The Official F4U Corsair Group Build 4/01/08 - rolling end date

Here are a couple pics of my recent progress on my engine. Got the pushrods in, and after the pics I put the harness bits on. Now just have to drill all those holes for the wires. Have the wire I will use sorted as well. Going away for a few days with the family so won't be till next week before I get the wires on. Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy!

Nice Progress Richie

I have started on my Revell corsair and I am going to attempt to make all the features funtional like retracting gears,retracting arresting hook, and folding wings.

Looking really good, Richie

Just remember that the cowl will block like 98% of the engine, so you don't have to go totally nuts - just give the illusion that you've gone nuts

Just so you guys know, I haven't abandoned the group, I've just been taking a break from the hobby for the last month.  I bought a new camera and have been playing around with that.  I'll be back in full force come october.

-Fred

Fred- I haven't been around much lately either!  Thank goodness these other fellas have been holding down the fort.

PM inbound!

Fellas-

I apologize for my absense, but am looking forward to spending more time around here again!  For my infraction, I have been charged with building two more Corsairs!  Well, it could be a LOT worse!

I couldn't decide between the -1 and the -2N, so I decided to build 'em both at the same time.  I have wanted to attempt building two of the same kit simultaneously, and am going to give it a go.  I am building the -1 and also the -2(N) from VF(N)-101.  The -2N was retrofitted with the taller tailwheel later in it's service life, so one kit will have to tall tailwheel and the other the short one.  I spent quite a bit of time on the second one today, here they are side by side:

I lost one of the parts for the shorter one, and to make a replacement from styrene.  Both of them have a new tie-down loop out of brass wire to replace the odd-looking one molded on the kit part.  I also added some lightening holes, and roughed up the cast portion of the strut.

hey guys,

sorry for not being around too much this summer.

it's been real buisy.

getting ready to pull the corsair out of the closet and begin building.

looking forward to this gb with you guys.

jason

Gigatron wrote:

Looking really good, Richie Just remember that the cowl will block like 98% of the engine, so you don't have to go totally nuts - just give the illusion that you've gone nuts

Thanks!!!! Yeah, I know what you mean Fred, that's why I'm only doing the front half right and just putting holes for the plugs on the rear.

dirtball wrote:

HELLO!! Anyone around?............Harv

I'm here!

DrewH wrote:

Did some one say CORSAIR!

CORSAIR!!!

dirtball wrote:

Sean, back! Yes please come back. We need some building going on here!!Hope you enjoyed your riding!............Harv

Thanks Harv, the old Corsair has a little dust but nothing that should not blow off with a few rotations of the prop  !

I've done lots of work so far on my tamiya corsair! here it is:

I need some sea blue paint so I'm not painting it for a few days(no sea blue paint left)

did the F4U-1D have normal sea blue or dark sea blue?

thanks in advance.

Thanks Harv.  I finished the -1D earlier this summer, and have been busy finishing up a few other projects.  After a couple of months, I started feeling that itch to build another Corsair.  Besides, with all of my Bf-109 and Spitfire builds this year the Corsair is outnumbered!  We will soon fix that!  Two 1/48 Tamiya Corsairs on the bench as we speak...

Here are the two tailwheel assys together.  I couldn't decide between the low(which I had already finished) or the tall one, so I am building one of each.  The shorter one is going on a FAA Corsair I and the taller one retrofitted on an F4U-2N.

Yo Frank -- I see you're the manager of a nice production line! Gotta do this one day...

Technique alert! What's with the coil of wire? I assume this'll be the antenna, but it's installed as early as this... Do tell!

I've settled on a Tamiya -1D for my FAS bird, I'm ordering it today.

Mike

Thunderbolt379 wrote:

Yo Frank -- I see you're the manager of a nice production line! Gotta do this one day... Technique alert! What's with the coil of wire? I assume this'll be the antenna, but it's installed as early as this... Do tell!

Thanks Mike!  As for the wire, you are correct!  I did the same thing for my Spitfire Mk.I this year, and it worked out well.  Hope it's OK to post Spitfire pics here!  Here's how I did it.  First, I drilled a tiny hole all the way through the plastic.  Then, I fed a piece of thread through the hole then tied a knot onto the end and CA'd it for added insurance.  I tie another know to the other end to keep it from falling all of the way into the fuse when it is buttoned up.  While I am working on the interior, I pull it all the way through the fuse to keep it outta the way for spraying the cockpit colors.  When the inside is finished, I pull it all the way inside to keep it out of the way while building the kit.  When I am spraying the outter colors, I pull the knot out a little bit so there is no shadow in the paint from the knot.  When everything is finished and it's time to wire it up, I simply pull the thread fairly tight, and tie it off at the tail, and voila!  A nice tight antenna line.  I did the same thing for the IFF aerials on my Spitfire Mk.I:

Here you can faintly see the knots about mid fuse:

Again, you can faintly see the knots sticking out on the sides of the fuse and on the spine behind the cockpit:

Voila!  Nice tight antennas exiting the fuselage:

HTH!  I'll try to get some more pics of how I do it as I go.

Fantasic work, Frank, I gotta do a Spit for next year' BoB! That's a most interesting technique and I must give it some thought. But how did you apply decals over the knotted ends of the IFF lines???

Mike

Thanks Mike!  As for the decals, I puched a hole through the decals and clipped off the end of the knot to pass the thread through.  Then, I tied another small knot to replace the clipped off one.

Can't quite visualise it... Punching the hole, right... With the tailplane end of the line free, you could ease the decal partially off the backing paper to reveal the hole, slip the line through it from the underside and draw all the way through, then apply the decal normally. You'd need a third hand to control the line as you were doing so...

Mike

Mike- Yeah, it was a bit of a balancing act but it worked pretty well.  The extra-thick kit decals from Tamiya prolly helped on this one!

Richie- Thank you very much!  Sorry I forgot to comment on the engine for your Corsair, it looks top shelf mate!

Hi all,

I ordered the Tami -1D today. She's coming surface from Hong Kong (a third the Aus shelf price, so I'm happy to wait), and the circumferential tread bulged tires/wheels by TD came in a few days back. Now I can line up the Eduard canpy masks and run some tests on the HC decals. If they're about as much use as the rest of the kit, I can create custom decals in the computer for the Salvadorean roundels. I have all the paints, I have Promodeller panel wash... I can rip into her when she gets here (45 to 70 days estimated transit time).

Hmmm, I might fiddle with the HC in the meantime, given that I picked up a TD cockpit from Squadron last week, which even has the -1D rocket control panel as an extra part. The forward instruments are disappointing, not what you expect from a resin set, but all told superior to the HC cockpit.

Cheers,

Mike