Russ Amott (russamotto) reviews Tamiya''s 1/48th Corsair kit, which are a popular subject and a very nice an easy build.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Probably still the best WWII 1/48th kit ever offered by Tamiya, 12 years later... Better still than their new 1/48th Zeroes, and way way better than their P-47s...

Wings are hard to display unfolded.

Gaston

They are? Maybe I'm doing it wrong as I've built the kit twice and havent had any trouble. The kit assembles so well it's not even a challenge.

Andy, thanks for the help with this. Yes, it is a great and easy build, and an excellent intro for anyone new to the hobby.

-The upper wing join is a complex, and tight fitting, zig-zagging line that tends to squish any glue into the upper wing surface if assembled without trimming at the join in some of the smaller bends at the front (this is compounded by a very thin skin surface making for very small mating surfaces too, which gives you no room to put the glue on)... Removing the squished glue means risking erasing the neat continuous appearance of the outer wing join... No room for much glue at all at the join, and I don't like the slightest creaking in my models... The thin skin joint is an inevitable by-product of the realistic-looking folded wing option... Ideally two sets of wings should be provided...

Also, scraping the inside of the split trailing edges (ailerons in this case) to scale thickness, as I always do, tends to modify the geometry and engineering of the wing fit in some kits... I remember removing the Corsair wheel well's detailed outer wall completely, which made fit a lot easier with the wings down... Other builders of this kit report doing the same... Not really noticeable but...

Basically, some simpler kits tolerate having their wing trailing edges carved to scale thickness, but, as with the real items, here the bent wings and dropped flaps make everything more complicated... The complexity is inherent to the subject and is not really the kit's fault once the folded wing option was included...

The Corsair's bent wings, and resulting 6 part flaps +2 spanning spacers (strangely missing in the kit if I remember correctly), was the subject of a LOT of cussing by WWII mechanics and pilots alike, and it certainly gets in the way of anyone's thin trailing edge mania in model form...

One aspect of the kit that discouraged me (at that time long ago when I had less patience) was that the rudder trim tab actuator is a hugely prominent (and very long!) rod mounted on an obvious lever/post that is very visibly apart from the rudder surface on one side, and Tamiya represented all of this just as a moulded-on blob... This requires scrapping off a large surface near the super-delicate fabric effect, which is the best I have ever seen on any kit except for Eduard's I-16's wings...

Despite these annoyances, which are almost entirely due to the subject matter, the superior accuracy of shapes of this kit are almost unreal compared to most other Tamiya kits, which are mostly not in the same league in this regard...

Gaston

Being a Tamiya kit, I presume the wing components fit snugly?
I haven't built a Tamiya Corsar myself (at least yet), so this is just based on looking at the kit's instructions online. Would it work to put glue just to the wing spar, fit the outer wing assembly in place and carefully apply liquid cement to the wing seams?
And if the wing halves happen to be the same thickness, some styrene sheet could be glued inside as additional spars. Looking at the instructions, I can't say for sure if there's enough room because of the wing bulkheads, but I guess one could alway cut holes for the additional spars.

Great review Russ. I did have a chuckle about your son not letting you build the second one sounds like me and Allen at times (buy two kits to keep the peace then one of us ends up building both)
I throughly enjoyed building both Tamiya Corsairs one wings down and one wings up and have to agree so easy to build and fit together like a dream Nice to see your son taking an interest in the hobby too

Hi all,

The Tamiya kit is indeed very nice and having built the model with the wings in both extended and folded positions I can't remember having had any difficulties in one or the other configuration. Below is the model I've built with the markings of the boxing reviewed by Russ...





If you like nitpicking, you should know that the leading edge wing tank refueling caps should be erased on this variant (located under the wings). The F4U-1D had external fuel tank carrying capacities which made the leading edge fuel tanks redundant. These were only present on earlier models. The circular under wing light on the left wing should be removed as well.

However, the famous cut out in the flap does not need to be filled this time, unlike on earlier models, since it was introduced during the F4U-1D production.

Jean-Luc

looks like a nicely detailed kit, although the ejector marks in the gear bay appear to be a paint to remove!

There I was, just about to pull the trigger and buy this kit, then I saw the finished bird by Jean-Luc. There is no way I will ever come close to that level of artistry! Nice job!

Anthony

nice build jean-luc. great weathering job. i am currently building the birdcage version in the tri color jolly roger and am having some confusion on the dark blue part. what color did you use for your build? and i don't think it is the same as what i need to use if i am correct. i have a bottlel of model master sea blue, and a bottle of lifecolor non specular dark sea blue or sea blue, i don't remember exactly and can't check at this time. i also have a can of tamiya as-8 navy blue which is what the directions say to use.i would rather use the model master or decanted tamiya if i could.
i have seen the blue stated as dark sea blue and sea blue at different times so am unsure even though i have built a hellcat in these colors years ago. i just don't remember what i used.

thanks-joe