I have been
interested in Korean War aircraft for some time and when Minicraft
announced, a few years ago, that they were releasing a 1:48 nightfighting Corsair
I was eager to build the kit. Opening the box was somewhat of a
disappointment as the main airframe detail was soft, the cockpit detail non-existant,
and the canopy terrible! A true details resin cockpit and Squadron vac-formed
canopy cured the latter defects and some sanding and filling the former. The
flaps looked crude in the moulded on raised position so I cut them off,
re-formed and re-attached them in the dropped position. The rudder
was moulded with a huge trench demarcation and so it had to be removed and
re-attached. On the plus side the decals were very nice and included
a nice representation of the toned-down night fighter markings. I replaced
the kit-supplied wheels with some spares from a Hasegawa F4U-4.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The completed
fuselage was primed with Halfords acrylic auto primer and Humbrol dark sea blue
brush applied. The kit decals were used, sealed in with Johnsons Klear
varnish and matt cote for the "anti-glare?" finish on the nose. The
kit does not supply parts for the wing gun flash suppressors so I
fabricated some from the heads of Academy 1:48 Hunter F6 rockets. The
result of all this work - Hasegawa goes and releases a decent F4U-5N in 1:48...ain't
it always so!!!!
Darius
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