1/48 Monovell F4U-4 Corsair

You sir are a wild man!

I actually almost bought this kit at the LHS on Saturday. Boy I'm glad I didn't now!  Wish you luck though in completing it!  Once in a while I tell myself I'm going to build and old kit, just slap it together--you know just have fun, like when I was a kid--heck, I might even brush paint it... I know deep down inside though that it's not possible....

I tried to build this kit in tandem with a Hasegawa F4U-4 a few years ago. The Hasegawa kit made onto the shelf. This kit went into the recycle bin.

Good luck on this build. I hope you win.

I know this is a total dog of a kit, and that it has aged so horribly that one wonders how Revell even justifies having it on shelves anymore. Of all the old Monogram kits still being produced this one in peticular is in serious need of a retool. As far as I can recall, this is the only kit I can think of where they molded the cockpit canopy closed with clear inserts in the manner of this kit. There is no doubt the molds for this kit are in very sad shape, especially the clear parts that don't even fit anymore. If it were not for that one thing I believe this kit could still be salvaged as I, and countless others have been able to do with the P-40 kit. With the canopy glass being so out of shape that there is no saving it I'm left with only one choice if I want to build this kit and that is to putty over the clear parts and paint them a different shade of blue to give an impression that they exist.

The rest of the problems with this kit can be overcome with card stock, putty, and a lot of elbow grease. So I will endeavour to make something presentable out of this mess and that why I've chosen a different route for finishing this kit. 

It won't be an amazing build, it will be basic, like the Zero I punched out last year. Just a clean solid build to hang up and enjoy from a short distance. 

I do consider this a challenge and if I get anything good when I'm done, even if it's simple, then I shall consider that a victory. 

So wish me luck and keep an eye on the progress. This should be fun to watch.

Yeah, it's a rough one and the molds have really suffered over the years.  I did build one recently with my grandson and I did get the canopy to fit okay by sliding it in from the side, it was never going to fit from the top.  It was a puzzle to figure out the right angle to get it in there, especially with the pilot in the cockpit.  It's a long way from perfect and most important it was a good experience for 5 year old Alex and he loves to point it out in the display case.  His only disappointment was that we couldn't put the two bombs on along with the 3 drop tanks and 8 rockets. 

I have another one, or the outer wingless version of it, built in the 60's and it looks like the fit was a bit better then.

You guys keep talking bad about this kit and you are going to force me to buy one! Of course, I'll obtain an earlier boxing molded in the hard blue plastic.  Fortunately for now however,  the crazies over on ebay think the kit is worth $40, so that should keep the impulse buying urge in check for now.

A much better simple Corsair is the ARII kit.  But it is fun to visit the ones we built long ago.

jeaton01

A much better simple Corsair is the ARII kit.  But it is fun to visit the ones we built long ago.

 

Agreed!

Like John, I built one a few years ago for the sheer nostalgia trip. But -- and as the old saying goes, this is a big 'but' -- having built more than a handful of these over my modeling career, I knew a few steps to take to save myself the grief you're going through now. I cut away the weird canopy frame and went with a Falcon vac canopy...then added a nice resin True Details cockpit set [which I think was for an F4U-1 instead of a -4...but who really cares? It looked great!]

Since it was a 'nostalgia' build, I left the working features like the landing gear and the folding wings...observe the big square holes in the mid-wing upper surface...but I had a blast!

It's oddly refreshing to remember that there was an age before photo-etch and 3-D printed details available for every one of the half-dozen kits of a particular subject on the market Don't get me wrong...I'm more than happy to use all that stuff...but it's nice to touch base with the 'old days' once in a while.

Greatly enjoying your build. You're doing a great job on this old (but much-loved) turkey!

Cheers

Wow! Those are some lovely examples to follow, thank you!

Yes, this kit is horrible now. If I could've found an older, or original boxing of it I'm sure I'd be having a lot less problems. The new boxing is rubbish, but you all know I enjoy the challenge.

I am winning this battle so far, and it's not fighting my methods at all. My approach to use card stock to make sure the gaps were filled before using putty has been paying off. She's getting in shape just fine. 

The only thing up in the air for me so far is how to paint the windows. Paint and mask, or mask then paint? How do I mask something when I've eliminated the seam lines to use as guides? Should I order a mask set? Cut masks now and then set them aside for later?  I'm undecided on how to get the results I'm after. So far the easiest method in my mind is to wait till I've got the main color on and have a final finish before masking and spraying the canopy so it can have a different high gloss finish and not blend in so much. I'm leaning toward a dark brown with Tamiya Smoke for some depth. In my mind that would appear as a dark tint. But then maybe a light blue would be more appropriate because it's classic for old school display.

Like I said, I'm not decided on how best to proceed yet.

I've got a couple of these in the build pile. One Revell and one of the older Monogram ones. I remember building it as a kid too. I would probably get a vacuum formed canopy. In fact that's probably exactly what I'll do with my two. 

Compare the method I've chosen over the one shown above and it's a no-brainer to chose the vac canopy over the stock option.

Make no mistake, this kit will test your skills. But since you have an older boxing you may find the comparison between the two molds quite stark in parts fit.

I admit I was shocked to see how badly this kit has aged. It's not the same dark blue plastic model I remember.

I must admit I do have an attraction to building up these old Monogram kits the way I always wanted to when I was a kid. But with my current skills to match the vision I always had.

That's why these are fun!

...sanding, sanding, and more sanding.

As of last night I had sanded down the sheet strips because they are more dense than the Bondo and if they stick up above your surface you'll sand the Bondo away before the sheet stock is level. I ran into this problem with the canopy which I had thought I'd already leveled out.

I did a lot of checking and reputtying some areas around the wing roots, especially around the intercooler intakes and mostly they're satisfactory. Only a few small cracks to fill and she'll be golden.

The canons got replaced after drilling and countersinking with toothpicks because I am very much out of tube stock and I couldn't reach the right diameter consistently with stretched sprue.

Once I was "convinced" I had all of those seams roughed out I sprayed with surface primer to check my work. All is not well and I have still more work to go til I'm satisfied.

The intercoolers are mostly blended in successfully.

I've spent a lot of elbow grease on blending in the canopy and I finally got one side nice and smooth. Uh, the other side, well I mentioned above how the styrene strips have to be flush first or this happens;

So that's where things currently stand. Still more sanding and I haven't even started on the fuselage seams or the tail molding seams. Progress is reletive I guess. One foot in front of the other.

I absolutely love the Corsair. It's hands down my favorite WWII fighter. When I was a kid this kit was it too! Not only could you move the landing gear but you could fold the wings! Wow!!! Lol 

I remember these features well also. Back when Monogram made this kit in the dark blue plastic I remember all of those features worked well. Sadly, this means a lot more seam cleanup and careful adjustments to make things line up properly now that the molds are so worn out.

I did have the landing gear functioning, but then decided to glue them in place because they were wobbly. But now my plan is just to have it wheels up.

So if you've got an older boxing I'd start with that one first. I have the P-51D in the stash but I also found the old Monogram boxing with the old yellow nose Miss Detroit molded in silver plastic. The older release is in much better shape then the newer Revell release. Super cool markings in the Revell release, but I remember old Miss Detroit well and I'm going to do her justice this time around.

Well, this certainly isn't Tamiya levels of engineering lol. This is going to take a lot of sprue filling to get these gaps under control. I think I'm going to need some melted sprue for this task. Oh boy, is this ugly.

On the bright side I finally managed to blend the super charger intakes nice and smooth with no weird ghosted seam lines. That takes me putty then I want to admit lol.

Looks like it's going to be a day or two before I have some "sprue glue" to make any progress. If this works right I'll be able to scratch the panel lines back in without too much issue, and a lot less card stock and putty.

The "sprue glue" didn't take as long to make I anticipated so I've already got the gaps and cracks filled in. If this works correctly then I've just "melted" liquid plastic into all of those voids and I should be able to sand it all down and make completely new panel lines as if it were fresh plastic. 

Come tomorrow afternoon I'll be able to start sanding things level and see where the low spots are going to be. After that I imagine I'll have more sanding to do the day after. I think I've got to give this stuff about 12 hours to be sure it's solid. I did lay it on thick to begin with and added layers as it settled.

Well my sprue glue is still somewhat soft on the outside, but I can lightly push a fingernail into it still so while I've been waiting I painted the propeller.

I know there is a lot wrong with this old kit, but Monogram knew what they were doing when they first made the molds for this propeller. The details are still present and in register. I find this is a constant with these old kits. The propeller hubs always paint up beautifully. 

The tiny decals can almost be read after all of these years. 

So... using grey sprue glue on grey plastic doesn't show clean contrasts. It just all blends together lol. Total facepalm.

So I've got a plan after taking a few measurements and I'm going to sand it up nice and smooth and use a masking template (from said measurements) and spray black outlines to show the gear doors.

Then I got bored and decided to toss some of the Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue that I've chosen for the main color over the nose. I had some odd sputtering issues with the consistency of the paint and had to add thinner, tap water, and a small drip of Dawn for a second try and it sprayed a lot better.

I just had to see that color on the plane, even though I still have a lot of work left to do with this model.

I'm waiting for the new layers of sprue glue to harden before more sanding happens there, but I've been able to fix a few more smaller issues as I've waited. I really underestimated how long sprue glue takes to cure. 

Mike, what solvent did you use to make the sprue filler?  I've never had it take very long to harden.  But I do prefer Aves Epoxysculpy or Epoxyclay for such large areas.  Or slow cure CA with dental alginate, which can be worked in a few minutes.

I used Tamiya Extra Thin and the sprue from the Corsair kit. I have some Milliput, but for closing those gaps the sprue glue seemed to be a better idea since I had no backing behind the gear doors. I wanted a solid slate to work with. 

If I had thought this far ahead when I started building this kit over two years ago I would've added a backing and shimmed the doors and openings to fit flush first. But I had a different plan then, and it would've been just as intensive as the plan I changed it too. 

In other news I decided to switch out the Dark Prussian Blue, beautiful color by the way, with a custom blue-black that's closer to the Navy's Dark Sea Blue-black they were using around that time. I don't even know if a black panel wash will even show up after the main color is applied, but we shall eventually see lol.

The propeller does look nice

Thank you. It's probably the best detailed piece besides the wheel hubs lol.

*****

Well tonight's update doesn't include any pictures but I think I'm finally ready to paint it. I've been chasing small cracks and minor fixes al day. What is it about these older kits, that when you go about making sure things fit it includes a ton of putty? I've got three different methods of filler in this project and they all have their flaws when using one of them should've been enough.

I think that's where my problems may lie, but the gaps in the wing folds wouldn't have been solidified with just putty. I know that from experience. 

Anyways, after this fourth... or fifth layer of primer I think I've finally got this to the next step. The only thing left is the pitot tube on the left wingtip to sort out and I can begin painting. First with a unifying coat of flat black, masking the lines for the landing gear doors, and laying the final Navy Blue-black color overall. That should leave me with decals and detail painting before my final finish and then the cockpit windows.

Well at least, that's the plan. 

That propeller is stellar!!! (Hah!!! I'm a poet and didn't know it!)

But really I think you have to accept a certain amount of flaw with these old kits. If not it'll drive you crazy! Lol 

Oh I'm no stranger to difficult kits. I do like the challenges they bring and I'm fond of the proud feelings of accomishment when I complete one.

But I just didn't realize how much of a challenge this kit would be lol. This is a tough kit to work with, but not impossible, obviously.

You and I seem to be kindred spirits in this arena lol. Scratch building and taking on the old kits is just pure fun, is it not?

Call me Mike.

Well Mike I'm Steve. I have an ever growing pile of Corsair kits. While I really love the old kits I'm looking forward to the Tamiya and Hasegawa kits and the Special Hobby F2G I just got in. 

I plan on starting with either my Revell or Monogram kit first but I have to cast some parts that I lost out of the Monogram kit over the years. 

I think my infatuation with them was from Black Sheep Squadron tv show when I was a kid. That and that I thought all the planes were painted Ford tractor blue lol. 

Hi, Steve. 

I have seen both of those other Corsair kits turn out spectacular and I believe you're going to love them. I have the Tamiya Ki-61-Id Hien (Tony) kit and it fell together like a dream. I hear that Corsair does the same thing.

I'd choose the Monogram kit first, as it's likely the parts will fit better right out of the box and use far less putty. The Revell reissue (same as mine) is a real pig of a kit as you can tell from my build here. As my wife would say, "Pick your battles" lol.

That old TV show was what got me into researching Boyington. Turns out he was a local around my parts and started off his career in the Navy before joining the Flying Tigers with General Chenault. Once we entered the war after Pearl Harbor he reenlisted in the Navy.

Fascinating character.

Just because I am a former US Marine I have to correct you. He was actually a US Marine. Not Navy. 

Well, I'll start with an apology because you're correct.

Gregory Boyington was a Marine.