1/32 Tamiya F4U-1a Corsair - Boyington 17740

[Floki]

That parachute looks sweet, the metal buckles give it a better look in my opinion.

[Paul]

This is true attention to detail. A steady hand and dedication to the craft. Nice work indeed, John.

[BlackSheep214]

Amazing work on the IP.
See?!?!? I toldja I'd be afraid of that happening if I had done it myself. A great save on the parachute buckle. I agree, it looks a lot better than the resin version.

Taking notes on the sanding down the resin more for easy cutting....

[jkim]

Thanks guys! I'm jumping around a bit on this build. I'm leaving for a short trip to Hawaii in a couple days so I'm not ready to jump in full bore into the Corsair. So just checking things out... working on small details.

I took a look at the Vector resin cowl flaps. I figured that I could at least get the casting block off. Fairly easy to do since the connection between the block and the flaps is very thin so it only required a light sawing around the circumference to free the flaps.


The flaps are pretty delicate and have a very thin ring along the top edge. This connection broke during sawing and had to be re-attached using CA glue. Also, one of the corners of the flaps was busted off. Based on photos, it appears this was already broken before I worked on it. I used a piece of thinned sheet styrene to patch the corner. In the photos, I can see a small hole/crack in one of the flaps that I didn't notice before. Should be an easy patch.



I've been reviewing other builds online. There is some wonderful work on Corsairs and I found one in particular that gave me a little mini-project to do... the throttle quadrant.


Using Wolf Buddee's online build as a reference, I modified the quadrant by chopping off the levers, adding slots to the top of the quadrant using a razor saw and then adding new levers made from small bits of photoetch brass. The knobs are blobs of white glue but I'm not sure how they turned out. I may have to re-do the knobs.



I probably won't do anything significant until I return from Hawaii next week. So until then...

[speedgraflex]

Brilliant update to the throttle controls, John. You are right about the excellent resource materials for Corsair builds online—great stuff to pick ‘n choose! Have a nice trip!

[LyleW]

That is some amazing work on what is a tiny piece, even on 1/32.

[Stikpusher]

No trips to Hawaii allowed... unless you’re bringing this along to work on and update here..


Looking real good so far though...

[jkim]

Sorry but modeling will have to wait until I get back from Hawaii. But I've got the throttle primered and painted black... might have time to put on some teensy-weensy decals and give another update right before I leave!

[Medicman71]

The throttles look good to me.

[BlackSheep214]

Who wants to bet he’ll come home with some cool kit he finds out there....