1/48 Academy F4U-4B Corsair

by Max Tollens Jr.

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Some kits were just meant to test your patience and perseverance and others just seem to fall together; this one was most definitely a test of wills.  I bought this kit as a birthday present to me back in September, thinking this would be a quick build project.  I didn’t foresee any problems upon removing parts from the sprues and rinsing them clean.

The kit does go together fairly well; I did have some trouble getting the wing to meet the bottom of the fuselage properly as well as around the exhaust and leading edge wing root.  I primed it, painted and used Future in preparation for decaling; here is where the fun REALLY begins…………..

I had a problem with the finish and therefore decided to strip the future with ammonia and water; it didn’t want to strip in some areas and others it came right off so I decided to go with something stronger.  Out came the brake cleaner and I sprayed some on; oops, it decided to work on the plastic surface as soon as it was done shedding the paint and future.  I stopped, said a few choice words and decided to rinse with water and allowed it to dry.  The next morning I sprayed the whole plane with Easy Off oven cleaner, let it sit and began to work an old toothbrush over the finish.  Did I mention breaking off the antennas under the fuselage and on the tip of the tail?  I also lost the gun sight from the top of the cockpit but was fortunate enough to keep the antenna on the spine (how, I’ll never know!). 

Click on images below to see larger images

  

After much sanding and polishing and cleaning I was able to obtain a satisfactory finish, except for one area on top of the starboard (right side) wing; enough was enough and no one but me will be able to see.  I dipped the canopy in future and painted by hand, then re-applied future and attached to plane when dry.  I applied USMC “Death Rattlers” decals that came in the kit but they are very thick and I had some issues getting them to conform to the wing corrugations.  I cleaned the setting solution residue off and made a final Future topcoat to seal them.  My propeller logos were badly out of register so I didn’t use them.  I attempted to do some weathering with oils but you really can’t see them in the pictures; I did weather the tires with some chalk powder and called it good.

I have another 2 kits in the stash so at some point I will do another F4U-4B in VMA 214 Korean War markings; if you couldn’t guess, I like to make USMC birds as I was once a Marine aviation mech.  Well, here it is, my first completed project of 2007!

Max 

Photos and text © by Max Tollens Jr.