CShanne

By the way, I have to say that you model is absolutely superb. I wish to be 1/4 the modeler that you are. It really is just amazing.

Not to bury you with the red outline stuff, but, here is a site for a pacific wreck. https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/f4u/17804/1984/f4u-pillsbury-p18.html it is Pillsbury’s plane, found in 1984, but the star is red outlined. He was lost in November 1943. So, I guess this sort of throws the Navy regulations for insignias out the window. From what I have read, the red outlined stats and bars were June - Aug 1943. Of course when you are fighting changing the insignia may not be all that important. Anyway, I thought you would find it an interesting photo. it doesn’t help you with Hendrick’s plane, but I thought you might find it interesting.

I already had the other 2-books but this cockpit companion book is absolutely fantastic!

For the Hub color, one of the VF-17 books explains it. They painted each section with different color hubs. Blackburn’s 2 4-plane divisions were red. Hendrick’s 2 4-plane division was white (Blackburn T. The Jolly Rogers: The story of Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17. 1989 Orion Press; page 41). ‘’with regards to the photo from Thomas, I saw that photo In color in the 70s, the markings are red outline (the photo actually looked orange, but we know they were never orange) That said, the red outline was only used for 3-months according to Navy Regis (which someone else mentioned). My understanding is that many units painted blue on the outline. So in photos it can be extremely difficult to see if they are red outline or just another shade of blue. That said, the book fighting seventeen: A Photographic History of VF-17 in WWII on pages 271 - 279, it breaks down each kill by each pilot. Hendrix’s last kill was on 18 Feb 1944, so if you use his entire scoreboard, he would have had all blue insignias, unless they did not follow USN regulations for insignia colors

So, with regards to your scoreboard issue (or dilemma), when VF-17 left Bougainville for the last time, did they take their aircraft? If so, then the complete scoreboard would be there and so would the tail hook. I am not sure if they left their aircraft for other units to use either for parts or the complete aircraft, but that is a way for you to get to use everything and be accurate. As far as tires: Cook L.. Fighting 17: A photographic History of VF-17 in WWII. (2011) Schaffer Publishing. Page 173, 174, 133, 131 show VF-17 aircraft with treaded tires Cook L. The Aces of Fighting 17: VF-17 Top Guns in WWII (2011) Schaffer Publishing. page 78 shows a VF-17 aircraft with treaded tires Cook L. The Skull and Crossbones Squadron: VF-17 in WWII. (1998) Schaffer Publishing. Pages 82, 102, 100, 188 show VF-17 aircraft with treaded tires. at least 2 aircraft had the cross tread like your tires I think you are safe with the tires.

If you tell me who to complain to, I am totally onboard. I would love a Hellcat, a P-47, and a P-38. I would have said an ME-109, but I got the new one out and it looks great.

ZM is releasing the seatbelts and other items in photo etch separately.. as far as Eduard, I hope they researched their 109 stuff and put the right parts in. I was horribly disappointed to see that their 1/32 F4U-1 Birdcage set was totally incorrect…. Not to hate on Eduard, but it did shake my trust in them quite a bit. Although, I guess no one can be 100% accurate

Not that it will happen, but I really want a 1/32 P-47. However, I suspect that 1/32 will get no love from Tamiya yet again. Perhaps I am being pessimistic.

He was, but likely I will build a Barkhorn bird, when I get to it. I have been painting figures more than building planes or tanks lately.

I have been watching this thread. I received my 109 from Sprue Brothers today, it comes with the Hartmann figure.

Great job Tim! It looks fantastic.

Jaw droopingly good work you are doing…I said good, what an understatement; maybe fantastic, superb, sublime, awe inspiring.

Looking great Tim!

Not to bring up an old conversation, as you said “far down the road”, but according to the VF-17 books that are out, the tail hooks were removed for land based duties. However, at a few points VF-17 was tasked with flying CAP over a carrier (specifically their old home USS Bunker hill). During the time flying CAP the tail hooks were reinstalled and Kepford was one of those who did participate in the CAP mission. Just wanted to share that if you need a specific reference I can supply it. I cannot comment on the tail wheel, just the tail hook.

That is totally beyond description… it looks like the real thing… that statement fails to properly describe the work you did. Just jaw dropping.

Get better soon!

Looks great. I am currently struggling with the wiring on mine... you did a great job in it.

Some minor progress on the engine today. Still a long way to go on it. I opted for brass wire instead of the eduard photo etch, since the photo etch is flat and did not look right to me. Still moving slowly on it though.

I love the Super Corsairs, I think they are one of the most beautiful planes ever. I just don’t have the skills to build one, even with the conversion kits.. someday maybe for me. In the meantime, I would totally follow your builds if you did that. Something fascinating about following a single pilot and building all of their aircraft.

So I chose my pilot. It was not an easy debate, I really considered 3 pilots overall. While Kepford is my favorite pilot, since I was a child, he didn’t really meet my goal (he was only in VF-84 for training. Hedrick, “Chico” Freeman, and Cunningham were my debate and Cunningham was not in VF-84, so I chose him. He was also so short he couldn’t reach the rudder pedals of an F4U, and he liked hockey. I a, not very tall and I liked hockey, played for many years, so if figured I would choose him. I expected to be posting progress on the engine today, but I am under the weather so, I will not be modeling today, maybe tomorrow. hope everyone is doing well.

When I first looked at the picture I did not notice the white, so I was totally sold that it was the picture of an actual cockpit. So much so, that I am using his thread for help in trying to detail my 1/32, obviously not to the skill that Jay has shown, but I hope maybe 20% of what Jay’s looks like. It really is amazing work to see.

I hope you push through, without frustration; I am enjoying the thread and even started one of my own!

So, this will be the first time I post my work on the forum or any for that matter. I am not the master modeler many of you are, but I am trying to get there and trying to learn. I have been in and out of the hobby since the 90’s; although I used to build a lot as a child and a teen. I was predominantly a 1/48 scale builder, but a few years ago I had built the Tamiya P-51, A6M2b, bird-cage Corsair, and a Trumpeter F4F-3 in 1/32, which I enjoyed, so I decided to switch scales. The p-51 and the Corsair had just come out the last time I built each of them, so it has been a few years (at least 7, since that is the date of the Corsair kit.) Well, I am getting back into it and I have a plan: I really like Corsairs and VF-17 is my favorite unit (I never said I was original). So, I am going to build 1 each of the 1/32 Tamiya Corsairs (F4U-1, F4U-1A, and F4U-1D), only I am going to try and build the planes for a single pilot (I.e., appropriate marketing’s for that model plane for the pilot). So, I need to select a pilot that was assigned VF-17 when the unit was formed, or at least very early in their organization. I would like the Birdcage to be blue over grey, early war camouflage, so that limits me more as far as timing. From there I need to research if the pilot remained with VF-17 for their two tours (as that is my preference) and I need the pilot to has moved on to a new unit that flew the F4U-1D, VF-84 is the obvious choice since a core of pilots moved from VF-17 to VF-84; however, I am not fond of the arrow recognition markings.... so more research and decisions are required. Anyway, here is what I have thus for the birdcage Corsair project: Now, I did start with the cockpit, I did not get too much done as work is insane (COVID actually made my job busier, as I am in pharmaceutical development.) I figured, why not start with the Eduard set, which I did (photo below, keep in mind that I only did one side.) Well.... foolishly, I made a rookie mistake and assumed that Eduard had done the proper research on the F4U-1... well... the cockpit parts are incorrect for the F4U-1, which I found out a bit late (both sides consoles and the dash are incorrect - meaning the layout of the switches is way off)... I ordered the replacement parts from Tamiya USA and they will be here in 4-weeks (for the record, the Tamiya parts are very close to the real layout - main reference was Dana Bell’s wonderful book, pictured above). While I do not have the skill to make my models look as impressive as it seems most of you do, I would like it to at least be close to accurate. Eduard makes good looking products, but I am a little disappointed to say the least. While awaiting the replacement cockpit parts, as time permits, I will move on to the engine. I plan to wire the engine, which I have not ever done, so it should be interesting, did I say I am not a master modeler like most of you Anyway, thanks for reading the small book I wrote above, we will see how this goes (I will also work on my photo quality)

Based on my research, that is a carbon dioxide bottles used for getting landing gear down when the hydraulic system does not work. It is one time use per bottle.

I actually thought about this as well, and you may very well be correct. That said... I have not seen anything written about this to confirm this, plus the fact that there are numerous photos of different late war hellcats with kill marks. Anyway, more of a curiosity question than anything else. Just begs the question as to why... there are reasons for everything :-)