Thanks gentlemen for the words of encouragement and compliments.

Today I was working on painting wheels. These are mainly MiG wheels, but there's a few F4U sets in the mix.

The overall GSB Corsair #485 had a taller tail wheel strut that was built for Vought by Goodyear. It was done in an effort to increase the visibility over that huge long nose that housed the famous R-2800 Pratt & Whitney engine.

These were originally designed as a bolt in arrangement, but most ended up getting welded in place. They look rather crude, but they worked. This was a stop gap measure as Chrysler was in the process of forging a tail wheel strut that looked more like what you expect to see. But Chrysler was also busy forging Sherman tanks, so Goodyear stepped in with this:

These longer tail wheel struts were added to the earlier Birdcage models as they became available. So you might want to take a closer look the next time and make sure your plane has the correct tail wheel assembly for the model you are building.

These F4U wheels somehow missed the wheel run that was going on the other day... So I tossed them in the mix and now they're finished. While I was at it, I added a little thin strip of Bare Metal Foil to the landing gear oleo strut. The landing gear was installed after the struts were painted light gray. The struts look to be a lighter color than GSB in the photos I have found of "485". This was probably done since the main landing gear struts were sent from Chrysler (who was a sub contractor that made the landing gear of the F4U), painted in a Light Gray color originally. I think it was done to match the underside camouflage color.

If you look close, this tire has grooved tread. So did #485...

Later they found out it was much easier to detect cracks in the struts if they were light in color. So it makes sense they were left Light Gray during the overhaul of this plane after it returned to Jacksonville after serving in the South Pacific.

So now this one is standing on it's own feet...

The next step is to add some decals.

Getting closer !

As always, comments are encouraged.
Thanks

Thanks Erik ! I'm sure the rest of the landing gear was fairly stout too !

Tomorrow, October 1st, was a very important day back in 1940 for aviation... It was the day the F4U prototype broke the 400 MPH mark in level flight, and set a speed record.

Because of this, I'd like to have this one Corsair done and hopefully get it posted in the headlines section.

So today was spent getting more work done on #485. This mainly consisted of getting the decals applied, painting the sliding canopy frames and final paint work on the propeller.

Here's how it looked after the decals were added.

They performed flawlessly and were spot on as far as fit. When I compared how they look to the different pictures I have of this actual plane, the size looks to be spot on too. They definitely did their homework.

My only concern is the color of the numbers "485". This is only a "slight" concern. If you look carefully at the fuselage numbers and compare the shade of the numbers next to the shade of the US National insignia, they are slightly different.

Is this because the insignia has been freshly painted ? Or are the numbers a light shade of yellow ? Did they simply add a little black (or Gray) to the white when they painted the numbers ?

I really don't know...and chances are we will never find out for sure.

I will say these decals have been an absolute joy to work with.

The canopy was masked off and sprayed. This should have been done when I was spraying the rest of the airframe. Oops !

I gave the propeller a few light coats of Testor's Dull Coat. There was a little drama with the prop. That's all I have to say about that for now. It's actually quite a long story and I won't bore you with the details.

Here are the propeller and canopy sitting side by side.

Here in this next photo, all of the parts are together. It's really starting to shape up now !

In order to seal the decals, I applied a light coat of "Future" at a 50 / 50 mix ratio, thinned with rubbing alcohol.

These next two pictures show everything after the Future was applied.

I'm hoping that tomorrow I will get the final building completed, take some pictures, write an article (and post it) here on Imodeler.

That's actually quite a bit of work...The antennae cables and some chipping / wear marks need to be added. There was some considerable wear marks present in the upper gull portion of the wings on both sides. The rear side windows have to be installed as well. The I might go back and knock the shine down a little. We will see how it looks once the Future has had a chance to cure overnight... The navigation and signaling lights have to be painted. The gun sight needs painting and installation. It needs some exhaust staining, and then it will be ready for the reveal. I'm probably missing something...

It's so close to being done now. I don't want to rush this and mess something up at the very last second. That would not be good...

As always,
comments are encouraged.

Looks awesome. Almost a shame to add streaks and stains to this paint job.

Looking good Louis, that dark sea blue does look great under a coat of clear!

Thanks fellows for the kind words !

David, @davem
I am very pleased with how it's looking. The clear does make it look very shiny. It's quite possible it is a little too shiny. But I like it as it is and will probably leave it as is. They had to be new looking at some point.

Stephen, @jordo

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at the F4U.

Gentlemen, I appreciate the compliments...

she sure is pretty, the paint is flawless...would be a shame to put a satin coat on it. Nothing like a Corsair!

My two cents about your yellow in B&W photos is that you hit the mark, often looking at B&W photos I come to a completely different conclusion from what is described in the picture’s comments. I do believe those numbers are most likely yellow by comparison with the withe areas of the US insignia