Introduction
Here is a model that I built a little while ago. It is a
conversion of a 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1A to a F4U-1C, a rather little
known variant of the Corsair. It was the first 20mm cannon armed
Corsair and was used primarily for ground attack, owing to the small
amount (1000 rounds total) ammunition load it could carry.
Vought
only built 200 of them and only the very first one (that I have
chosen to depict) was painted in the tri-color scheme. All others
were overall Gloss Sea Blue.
Construction and Painting
I pretty much completely rebuilt the cockpit (about
80% at least) and engine, fleshed out the wheel wells and gear
struts and thinned out the wheels from behind making them true
spokes, and scratch built the cannons and blisters over the
breeches.
This
version required a -1D prop, which was the only part outside of the
kit that I used.
The -1C was outfitted with zero length stubs but
only on the inner pair.
The decals
are a combination of kit and home made. As this aircraft was never
operational, weathering was minimal, confined to a few paint chips
here and there and the ever present oil leaks.
Model Master
enamels were used throughout.
