Subject: Re: Sheppard's Corsair II
From: "Steve Bamford ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Randy Lutz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 14:54:59 -0800

Hi Randy,
Thanks for sending in your Corsair article.  Very nice as usual.  I'll
e-mail you when it goes on ARC in the next 3 weeks.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

----- Original Message -----
From: Randy Lutz <[email-masked]>
To: Steve Bamford ARC <[email-masked]>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 8:25 AM
Subject: Sheppard's Corsair II

Hi Steve,

Please find attached my Tamiya 1/48 Vought Corsair II, which I hope is
suitable for inclusion in your Gallery.

It is finished in the markings of:

Sub Lieutenant Donald J. Sheppard
Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve
No. 1836 Squadron, HMS Victorious
Sakishima Islands, East China Seas
May, 1945

Sheppard holds the distinction of being the only FAA Corsair ace of WWII.
My Corsair is finished in Fleet Air Arm colours.  Some sources state that
the Corsairs were painted in US equivalents of Olive Drab, Neutral Gray and
Sky Gray.  This could very well be, but a colour photo I have, does not look
like these colours.  Furthermore, Dana Bell has stated in his Export Colors
publication that some US aircraft were still being delivered in the proper
British colours right up until war's end.  So, that is good enough for me.

Modifications to the kit consist of the following:

Cockpit Area

- rudder pedal foot trough brackets drilled out
- photo-etched seat belts installed
- objective lens added to gun sight

Fuselage

- ignition wires added to engine
- engine accessory compartment cooling vent flap thinned to a more scale
appearance
- cowl flaps thinned to a more scale appearance
- drop tank and propeller from Tamiya bird cage Corsair
- whip antennae made from surgical wire

Landing Gear

- landing gear retraction springs added to main gear
- kit tail wheel hold down ring replaced
- tail wheel strut assembly drilled out

Wings

- wing root aft engine compartment intake vanes opened
- pitot tube drilled out
- landing light replaced with MV Products lens
- wing tips clipped to represent style found on British Corsairs
- boarding step filled in

Paint and Decals

- airframe painted with Xtracolor X5 Extra Dark Sea Grey BS640, X25 Dark
Slate Grey and
X7 Sky BS210
- national insignia from Aero Master sheet 48-400, with personal markings
from White Dog sheet 481001
- aircraft weathered with chalk pastels

References

- RT, Volume 25, Number4/5.  IPMS Canada
- Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No. 8, Corsair Aces of World War 2.  Osprey
Publishing
- F4U Corsair in Action No.29.  Squadron/Signal Publications
- F4U Corsair in Action No.145.  Squadron/Signal Publications
- F4U Corsair Detail and Scale, Part 1.  Squadron/Signal Publications
- Aerodata International, U.S. Navy Carrier Fighters of World War II.
Squadron/Signal Publications