Allan Peters

I wouldn't throw away those diamond tread... a quick survey of photos from the AJ Press book set on VF17 shows that the original #29 had diamond tread on at least one wheel. These were photos of the wreck in the second tour book. Diamond tread on your subject is at least plausible. I only saw a couple with block tread but nearly all that are legible were smooth.

I actually have a tailwheel that I bought off of ebay several years ago that matches exactly the one you referenced from Dana Bell's birdcage book, the center one on page 42. Both sides are dished with the hole on one side for the tire valve. There are six 1/4 inch thread bolts (7/16 heads) around the center holding the halves together. The data plate riveted to the side with the tire valve says it was made by Hayes Industries, gives the tire size as 12 1/2 x 4 1/2 - 4 1/2. The core halves are actually aluminum, the outer dishes are made of steel and carry the bearings and are pressed onto the aluminum cores. If you would like some detailed photos, I'd be happy to shoot you some this weekend.

I actually ordered one from Hobbyeasy in Hong Kong @ $295 CAD plus shipping about another $60-65 for a single kit. https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/il3h1h32zrmgqzejzhdi.html I also ordered a couple of the Trumpeter 'old' rereleases at only $80 CAD each, the Fujimi 1/24 are hard to find at retailers and often go for more than that on ebay. Combined shipping was just under $110 by EMS, I think surface would have been about 60. I should have them in a couple of weeks.

Looks great, Kevin. Are you sure you want to install that pitot tube before everything else is finished? I don't know if you have ever heard of this software but it would solve your depth of field issues and would probably save you the cost of another lense. http://www.heliconsoft.com/ Only reason I haven't bought it myself is my 10 year old mac doesn't support it.

Yup, lenses in both wings.

Nicely done! Regarding the wing tip lights, they're actually clear with a tiny coloured bulb inside. I think they'd look better clear than painted. Allan

This is from my Quickboost set. The details on the sides seem different than yours. The magneto on the far right is right side up, the square pad on the bottom matches up to the corresponding square on the gear case. I wouldn't worry about the orientation of the prop governor on the front, it doesn't look like any of the photos I have seen. The magneto should be mounted lengthwise front to back. Strange it's so hard to find a photo of an engine with the prop gov installed. An assembly line pic I have shows it with the disc Paul mentioned mounted to the front, I'd guess approximately 2" in diameter... but it won't make or break your engine. I hope this helps. Allan

"but I have a quick question about the correct configuration of equipment atop the gearbox housing - there seem to be multiple variations on the real thing, and I can't sort them out. Quickboost gives you a particular set of parts, but I suspect they're correct for a later installation of the engine. Plus, it appears that Tim substituted one of the parts from another set (Barracuda?) when he sent the engine out to me. So now I'm just thoroughly confused! In the end, I'll probably just use what I've got, but I'd still like to know what's correct." Kev I just checked the QB set ( # 32 036 ) and it does have the correct parts, the distributors and molded in ignition ring. Barracuda sells these as a correction for the Tamiya kit but you are good to go. Allan

Definitely bottom colour, in your case light grey. Very good colour photos in Dana Bell's Birdcage book confirm this. Allan

"If I opt for the paint route, can anybody recommend a good match of the Insignia Blue?" I have some Gunze acrylic H326 USAF Thunderbird blue FS 15044 that I have used to paint insignia with. The Mr Color laquer equivalent is C326. The wing roundels are actually 50" and the fuselage 40". Allan

I was just joking hence the smiley. You don't seem to confident in the resin casting but maybe your luck is finally turning. Allan

I'm taping some blades to the back of a post card right now! Allan

I forgot the extra parts were in the Tamiya kit myself until I went looking for the blade to take the comparison photo. Come to think of it I would like to retain enough blades to make one set for myself so I can only spare two blades. Allan

Here's a pic of the Two Mikes blade on the left next to the Tamiya blade on the right. On the left is what is commonly called the wide chord blade and on the right is the narrow chord. You want the narrow chord. Now the good part, you don't have to use the Obscureco set, you don't have to use the kit part... you use the correct Tamiya prop! Every Tamiya birdcage and -1A kit comes with the correct blades... four of them. All the kits exported out of Japan comes with the clear cowl which also includes a clear prop hub set. The hub even has a hole at the rear to mount on the shaft though it is slightly too small ( I also have the quickboost engine so I checked ) but I am sure you can make the adjustment. If you can't find the extra blades and hub close to you I can send you what you need just for the asking. Allan

I was looking at Obscureco's website and their current product line, the only 1/32 scale item listed is a set of P40E wheels. I didn't know you had a 1/32 prop set. My blades are the same shape as yours so nothing gained there but my prop hub looks much nicer. I don't envy you having to drill either the spinner or the engine to mount it. I just looked up the prop set referenced by speedgraflex and it is also for a -1D meant as a direct replacement for the Trumpeter part. Still the wrong prop blades but another hub that looks better than Obscureco's. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Hungarian-Aero-Decals-1-32-F4U-1-CORSAIR-PROPELLER-SPINNER-Resin-Set-/132278603317?hash=item1ecc6b4e35 Sorry I got your hopes up. Allan

Kevin, The Obscureco prop you're looking at is 1/48 scale. It should have the narrow chord like the Tamiya kits not the wide paddle. To my knowledge no one ever made a resin narrow chord prop set. I have two Jerry Rutman sets with the paddle blades and nine Two Mikes Resin sets. Both sets have the proper twist to the blades and if you took the time you could probably sand the correct taper to the length of the blades. I can spare a couple of sets so let me know if you need one. Allan

I have seen colour photos of very early birdcage Corsairs with yellow primer showing through on the top surfaces of the wings. One specific example is on the cover of Dana Bell's excellent book. I seem to recall photos of the Lake Michigan birdcage showing yellow under the blue grey and pink on a lot of other areas but those are on another computer, I can check those tomorrow. Allan

Good to see you up to paint. I know you're not up to the top coats yet but the inside of the cowl ring should be painted with the underside colour, just as the main gear bays. I think I read recently in one of Doog's blogs from a while back that while doing some testing he layed down the base silver, then hairspray, then black and the colour coat with nothing in between the two and when he did the chipping the black and the colour came off together with no evidence of black if I am making sense. IIRC he was doing these test prior to painting his 1/32 Tamiya Birdcage Corsair. Regards, Allan

The main gear bays would be the bottom colour, not primer. The tailwheel bay would be primer but the inside of the doors are bottom colour. Looking forward to trying some Mr. Paint myself soon. Allan

I was just wondering the other day if you had any new projects in the works. I really envy you the opportunity to do this for Bob and the time spent with him. I hope he has plenty of time yet to enjoy your work. Thanks for the update David. Allan

You're right, no foot step in the flap. Also to make life easier, glue the flaps up. You almost never see the early variants with the flaps down. Allan

The kit tires are way too narrow and as Ron says your resin set is only slightly wide though the center of the tread pattern is a little off. Regarding the colour of the tail gear, I wouldn't worry whether you do it white, light grey or silver. The bottom of the aircraft and the tailgear were so dirty from exhaust, oil and dust you won't make out the colour after weathering anyways. Good luck with the exhaust. Allan

Another detail is the tires on the main wheels have a fine radial tread with seven ( as best as I can tell ) fine grooves. Of course nobody makes a tire with this pattern. I did this once using a smooth tire laid on its side next to a razor saw blade shimmed to the corresponding height in a stack of paper. Once you do the math on the width of the tire, the thicknesses of the blade and paper the grooving is the easy part. Don't try to gang the blades together to save time, you can't control the depth of cut, it works best one blade at a time. Allan

I have a photo via Jim Sullivan of Marine's Dream upside down from the rear port quarter clearly missing the tail hook. Allan

Assuming you're doing a land based subject, the hooks were removed to save weight.