Subject: Re: Article
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:39:59 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

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: catherine vickers 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 3:02 AM
  Subject: Article

  Gallery Template #02

  1/72 Hobby Boss F4U-4 Corsair 

  by Catherine Vickers
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here

  I first came across Hobby Boss kits last year when I saw a build article by Spencer Pollard & Haris Ali in Military in Scale magazine .  The simplicity of the kits attracted me , so I acquired a number of them at last November’s UK Nationals .  I’ve always liked the look of the Corsair & I like easy to build kits , plenty of stores & single colour paint schemes , so the Hobby Boss F4U-4 was pretty much ideal .  

  The basic airframe went together pretty simply , though a little fiddling was necessary with the locating tabs on the tailplanes to allow them to fit higher in the slots on the fuselage to reduce the step between tailplane & root fairing .  The only other mod , as recommended in Military In Scale , was to cut 1mm from the rear of the cowling’s lower rearward extension so that the cowl could be tipped downwards until the top surface was in a straight line with the top of the front fuselage .  A couple of fill/sand/prime cycles & the airframe was ready for paint though , since the undercarriage & wheel wells are usually Gloss Sea Blue on overall blue USN aircraft of this vintage , I fitted the legs & undercarriage doors prior to painting .  Since the kit is really intended to snap together , the components tend to be a very tight fit , especially after a couple of coats of primer , so I did a little trimming of the locating tabs on the legs & doors so they’d fit without having to be forced & then glued them in place .  

  Painting was , of course , extremely simple – a coat of Xtracrylix Gloss Sea Blue , which is something of a misnomer as it actually dries satin , & a couple of coats of Future to put a proper gloss on it & the model was ready for decals .  I used the kit decals & they were absolutely superb – thin & opaque with good adhesive qualities .  The carrier film all but vanished once they were dry & disappeared entirely after a wash & a sealing coat of Future .  Once everything had dried , I then brush-painted the engine , tailwheel tyre , cockpit & the oleo sections of the undercarriage legs & added a set of Reheat harnesses .  

  The only awkward part of the build was the underwing stores .  To start with . I made a mess of one of the droptanks so John , my fiancé , found a couple of Korean War Corsairs in the ARC Gallery which carried an asymmetric load of a droptank one side & a bomb the other .  I razor-sawed the pylon from the damaged tank & he delved into his spares box & came up with a grotty old bomb which he tells me came off an Airfix B-29 which he scrapped some time in the mid 1970s .  Some heavy-duty filling & sanding & a coat of Olive Drab reworked it into something much more acceptable .

  Having won that round of the fight , I tackled the set of eight 5” HVARs , which are probably the worst part of the kit  .  I’d have left them off , but they locate into big , deep slots on the underside of the wing , which would have needed a serious filling job right across the cartridge ejection slots for the guns !!   The main rocket bodies & their integrally-moulded pylons are ok , though a little simplistic , but the separate fin assemblies are awful – the rather heavy sprue gate attaches between two of the fins , so it’s not easy to get the parts off the sprue to start with & , because the gate is large & on a curved surface between two fins , it’s a pig to clean up .  Eventually , all eight were assembled & painted & it was at this point that it became apparent that they wouldn’t fit without serious applications of brute force & the possibility of damage – the various coats of paint on both wing & pylon had made the already tight fit of the pylons to the wing well nigh impossible .   The pylons needed reducing in thickness to let them fit the wing slots , which would have left them requiring repainting , but John cut a piece of 80 thou plasticard & clamped it to a big file so it acted as a depth stop & allowed me to remove material just where it was needed & not damage the paint on the visible areas apart from a few minor touch-ups .  

  I fitted the rockets which , even after filing down ,  needed a good shove to get them in place , but then held in nicely without glue , then also fitted the pre-painted bomb , droptank , prop & wheels .  After a final spray of satin varnish , I fixed the screen & canopy in place .  

  There seem to be varied opinions about these Hobby Boss kits – some complain that they’re too simplified & that you can buy better kits for the same money whilst others , myself included , find the simplicity to be a major plus point .  For anyone starting out in the hobby , or anyone more advanced who just wants a nice simple build to get out of a rut or even a test airframe to try a new finishing technique , then they’re ideal .  I’m delighted with the way mine turned out & I hope you all like it too . 

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here

  Photos and text © by Catherine Vickers