1/18 Scale Blue Box F4U-1A Corsair Modification

[brahman104]

Very nice indeed Jay! I think they came out a treat. I'll be definitely stealing this technique for the remainder of the fabric parts on the B-17  

 

Craig

[JayW]

The question has come up as to fabric on the wing tip (that is what I have simulated), at least aft of the main spar.  Forward of the spar is the metallic leading edge, including that portion of the tip. 

 

Here is a shot of the tip structure (minus fabric covering) from the wing "skeleton" drawing:

 

    

 

That jagged looking part (VS-14059 wing tip assembly) is a metal former designed for fabric to attach to it.  

 

Here is a shot of the tip on the top wing assembly drawing (where the fabric covering is defined):

 

 

Note the "hand sewn" callout.  Cross-sections A-A, and C-C (which I have not shown) both show how fabric is attached to underlying structure.  Detail "Y" shows how the fabric is attached to a rectangular cutout for a hand hold on the upper surface. 

 

So yes - the aft half of the tip is indeed fabric covered.  It surprised me a bit - many aircraft have detachable metallic tips which can be more easily removed and replaced if damaged (tips do get damaged).    Not so the Corsair.

Edited July 5, 2023 by JayW

[JayW]

The Corsair has "Formation Lights" on top of the outer wings, both sides.  A picture on the drawing (I circled in red):

 

 

Not to be confused with the three identification lights on the lower surface RH wing, which are the same size but colored.  My model had these formation lights as blue.  Yet the drawings specify a lunar white per some "NAF" spec that I do not have.  That seems to be for both the lamp and the clear cover.  Any pictures I can find seem to suggest they are blue.  Can anyone shed some "light" on the color of these lights?    

Edited July 6, 2023 by JayW

[Oldbaldguy]

Tommy over at his Tailhook site opines that yer formation lights have a blue lens covering the bulb.  A transparent blue lens coupled with a lunar white (essentially soft white) bulb would result in a light that put off a comfortable blue glow when lit rather than a harsh, bright light that might impact night vision if stared at for too long.  Makes sense to me, so I vote for transparent blue lenses.

[easixpedro]

14 minutes ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Tommy over at his Tailhook site opines that yer formation lights have a blue lens covering the bulb.  A transparent blue lens coupled with a lunar white (essentially soft white) bulb would result in a light that put off a comfortable blue glow when lit rather than a harsh, bright light that might impact night vision if stared at for too long.  Makes sense to me, so I vote for transparent blue lenses.

I’m guessing it’s similar to the blue light / lens on the Hellcat…

[JayW]

2 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

A transparent blue lens coupled with a lunar white (essentially soft white) bulb would result in a light that.....

 

That sounds pretty reasonable!  Thanks.

 

wonder if TAG has anything to say......  

[Derek B]

It does appear to have a blue tint Jay (FG-1D).

 

https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/chance-vought-f4u-goodyear-fg-1d-corsair-restoration-walk-around-part-ii/

 

 

 

HTH

 

Derek

[Oldbaldguy]

12 hours ago, easixpedro said:

I’m guessing it’s similar to the blue light / lens on the Hellcat…

I’d bet these lights were pretty much universal across The Nav for a while, at least on the tactical side.

[Oldbaldguy]

Oh!  Back to the wingtip:  It appears that the infallible Tamiya may have missed this little tidbit because their kit doesn’t seem to show the obvious break on the wing tip where the fabric would start.  Am I wrong in this?  Will Jay be the only builder in the entire modeling universe to get this right?

[TAG]

Aloha, gents

 

As per everyone's previous comments, the formation light on the wing tips were indeed a blue lens illuminated by a white light bulb, as opposed to a blue bulb and a clear cover. Here's some refs:

 

The relevant page out of the Detail & Scale F4U book by Bert Kinzey.

 

This is KD 431, an unrestored FG-1D in original colors that currently resides in Yeovilton, as you can see it's a blue lens cover.

 

Page out of @Dana Bell's book, obviously you can't really tell the color in this photo but the formation light is clearly tinted as opposed to the transparent cover on the recognition light above it.

 

Another B&W shot but again, the formation light cover is undoubtedly tinted.

 

 

Let's zoom into that last one.

 

And finally some period color showing it was definitely blue.

 

HTH, Jay!

 

- Thomaz

[JayW]

Well by god - the cover will be translucent blue, and the bulb will be shiny white in a silver tub!  Pretty cool to be part of LSP BTW.  Thanks folks!

[airscale]

so much going on here Jay - exquisite building, detailed research, experimentation and pushing the envelope

 

hats off to you

 

great input from the folks here too, what a great site this is

 

Peter

[JayW]

Continuing on with the fabric skin bays, I can report good progress on the upper surface.  Thought I would show the process for creating a simulated fabric bay.  First, masking tape is used to create pencil marks on the panel lines which will define the edges of the fabric bay.  Also any features within the panel edges are marked (in this case a handhold cutout near the aft end of the tip, the round cutout for the formation light, and a large hand hole cover at the inboard end of the panel.  Then that tape is transferred onto the material I will make the panel out of (.005 inch thick plastic sheet).   A while back I did exactly this for the rudder and elevators.  Like this:

 

 

From there, I scribe what I  need using the pencil marks, and cut it out with scissors:

 

 

 

The tip has a little extra so I can wrap it around.  

 

Then I mask off already completed panels, and apply 2-part epoxy to the wing with a paint brush (much like I apply contact adhesive for aluminum panels), and lay the panel down and monkey with it as the epoxy sets up.  Here, the hardest part was precisely locating the formation light holes on the skin so that they are concentric with the already drilled holes in the wing.  That turned out OK.  BTW - why do I use 2-part epoxy?  The .005 skins are very susceptible to melting and/or deforming if I use normal styrene glue, liquid or tube, and that is also the case with the contact adhesive I use for the aluminum panels.  The epoxy works great!   

 

Here are the two wings with upper surface fabric bay panels installed, along with some details:

 

 

 

A couple of closeups:

 

 

A fairly large oval access cover, and just above it a curious button that is part of the outboard flap downlock mechanism.  Apparently, the outboard flap can be easily disconnected from the other two flaps inboard of it, and dropped down to gain access to the guns.  Hey - I'll bet that is what that oval access opening is for.  When the flap is dropped down, a shaft with a button head pops up above the wing contour, I guess to serve as an indicator that the flap is not connected, and to reconnect before prep for flight.  That button will be red when the time comes for paint.

 

 

How 'bout that - a blue formation light.  Some will notice the ring is a bit simplified; it's just the best I could do, and way better than what was there originally.  Also just forward of it is the upward ID light.  It is on the RH wing only, like the three colored lower ID lights.  It is a teardrop shape, and as you may have guessed, I 3D printed it with clear resin!  It is dry fit; I will final install it after paint.  Lastly you see a wing tip hand hold (that rectangular thing).  It is spring loaded in real life, and probably aids in man-handling the aircraft on the tarmac.

 

Next is the unenviable task of creating the fabric strips on the periphery and the ribs, just like I did on the rudder and elevators.  Only this time I cannot use decal material.  The big national insignia will be masked and painted at some point, and will spill onto the fabric bay.  The masking process would for sure rip off any decals I would use.   So instead I will use masking and spray paint primer where the strips are, and hope they show up OK under the top coat.  Also, the lower surface has umpteen little circular fabric patches with little holes (they are drain holes).  Next post you should see all that stuff. 

 

Take care, enjoy the summer (or, winter in the land of Oz).      

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by JayW

[LSP_Kevin]

Spectacular precision, Jay!

 

Kev

[TAG]

2 hours ago, JayW said:

 

A fairly large oval access cover, and just above it a curious button that is part of the outboard flap downlock mechanism.  Apparently, the outboard flap can be easily disconnected from the other two flaps inboard of it, and dropped down to gain access to the guns.  Hey - I'll bet that is what that oval access opening is for.  When the flap is dropped down, a shaft with a button head pops up above the wing contour, I guess to serve as an indicator that the flap is not connected, and to reconnect before prep for flight.  That button will be red when the time comes for paint.

You would win that bet because that's exactly what it is, Jay. Although I'm not entirely sure the oval hatch has anything to do with the outboard flap downlock mechanism itself, it always seems closed when they're servicing the guns? The shaft with the red button head (or the 'plunger' as I like to call it) seems to be accessible without having to open the hatch, at least in the photos I've seen. Here's some examples.

 

The 'plunger' is circled in red here, note the oval hatch is closed.

 

Same here, plunger in 'up' position, not sure this Birdcage F4U even had the oval hatch in that location?

 

Re: the dropped outboard flap, there's plenty of photos of Corsairs with their guns being serviced in that configuration, here's the first few I found in my files.

 

In this one you can actually see the plunger in the up position if you look close enough.

 

Training ground crew in Jacksonville, FL in 1944.

 

Voilà, fabric sections look EPIC, Jay.

 

- Thomaz