I picked this kit up yesterday because I love the Corsair and I’ve been wanting to do a Korean War build. I also want to try resin and photo etched parts for the first time. I didn’t think think I’d have as much trouble tracking things down. I’m also a little confused. I found some resin at Sprue Brothers and photo etch from Eduard, but that’s about it. Is that basically all I need? I was really hoping to find some masks and some metal gear (I’m really bad with gear) but I suppose the kit is little bit odd.
I’d love to know if anyone has had any experience with the kit. I know there is a raised line near the cowling but that’s really the only thing I’ve heard is a real issue. Just want to know if there is anything else.
Once I get going I think I’ll turn this into a WIP so you guys can see butcher’s hands at work.
The Corsair is one of my favorite planes as well. It flip-flops between that and the P-61 depending on what time of the day you ask me. As for the Corsair itself, the -5N variant is my all time favorite!
The Hasegawa kit is simply awesome! If I remember correctly, though, the seat that comes with the cockpit was not overly accurate. Based on my references, the seat should have arm rests while the seat in the kit does not have them. I ended up purchasing a resin replacement seat. I’m not a nit-picker but, to me, the omission of the noticable arm rests was enough to make me purchase the aftermarket seat.
Yeah there’s that raised line which has always bugged me. I never deleted mine but I did some light sanding and, after a little bit of general weathering of the plane, you’re really not even going to notice it nor think about it. My guess is that is where they used a separate mold for the different nose. I’m sure someone can correct me on this if I’m wrong.
The rocket stubs are razor thin and, as a result, makes for an incredibly fragile connection between the rockets and the stubs. But for the grace of God I was able to make four of them “stick” before I quit. I figured I’d just quit while I was ahead, thank my lucky stars and I left it at that.
Otherwise, with those tiny little quirks, the rest of the kit was engineered wonderfully and I didn’t use a lick of filler putty anywhere. It all just fell together. Enjoy your Corsair!
Eric
[edit]: As I think back on it, double check your references when it comes to the cockpit instrument panel. The Hasegawa kit offers you the option of building a -5 or a -5N. The instrument panels were NOT the same between the two planes. If you purchased the photoetched panel, verify that they are correct. Something tells me that when I built my plane a couple of years ago (and upon studying my PE panel), I seem to remember something being wrong with the two PE panels. I ended up not even using them.
Hun Hunter, I am just finishing up a Hase -5N for the Korea GB. It is a nice looking plane. There are a few sink marks on the wings where it would be hard to get rid of them without losing a lot of detail. Luckily, after painting, they are hardly noticeable. The cockpit is pretty sparse, and if I ever build another one, I will get the True Details resin set. It is has both -5 and -5N (and even AU-1) instrument panels in it. I used the kit seat with molded in belts, and I wish I would have done that different. The resin set also corrects the gunsight (wrong for -5N) and adds the switch boxes above the i.p. (missing). Regardless of those shortcomings, I liked the kit a lot. I did expect more (and better fit) for the price, however. Unlike Eric, I did need filler.
Hun Hunter - Really looking forward to seeing this one done up as a WIP! I would say I’d join you with the Tamiya F4U-1A I ordered yesterday (needed one sweetest bottle of paint…but had to bulk up the shopping cart to justify shipping…and it’s just really hard to turn down a Tamiya Corsair for $18), but with all my GB commitments, it’ll probably be on the back burner for awhile.
You also might want to check out Victory Models. They don’t carry a lot of mainstream stuff, but they’re all about all the weird aftermarket bits. Also, Ultracast’s website. I know when I get around to my Corsair, I’ll be getting the Ultracast seat for sure. Got one in waiting for my P-51D, and it’s gorgeous! I’d order their wheels, too, but I snagged the True Details diamond treads while I was shopping. Hard to argue with a $2 wheel set…
I love this forum. This answered a lot of my questions and I found out more that I needed to know.
Greg and Echo, I had no idea that the two cockpits were different. Thanks for letting me know. I’m usually not all that concerned with accuracy, I usually build what I like but with this build I think I’m going to cross over to caring. The idea of building a very detailed and accurate cockpit sounds like a lot of fun and I do want to advance my skills and try something new. I ordered the True Details resin set last night, $8 at Sprue, that seemed like a worthy investment. I looked at the Eduard PE but with shipping it came to $40, if I was ordering a lot from them I could justify $20 in shipping. I’m going to check out the sites Doogs suggested, I do want PE.
Doogs, thanks for the site tips, exactly what I was hoping for. For the record I spent about $25 after tax on the Corsair, locally. Like you said hard to argue with a nice price. Oddly it was at HobbyTown, I almost never buy kits there because they’re usually really overpriced. I do like actually handling the boxes though and every once in a while I find a nice deal like this Corsair or a $10 Tamiya Zero.
Thanks again guys, really helped me out a lot. I don’t think the resin will be here until next week and I need to track down some reasonable PE. I’m also going to be out of town for work off and on (and I still have LSAT prep) so I’m not exactly sure when I’ll really start this. I might build and paint the weapons this weekend if I do I’ll try to post some pictures. Of course I get busy when I find a kit that I really want to dive into [:'(]
EDIT: I totally forgot I had a bid in on some Eduard PE on Ebay, so hopefully I can snag that one too.
Also going try sanding back the paint to Alcad. I used Alcad on a P-51 I jsut did I was thrilled with the product and I know how to go about using it now. Was thinking spraying the entire model with before my paint. I think that may be excessive but I want a uniform finish. I’ve seen examples of sanding back to Alcad and I think it looks more authentic than dry brushing aluminum paint.
I think you and I build in much the same way. I’m hardly a stickler at all when it comes to “Are the right number of switches located on the center console”. But when it came to the Corsair (and I like the way you put it best) I decided to “cross over into caring”. The night-fighter variant had a radar screen in the center. It only makes sense: Big radar hanging off the wing = radar screen for the pilot. It was a big enough difference for me to use the correct instrument panel for the correct version.
Good luck on your LSAT!
Eric
PS. Hun Hunter, I just realized something. Like a bolt from the blue, I just remember that I’ve got some PE cockpit detail parts sitting on my workbench! If you send me your address, I’ll send them out to you this weekend. Free. Gratis. FOC. Five finger discount.
Yeah, I discovered that when I was looking at ordering some Eduard stuff that I couldn’t track down at the usual suspects. The $20 minimum shipping rate is all kinds of ridiculous.
If you’re having trouble running down the Eduard sets you’re looking for on Sprue Brothers, Great Models, Squadron, Victory, or any of the others, you might want to try Hannants.co.uk. I had fantastic luck ordering a hard-to-find set of AML decals for my La-5, and it worked out to something like $5 shipping. They also seem to have a better in-stock selection of the various stuff coming out of Eastern Europe these days, so I’d imagine they probably have a pretty good selection of Eduard stuff.
One thing to consider with the Corsair…if it was carrier-based, you wouldn’t see a lot of paint chipping. At least none beyond what the plane would accumulate in the span of a mission or two. From what I’ve read, naval aircraft were obsessively touched-up to keep corrosion at bay. Land-based Corsairs (which I know doesn’t apply to the -5N, but ALL Corsairs were land-based until they were cleared for carrier ops sometime in late 1944 - I think October) would have been a different matter.
That said…I’m thinking of taking a similar approach in some upcoming builds. I’m particularly eager to try it with the Lavochkin La-5, except I’ll be going Alclad for the metal structure, and some kind of tan for the wood laminate wings and such. It’ll be interesting to see if I can sand to “thinness” without breaking through the camo.
Also of note, if someone is building a -5 or -5N Corsair, that would have been in the Korean conflict of the early 1950s rather than the mid 1940s. I haven’t looked at my Corsair resources in several months but I seem to recall that the FOBs where those Corsairs were stationed were ANYTHING but pristine. Lots of those fields were in pretty primitive settings. I know the Corsairs weren’t worn down to the bone but I’m pretty sure they showed their share of wear and tear. I wouldn’t go overboard with it though.
When I built my first Tamiya Corsair, I stumbled upon a finishing technique quite by accident. When I applied the early war tri-colored blue and white paint scheme, my darker flat blue paint ended up being just a teeny bit pebbly. Not being sure what exactly to do to fix this, I oh so lightly buffed it out with some polishing cloths. Not only did this lightly reveal some lighter highlights (leading edges, aileron ribs, etc) but it also gave the overall surface a nice satin sheen to it. It was not glossy nor was it dead flat. It was, like, perfectly in between and it was still perfect for decals without needing a gloss top coat first.
Yep. I’m not up on the Korean War at all, so I don’t know where the Corsairs would have been staging from. If they were land-based and flying out of FOBs, they would have been pretty beat to hell.
Eric - I discovered a similar thing while sanding my Dauntless! Think I may try using it as an actual technique instead of emergency fix-it job on the next weathered a/c I build.
LOL! Don’t try it on purpose!!! If you discover it by accident then it’ll be flawless. If you try to do it intentionally then it won’t work.
Actually, I tried the technique again on a P-40 and it worked great. In fact, I even won a nice big “Best Finish” plaque for it from a local Hobby Town contest! The world is full of surprises.
The RoG kit is the Hase. I would be delighted if Revell/Monogram would make some new Corsairs. Other than the canopy, their (ancient) -4B is a good kit. I would like to see what they could do with current technology. Are they even developing any new tools for aircraft? It seems all they do is re-issues of RoG kits or re-issues of their own.
As for the -5N’s, the Navy ones in Korea were mostly ship based, except temporarily. The only Navy ace of the Korean War was Guy Bordelon, and a -5N pilot. He was temporarily assigned to help the Air Force with their night intruder problem when he scored his kills.
The Marine (oorah!) squadron that flew -5N’s was VMF(N)-513, the Flying Nightmares. They were based in Japan in the begining, but they were one of the first squadrons at Kimpo after the Inchon landings. They were based at several rough looking fields for the rest of the war. I like the idea of the Alclad undercoat. That would work great for one of the Marine birds, as they did take a pounding. As I mentioned earlier, CORSAIRS RULE!!!
Some of the aircraft showed wear and tear during the Korean era, at least along the exhaust exits and leading edges of wings and cowl, as can be seen here on this -4B spotted at night aboard the U.S.S. Sicily CVE-118 in the fall of 1950.
The current Revell release of the Monogram mold has decals for the Black Sheep VMF-214 while stationed aboard the Sicily in early '51, and that is how I marked mine, as can be seen in the “What R-M kits to avoid” topic.
