@coondog, thanks a lot, Matt. Feeling honered to see you're taking this one as a reference, there are a lot, even better ones to my opinion, to choose from at iModeler.

A great decision to build it with folded wings, my friend @johnb!

@fiveten, @gwskat, thanks a lot. First time I will build a plane with folded wings but this kit seems definitely worth to do so, so I accepted the challenge.

@johnb - I can't remember which of the threads I read it on, it was iModeler, but I believe I read that the belly window was often kept clear. I don't think there's a single answer... I'm definitely no expert though.
Regardless, your build is looking fantastic so far!

@tcinla - So it's painted out on the 1A and 1D?

@brithebuilder, thanks for that, Brian.
@tcinla, thank you, Tom. So painting it over is the way to go. No need to paint the interior at that location.

Per idea of David @dbutlr, I added some hydraulic pipes into the wheel wells, not as neat as seen on David's Corsair unfortunately.

One thing for sure, between all the Hellcats and Corsairs in this group build, I sure am picking up a lot of new and valuable info I didn't know before. Yours is coming along quite nicely, John @johnb. I like those hydraulic lines in the wheel well. When I get back from a week long July 4th vacation, I'll start my Corsair and add those to the must detail list. I'll bet Louis @lgardner can weigh in on that lower window with an accurate opinion.

In Jim's "Corsair in Action" book he clearly lists the 1A as a stand alone variant. In addition to the well received blown canopy, he writes the the 1A benefitted "with the introduction of the water injected P&W R-2800 engine" adding "an additional 300 hp producing a burst of twenty more knots of speed for approximately five minutes. That additional edge made the difference of life or death for more than one pilot." The canopy was modified again starting with the F4U-1C/D that eliminated those two frames on the top.