Our IPMS chapter will be holding its annual show and contest in May with a theme of "Big and Little." The idea is to build the same subject (aircraft, armor, auto, ships, etc) in two different scales in the same markings. My original subject was to be the B-52, but the 1/72 scale kit is a big model and poses some transport problems. So I started looking for something else. A small warning, if you are a truly serious modeler, this might not be for you! π
It came to me last meeting when I took my 1/48 Korean Corsair for show and tell. I came up with a cool way to display it (more on that later) and also took my 1/144 Corsair to sort of stir up some enthusiasm for the contest theme. The little Corsair is not in the same markings, (which was brought to my attention more than once!) so I wondered if there was a Korean Corsair in 1/72 scale. So the parameters became smaller scale, something easy and quick to build, and being able to find the correct markings. What fell into my lap was the Hobby Boss F4U-4, which ticked off all the boxes, especially when I discovered it had the same markings as the larger model. And at $11, I couldn't pass it up.
To say the kit was simple is an understatement. One piece fuselage, the cockpit has a seat and control stick molded in, one piece wing, basically a snap together kit. A good number of the parts are the rockets and drop tanks.
The biggest snag to start with were the huge slots for the rockets in the bottom of the wing. I'm not going to be using them, so I filled the slots by cutting the tabs off the rockets and using them to fill the holes. Some putty, sanding and rescribing later, all was well. There also holes for the drop tanks and an unused antenna that were filled in.
After that, ten minutes got me to a complete airframe! Fit is actually pretty good, but will need a little putty here and there. I need to find a decal for the instrument panel, as one was not provided, but I should have one in the decal dungeon that will work. If I don't, y'all will hear me hollering for help! I'll add some seatbelts, but won't get carried away much beyond that since this will be canopy closed.
The best part is that everything will be dark blue, so paint will be pretty easy. A few decals will change the bort number, and I'll have my big and little. Stay tuned to see what happens after that...
