I'm building an F4U-1A (the Tamiya 1/32 kit) from VMF-215 from the late '43 - early '44 time period. My question is whether it would have had the white sealing tape around the oil/fuel tank panels ahead of the windscreen. I like the look of that but don't want to use it if it wouldn't have been there.

Thanks!

Michael

Michael, a blogger on Large Scale Planes indicated the tape was prevalent on -1's and -1A's but rarely seen on the -1D's meaning Vought must have fixed the leak
issue by then. He also indicated the leakage varied on 1's and 1A's so some may have the tape while others wouldn't. Essentially, if you are doing a 1A, probably modellers discretion.

Best wishes,

Ian

Ian,

That's kind of what I was thinking. My only concern was whether the tape fix was being used at all in that time and place. I may just go for it and dare someone to call me wrong.

Thanks!

Michael

Because of the very nature of the fix, it could be there one day and gone the next.

The only way to really decide is to find photos of the actual machine you're going to build - generally if someone has produced markings for an airframe, there are photos of it kicking around.