desperate towards the end of the war.

One of the books I have by a German pilot who lived to tell the tale, tells of his unit experimenting with the concept. I'd need to check back how successful it was overall but I do remember reading of what I think was the first test, when they dropped either a 250kg or 500kg bomb over a US formation......with it hitting a plane. I can only imagine the impact the force of such an explosion would have had on an aircraft.

Thanks again chaps!

ATB

Andrew