I am planning on building Tamiya's F4U-1D version of the Corsair for a friend and I need a little help from you aircraft experts. There is a small clear window piece that goes into the floor of the plane, but the instructions seem to say the window shouldn't be left clear, but rather painted over with the usual Dark Sea Blue. Am I correct in this or should the window indeed be masked and left clear?

Thanks,

Nic

On the Corsairs I've been able to see good enough to tell, that has been a clear window. On Tamiyas site they show the F4U-1D w/"Moto Tug" built with the window left clear.

:-) The -1 Corsairs had no floor in the cockpit and had a window in the belly. The -1D or British Mk IV did not, acording to the quick look I've had. Here's a drawing by Richard Caruana in SAMI showing a MK II/III/IV. According to this there wasn't a painted over window, there was no window. Personally I would go with this.

The combind topside/underside view in Corsair in action seems to verify this, although it's not as clear.
Mal

Thanks. The paint scheme drawings in the instructions do not show a window either, which is why I was a little confused. I guess you're supposed to glue in the clear piece and just paint over it as if it were supposed to be metal.

That's interesting that the Corsair had no floor. Did this result in any less protection for the pilot?


Oh, another question for you airplane builder people. Do you usually end up painting most of the interior and engine pieces separately before assembly? It looks like it might be difficult to paint after construction.

Thanks again,

Nic

I do. I'll paint interior, engine, and landing gear seperately before assembling. It's much easier that way for me. I tried painting the landing gear after attaching one time and it just didn't work for me.

:-) Nic,
I've had a look at the instructions in my -1D, they appear to show the window painted out in step 3. The window, F1, has a paint tag AS-8 which is the airframe colour. On the painting instructions the window is shown, but painted out. With what I have seen so far I think that the way to go would be to install the window, then fill and sand away all traces. Re-scribing the panel line at the front edge.
I wont be building mine for a while, but you have given me a heads up on this point, thanks. I will however be doing a little more research before I follow my own advice. It's clear why Tamiya did it this way, but now the cockpit is thrown into queastion? I am sure I have a picture some where, I will see if I can find it :-) The protection isssue may have had something to do with the deletion of the window.
As Tim says paint the interior and engine pieces seperately :-)
Mal

Hey Gents:
I found this site while researching for my own Corsair. It has shall we say some rather interesting info that and pics that helped me out.
http://f4ucorsair.com/tdata/blueprints.html
Oh I almost forgot to mention. If you click on a section of plane to the left, you will get a super detailers surprise.
Hope you enjoy it, and am looking for more a/c pages like this on different birds