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Louis Gardner
169 articles

1/48 F4U-1 builds (Tamiya and Hobby Boss)

October 24, 2016 · in Aviation · · 32 · 4K

This is my first posting here. I'm new to this group.

Here are a few pictures of the Corsairs I'm currently working on. I'm a die hard fan. I try my best to make my models as accurate as possible. I do a lot of research and gather as much information on the particular project that I'm working on at the time, then I get busy.

The second picture is my rendition of Vought "candy apple green ".

Next is my take on dull dark green and the last photo is a mixture I blended to get the infamous "salmon" color.

Enjoy!

Reader reactions:
6  Awesome

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.


32 responses

  1. Here's my rendition of the Vought "candy apple green" used occasionally on planes as an interior color as per the outstanding book by Dana Bell. According to his book this color was possible on Vought built dash ones during the spring of 1943. I did some research on production numbers and it's my educated guess that this color could be possible after the approximate bureau number of 02625.

  2. Great subject matter, Louis...hard to beat those Tamiya (or Hobby Boss) Corsairs. I've done several of each myself - a real joy to build. Keep us "up to date" on your progress...and welcome to iModeler (you'll like it). 🙂

  3. Nice, building a Corsair of my own right now great job so far!
    Rob

  4. Looks great so far, how would you rate the Hobby Boss kit against Tamiya ?

    • The Tamiya kit is a nice trouble free build. I’ve built several of them. This is my first Hobby Boss Corsair. It’s a good kit too. The Hobby Boss kit has a more detailed engine (complete with exhaust) and landing gear. I haven’t had many problems with the fit of the parts. The worst one was probably my fault and is located under the wing tips. There is a joint there where the upper and lower wing halves are joined. Another plus for the Hobby Boss kit is that it has separate control surfaces. However the flaps are designed to be assembled in the raised position, where the Tamiya flaps are built in the lowered position.

      The Tamiya kit fits better but doesn’t have the same details on the engine and the landing gear as mentioned above.

      Overall I really like both kits. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses

  5. Welcome Louis. Looking forward to your selection of a subject.

    I may point you on this discussion about the salmon primer:

    It would be great to have your research added there.

  6. Louis, sorry to tell you, but their is no cure for becoming a connoisseur of Corsairs, or what ever your favorite may be,you must do your part to make sure all of your favorites have a home. I look forward to your finished products here !

    • I have several large display cases but I'm having trouble posting pictures. Does anyone have any tips with this ? I don't see an area anymore for photos like there was on the initial posting.

  7. Thanks everyone for the great reception! I'm looking forward to posting my progress here. Thanks for the link on the "salmon " primer. I gained a lot of information about the color with various pictures of the Great Lakes dash 1 recovery. Someone posted a great picture of the salmon color being used on the restoration of this rare plane. When I was a kid, I had occasional access to several Corsairs that were being restored by Harry Doan. They used their own version of the color on Harry's dash 1A. (He had a 20MM cannon dash 1C too)

    • Harry Doan...? He was, I believe, from the same area in which I reside (Port Orange, FL). I recall he owned business enterprises in Daytona Beach - a few miles north of me - and was killed in New Smyrna Beach - a few miles south of me - when his Skyraider nosed over some years back. So...where are YOU located now?

      • Yes he had a shop in South Daytona right on Big Tree Rd. Later in the early 1980's he purchased a hangar at the New Smyrna airport. Tragically he was killed at the Tico Airshow when he flipped his Skyraider over on its back.

        I grew up near the Spruce Creek Fly In.

        Now I live near Deland.

        • Oh...his accident was in Titusville? Somehow I thought it was in New Smyrna. Didn't know about the shop in South Daytona, though. Thanks for the reply.

          • Actually Harry did have an accident at the New Smyrna airport back in May of 1983. Ironically it was in his F4U-1A and the circumstances were eerily similar to his fatal crash. He was landing his Corsair bureau #17995 and ran off the end of the runway. This caused his Corsair to break in two just behind the cockpit. This crash prompted the second restoration of the plane. This is when they replaced the blown -1A canopy to the early birdcage version. ( although the early canopy was placed on the plane much earlier).

  8. The Tamiya kit is a nice trouble free build. I've built several of them. This is my first Hobby Boss Corsair. It's a good kit too. The Hobby Boss kit has a more detailed engine (complete with exhaust) and landing gear. I haven't had many problems with the fit of the parts. The worst one was probably my fault and is located under the wing tips. There is a joint there where the upper and lower wing halves are joined. Another plus for the Hobby Boss kit is that it has separate control surfaces. However the flaps are designed to be assembled in the raised position, where the Tamiya flaps are built in the lowered position.

    The Tamiya kit fits better but doesn't have the same details on the engine and the landing gear as mentioned above.

    Overall I really like both kits. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

  9. Welcome aboard Louis. There's a great bunch of modelers in this group who produce some fine models. I look forward to seeing more as your Corsair builds progress. Many of us share your interest in that fine ole plane.

  10. As others have said - welcome!

    Fine work so far on the Corsairs - I look forward to seeing them completed. I hadn't really thought much about Corsairs until I decided to build two as Soccer War adversaries a few months back. (http://imodeler.com/2016/01/172-hasegawa-1969-soccer-war-corsairs/) Now I have a greater appreciation for the aircraft as a gun platform and just a darn good-looking aircraft, and have a couple more to build!

  11. Welcome sir. Your assembly line of Corsairs looks great.

  12. Louis, again, welcome! I'll be interested in your thoughts on the Hobbyboss, in comparison to the Tamiya. Off to a great start, looks like!

    • They both have their plusses (and it's really hard to find faults with the Tamiya).

      On other web sights I've heard a few things about fuel filler openings in the wrong places in the outer wing panels of the Tamiya kit.

      In the future I may actually do a write up article about the differences between the two kits. I have quite a few more to build...

      Honestly I really like them both...

  13. 🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
    Welcome to this forum Louis. Very interesting assembly line, I know now that I can look forward to some great Corsairs.

  14. Terrific work, Louis! Looking forward to seeing the finished kits.

  15. Welcome Luis, great start on the Corsairs, haven't had the pleasure to build any of the Tam kits yet though I have one of each of the offerings they do. The last Corsair I have built is Academy's kit back in the 90's still have it on the shelf. Love your approach and research, looking forward to so more work soon. Thanks for sharing, Fly Navy

  16. I just added a few more photos to reflect the progress on my Corsair builds...

    I sprayed the base paint colors, (blue gray and light gull gray for both Birdcage planes) and the tri-color scheme (non-specular sea blue, intermediate gray and white on the raised cockpit dash 1A)
    There is still some work to be done with the painting. I have several areas that need touch up and I'm not happy with the border edges between the colors just yet...

    Plus several of you have asked questions about the differences between the Hobby Boss and the Tamiya kits. I posted a few pictures to show a few of the differences. The photo with two Corsairs are of the Tamiya kits. There are no seams noticeable along the spine of the fuselages. I did some minor sanding and scraping with a razor blade along this edge. The end result is a very nice seam with no filler.

    The next photo shows a Tamiya Corsair with a set of raised flaps in resin from Ultracast. These flaps fit very well and can be seen installed on the plane next to the package. The only minor problem was that the trailing edge of the outboard wing flap didn't match up exactly. This took all of 2 seconds and some 600 grit sandpaper to remedy. The Tamiya has lowered flaps straight from the box.

    The last 4 photos are of the Hobby Boss kit.

    This kit has raised flaps. I'm sure you could lower the flaps on the Hobby Boss with a little work.

    Earlier I mentioned a few minor fit problems that I had with the HB kit. These were probably my mistake. I don't want to state definitely it was a fault of the kit, as this is my first HB Corsair and I had a few stumbles during the building process.

    There was a small seam noticeable directly behind the "turtle deck" and another one along the top of the nose section ahead of the cockpit all the way up to the cowling.
    There was a similar seam along the underneath section of the wing tips. One wing was more pronounced than the other.

    It was an easy fix by placing a small bead of CA glue along these areas and allowing it to dry.

    One thing I really like about the HB kit, is that it has the very early cowl flaps that were open all the way around the cowling. These were later fixed in the closed position during the service life of the A/C.

    In very early photos of VF-17 and most FAA Corsair 1's, these cowling flaps are seen completely around the circumference of the cowl. I have both HB kits of the "dash 1" birdcage (early and late). The full circumference open cowl flaps are only present in the "early" kit.

    Another nice feature of the HB kit is that all control surfaces are separate. The landing gear and engine are works of art (but are a little fiddly to assemble).

    The Tamiya kit is also an excellent kit. It does not have the option of full circumference cowl flaps. Instead it is molded with the more prevalent arrangement with the top sections secured shut.
    The control surfaces are molded in place in the "neutral" position, and the flaps are lowered. One prevalent mistake is the "open" foot step in the starboard side inboard flap. This actually appeared in the -1D production. It is not correct for a "birdcage" or -1A plane, unless this part was fitted during an overhaul at a depot.

    Please check your references to see what is correct for your particular build.

    More to follow...
    Enjoy !

    On the Hobby Boss kit

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