D Bellis Posted April 14, 2007 Share Posted April 14, 2007 Just started this one last week. I'm hoping to be able to devote the time to finish it before the deadline (with the weather improving, that will be far easier said than done). on to the build... The cockpit is nice OOB, in fact it is more accurate than either the Trumpeter or Revell F4U-1A/D cockpits because it accurately depicts the pit as floorless. But, there are three very noticeable omissions: The foot rails under the rudder pedals and the seat’s support structure are not represented at all, and the throttle quadrant is merely a shadow cast onto the left sidewall. Other missing items include the handles on the right console, the controls on the lower left corner of the instrument panel and misc. other tiny odd-n-ends. The foot rails were made from thin aluminum “flashing”. The seat’s structure was made from styrene rod and bits of brass rod. The throttle quadrant was made from a chunk of scrap styrene. More in 30 seconds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 14, 2007 Author Share Posted April 14, 2007 While reworking the cockpit, the kit's instrument panel was cut down to remove the box they engineered in to aid in assembly. Cutting this off affected the locating the forward bulkhead, but a slab of styrene fixed that problem (see below). Some of the bulky molding around the kit's seat attachment structure was removed because it was inaccurate and in the way of the new seat structure. The seat was also moved forward by about 3/32 to accommodate the new structure. Various handles were made of wire with epoxy to represent the handles. Here are the cockpit parts after painting & detailing them: The seatbelts are from Eduard (set 32-506). Still more in another 30 seconds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 14, 2007 Author Share Posted April 14, 2007 The instruments and placards are from Mike Grant’s 1/32 and 1/48 instrument decal sheets. As mentioned earlier, the white styrene card stock on the instrument panel tab for getting the forward bulkhead aligned properly in the fuselage. Here's the finished forward bulkhead with joystick and rudder pedals: Now I can get on with the bulk of the construction. Updates coming soon... D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 15, 2007 Author Share Posted April 15, 2007 Well, nuts. This project is on hold until I can get the correct small parts pack from 21C. It seems they put the small parts pack for the '109 kit into this kit. :angry: If you have this kit, check it carefully! The small parts pack should look like this: (This image is from Brett Green's 21C Corsair review on HyperScale.) Anyway, the main airframe construction is basically complete. maybe I'll post an image or two later today... D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOTR Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Yeah, 21st's quality controll is a mess... ...my Zero misses the windscreen and the firewall, but therefore I have two oil tanks... :angry: Otherwise, your Corsair is very fine so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allok Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Lookin pretty darn good D. Clearly a lot less work than the poor old Revell kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotsman Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 This is one build I will be follwing with intrest , my 21Century F4U was delivered last week, (via E-bay), and i'm mulling over what I'm going to add to it to bring it up to current standards - I'm thinking abour some Eduard sets , (the Big Ed Trump F4U set is £19 here in the uk , and that seems like a Lot of brass for the price) Brass , and maybe some FAA markings ... Hmmm..... Keep up the great work .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 Thanks for kind words, guys! I called 21C again today, and got through (no answer yesterday). The guy I talked to said he'd get a parts pack out to me today. We'll see how long that takes. In the meantime, I guess I'll take the time to detail the engine. I hadn't planned on adding anything other than a paint job, but since I'm unable to do much else with it until those parts arrive... Pics coming as soon as I have something to show. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 17, 2007 Author Share Posted April 17, 2007 The engine is done. Nothing special, just the kit parts plus some fine wire added for the spark plug wires. The ignition harness ring is odd because it is molded with the lower ends flared out. It should be circular all the way to the ends. Another pic: Forgot to take airframe pics while I had everything set up. Maybe next time. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kopterdoctor Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 D Looken good Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 Thanks Steve! Looking through the box for more things to work on, I noticed the exhaust inserts for the underside of the nose are also missing. Again, CHECK YOUR KITS for missing parts! And, please be more thorough than I was. Rather than call them AGAIN, I'll be scratching these parts. Shouldn't take more than some sheet styrene and brass or aluminum tubing. One other thing that's beginning to eat at me is the dihedral angle of the outer wing panels. As is, they're kind of flat. I haven't glued them on yet, so I may trim the upper part of the outer wings to raise the angle a little. Hopefully they'll still match up well with the inner section after the cutting. Another shot of the basic airframe. As with the outer wing panles, the cowl and canopy are not glued in place, yet. Also, I haven't started cleaning up the joints yet. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Looking good. Are you using regular plasticglue ? I wanted to start the Zero and my Revell glue doesn't work on the 21 st C plastic. Tryed again with the Stuka.And again no good bonding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 21, 2007 Author Share Posted April 21, 2007 Erwin, You'll need to use a "hot" plastic cement for these kits. Tenax works fine on these 21C kits. It also seems to be pretty popular and readily available in Europe. I use straight MEK (methyl-ethyl-keytone) for everything including regular styrene kits. It is highly volitile and MUST be used with care, but it is readily available here and very inexpensive (about $4US per litre). MEK is not legal to buy in some states here, so it may be hard to come by in Europe. HTH, D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee White Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Looking through the box for more things to work on, I noticed the exhaust inserts for the underside of the nose are also missing. Again, CHECK YOUR KITS for missing parts! And, please be more thorough than I was. D The exhausts are in the blister pack- Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 Thanks Lee. I got the parts pack last evening. One week from calling them to recieving the parts. Not too shabby at all. I'd call it "great service" if the parts were there to begin with, though... Hopefully I'll have some progress to report this evening. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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