F4U-4B Conversion

Hi All!

 This building of this kit was very poignant. Joe Lyons and I discussed this very variant during our last call together. We also found the Academy decals in the F4U-4B kit are accurate. So this build is dedicated to my great friend, Joe Lyons. Joe was famous for his insights on Naval Aviation. 

 It has only been recently other kit makers than Hasegawa have issued F4U-4s, but having seen only the Hobby Boss F4U-4 (What a mess this kit is!),  I cannot comment on remainder of the new kits.  But I have built several Hasegawa F4U-4s and I like the kit. The kit was initially produced by Mania, and when they went belly up, Hasegawa bought most, I not all of their molds.

 As a child of the 70s, it has (gasp!) raised panel lines. The wheel wells are too shallow but the cockpit is adequate for most. This kit is a hodge-podge of parts. Most of the parts came from a “box’ o’Corsairs” I purchased a couple of years ago. The wing was from a scrapped F4U-4B from Academy. I had heard the Academy wing fits the Hasegawa kit, and it does. No major sanding or shaping was needed. One note here, Hasegawa did market a F4U-4B, but they only gave you the cannon as white metal parts, you had to modify the wing. The Academy wing makes the conversion easier.

  The kit goes together very well with no major hiccups. A little filler was required around the cowl front but nowhere else. After the seams were attended to, the kit was wiped with Isopropyl Alcohol, the kit was  painted with the last of my Polly Scale Dark Sea Blue. When the paint cured two coats of Future were applied to get a glossy surface. The Academy F4U-4B kit decals  were utilized. Joe  and I tracked down the airframe and found the decals were correct. The Aeromaster and Super Scale sheets were inaccurate in various ways. But the Academy decals were no picnic to use. With the exception (luckily) of 4 decals ( the 2 that said US Navy, VF-53 and the two with the BuAer numbers) the decals broke apart upon application, refused to move at all when placed and one curled up upon application of MicroSol. All of the decals (except those 4) were replaced using Hasegawa National insignia, and Microscale letters. The decals applied reacted well with the Microsystem, and when dry more Future was applied. The area in front of the cockpit was not coated with Future, as this area was the anti-glare panel. The final bits were the attached (canopy, misc. antenna, pitot tube etc) and the kit was finished. 

    The model represents a Vought F4U-4B Corsair, BuAer No. 97473, aircraft no. 302 of VF-53, based on the USS Essex during 1952.

  This was a fairly easy, but could be expensive conversion. I can recommend the Hasegawa F4U-4, and this conversion. Joe Lyons and I would spend hours on the phone talking of everything under the sun. I am sort of glad I built this model, as it was the last aircraft type we discussed. I miss Joe.

Bruce

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.