1/72 Tamiya F4U-1D Corsairs

Converted to FG-1D Corsair Race Planes 

JOE-90 & JOE-99

by Rodney Williams

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I have been a long time member of: "The Society of AirRace Historians," (www.airrace.com).  Via this organization, I got the Corsair building bug way back in 1984.  Some of my racing Corsairs are on this web site under the heading of F2G Corsair. For additional race data, click on the above web site.
 
 
In 1985, I bought a race book that had a couple of black and white photo's of JOE-90 and JOE-99.   Number 90 was used on the Corsair in 1946, while #99 was used on it in 1947.  I was going to build that white Corsair a.s.a.p.  Almost 20 years later in 2003, I finished building "JOE-99," using Tamiya's 1/72 scale Vought F4U-1D Corsair kit.  
 

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Like the first Tamiya kit , the second kit fit together like peanut butter and jelly goes together.  After the model was assembled, I applied a black wash all over it.  This method lets me sand off the very thin flat paint wash, thus my missing panel lines, sink marks, etc., shows up.  My black wash consists of Tamiya's XF-1 Flat Black with a mix ration of 4 or more parts of Denatured Alcohol, (" DA") to one part paint.
 

 
Once I repair all of the flaws, and do some panel line re-scribing, I remove the left over "black paint wash" build up in the panel lines with a small fiber brush and some "DA."  With lot's of clean water, I sand the model one more time using 1,200 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then wash the model with clean water.   
 

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The exterior of the model is 100% white all over.  My Tamiya XF-2 Flat White has been pre-mixed with "DA" to about 3 parts thinner to one part paint.  After spraying on a few thin coats of paint, I rub down the model with cotton balls, and do a little wet sanding and apply a clean water wash.  More white paint is applied until I'm satisfied that I have a good solid  white cover all over the model.  I repeat the rub down application with the cotton, and sand the model with 1,500 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  Another clear water washing is necessary, including another cotton ball rub down.  The cotton rub down will shine up your flat paint job, and on several occasions, I have successfully applied my decals right over the paint without applying Future Floor Wax.
 

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For this model, I don't want to screw-up my decals, so I go with the "Future."  My floor wax has been pre mixed with "DA," so it is applied onto the model.  Next comes the special decals I had made by Dave Newman.  Dave's decals are very thin so I have to be careful when I place them on the model.  I use my old favorite decal solution of "SET/SOL" by Microscale.  The total overall result was very satisfactory, so I sprayed on a bit more Future to seal the decals.
 

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JOE-90 had a drop tank attached to it, so I went hunting in my spare parts box.  As luck would have it, I found a drop tank, but had to scratch-build the 2 pylon's that the tank was attached to.
 
The only other paint change to the model was the propeller.
 
The 2 models look nice together, but remember this:  There were never two real Corsairs with JOE-90 on one and JOE-99 on the other one.
 
This is called Happy Modeling. 
Rodney
 
Note from son of Pilot of Joe-99 (on May 30 2014)
My father flew the # 99 Joe Corsair in 1947, coming in 7th place, only to be beat out by 6 P-51's. My father's first name is not Frank, but goes by Gene Whitton, or Col. F.E.Whitton. He is still alive & turned 93 last Sunday. After returning from Korea in late 51, Lockheed Burbank hired him as a test pilot, where he remained until age 60. He also spent 30 years in the Marine Corps as a fighter pilot, flying F-4U's in both the Marshalls in WWll & again in Korea. Just setting the record straight.  
Regards Al Whitton
 

Photos and text © by Rodney Williams