So, being a Michigan native I was always intrested in the history of my state espicially what happened during WWII. I found out that they pulled a F4U-1 Birdcage corsair out of Lake Michigan and after seeing pictures of what a Birdcage Corsair looked like it was instantly my favorite of all the Corsair variants, rocking my favorite paint scheme the blue grey over grey with stars everywhere.
Later i found out that Tamiya had released a 1:32 kit of the Birdcage and from then on i was telling myself “I WILL own that kit one day and build it” well after finding out this kit was out of production i jumped on the first one i found for a reasonable price.
After thinking over what big kit to build next tossing back and forth a few choices i fianlly settled on the big Corsair and i ahev top say now, Im glad i did. Ive never built a Tamiya 1:32 kit before but after this, im buying and building more.
Here is the cockpit subassembly 99% completed, i just need to paint the stick handle. I painted it with Alclad, MRP and Tamiya paints.
I chipped pretty much everywhere i thought there would be chipping as i know these Corsairs were seriously abused.
The seatbelts are aftermarket fabric seatbelts and took me a day to assemble but they are sooooo worht it. everything else is out of box.
The pictures were taken by my phone so they really dont show off all the detail and weathering.
One of the greatest kits on the planet. I’ve built two. The pit is looking great. Be careful attaching outer wing in down position. Its a weak joint and needs reinforcement from inside. That’s the only drawback with this kit.
Lovely pit, been looking at buying one of these but seem to be ~£100, bit pricey. Is that pit OOB (except for seat belts) ? If not, what extras did you add ?
Yes the whole cockpit is OOB except for the seatbelts, and i have to say i thought the same thing for a while but i read a review once about it and the reviewer said if you cant afford it, save up and get it, its that good and i have to say, they were right. This kit is amazing on all aspects.
The cockpit dials in your model, they come with the kit or are they AM. Just got my kit and my decal sheet has them as straight black dots and not the black/white dials as shown on your pics?
Also, what green did you use for the pit? The 2:1 mix of Tamiya XF5 green/XF8 blue looks NOTHING like the green colour in the pics in the nice little booklet you get with the kit.
Also, long time with no updates, has the model gone on the back burner?
