1/48 Revell F4U-4 Corsair

[mustang1989]

There are certain builds that you open the box, realize what you have gotten yourself into, close it back up and either throw it away, give it away or suck it up, or just take one for the team and just build it. For whatever reason, I chose the latter. I had bought two of these things for a project for my son and I to build together so I could show him how to build one on his level using brush and rattle can paints. He decided to build his on his own his way so that left me with one kit left for myself. I have a really good friend who is also my mentor that just loves Corsairs so I decided to start building him one for a Christmas present which is where all the trouble started. I mean why not build it? I had it in the stash so why not? I didn’t know what type of voyage I was getting ready to embark on but I quickly found out after I had the cockpit done. After I test fitted the fuselage halves together is when all the head scratching began and then it all progressed to a bunch of nasty words and thoughts. I straightened out the fuselage halves fit concern and made some repairs along the way. By that time I had too much time invested to turn back or to quit. By no means do I consider this to be a trophy winner but I think it will be something that my good friend will be happy to have in his home.
I’m about 60% or so through the build but I’ll post what I’ve done to this point and complete it here. The way I see it , I’m either going to deter someone from ever acquiring this kit or hopefully encourage the one that has their heart set on building one of these things. In any case it’s certainly been entertaining to me so hopefully I can at least pass that along.
Anyways, here’s what we start with folks. A good ol’ Revell F4U-4 Corsair with molds dating back to 18….er…..1963. I almost forgot to mention that I'm doing this all on a $30.00 budget to include the cost of the kit which was about $14.50.

[mustang1989]

Thanks Jimmy! And yeah there'll finally be some pictures posted here. I was just about done with work. I finally made it home here after taking my son to hockey practice.
I shot a coat of dark green over the whole cockpit(which is sorry and inaccurate to say the least). To stay within budget and because you cannot display the canopy in the open position on this model , I used no aftermarket items except for a set of Eduard seat belts. I used alot of the colors that are there on the real thing because I do have some references on this bird. After the dark green dried I shot it all with a really light coat of zinc chromate and applied a light wash. I then picked out the details with a small paint brush and a toothpick and sealed it all with a matte coat.





This pic here is a little brighter due to me not knowing how to properly use this nifty new camera I bought at the time but man are these pics alot more clear than my last camera!



The seat belts cost me about $10.00 or so plus I still have a spare set for later on down the road!

[mustang1989]

The instrument panel was another area of great inaccuracy but hey, Revellogram at least thought to put one in here that had molded detail. For fact I know that the Revellogram Dauntless and Hellcat not only had just a decal for the IP but virtually no interior at all so I at least have to give these guys credit on furnishing a complete cockpit at the very least.
I painted this sucker black and picked out the outer edge of the gauges with a silver lead pencil and the details on the inside of the gauge with a white lead pencil. I picked out some color here and there as well. I swear somebody at Revell must have molded in a friggin "choo choo" train in the lower left hand gauge!!



And the whole assy just before installation into the fuselage:



and one last shot before it all gets closed up. Not my best efforts with a cockpit but remember, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got and the canopy is going to have to be closed because that's the way the kit is built. Visibility into the cockpit from the blurry ass canopy is poor.

[Handiabled]

Hey Joe looking good so far!

[VanceCrozier]

Go at it Mustang!!! Looking forward to seeing what your beating stick can accomplish here.

[mustang1989]

Thanks handi and Vance. Beating sticks, knifes , bludgeoning , baseball bats, scalding and everything else you can think of is involved in this build.

[mustang1989]

Ok here's where the trouble starts. I had started fitting the fuselage halves together and came up with some terrible gaps in front of the windscreen



It was evident that I had my work cut out for me and this is just this area. Here's the proof of the date on the molds!

[LyleW]

1963 and proud of it! She is looking awfully good to me!

[VanceCrozier]

Even in '63, they were doing the molding in China?!?? All that will disappear under a coat of primer & finish colours.

I'm having flashbacks to my Revello-gram P38, a similar vintage iirc.