1/48 Corsair II JT422
This is the Tamiya F4U-1A kit suitably modified to FAA Corsair II standards. I clipped the wingtips, added the 3 fuselage air scoops found on RN Corsairs, and added a British whip antenna set up. JT 422 was a Goodyear built Corsair and as such, is painted in US equivalent colors with a silver prop hub. I finished it with Humbrol enamels and Aeromaster roundels and serial numbers. The white codes came from an Xtradecal sheet, and finally the individual a/c letter "T" was chalked on using an artists pencil. The a/c flew from HMS Victorious during the strikes against the oil refineries in Sumatra and was damaged in a hard landing on 06 Jan 45 by Sub Lieutenant (A) G. W. Wiley, RNZNVR.
As usual, I made a mistake on this one by mixing up the finished seat for this one with a -1A destined to wear USMC markings. Long story short, this kit is sporting American seat belts.
A decent photo of the real thing can be found on page 44 of The British Pacific Fleet, by David Hobbs.
Nice Build John, A Great weathered Finnish right down to the worn off paint at the front of the wings Nicely Done Mate
Mark
Thanks Mark!
Little different to see these colors on a Corsair but they look good. Good work on the weathering.
Thanks Al!
I really like your Corsair, excellent paint and weathering. I have a RN Birdcage F4U in the cue and I'll have to find out about those air scoops and see if I need to add them to mine.
Thanks Rick. I think the bird cage's had the scoops too. Blackburn set up a modification shop on Long Island to get the planes up to FAA specs. They did all the mods except for the wing clip, which was done by subcontractors before assembly. If I recall correctly, the Corsair I bird cages were strictly used for training in Canada and Rhode Island. Good luck with your build.
Thanks for the info John
Good to see a slightly different Corsair, and this one looks good.
Thanks George! Now I have to finish my AZ Models Firefly I so it has a partner on the shelf!
Nice build-I am jealous as I have a number of faa corsairs in the build list. Can you help me with the info on the air scoops- never read that the faa corsairs had unique details like that.
Looking forward to learning about them.
Dan.
Hi Dan. The Corsair was prone to carbon monoxide build-up in the fuselage. Apparently it would leak from the panels in front of the windscreen and re-enter around the canopy sills. This is why you see many US Corsairs with tape on those panel lines. The Brits required the leaky panels to be caulked internally. Additionally, they added 2 small intake air scoops on either side of the fuselage. You can see them on my model directly aft of the fuselage roundels, right behind the over-painted yellow roundel ring. The ring is painted with Slate Gray and looks greener then the OD on the rest of the plane. One small exit scoop is on the belly centerline, directly below the code letter/number immediately aft of the fuselage scoops. Unfortunately, my pics didn't pick up this detail. Look for it in reference pics. These scoops provided additional venting for the cockpit and rear fuselage. Have fun!
A very nice Corsair, love the scheme and the weathering, well done
Bernd
Thank you Bernd!
Lovely -jubbly 🙂 . I like it - a lot.
Thanks Gregor! It was a chance to use those weathering skills. I normally model planes in a fairly clean condition, but the reference photo I have of this one showed it to be a bit tired. It was a fun project.
Great work! Very nicely painted camouflage and weathering.
The three extra air scoops, are they on both sides of the rear fuselage near the roundel?
I am at a bit of a loss regarding those air scoops, how they look and where they are placed... any help would be most welcome! 🙂
Hi Anders. Yes the intake scoops are right behind the roundels. The exit scoop is on the belly . See my reply to Dan DeSilva above for a complete explanation. Thanks for the interest, I love projects like this.
Thanks, John! Hmm, I forgot about the third scope on the belly.
I will try to google up some references. 🙂
Very nice, John. You shouldn't have any trouble popping that seat out and putting in the right one, if you're so inclined. I've done that with the Tamiya kit.
Not a criticism, but as I recall, Vought used FAA colors (since Grumman was just down the road and doing the same with their Martlets) on their Corsairs and the only Vought-built Corsairs in the FAA were Corsair Is. The Corsair IIs were Goodyear-built, and it was Goodyear that used the equivalent colors. Not a problem here, just edit to say "Goodyear-built." 🙂
Thanks Tom! You are correct. I did mix up the Vought/Goodyear color combo. Correct paint job, wrong info. The next FAA Corsair will be Hammy Gray's GSB IV. No confusion on that one!
John,
Beautifully done. No matter the scheme a Corsair is a magnificent looking airplane. Yours is excellent.
Thanks Frank. This was a fun project.