1/32 Tamiya F4U-1a Corsair - Boyington 17740

[Floki]

Tires looking great and spelling is correct now. I probably wouldn't have noticed if Carlos didn't point it out. The brown shade stands out more in your last photos now I really like that color for the wheels. Thanks for sharing that info on interior colors.

[speedgraflex]

That is a great article, John! Thanks so much for posting. I seem to recall on an older forum that the subject of wheel colors of Boyington’s aircraft came up and someone wrote one wheel was blue and t’other was white or grey. Are there any profiles in Tamiya’s kit? Wait—I can look that up. Cheers, John!

[Stikpusher]

I can’t imagine a blue wheel on Boyington’s aircraft. The order for overall blue and corresponding sub components such as the landing gear wasn’t until late summer 1944. Most of his F4U flying was in 1943 and he was shot down and captured in January 1944.

[LyleW]

John, you do amazing work. I am in awe of your efforts and can sit and look at the pics for quite some time! Beautiful.

[KennyX]

I like that brown, and the fade from the darker rubber color that takes my eye to the brown. And it looks like it got that way by rolling at breakneck speed down a runway over and over. Very nice work there. Very nice indeed.

[jkim]

Thanks for the input guys! I haven't finalized the color of the wheel hubs just yet. They are white right now but I might change it. From the photos of 740, I can't really tell what the wheel colors are... they are either dark-colored or really dirty or appear dark because of the lighting. The article I posted says silver so I might go with a darker metallic color. I think I'm going with the bottom color (Insignia White) for the landing gear legs based on the photos.




Here are some additional photos of VMF-214 Corsairs from the book, Swashbucklers and Black Sheep...




Looking at the photo of White 17, dark blue for the wheel hub seems like a possibility.

[speedgraflex]

Forgive me, Carlos! I think it was a comment from the “Aircraft Modeling Dungeon” or the dark net. I did find this on Pinterest!

Second Lieutenant Harry S Huidekoper, USMCR of VMF-213 poses aboard the hulk of F4U-1 Corsair “George,” Munda Airstrip, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, Sept 1943. This aircraft previously flew with VMF-122.



Check this out! It’s in my Korean War Corsair stack but it may be older.

[Stikpusher]

Good stuff Bruce! Keep ‘em coming...

[jkim]

Some progress to report on the Corsair build. The main landing gear struts are comprised of halves that trap a metal rod in between to give the legs strength. A nice touch but since the rod doesn't travel the entire length of the strut, I sense a potential for breakage. Gotta be careful with these!


Once the legs are glued together and cleaned up, the shiny parts are given a coat of Alclad Chrome over gloss black.


The cover over the oil coolers really limits the view. The trailing edge of the cover is thinned down.



Just another example of how good Tamiya's engineering/fit is on this kit. Tamiya gives you the option of posing the flaps up or down and you have use different parts depending on which option you pick. I've chosen to put the flaps up since most of the photos I've seen of parked Corsairs have the flaps up. These pieces on the trailing edges of the wing are for the flaps up option.


When the parts are glued into place, it's almost impossible to tell that there are separate pieces involved... very remarkable.


I've cobbled together the inner wing pieces to get a feel for what the wheel bays look like. I'm going to add a little bit of wiring to replicate some of the hydraulic lines so I need to know where the wires are going to go and where they're going to terminate.



Just for fun, I've slid the outer wings onto the spars sticking out from the inner wing. Fit is very good and I may even elect to keep the wings removable since it will make transport that much easier.

[KennyX]

John,

Thank you very much for being so generous in your documentation of this project. I am enjoying watching you build this thing, and I’m enjoying the near step-by-step, detailed look into the work you’re putting into it. I’m learning quite a lot, watching this.

As for the wings- that’s rad. You can keep them removable if you wish. That’s hugely convenient, and the accuracy and fit and engineering which makes that possible is one reason why I like tamiya kits so much.

Anyway, thank you again, and shoot- Lay on, MacDuff, you’re doing a fantastic job.