AIRFIX 1:72 VOUGHT F4U-1D CORSAIR

Reviewer: Myself  (braithy@bigpond.com)

An aircraft which requires little introduction, the F4U Corsair was one of the most outstanding fighter aircraft of World Warr II, serving mainly in the Pacific arena for the USAF.  It first flew in 1940 and first fitted Marine Corps Units.   Poor visibility inherent in the early F4U-1 precluded its use aboard US Navy carriers and it was restricted to operations from land bases.  Later versions with a modified cockpit arrangement began carrier operations late in 1944.

Airfix have reproduced this version quite well aside from a few shortcomings pointed out below, in a kit typical of their quality with lots of raised panel lines.  The usual lack of detail in the cockpit and wheel wells is again an annoyance.  Instructions are set out in a large fold out series of A4 sized pages with Humbrol number call outs.  Refer to my Humbrol x-ref page for matches in other brands and approximate colour names.

The kit is quite straightforward to build and I had no real fit problems except for the canopy.  The canopy gave me the most problem because of a poor fit and I almost ruined it completely in process.  As it is I somehow managed to crack the darn thing, although luckily in a spot that's not that noticeable.  For the cockpit you are simply given a seat and pilot figure to place against locator pins inside the fuselage halves nothing else - no stick, no instrument panel, no pedals, no nothing!

The join lines, most notably the fuselage, needed a bit of sanding and a small amount of filler was required around the undercarriage doors.  Some small holes are evident under the wings, I am not sure what these are for, I assume they are ducts and I left them alone because a sideview showed these holes were under the wing.  An arrestor hook is provided in the kit and you are instructed to paint it with black and white stripes.  A shot I have of an F4U-1D simply has it in grey, although only the hook itself is visible in wheels-up configuration.  The kit provides inner underwing pylons to attach two 1,000 pounders.

As a Corsair the kit replicates one quite well - as an F4U-1D variant there are a number of shortcomings.  The main wing has been over-exhaggerated in the distinctive 'crank' shape and I don't think the general outline is 100% correct either. In 'wheels-up' mode the rear wheel is not exposed on the kit, about half of it should be visible sticking out under the fuselage. There is a lipped chin on the engine cowling (or distinctive collar as some might prefer to call it) - my reference photos of the F4U-1D show the cowling to basically be in line with the fuselage - like "added on the end" as opposed to "added over the end".  The propellor seems a tad too large to scale (it's a big Hamilton I know, but looks a little oversized), there's no aerial on the fin or forward of the cockpit (although in the latter case I have a couple of photos of supposed 1D's without an aerial in front of the cockpit)  The supercharger air intake on the wing should be more rounded on the lip and the exhaust stacks just under where the cowling meets the fuselage are absent in the kit. 

Two versions are reproduced by the kit a 4th Marine Air Wing (636) in overall gloss midnight blue colour and an example from VMF 321, Hells Angels (831) in two tone blue (Matt Oxford and Intermediate Blues) and white underside.  The decals were good quality, nice and thin and easy to apply but carried a bit of excessive carrier film.   I chose the dark midnight blue overall colour scheme - as this is the colour I always associate with Corsairs - and this made a change to the painting routine, it's nice to have a simple one-colour scheme sometimes!

Okay this kit captures the distinctive Corsair lines and characteristics quite nicely, with my only grudges being the incorrect (but quite close) wing shape and the absence of the exhaust stacks.  As far as the 1D model is concerned it loses more points in accuracy and those who see this as a big prerequisite may want to try another kit.  However, it was essentially an easy kit to do and one of the few Airfix kits you could basically slap together with no putty tube in sight (only a very minor amount of filling was needed), and would certainly suit a beginner modeller, or even a more experienced one who would not be put off by the few little accuracy indiscretions.

Related Reviews:  Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1 Corsair

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Best resolution to display this particular cutaway of an F4U-1D

Note the engine cowling basically blends into the fuselage, the aerial in front of the cockpit (almost hidden in the colour) which is not in the kit, the colour of the arrestor hook and just visible above the white fuel tank - the exhaust stacks