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

[brahman104]

It seems your talents aren't just limited to creating amazing engines! Actually, we all knew that anyway

 

Great work on some non-radial parts Jay!

 

Craig

[geedubelyer]

Hello Jay. 

You are doing some fabulous work here, it's a treat to view, thanks for sharing your progress.

 

When I opened this thread the first images I saw were the engine pics that Brett had posted. Honestly, I thought they were shots of a real engine on a stand in a museum. For a long time I was trying to work out what was in the background of those pics. It was only after I read his reply that I realised they were colour corrected images of your model. 

Simply staggering. 

[Uncarina]

On 10/11/2020 at 1:12 PM, JayW said:

Wha?????  Fundekals STILL doesn't have their engine logo decal sheet - which includes 1/18 scald P&W logo.  It's been all year.  Methinks I won't get them at all now.  Anybody have a sheet? 

Jay,

 

I think I might be your huckleberry. PM sent.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[JayW]

On 10/13/2020 at 10:56 AM, Uncarina said:

Jay,

 

I think I might be your huckleberry. PM sent.

 

Cheers,  Tom

 Indeed you are Uncarina.  Thanks for that.  No self-respecting Pratt engine should be without its emblem:

 

 

 

Tom gave me a bunch of them.  Now the Thunderbolt has an emblem as well:

 

 

Of course these are from Fundekals.  The decal sheet includes 1/18 scale, amazingly!  That is if you can get them - Fundekals has been out of stock for quite a while.  Thanks again Tom!

 

Another update post coming soon.  Stay tuned.

[Jeff T]

Just caught back up with this thread, that engine is absolutely amazing Jay!

 

Brilliant work.

 

Cheer's,

Jeff.

[Uncarina]

Jay,

 

Glad to help, and to see them put to such great use!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[airscale]

wonderful - that engine is a show winner on it's own

 

Peter

[JayW]

Here is a picture of that front spar segment I made a couple weeks ago:

 

 

Well for a number of reasons I scrapped it.  A lot of work in the trash bin.  But I would call it a "proof-of-concept" effort, and the second try is almost always better than the first.  The main reason was that the middle was too tall and was not going to interface properly with the firewall that attaches to the top chord.  So that was enough of an excuse to just do it over, and in the process correct the dihedral, and also make it a little longer to better assure a good stiff wing.

 

Here is the new one as complete as I can get it:

 

 

See?  It isn't as tall in the middle.  Note it has items hanging off it, which will be seen (I think?) in the engine accessories compartment.  

 

From the bottom:

 

 

That cove in there has fittings which attach the aft centerline hook mechanism for the jettisonable fuel tank.  I am tempted to make that mechanism next.  We'll see which side of bed I get out of tomorrow.

 

More likely I will begin making bulkheads and frames for the cockpit.  Stay tuned, and stay well!

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

Great update.  Thanks for sharing.   

[JayW]

The cockpit has begun.  This is going to be the fourth full blown cockpit I have done done in 1/18 scale, and it will be by far the most difficult.  For two reasons - one is that the wing center section itself comprises the lower portion of the cockpit, making the pit three pieces instead of two.  With many components bridging between two parts.  And two - there is no floor, so lots and lotsa stuff in the "bilge" is fully visible, stuff that one would not have to model were a floor in there.  Like hydraulic lines, fuel hoses, control cables, and a torque shaft used for aileron and elevator controls. 

 

I have no good plan.  So am nibbling around the edges so to speak, doing things I know I can do without boxing myself into a corner.  Already I have thought of things in the pit that I just don't know how I am going to do.  We'll see....

 

So the Corsair is largely regarded as one of the best performing WW2 fighters ever.  It was no dog.  It had a really great high level design.  But the devil is in the details.  I can tell looking at drawings - this aircraft was chock full of poorly designed details and poor integration.  As opposed to say the P-47 which far as I can tell was a marvel of detail design, with every part seeming elegant in its own way.  The Corsair has one rube-goldberg contraption after another, one afterthought after another.  If I could bring back a mechanic from those days, I would ask if he agreed.  That's OK though - it is what it is, and I will model the things that can be seen. 

 

For the cockpit I am going to start forward and move aft as I go, for the most part.  There is a complex bulkhead forward of the rudder pedals that separates the pit from the fuselage fuel tank bay.  That is my first project.  I have dubbed it the "zig-zag" bulkhead:

 

    

 

It is a heavily stiffened frame, and is literally grand central station for hydraulic equipment.  Part count is enormous, and tell the truth I am not sure at all how much of it will be visible.  Here she is in all her ugliness:

 

 

 

The mass of hydraulic lines on the bottom are for various wing stuff, like wing fold actuators, LG actuators, and flap actuators.  They will be somewhat visible (with a flashlight).  I plumbed the remainder as best I could.  I skipped some lines up top, as they will definitely not be seen.  The drawings are really hard to read, and there were multiple configurations.  What you see is not accurate, but sort of a combination of original F4U-1 lines and later F4U-1A lines.  Only you and I will know.  The yellow thing in the middle is a ventilator air outlet and its black flex hose.  It will be visible.  The hose, BTW, is a piece of .050 inch diameter solder wrapped a million times with .015 inch diameter solder.  If you look closely, you will also see two pulley brackets and a rudder control cable with unattached ends.

 

Temp installed:

 

 

This looks awful right now.  But I promise it will look fine after it's done.  That is, as fine as it can.  The Corsair cockpit is not a pretty place!

 

As I said earlier, the wing comprises part of the pit.  Here is what I mean:

 

 

To complete the cockpit means the wing center section must be joined to the fuselage eventually.  And that means the wing inboard of the fold must be completed.  Soooo, before the cockpit is completed, the landing gear bays, rear beam segment, and flap support structure, at a minimum, must be completed.  I also must decide once and for all if I am really going to attempt a functioning fold - a helluva challenge that I might give up on.  So at some point in the cockpit build I am going to have to put it away and begin on the wing stuff.  

 

Til later folks.  Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it!    

 

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by JayW

[Brett M]

Wow....that's impressive work Jay. Looks fantastic to me!

[chuck540z3]

Nothing ugly about that bird's nest of wiring Jay!  It looks like complex engineering in the hands of a skilled engineer.  Great work!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[brahman104]

This build just gets better and better! Love what you're doing with the cockpit so far Jay. The hydraulic lines look extremely convincing!

 

Craig

[Rockie Yarwood]

Looking great, Jay!

[JayW]

There are a few things I can do in the cockpit before I have to stop, and do the wing center section, as I explained in the last post.  One thing I can do is more stuff in the bottom.  Like the elevator control tube, a component Corsair guru's know of:

 

    

 

The tube assembly was easy enough although time consuming.  Here it is, made from a piece of 3/16 inch diameter tube mostly:

 

 

 

The arm on the left hand end is where pushrods attach and extend into the wings to the ailerons.  The arm on the right hand side is for a stop bolt that limits the aft travel of the control stick.  Here it is in the "bilge":

 

 

The truss tubes below it are to reinforce a large cutout in the lower fuselage for a bombing window.  Early Corsairs had this window, but it was deleted somewhere around the time where the 1A's began (replacing the birdcage versions).  In its stead was just an unstressed aluminum sheet.  So the truss was retained.  Corsair buffs should know this also, but apparently the Blue Box or 21CT teams didn't know this.  This model (which is supposed to be a F4U-1D, but I will make it a F4U-1A) had the window.  But no longer.  I just painted it over.  
 

A little more to come in the cockpit, and then I will have to put it away and get on with the center wing!  Stay tuned.

Edited December 2, 2020 by JayW