Question about F4U tape over gun ports

[Woody V]

Among the more questionable maintenance stencils on the Tamiya Corsair decal sheet is one that reads "Remove Tape Before Firing Guns". My question is: Did Corsairs take off with the gun tape still covering the gun ports or not?

 

I know it seems highly improbable that they would taxi and take off in these dusty conditions with gun ports not sealed but I gotta' ask anyway.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Woody V

[D.B. Andrus]

Hey Woody

 

Tape sealed the gun ports until firing.

 

Interesting post about reducing condensation as the reason:

 

Gun Port Tape

 

Cheers,

Damian

[Woody V]

1 hour ago, D.B. Andrus said:

Interesting post about reducing condensation as the reason:

 

Well, that makes perfect sense. Thank you!

Edited September 26, 2023 by Woody V

[waroff]

The complete text was(white letter , Francklin Gothic Condensed font) 84 & 48 point

 

REMOVE TAPE

FROM CASE CHUTE AND BLAST TUBE

OPENINGS BEFORE FIRING GUNS

 

To remove tape from case chute, , it's before the airplane taxi to the runway, the tape over the blasttube could be removed in same time.

 

[John1]

Not fully germane to this post but I did a fair amount of research on this subject during my F4U-1D build a few years ago.   Noticed that at least in some combat zones, it seemed that they used standard brown packing tape to seal the gun ports.  Pic from Dana Bell’s indispensable Corsair book.   
 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by John1

[Martinnfb]

this one did

[Woody V]

6 hours ago, John1 said:

Noticed that at least in some combat zones, it seemed that they used standard brown packing tape to seal the gun ports.

 

Thanks for that info! I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of using white and your post is all the reason I need to make them brown. Hmmmm. I wonder how it would look if I used real packing tape? Might be too thick though. We'll see.

[Gazzas]

This makes me wonder about other air forces covering their guns...

[alaninaustria]

A good rule of thumb for scale accuracy is to use cigarette paper and white glue… the thickness is almost not noticeable!

Cheers

Alan

[quang]

If you care for scale thickness, you can also use painted decal film.

[Woody V]

1 hour ago, alaninaustria said:

A good rule of thumb for scale accuracy is to use cigarette paper and white glue

 

That's what I was thinking, but I'm undecided - gummed or not gummed?