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

[JayW]

35 minutes ago, MOB said:

I too have a 1/18 Century 21 Corsair

 

Walk....away....slowly....!!  This thing has consumed nearly five years of my life.

[MOB]

Ha!  Just doesn’t feel like 5 years to us!  So I take you would not be interested in providing a custom kit for me!  Just kidding.   

[Rainer Hoffmann]

After a year long modelling hiatus I've just read through 40+ pages of this build. And what a journey it was!

 

Absolutely fantastic, Jay. The way you painted the parts of the model separately and still matched the colors and the weathering ... hard to believe, but you did it perfectly. And of course, all the metal work is so satisfying to see. Great work!

 

Can't wait to see the finished model.

 

Cheers

Rainer

[JayW]

Well hang onto your hats - things are on the move.  

 

Weathering of the (3D printed) ailerons was straight forward, until I broke a trim tab horn fitting.  A microscopic repair, and we're good.  Here:

 

 

This is what I accidentally fractured with my clumsy fingers:

 

 

The balance tab:

 

 

The actuator/mid hinge fitting:

 

 

And my aileron actuator rod:

 

 

As a reminder, in real life the ailerons are made of wood. 

 

Then there was nothing left to do but install the ailerons:

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I was after a saw-toothed trailing edge, for some reason.  And I got that in spades.  I have the port (LH) aileron about 7 deg down, with the balance tab around 10 deg up.  I have the starboard (RH) aileron about 10 deg up, with its balance tab around 13 deg down.  Even the trim tab on the port aileron is not centered.  Note I have added balance tab control rods with their forward connections to wing-side flap hinge fittings, as I mentioned a while back.  It all integrated OK.  Also, I added some more dirt and fading to the wing fabric panels; might add a bit more.   

 

Well you all know what is next.  Stay tuned.  

Edited August 1, 2023 by JayW

[JayW]

Wing installation - a BFD!  Already I have shown how I beefed up the attachment features at the wing fold.  From there, I used a combination of normal Testors tube glue, two-part epoxy, medium viscosity CA, thin CA, and Tamiya putty.  The putty (which I can attest is very strong stuff) was used to fill all the sloppy gaps that the stub spars were to slip into.   

 

First, the port wing:

 

 

Hope you are enjoying this - I sure did!  My simple fixtures are in use to assure proper wing dihedral on a level airframe.  

 

Let it cure overnight, then the starboard wing:

 

 

There are gaps, but not bad.  And perhaps consistent with actual aircraft.  The joins appear to be quite robust.  Yay!

 

Bottom:

 

 

Top:

 

 

I believe that is an acceptable paint match.  Hope you do too.

 

It then became time to install the last of the remaining parts - these:

 

 

Not much left!  All those parts except the main tires will be simply inserted into their respective holes.  That way if I break something, it will be more easily replaced.  The wheels however are permanently installed using - wait for it - the axle caps.  The 3D printed axle caps have been waiting around for literally years for just this moment.  I take great pride showing them off  :

 

 

Symbolic of an essentially complete Corsair.  SH.

 

I am going to resist showing a full set of pictures of the model until I get the long wire antenna rigged in the coming days; just picked up some 2-pound test fishing line for the purpose (0.005 inch diameter).  But here are a couple just to whet the appetite:

 

 

 

 

This is why we model.  I am extremely pumped.  Next post will be the final in the build thread.  Then I switch over to RFI.  Don't leave me just yet! 

Edited August 2, 2023 by JayW

[JayW]

By the way - does anyone have any good pictures of F4U antenna details?  Insulators, springs, etc?

[Warbird Kid]

WOW! Just amazing Jay! A true piece of artwork! I hope you have space somewhere where we can see all four of these 1/18th beauty's in one picture! Supurb job! She really does look "right".

[geedubelyer]

Genuinely magnificent 

[Woody V]

Holy moly, that is just mind blowing.... it looks so REAL!

All that tedious work and devotion to detail has paid off huge!

I get exhausted just thinking about it

 

 

[Citadelgrad]

Holy COW that's awesome.  Soupe to nuts, prop to tip of the tail, what a journey. 

[LSP_Kevin]

Well if that's not the best F4U model we've had on these pages, then I'm a packet of noodles.

 

Kev

[easixpedro]

Holy smokes that’s amazing Jay! Take a bow!
Seriously.

You’ll need some nice outdoor pics in natural sunlight to really make us guess if it’s the real deal!

I went back and looked at the toy you started with…crazy to see the difference.

[JayW]

On 8/2/2023 at 5:04 PM, LSP_Kevin said:

Well if that's not the best F4U model we've had on these pages, then I'm a packet of noodles.

 

Now that is high praise indeed.  Thank you Kevin.  A statement perhaps made in haste - I think I can identify a couple of F4U builds that have resulted in some serious shock and awe on LSP (John aka Thunnus comes to mind).  This one though is kind of a different animal.  1/18, and with a ton of features that large scale allows.

 

I could have waited on this post, but I got the radio aerial antenna wire done much sooner than I thought.  So put a fork in it - the 4.5 year Corsair project is complete. 

 

Antenna details:

 

     

 

 

 

The wire is .005 inch diameter fishing line.  The black cylinder near the rudder tip is a rubber spring (made of .8 mm brass tube).  An alternate config had a steel coil spring.  Then you see two light gray insulators (also .8 mm brass tube).  Honestly - I have never seen an aircraft with so many variations in radio antennas and masts.  Search the web, and you will find just one configuration after another.  Even my VF-17 book shows a host of different antenna configs, including attachments to the h/stab.  And you would think the same unit would be consistent.  Anyway, you may recall that it was not clear what Hedrick's aircraft had, so I guessed.  Am positive it lacked the forward mast - check.  Am positive it had the wire spanning the rudder tip and the attachment just behind the sliding canopy (RH side) - check.  Am NOT positive it had the VHF mast behind the canopy on the centerline; MOF I suspect it had the whip antenna instead.  But the model has the VHF mast take it or leave it.

 

Here is the before/after compare I have done in the past on different projects:

 

 

 

Much has changed!  The toy however provided a darn good platform in which to modify and improve.  Now I present a bit of a photo extravaganza of F4U-1A Bu No 18005, Roger Hedrick's #17, Jolly Rogers fighting VF-17:

 

 

 

A reminder that this thing has an R-2800 inside ( year-long project itself):

 

 

 

 

 

It also has a cockpit that took me the better part of a year to build up:

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing the walk-around:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope all my followers like what you see.  I am proud of it.  Mostly because it was a gigantic effort, and I learned to do alot of things that I had never done before (skinning, airbrushing, heavy weathering, and of course 3D printing).  It has been by far the most difficult and time consuming project I have ever undertaken.  

 

I will post the link to the RFI once it is prepared.  Thank you all so much for being terrific followers, with terrific comments and suggestions.

  

Edited August 4, 2023 by JayW

[JeepsGunsTanks]

What a work of art!  Really outstanding job on this Corsair.  You took a Toy and really transformed it into something special!  One of the coolest scale models I have ever seen! 

Edited August 3, 2023 by JeepsGunsTanks

[Shoggz]

An astonishing project and an amazing achievement. I've loved following the progress of this one all the way.

 

A true masterpiece - thanks for sharing it with us.