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

[JayW]

9 hours ago, brahman104 said:

Some impressive torture testing there Jay! I was thinking the same; I thought the resin would snap without much weight on it, let alone 5lbs!!! Pretty darn impressive!

 

 

Yeah Craig, I was impressed too.  When you trim away the sprue (is it sprue?) it's obvious the material is brittle.  But the test doesn't lie.  That can-full of lead slugs is really heavy.  You pick it up and you think "God - both gear struts couldn't hold this up".   What I didn't do was to leave it under load overnight, to see if there is permanent set (or fracture) that occurs over time.  I will never forget the long term deformation of aftermarket pot metal parts I have experienced in the past.  So I am going to trust that isn't going to be an issue.  If anyone reading this has had deformation issues with 3D parts - PLEASE SPEAK UP!!  

 

Now, to order the parts!  It will take a while for that process to play out.  The landing gear have alot of parts that are hard to make from scratch, so there will be quite a few 3D printed details.

 

In the mean time I have plenty of work left in the cockpit.

[RLWP]

Love it! I wondered what you'd been up to

 

Richard

[JayW]

On 6/8/2021 at 10:46 AM, RLWP said:

Love it! I wondered what you'd been up to

 

Digital modelling mostly.  Here is the first load of production parts, to be mailed in the coming days:

 

 

 

In it are the tires, outer wheel halves, inner wheel halves, axle caps, lower struts, scissor links, brake housings, and the "knuckle fittings" that provide the landing gear attachment to the wings.  Every one a major challenge to scratch build and do it well!  

 

You will see them all over the next few months I expect.  Stay tuned.

[RLWP]

1 hour ago, JayW said:

Every one a major challenge to scratch build and do it well!  

 

Indeed - and having a background in model engineering very much my kind of challenge. Which means nothing in this case

 

It looks like you've found yourself a way of working that works for you - which is one of the most important things about scratchbuilding.  Find a way and get the job done!

 

Excellent stuff, looking forward to the next instalment

 

Richard

[JayW]

21 hours ago, RLWP said:

It looks like you've found yourself a way of working that works for you

 

Well Richard, we will see.  This whole pivot, as you will recall, was a result of some rather spectacular failures in the "machine shop".  I know you are a bit disappointed that I didn't give it another go on the outer wheel half.  I even know what I would have done to help prevent another breakage (beef up the rim, revise the tire to accept revised rim section).  But, the Corsair wheels are replete with little stiffening ribs and flanges, more so than the wheels of other models where I have machined the wheels.  So even if I successfully finished a machined part, what remained was the messy job of bonding in little tiny stiffening elements to try to get it to look like it's supposed to.  I had to do that on the outer wheel halves of my P-47, and the result was only somewhat acceptable.  These 3D print parts have detail on them that I could not dream of producing otherwise.  You'll see.

 

I still intend to do some machining - just parts more in keeping with my limited capabilities (skill, and equipment).  

[JayW]

OK FINALLY a cockpit update.  I have made some progress on the RH side:

 

 

Looks like a fat finger got in the way. 

 

 

And labelled:

 

 

By far the biggest pain was the distribution box, because of all the little switches.  Quite a few things remain with little room to put them! Radio equipment up near the canopy rail, quite a bit of wiring conduits, flare gun bracket behind the battery, and a large defroster bracket just inboard of the flare gun, hanging over a boundary.  But next on the docket is the oxygen regulator and associated clap trap. 

 

Take care until next time!  Oh - and Wolf, if you are out there, I have not forgotten the inspector tag for the O2 bottle. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by JayW

[Citadelgrad]

Its been a long week, i finished the yard work tonight in anticipation of some bench time, but i am spent. 
 

please accept a sincere WOW!!!!!! As all i can muster up. 
 

that looks like a full sized cockpit.  Kudos!

 

keep going, this is AMAZING.  

[dodgem37]

Too good.  Great stuff, Jay.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[chuck540z3]

Looks REAL Jay, which is the highest compliment possible in our hobby, next to WOW!, which it also deserves.

 

Curious, what's that white on the sidewall?  It's supposed to stay that way or is it going to be covered with more stuff?

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[JayW]

10 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

Curious, what's that white on the sidewall?  It's supposed to stay that way or is it going to be covered with more stuff?

 

Well, I have not put alot of science in that Chuck!  But yes, somewhere in that area will be a large bracket, plus a couple other brackets mostly for radio equipment.  Coming soon!  One of the nice things about a messy well used cockpit is that I feel I do not need to worry about a professionally sprayed topcoat - Just brush paint as you go!  

Edited June 13, 2021 by JayW

[airscale]

20 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

Looks REAL Jay, which is the highest compliment possible in our hobby, next to WOW!, which it also deserves.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

couldn't say it better myself

 

quite off the scale skills to do what you do Jay!

 

under the skin, the F4U looks a highly complex aeroplane and you are basically reproducing in miniature perfection every single part that can be seen

 

Peter

[JayW]

4 hours ago, airscale said:

every single part that can be seen

 

 

You of all folks know how it goes Peter.  I research the drawings, and hardly know where to stop!  It's a disease.  An obsession.  

 

BTW - you will note that side aux instrument panel in front of the distribution box is one of the two parts you sent me in the mail.  The full instrument panel (the other part) will gather dust a bit longer.....

Edited June 13, 2021 by JayW

[JayW]

5 hours ago, airscale said:

under the skin, the F4U looks a highly complex aeroplane

 You can say that again mate.  And I thought the P-38 had a complicated cockpit!  Here is why.  One, it's an American aircraft.  It looks to me the American aircraft industry just wasn't afraid of complexity!  To a fault on the Corsair!  As opposed to say the Japanese who appear to have made an artform with elegant simplicity.  Not sure where the British fit in - maybe somewhere in between?  Two, and more importantly, this is a Naval aircraft expected to take off and land on the decks of aircraft carriers.  This cockpit is chalk full of clap-trap, a good bit of which exists solely for carrier operations.  Namely the wing fold and the tail hook controls.  Each have their own little quadrants (one LH side, one RH side), with push rods leading to hydraulic valves that have lots of tubing leading to actuators.  Also, there are electrical systems for audible warning devices and visual indication devices, to help the pilot do the right thing or not do the wrong thing.  

 

I have studied period pictures of land based Corsairs - Jolly Rogers (which this model will represent), and Black Sheep Squadron.  One Navy, one Marines.  I NEVER see a land based aircraft with folded wings.  And many but not all aircraft have had their tail hooks removed.  I have concluded that Vought and the Navy provided guidance for de-activating these carrier-based systems, but I cannot find any tech orders or similar guidance.  To do so would have saved a decent amount of weight, and a decent amount of maintenance headaches.  I also know that later on in the great conflict, land based Corsair units were patiently waiting for clearance to begin carrier operations.  So it could be that many of their later aircraft were delivered with those systems still intact, and stayed that way.  Or systems were re-activated.

 

This particular aircraft - Bu No 55995 - I have seen some pictures of it, and it has its tail hook.  So I conclude wrongly or rightly it didn't have it's carrier-based systems deactivated.  So I am dutifully trying to represent them.  For instance the tail hook quadrant I just finished.

[Ironwing]

Jay,

 

It looks as though youve joined the ranks of the diseased and possessed. Your right it is a disease...Everytime you post it just gets better and the rim and tire excurseion was just a joy to follow. Keep it up ole boy...its all to your credit and skill.

Best

Geoff

[JayW]

Here, I think this is kind of cool.  The F4U-1 and 1A had the pilot oxygen system situated right beside the pilot to his right, up against the rearmost bulkhead in the cockpit.  The O2 bottle, the regulator unit, the pressure line, the pressure gage, and the blinker gage - all right on top of one another.  Other cockpits I have done had these items up near the instrument panel, with the gages actually in the instrument panel itself.

 

Here is a shot from Dana Bell volume 8:

 

 

The regulator sits on a dedicated "shelf" that I showed in the last post.  My shelf doesn't have that perforated semi-circular tube on it.  I couldn't find it on any Corsair drawing, so I left it out.  Perhaps it was a mod that showed up later in the field....

 

Here is the Vought drawing for the Corsair O2 regulator:

 

 

So I tried my best to duplicate it:

 

 

Some 20 - 30 odd parts in that little bugger!  All bits of common tube and strip and rod, mostly plastic but a little aluminum too.  The decals for the O2 pressure gage and the blinker are complements of Peter (Airscale), from his Lope's Hope decal set, a couple of which he sent to me some time ago for my Corsair effort.

 

And installed:

 

 

Note also the O2 bottle has a tag.  Yay!!  It's just a decal I made with the backing still on it.  Man I like that installation!  Very gratifying for it to come together.

 

Next is going to be radio equipment brackets I think.  And also, I think my 3D print parts are going to arrive in a day or too.  Exciting times.  Watch this spot!