Hi Guys,

Okay...here’s the story as told to me by my wife...the grandfather one of her co-workers was in the USN and was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier “Bunker Hill” in 1945. He was a aircraft mechanic on a Corsair fighter and fortunately was only slightly wounded in the Kamikaze attack on the carrier. The co-worker told her he would like to give his grandfather a Corsair model as a gift, but he has no skills to build the kit himself...my wife told him I’m a model builder and she would talk to me about building a model for him. After exchanging e-mails, the co-woker will finance the project and provide a display case...I’ve been building ships for a few years now, but I cut my teeth with aircraft models as a kid...I have above average modeling skills so P/E and resin aftermarket add ons are not a problem for me. I haven’t built a airplane model in over 20 yrs so I don’t know what’s out there in the form of kit quality...aftermarket items...etc...So...my questions are:

1) What would be the best 1/48 F4U Corsair kit ? (quality wise)

2) any “must have” aftermarket goodies?

3) any aftermarket decals for squadron VF-84?

I know I’m asking a lot here but I really want to do this project!!!


Many Thanks in advance!
Dave

David if possible find out what squadron the mechanic was attached to and the year. I am sure the folks here can help you determine which model they probably flew along with the markings.

Bob

Hi Bob,

The info I recieved was that his grandfather was stationed on the USS Bunker Hill in 1945...and that "his bird" had a yellow nose...unfortunately he couldn’t remember the plane number...after researching this info I found that the plane was an F4U-1D and the squadron was VF-84.

Thanks!
Dave

David, I found this from wikipedia. Give it a read (note that VF-17) was the squadron that is mentioned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VF-84

Bob

David, I found this site that states VF-84 was on Bunker Hill in 1945.

http://www.acepilots.com/usn_sqns.html

Bob

Hi Bob,

During my research for this project I found this picture and e-mailed it to my wife's co-worker...he said he showed the pic to his grandfather and he said that was the kind of plane he worked on...A Corsair with a yellow nose.



Dave:-H

Thanks Bob!

David, that is an easy paint job. Overall semiglossy dark sea blue.

Bob

You are in luck that the Tamiya kit is one of the very best injection moulded kits ever offered anywhere at any time...

The wings are not easy to depict unfolded is about the only flaw I can think of, and the position of the seat needs to move slightly...

The 1D-style bubble hood has a few VERY minor "wobble" optical effects you can get around with simply a dip in Future, maybe, or with a Squadron/Falcon vacu-form canopy.

A flawless kit imho...

Gaston

Hello Gaston,

I plan on detailing the cockpit...is the canopy one or two pc?...TIA

Dave

Hi David,

Tamiya make a very nice (the best actually), F4U-1D kit in 1:48 scale and one boxing has the markings you are searching for...





Tamiya has also released a US Navy figure set with pilots and mechanics...



... and a small deck tractor is included in this set...



You can also still find a Carrier Deck from Eduard in some shops...



... enough to make a nice diorama...



Here is a link to the review of the US Navy figure set on Aeroscale: link

Jean-Luc

Thank You!!!

Dave

Hi guys,

I'm planning on useing Tamyia's F4U-1D kit # 61085...I found two sets of decals I want to use but I don't know which one to get...they are: Eagle Strike and Techmod...which one is better?...I always liked useing Microscale decals in the past but now I can't find them.

Again thanks for all the help!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

Go with the Eagle Strike decals .