1/72 Tamiya FAA Corsair Mk. I

by Bill Lachance 

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I built Tamiya's 1/72 F4U-1 "Birdcage" Corsair using Eduard's beautiful photoetched detail set.  The decals are from Sky Models, and depict a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Corsair Mk. I. To convert the basic kit, I sawed off the wingtips, just outboard of the lights. Filing and sanding rounded off the edges.

I sprayed the camouflage freehand using Model Master enamels for the Sky and Dark Slate Gray colors, and Gunze acrylic for the Extra Dark Sea Gray. The lower surface Sky color was masked with drafting tape before the topside colors were applied.

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The Eduard set really enhances the detail of this kit. There are numerous items for the cockpit, wheel wells, engine, and landing gear. For the wheel wells, you get detailed sidewalls and piping for the front, back, and top of the well. Eduard even included the retraction springs for the main gear legs !

You get spare levers for the cockpit, handy in case you "tweezerpult" one. I applied drops of white glue to the tops of the knobs for a more realistic appearance.

This was the first 1/72 scale kit I've built in over ten years, and it wasn't as difficult or small as I had imagined. There are tons of subjects available in this scale, and Eduard has many PE sets for them. I can see myself doing more "squint scale" aircraft in the future.

 

I must get the little bird packaged for shipment now, as it was built for a customer. Anyone have a 1/144 scale kit they'd like built? I wonder how that would go . . . ?

Bill 

Visit my website to see other models of mine, I also build models on commission.  http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/

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Photos and text © by Bill Lachance