I’ve just got hold of the 1/72 Hasegawa Corsair 1 in Fleet Air Arm colours, and I was hoping to do a bit of research prior to starting it.
The colour scheme recommends ‘S’ type Sky undersurfaces with Extra Dark Sea Grey and a wierd Gunze paint mix (I would guess approximating to Dark Slate Grey) for the upper surfaces.
This would be representitive of the ‘Temperate Land’ scheme.
The instructions also suggest that the wheel well interiors are painted in ‘S’ type Sky (As opposed to interior green).
I was wondering if anyone out there could either comment on this, or recommend a reference?
One good turn deserves another! FAA is my thing and I confirm the colours you have. usually the undercarriage legs would be sky too. Interestingly, US aircraft as supplied to the UK had been painted in mixes of US FS standard colours matched by eye to colour swatches. This is a useful piece of information if a colour looks a little doubtful.
I have a few references that might help you out, although none of them say much about the British Corsair.
Detail & Scale Volumes 55 & 56 (two books) F4U Corsair by Bert Kinzey
Warbird Tech Volume 4 Vought F4U Corsair by Barrett Tilman
Corsair Aces of World War 2 by Mark Styling. Has an entire chapter about FAA Corsair aces, but not much about the plane.
Flight Journal Magazine has a special issue dedicated to the Corsair. It’s called “F4U Corsair: Taming the Bent-Wing Bird”. It’s listed as the Winter 2004 issue, and it’s still on most hobby shops’ shelves. It cost me $6.99US. There are only a few articles with a passing mention of the FAA Corsairs, though.
I hope these references help you out. It’s surprising that more hasn’t been written about British Corsairs.[V][tdn] Good luck!!
Out of interest, it seems unusual that a kit of the FAA Corsair should exist at all, the clipped wings would limit the model to British or New zealand markings and limited the world wide appeal of the kit. Are clipped wings moulded or is it a case of “cut here”?