folks this is my entry into the blacksheep build. this is my version of the bird used by the military for publicity photos. this is the academy f4u-1d in 1/48. the build is almost completely out of box. i did add seatbelts and plumbing for the landing gear. it does look rushed in some places but on the whole i am satisfied.
you will notice some of the kill markings are odd. the decal is printed that way and i didnt catch it until i had hit it with several layer of decal solvent. this bird and the avg bird i finished earlier this year go to the nephew of pappy.
In the book BLACK SHEEP ONE it mentions that a modeler had written to Pappy and asked why the decals in the Revell Corsair were printed backwards in some places.Boyington wrote back that the decals were hurriedly applied and some of the ground crew put them on backwards.This error was repeated when Revell did the research on the Corsair for the kit.
As an ammendum:Boyington would never go into combat with so many kill marks on the side of his plane because all that did was make the the Japanese gun for him that much harder.Like the gunslinger effect.Also many times Pappy would take up an older birdcage corsair because he liked the way it handled.If things were slow sometimes Boyington would buzz enemy airfields and taunt the Japanese on the radio.Calling them cowards and challenging them to come up and dogfight!Man he was pugnancious!
I’m sure Boyington didn’t worry about making the enemy think he was a gunslinger. Most aggresive high scoring fighter pilots would welcome that attention. I don’t think MacGuire, Bong, O’Hare and the others were scared to fly with victory flags, and I don’t think Boyington was either. Sorry, but that dog just won’t hunt buddy. History shows that at this stage in the war the Corsair itself was earning the reputation amongst the Japanese as an aircraft that was better left alone. If anything, the conscious effort to remain humble in the presence of your squadron subordinates would drive removing or downplaying allocades. Most who have served understand this.
beautiful build…nice plane…BUT, as most aircraft historians should know, boyington was a FIGHTER by nature. he often challenged his own men to fights. he was alcoholic and quite the beligerant drunk. he would argue with a fence post if he could find no better opponent and probably end up kicking the fence posts’ butt. i dont think he cared about kill marks on his plane, but i didnt know him personally. maybe he liked to hide out from the bad guy to get the best advantage, but i am CERTAIN he was not afraid of the fight.
anyway…it is a nice model done right as far as i can tell. what thrills me is the way you guys all do the research. these heroes are all leaving us much too quickly these days and someone needs to preserve their deeds and pass on the stories…and models like this do the job quite well.
thank you for the effort you put into this plane and the great story that goes with it…it is one of my favorites.
