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John Clark
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F4U-5N Corsair 1/48 Hasegawa

December 22, 2020 · in Aviation · 25 · 2.7K

This is the Hasegawa 1/48 F4U-5N Corsair. The cockpit is from Wolf Pack with an Eduard seat some added photo etched seat buckles with tape belts. The engine received a lead wire wiring harness. The elevators are from Pavla. The wing fold is also from Wolf Pack. I made a hinge of brass wire so I can take the wings off to transport otherwise I doubt it would handle a road trip. The wing tip lights are clear acrylic sanded to fit in the cutout notch . The wheels are from Ultracast. I am not aware of any Korean war era Naval Aviator figures other than seated ones from the Monogram F9F and another seated figure from PJ Productions. So, to make a standing figure I modified a Luftwaffe torso from Verlinden because the life preserver is similar, legs from a Verlinden carrier deck crewman, arms from a 70’s era Monogram pilot figure…the helmet had to be modified to make it look like goggles instead of a visor, and a head from my parts box. The belt is tape with a photo etched buckle. The pistol and magazine pouch are from Tamiya infantry set as is the knife, a cut down bayonet. I sliced my finger with an x-acto knife so I had to stop here for now. Looking at the photos I see some little details I missed. Funny how I see those in the photo but missed them on the actual model. I will tweak it a bit more but its basically done. This is Guy Bordelon’s aircraft. The decals are from CAM and wrinkled with Micro Sol and wouldn’t lay down at all.

Reader reactions:
14  Awesome

17 additional images. Click to enlarge.


25 responses

  1. That Air Force guy should definitely not have been let loose with the airplane the week after Bordelon left.

    Beautiful work on this and a really superb model. You coulda fooled me about the decals, looking at the final result.

  2. Very nice build, John.
    Also the presentation of your work and the pilot is great.
    The paintwork is looking very good, uniformity all over.

  3. Well done John, great job with the pilot figure should we nick name him Frank, short for Frankenstein?

  4. Well done. The frankenstein'd pilot is flawless.

  5. This is a wonderul job, John!
    Super build, full of details, like engine and cockpit. Great painting.
    I loved your figure construction approach and it looks great! Hard to believe it is a quarterscale figure.
    Well done! (and pity about your finger...)

  6. Well done John, my compliments on a fine Corsair build.

  7. Hello John, @recalcitrant21
    Any time I see a Corsair in the headlines section, it immediately grabs my attention because it's my all time favorite plane... 🙂

    I am very impressed with your F4U. All of your hard work has paid off handsomely, and the details really make your model stand out. Everything about it, from the display base to the outer tips of the folded wings look spot on. I am especially impressed with the cockpit, engine, and of course the Frankenstein pilot you pieced together. Building and painting figures is not one of my talents...but you have it down to a science. It's sad to see what happened to "Annie Mo" shortly after Bordelton left her. You stated the decals didn't work out very well and were wrinkled... They look just fine in the pictures.

    I pressed the "liked" button too by the way... 🙂

    Did you ever get to use the 1/48 Monogram Panther pilot I sent you, or is it slated for a future build ? Just curious. I have not yet used the Panther jet decals you sent me, but I do plan on using them in our Korean War group build. Again I thank you for sending them to me.

    Hopefully your finger heals quickly... in time to open some cool Christmas presents.

    Stay safe my friend and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

    • Hello, Louis and thank you. I am using the Panther pilot you sent me in my next project, F7F-3N. I have primer on it and hopefully can get it completed in the next couple of weeks.

      • John,
        Understood and I am looking forward to seeing this one built up too. The Tigercat is a beautiful plane and so sleek. Two big R2800 engines to boot... Can't go wrong there.

  8. Hello John,
    Excellent presentation of this famous model.
    Regards, Dirk

  9. A great-looking corsair! Looks fantastic.

  10. Good to see a fresh approach to this popular model, very well presented and detailed, and the figure sets it off a treat. Definitely liked.

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