1/48 Hasegawa F4U-5N Corsair by Will Hendriks

1/48 Hasegawa F4U-5N Corsair

Lt. Guy P. Bordelon Composite Squadron 3 (VC-3) Korea, 1953

"LUCKY PIERRE"

Photos by Steve Bamford
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As the Korean War neared its end in the summer of 1953, North Korean night intruders, popularly known as "Bedcheck Charlies", were causing real damage to UN facilities and supplies. These "Bedcheck Charlies" were most often slow-moving propeller driven aircraft, many of which were biplanes. The Airforce jets were too fast to deal with the intruders, so a detachment of five of VC-3's Corsairs from USS Princeton were dispatched to an airfield south of Seoul to counter the threat, led by Lt. Guy Bordelon.

Composite Squadron 3 was specially trained and their aircraft were specially equipped for all-weather and night operations. VC-3 was well suited to operations in the Korean theatre, where the weather could be atrocious, with frequent low ceilings, heavy rain, icing, and snow, as well as smoke and haze caused by the combat conditions on the ground. Hilly terrain and a "blacked-out" night environment added to the danger.

Within days of arriving, Bordelon scored four victories in two nights, with a fifth following just two weeks later. When they weren't chasing intruders the Night Corsairs were bombing and strafing North Korean ground targets (at night!). The "Bedcheck Charlie" raids ceased, and Lt. Guy "Lucky Pierre" Bordelon became the Navy's first Prop Ace in Korea.

The Model

The Hasegawa F4U-5N Corsair kit is one of a series of late Corsair kits released by this manufacturer, and is a welcome addition. This said the kit is definitely not a "Shake and Bake" model. The moldings are a little rough in some areas with many sink marks on the fuselage sides and the wings. The fit is not good in several areas, especially the
cowling to fuselage join. Ejector pin marks mar the detail of some parts. This is surprising, considering the finesse of molding of, say, the Frank or the George, which were released at about the same time. However, with a little work the F4U-5N can be made into an impressive model.

The interior was built up with the addition of photo-etched seat belts from Reheat. I added a vent to the cockpit floor and added a few radio and switch boxes to the otherwise featureless cockpit sidewalls. The floor, seat, and forward bulkhead were painted Testor's Model Master Interior Green with the rear bulkhead, side-walls, and instrument panel Interior Black. I added scratchbuilt switchboxes to the top of the
cockpit coaming. The kit provides the wrong gunsight for the 5N. It should be a N-20 gunsight, which looks a lot like the K-14. So I stole a K-14 from a Tamiya P-51D kit and disguised it to look the part.

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Ignition harnesses were added with brass wire. Otherwise the engine looks great built as is. The tires were flattened a bit with a sanding stick to give a weighted look, and brake lines were added with .010" solder. This small diameter solder works great for tubing and hoses, being easy to install because it is soft and flexible, and takes paint
and superglue well. It is available in several diameters from fishing tackle (fly-tying) supply stores.

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The final painting and finishing was not as straightforward as I had thought: Talk about a contentious colour topic! I had no idea of the controversy surrounding the colours on this aircraft when I started building it! For instance, the colour of the radome is variously
described as black, white, and even pale blue! After poring for hours over dozens of available photos, text and internet sources, this was my best estimation.

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The airframe was painted overall Testor's Gloss Sea Blue enamel, mixed 50/50 with thinner and sprayed "wet" at 20psi. A smooth, glossy finish resulted. The radome was painted white. Other details included a red fuel filler cap, red and blue nav lights, and clear red beacons. The aerial was made of stretched sprue with insulators made with white glue. A few extra antennae were added as per my refs. The kit decals were used
throughout, and went down with no problems, with just a little Micro Set and Sol. A light airbrush coat of Floquil Flat (which actually dries as a smooth semi-gloss) sealed the decals and killed the high gloss finish.

Weathering was accomplished with a combination of ground pastel chalk washes, artist's oils, and pastel chalks. The exhaust stain is Tamiya Buff sprayed through a card mask.

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Even considering the kit's shortcomings, I was pleased with the result. So what next? The French Navy F4U-7 in Suez markings is hard to resist.

References:
Corsair in Action, Squadron Signal Publications.
F4U Corsair in Detail and Scale, Volume II, Bert Kinzey
F4U Corsair, Frederick Johnsen, Crown Publishers
Corsair, Barret Tillman, Naval Institute Press
Wings of Fame Journal, Volume 3
http://www.acepilots.com/korea_bordelon.html

Happy Modelling

Will