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I show here the culmination of approximately 4 1/2 years of on again off again work on what was a Blue Box Toy Corsair in 1/18 scale. The build thread can be found here: Here is a picture of it before I began the work: The aim was to convert it from a -1D into a -1A (VF-17 Jolly Rogers), greatly improve the realism in general, provide an openable engine compartment and engine accessories compartment, improve the cockpit and gear bays and landing gear. Along the way many new skills were learned including aluminum skinning and 3D printing (plus learning the computer CAD program necessary for creating digital parts to print), and my first use of the airbrush. Also, as has been the case with all my 1/18 projects, I made extensive use of original engineering drawings found at Aircorps Library, to help me scratch build parts. The first year of the project was dedicated to the R-2800-8 radial engine that powered the Corsair. Before installing it into the aircraft it looked like this: It is scratch built 100%, and many parts were turned on a mini-lathe. So that it would not be completely hidden when installed, I was compelled to make the engine cowl panels and accessory compartment panels removable. For your inspection, first the buttoned up shots: Photos are a bit amateur - sorry about that. I will divide this up into two posts. The next one will show some details, and shots with engine cowls removed. That is where you will also find my acknowledgements to all the modelers who helped me out - there are many!

Hello fellow modelers. I now embark on my 4th and final 1/18 scale mod project - an F4U Corsair. My past efforts have been a P-51D (Miss Velma), a P-38J (Lucky Lady), and a P-47D (Glen Eagleston's Eagle). You can find articles on the P-51 and P-38, and WIP and RFI posts on the P-47 on this site, if interested. All three took more than two years each, and I expect the Corsair will too. At least. Here are the customary "before" shots: Cool huh? I obtained this toy/model a few years ago along with the P-38 at a local hobby shop where a whole bunch of these large toys were donated by an estate. As you all probably know, these things are no longer manufactured. The manufacturer is Blue Box (probably originally 21st Century Toys). The date on this one is 2005. To my eye at the time, it looked realistic enough to be a good mod project. My plan is to greatly improve the following items: Engine (all new scratch build, including back section) Engine compartment including engine mount Cockpit Landing gear Gear bays Wing fold mechanisms Flaps Ailerons Elevators Rudder And there will be smaller projects as well too numerous to list, similar to what I did with the other aircraft, except even more ambitious. I hope my eyes are not bigger than my stomach here - it is entirely possible I run out of steam somewhere along the way, or not get up to speed at all. After all, I just finished the P-47. But I think not. I'll take my time and try not to put any pressure on myself (yeah right!). So when I sat down and really inspected this toy, I saw things I like, and things I don't like. As usual there are lots and lots of inaccuracies that are fixable - I expect that. Here is what I did not expect - I was very disappointed to see that the engine cowling is not correctly shaped. I mean it is deal breaker to me unless I can fix it. Here is what I mean: The engine cowling has a round cross-section just like it should. But it should also have a slight taper as shown in this side profile (drawing VS-33001): Can you see it? The taper is slight but noticeable (at least to my eye). Now look at the toy model: From the cowl flaps forward, this cowling has a constant cross-section. No taper at all until you get to the front end. This sticks out like a sore thumb, makes the nose look bulbous. So what to do. Well, this model is going to get a complete engine anyway, with removable cowl panels. So the cowl flaps and panels over the engine will be replaced anyway. The nose cowl must be salvaged (I know not how to make one). The fuselage aft of the cowl flaps is just fine shape-wise. The typical gage of the plastic is .08 inch - robust. After some research it turns out that if the nose cowl could be decreased in diameter by about .08 inch (.04 inch on the radius), and reshaped to blend out the shape, I would still have about .04 inch gage to work with on the nose cowl, and I would get the slight taper I want. Some of you know I own a small desktop lathe (a Unimat). So I decided to try to turn the cowling on the lathe. To do this, I had to lop off the cowling: I was thinking at this point if this blows up in my face, I will just not do this project at all. Here is the cowling on the lathe chuck: Ha! My lathe is intended to work with raw material no larger than about 2 inch diameter. This cowling is a bit over 3 inches diameter! I had to put a large spacer under the head stock mount (see it - its that silver spacer). I had to mount the cowling very carefully - no wobble allowed. Then I rotated the head stock about 2 deg and proceeded to turn material off the nose: Then I removed the nose cowl: Success - that worked way better than I thought. So I am off to the races. I guess the engine is going to be first on the list. The Corsair was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 double wasp, as was the P-47 Thunderbolt. For the P-47, I dedicated about 6 months of my life scratch building a R-2800. And it didn't include the aft section. This time, I intend to make use of 3D printing in some way. At the very least, the cylinders will be 3D printed. So perhaps it will not take so long and not be as tedious. Hope you can look in from time to time! See ya!

I recently found a large F4U-4 Corsair. (US Marine squadron VMFA-312 Checkerboard). Date unknown but it appears to be old and handmade airplane made of heavy, rivetted metal. The prop and wheels turn. There are wires attached for suspending it from a ceiling. Problem: The blue body paint is flaking off. So, I'm thinking about stripping the old blue paint and repainting it. Any suggestions as to what paint would be best for this project? Or.... should I leave it untouched? I'd love your feedback or comments. Thx! fyi: Dimensions: ~ 38" Wingspan x 29" Length Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzXo7v

Admin/Moderators, please move to correct area if this isn't appropriate place. I’m really wondering if I need to clear out some of my stash of older kits. I know most the old Revell 1/32 kits date from the 60s and have been reissued several times AND by and large been eclipsed by far better kits. The only one I’m not sure about is the Revell Hurricane Mk I. IIRC, the molds were modified to produce the cannon equipped version Mk II. Is that right? I have fond memories of building the Corsair, P-40, P-47, Typhoon, Spitfire Mk I, Wildcat, Stuka and Zero and maybe others…and may even build the P-40 as a lark as I remember it being a decent looking model…despite being an E in AVG markings. What about the SBDs? Former Matchbox IIRC. Neither opened, but expect them to be of the same era and lacking as badly as the P-47 and P-51B. Same with the P-38J kit. Having the Trumpeter, I doubt I’ll build one and don’t need two. On the old Hasegawa and Hasegawa/Minicraft kits, they are largely of the early seventies. Are the old M-109E and Fw190s decent kits? I’m not much of a German a/c builder, though thinking these might be good projects to learn on. While improvements over the Revell kits, are they reasonable accurate or do they have major shape/fit issues? I think the 109G14 is a much later and better kit. Is that true? I found a 2002 date on it versus 60/70s on the others. How does the Zero compare to the Revell? What about the Oscar? These were is sealed clear poly bags I didn’t want to open so hard to compare. I certainly have a surplus of Hasegawa P-51Ds and will be shedding some of them. im working my way through Scalemates looking at various boxing’s and original tool dates. At the moment, nothing is for sale or trade, but some soon will be once I get educated a bit more. I acquired many of these from a good friend who was a retired USAF F-106/F-15 pilot and retired FedEx Captain. He died in a small plane crash a couple of years ago and his wife gave me all his kits which accounts for me having multiples. Nothing is up for sale or trade at the moment. I will list it here first when I decide what I'm doing with which kit and gauge if there is any market for these or if postage will be more than they are worth. I am hanging on to my new Hasegawa P-47s (3). I would appreciate your feedback. H-278 and 04781 H-296 and 04722 Both 04711 4749 and H-280 H-283 and H-279 H-295 and H282 (two) H-217 JS-060 and JS-073 JS-070 and JS-060 JS-086 x2 and (not shown 1086 x3) Both JS-060:400 JS-073 and ST18:4200

Model Monkey is happy to announce a set of four 1/24 scale 5-inch HVAR rockets has been added to the catalog. This accurately scaled and detailed set of models represents fully fused 5-inch High Velocity Aircraft Rockets (HVAR) carried by US Army Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps aircraft during World War Two and the Korean War. These rockets were also fit to aircraft flown by allied forces including the RAF, RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF and RSAAF, etc. HVAR rockets were typically fit to many USAAF, USN and USMC single-engine fighter aircraft such as the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, the TBF/TBM Avenger, and later the F-80C Shooting Star, F-84E Thunderjet, F9F Panther, and F-86 Sabre. It was also used by some multi-engined aircraft such the PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon.

Hi guys, By the time ZM and HKM release their Do-335 to check if it is worth for me to continue working on my own build and eventually propose some upgrade kits, I needed a bit of "distraction" and bought myself a Tamiya Corsair This kit is GREAT !! but as you may have noticed, there still is room for improvement and scratch building So I started with the engine... well, sort of Hope you guys will like it !