David Hansen

Hi Brett, A couple of observations. 1) I too have found precious little information about the "Reluctant Dragon" aside form one black and white photo taken of the artwork. The plane DID exist and in all likelihood it was ANA Sea Gray over Light Aircraft Gray. I wish i knew more about the plane. Others may know a lot more. 2) When i built my 2 Birdcages i used a block of Evergreen stock wedged into the intake openings, filled around it with CA and sanded it flush. 3) I used Barracuda wheels on both of my builds. You do need to be careful when installing the wheels to aensure proper spacing. In the real F4U Corsair, the clearance between the inside wall of the tyre and the door is VERY close...as in the width of a #2 pencil. I used a piece of styrene sheet as a spacer to ensure proper separation. HTH, david

Yes that's correct. These "sleeve" pieces are merely placed in position. If they are glued in, the clearances get too tight, and the spar will not slide all the way into the outer wing segments. I am amazed how many people building this model have cacked up this step. -d-

Hey i don't mean this answer to sound flippant but, you could cut a circle-shaped mask from Tamiya tape, lay it down in the correct position, and then make pilot holes by eyeball, using a needle in a pin vise, and then open those out a little with a #80 drill bit, or something smaller if you can find it. Sand down with 100 grit wet, then take a look and see what you think. -d-

Just like those missing masks, Jennings??

I'm sure it is. It was actually an inside joke referencing some childish behaviour going on at another well-known plastic modeling website. -d-

I did read it and was an excellent, well-researched and authoritative treatment on the subject. An original work for sure. Did you notice in poring over the photos, that the upper left national insignia varied in size a little bit, and tended to shift slightly in its location?

Not just any B-26. A B-26K "Nimrod". I'll show myself out.

Anything that adds visual interest to the generally bland wing uppersurfaces of a Corsair is a good thing. I've seen those ammo cans up close, and like everything having to do with the Corsair, it's over engineered. -d-

Eric i will proceed with the Fisher wheel well. Especially since i have it painted, LOL. My biggest concern right now is the cross section at the belly. The forward belly was flat as a pancake, but the resin parts have sort of a tenuous mating surface and i feel that if i don't somehow clamp the lower surface to something perfectly flat while gluing, the end result will resemble a Revell Germany kit box.. Know what i mean?? -d-

I know memory can be unreliable, but i think i did see sprues for the AN/APS-6 radar pod on the display at Telford. Not including the window behind the canopy is a shocker, since the earliest -5s had them, including everyone's second favourite Hellcat cliche, McCampbells' "Minsi"s 2 and 3. If Airfix' rationale is like Tamiya's, the strategy is to release the "Least Popular" variant first, to start recouping development costs, then withhold the "Cool Version" until its clear that the majority of the costs are coming back. Knowing what happened with their 24th scale Mosquito, maybe they're gonna lay back and see if Hasegawa announces a new tooled Hellcat in 32nd scale. Maybe i'm just cynical. In any case i welcome the Kit with open arms.

Eric, those shape fixes look great. In fairness to Paul, he did the best he could with the info he had. Bill Spidle and I managed to get him the Vought factory drawings, but how much he used them, and where he was in the patternmaking when he got them, i don't know. Regards your earlier comment about the Aires nose wheel well: If i use the Fisher nose wheel well, will the Aires cockpit tub give me fit problems? i got one on the way from the late great "Superheat"'s kit stash. -d-

Petition for membership submitted. -d-

Eric, i'm sure if you mention it earlier in the thread, but why did you need to add shims to widen and fill the lower centerline joint? Did it have something to do with the Nose Wheel well, or the Aires cockpit? -d-

Agreed. The engineering closely resembles that of the real aircraft. Provided there's no mismatch of the fuselage halves when glued together, the fit of the windscreen and its associated sheet metal is trouble free.

Hi John! The model looks great . Since i'm working on my 3rd Birdcage, a couple of observations about the landing gear......if you haven't already discovered this yourself. The fit of the main gear is positive. I mean, REALLY positive. As In, once it goes in it doesn't want to come out. I found the tolerances in fit are really affected by paint buildup on the attachment pins and flanges. Also, the structural weak point of the gear is at the bottom of the strut where the lover part/ axle makes the slight outward bend. Just be really careful how many times you put in/ pull out the main gear struts. Those metal reinforcement rods are great and the struts really need them. The so called "Spade Doors" also have a positive fit but i recommend leaving them off until the struts are installed and the proper "Rake" of the struts has been checked. There should be a piece of flexible rubber strip at the top of the spade door that meets with the lower skin, but installing that might be more trouble than its worth. When the spade door is installed, the clearance between the inner wall of the tyre and the edge of the door is just slightly wider than a #2 pencil. VERY close tolerances on that. Finally, over time the post on my short-tail wheel FG-1 has sheared, while bringing it home from Phoenix. If its not too late i suggest replacing the post with an equivalent piece of brass rod, and if its not visible, you might want to extend the rod into the upper part of the tailwheel. The hard rubber tyre distorted a LOT under weight and its hard to put just the right flat spot on it, if it spins on its axle. Hope this helps. -d-