1:32 F4U-1A CORSAIR

The Corsair with the raised seat

The Vought F4U is easily recognized by its cranked wing, which came about because of the enormous propeller and the need to shorten the landing gear legs. The first production examples had the cockpit sunk into the fuselage and the canopy divided by a dense grid of frames, so on the approach to a carrier deck the pilot could barely see ahead of him. The F4U-1A variant answered that: the seat went higher, the fuselage spine was cut down and the canopy received a domed center section with far fewer frames. Only with this change did the Corsair become a usable carrier machine, although it had already made its name before that from land bases in the South Pacific.

Contents

The package holds self-adhesive cutouts matching the glazing of the Tamiya model in 1:32 scale. The film is applied to the face and the reverse, so the frames can carry two different shades.

The modeler thus gets a ready solution to the most unpleasant part of the build. Anyone who has ever outlined frames with a brush knows how easily the line runs off and how hard it is to correct on a glossy surface. A cut shape holds the width of the frame along its whole length and the result looks factory-made.

Advice for the work

• Mask the raised center pane last, as it is easily scratched.
• Before spraying, check that the whole area of the glass is covered.
• Light coats of paint give a finer transition at the edge of the frame.
• Do not put lifted films back, as the adhesive no longer holds.

The package covers the glazing alone. The stars with bars and the numbers are covered by the manufacturer's fuller sets.