I've been wanting for a LONG time to build a diorama or vignette about "Pappy Boyington" like the old TV show "Black Sheep". Is there a site where I can find good pics of the island and the set-up they had there? I'm still debating between 1/48 or 1/35 scale, but I'm leaning more towards 1/35. What, if any, kind of vehicles did they have on that island.. jeeps or tractors? If I go with 1/35 scale, would Trumpeter's Corsair be appropriate for "Pappy's" aircraft. I just want to try and collect as much info I can before I decide what to build and what I need to buy for it.

I'd appreciate any help I can get
Thanks
Hisham

It's not a Corsair, but this photo might help.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/konabish/7068347815/

It was taken at Vella Lavella. Looks like a 2 1/2 ton truck in the rear, along with a couple of other trucks. I would imagine the Dodge WC 51/52 would have been present. The Navy also used the 1 ton International, but I haven't seen that in kit form. Good luck with this. I'd like to see it work out.

Hi Hisham,

Jim S. put on a model show feature and look at this Baa Baa Blacksheep diorama:


Boyington flew the F4U-1 Corsair; they orignially had the 'birdcage' conopy, and later the blown-type. I think Boyington flew both types.

Google "Boyington Vella Lavella"; "Boyington Munda"; "boyington torokina". These will give you great scenes of the 3 main airfields that VMF-214 operated from during the Boyington era.

http://railroadmodeling.kitmaker.net/features/4760&page=4




All kinds of vehicles: jeeps, 3/4 ton, 1 1/2 ton, 2 1/2 ton; personnel carriers, fuel trucks, dump trucks, you name it.

In this photo you can see 3/4 and 2 1/2 ton trucks:

What are the aircraft in the background? To my struggling eyes they seem to have white tails. P-40's perhaps?
Best of luck with the dio Hisham, looking forward to watching it progress.

Cheers, D

Hi Damien,

Yup, RNZAF P-40s! Note the roundels on both wings.

The Hellcat pic Russ linked to has this behind the troubled F6F:

http://gallery.kitmaker.net/showgallery.php?cat=25432

Thanks a lot for all the info and pics, guys... these will be a lot of help.

That winch truck looks really interesting, but I'm not sure I have the skill to pull off the conversion.. maybe I'll try if I can find clearer pics of it.

Trumpeter has two versions in 1/35 scale.. an F4U-1D and an F4U-4.... so, I guess the 1D is the correct one.. or can both work?

I'll keep collecting info and I'll see what I can pull off.

Thanks again
Hisham

In real life Boyington never flew the F4U4. The show had a mix of types. The show of course was very different from what really happened. Of course if you really wanted to stretch things you could do Boyington's P-40, sorry but I don't have photos.

Problem is I really like the Corsair, and the whole point is to build something around it. Maybe I'll build the diorama representing the show and not the real life Boyington. I'll see how it goes.

Thanks
Hisham

I live in El Paso Texas and a guy living in one of the small towns nearby did the maintenance on the Corsairs for the show. Every so often you would see on fly overhead. He even had some fuselages in his backyard for spare parts. If you do the show, as I recall Boyington's Corsair was an F4U4, they had a mix of F4U1Ds and F4U4s, IIRC more U4s than 1Ds. I actually got to meet Boyington at an aishow here shortly before his death. I was young and very excited, I loved the show and had read Baa Baa Blacksheep. Unfortunately it wasn't a very nice meeting, Boyington was going out of his way to play "Pappy" and in talking with some of the people who had to handle him (in later years I did photo work for the show) they said that he was not a very happy character. Whichever way you go, historical or TV I'm looking forward to seeing it.

John

I've been thinking about ideas for a small dio that could be based more on the show, and I got this idea to use these Masterbox boxing figures next to the Corsair.. of course with converting the figures and mixing up different arms and legs and stuff... and maybe try to show one guy as if he's taking bets on the fight... well, something along those lines. So, what do you guys think? Any suggestions?



Hisham

Hi Hisham,

Not the -4. It did not reach frontline units until summer 1945 -- over a year since Boyington's capture.

Hisham, one thing to remember is that your figures and vehicles will be 1/35, but your aircraft will be 1/32. The scale mismatch translates to almost 10% and can be noticeable if you have a lot of figures or vehicles close to the aircraft.

You can make it work well though, one of my mates did a dio for a local museum, there are a few pics on our club website here - Green Ghosts

Cheers, D

Frederick... Thanks for letting me know, I was just about to order Trumpeter's F4U-4 since it is on sale at Luckymodel.

Damian... I was thinking about the scale difference. I'm not really thinking of a large size dio.. just the Corsair with a few figures (If I go with the boxing theme) and maybe a jeep. So, I don't know if those would look right next to each other. 1/48 scale would be a more logical and practical size, but the problem is that the available figures would be very limiting.

I'll keep looking around to see what's available before making the final decision.

Thanks for your help, guys
Hisham

Hisham, if you're going to use a just a few figures, there are plenty to choose from (in 1/48). Verlinden, Eduard, ICM, Tamiya, and Jaguar to name just a few. Also if you don't mind modifying figures, than skies the limit. Check out my Corsair project for the "ground force- diorama campaign" on Aeroscale. I used figures from all the companies I mentioned, some are lightly to heavily modified, but was very easy to do. In fact I'm still not finished, as I will be adding at least 5 more figures to this diorama project. Good luck and happy modeling

Hisham,

Boyington flew the -1A Corsair so the -1D Trumpeter kit would be closest, but there are some differences. The -1D had a paddle blade prop whereas the -1A had thinner blades. Also, the canopy on the -1A had frames the -1D didn't. I plan to make the conversion too. It should be pretty simple, but things to watch out for. Also, if I recall correctly, the Trumpeter -1D kit has a cockpit floor where the -1A was open. Here's a link to a conversion a guy did to a -1 configuration, the cockpit stuff is essentially the same as a -1A. I think someone did a resin cockpit at one point too, though I don't know if that's still available.

Hope this all helps, it's a cool idea!

Michael

Just one more thing that popped into my head, in the show IIRC, all of the Corsairs were in the late war over all blue (I think its Dark Sea Blue but I could be wrong) but if you choose to do it historical then they should all be in the USN/USMC three color camo.