1/48 Tamiya Vought F4U-1D Corsair

Gallery Article by Alan Williamson on July 28 2009

 

Kit: Tamiya Vought F4U-1D Corsair w/ Moto-Tug 61085

Additions:

  • Aires F4U-1 Corsair Detail Set 4225

  • Ultracast F4U Corsair Seats 48028

  • Ultracast F4U Corsair / F6F Hellcat Wheels Block Tread 48187

  • Eagle Cals Decals VF-17 Jolly Rogers EC#20

  • Eduard Mask F4U-1D EX 033

Construction

I've always wanted to do a F4-U with a detail set, I order the kit from Calum and then ordered the Aires set, Ultracast seats / wheels, mask and the Eagle Cals decals from Craig at Aeroworks. Once I had all the gear needed to make the F4-U I got started. The Aires cockpit was painted in Model Master Interior Green FS34151 and once all the cockpit parts were painted I dry brushed silver randomly around the cockpit followed up with some weathering using Tamiya's weathering set A and B which really brought up the detail around the cockpit. With the cockpit all painted up it was time to make the necessary alterations to the kit so that the Aires cockpit would fit. I used my little sanding drill to remove the cockpit wall on the kit fuselage halves, with some dry fitting of the cockpit to make sure the fit was going to be good. I then had to cut off the front halve of the fuselage and prepare it for the resin firewall. It was time to install the cockpit and the firewall, I found that once the two fuselage halves were assembled together I had a slight gap in front of the cockpit window, I had to use some Tamiya putty to fill the gap. With some light wet rubbing to get rid of any seam line and putty it was time to install the fire wall, I painted the firewall and some of the frame work to support the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine my own mix of Chrome yellow using Model Master Chrome Yellow FS13538 I added some Interior Green FS34151 to the Chrome Yellow. I found that Model Master's Chrome Yellow was quite bright and very Yellow. Looking at photos of W.W.II aircraft the chrome yellow seemed to have a green tint to the yellow. So a couple of drops of Interior green  seem to give me desired effect I was looking for.  With most of the kit built I moved on to building the resin Pratt & Whitney engine Aires done a fantastic job with the detail of the engine, the only problems I had building the engine was using the PE set included with the Aires detail set. however I think I got the job done in the end. I didn't attach the engine / frame because the frame is brittal. The next job was to cut out the gun and ammunition bay on the wing, I deicide only to do the one wing leaving another ammunition bay for another corsair kit down the track. I used my scriber to cut out the kit ammunition/gun bay doors, I then used my sanding drill to remove and make the wing a little thinner so as I could install the resin ammunition/gun bay. I had to use a little putty to fill in some gaps made by taking a little to much out of the wing.

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Picture 03 and 04 show the Aires Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine weathered with Tamiya weathering sets A & B

Painting and Decals

The Corsair was painted using Model Master Aluminium Plate, Flat White FS37825, Flat Sea Blue FS35042 and Intermediate Blue FS35164 with a cote of Humbrol gloss clear for the placement of the decals. I chose the decals VF-17  "White 1" of the Jolly Rogers nicked named "BIG HOG"  flown by LT. Cdr Tom Blackburn Squadron C.O. His Corsair was named "BIG HOG" after Tom Blackburn first saw the Corsair he said "What a big hog". So the crew chief painted "BIG HOG" on the vertical fin. Once the decals where in place I covered the Corsair with another cote of gloss clear. I then used a pastel wash to high light the panel lines and give the kit an overall dirty and grimy look. when I was happy I airbrushed the kit in yet another lite cote of gloss clear followed up with a cote of matt clear.  

Finish

With the Corsair painted and the decals applied I installed the Pratt & Whitney engine along with the engine frame, placed on the canopy, landing gear/door, prop, ammunition bay door and wheels. I then added the final touch which was to brush four dollops of paint on the left side of the Corsair just behind the number 1. These were patches caused by Squadron's executive officer Roger Hedrick. Roger Hedrick accidentally fired on Tom Blackburn after expecting a Zero formation to come out of the clouds not Tom Blackburn.

Base

The base is Verlinden's Airfield Section 1736 which I got from Craig at Aeroworks.

Thanks

  • Calum for getting a hold of this kit for me, Calum can be visited at http://a4alley.t35.com/ or drop Calum an E-mail at Calum.Gibson@gmail.com

  • Craig at Aeroworks for getting in the after market goodies for the Corsair. Craig has every thing for aircraft and armour modelling, at Aeroworks, Drop Craig an E-mail for a product listing around Australia and over seas.

  • To Steve Bamford for his work on this site.

Alan Williamson

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Photos and text © by Alan Williamson