1:32 F4U-1D CORSAIR

The Corsair in which the pilot could finally see something

The F4U-1D version is the state the Corsair matured into after two years of curing its own teething troubles. A raised seat, a raised cockpit floor and above all a one-piece domed hood in place of the earlier multitude of frames meant that the pilot could see forward over the long nose even on the deck of a carrier. That was what decided that the machine finally received clearance for carrier operations, which had long been denied it.

What changed against the early examples

Besides the glazing and the cockpit, racks for two drop tanks were added under the center section and rails for unguided rockets under the outer wing panels. The side window panes by the fuel tank that the early machines carried disappeared from the cranked wing and the fuselage tank grew larger. The hinged bulletproof front glass moved inside the cockpit. For a modeler the masking thereby became simpler: a continuous domed area instead of a greenhouse means a couple of large pieces and one narrow front frame, whereas on the early version it is a mosaic of small panels. The two solutions cannot be swapped and a mask for one will not fit the other.

The box

Masks for the hood in both layers, two insignia and decals belong to the contents. A large domed part is masked quickly, but it pays to warm it with lukewarm air once it is applied, so that the vinyl follows the curvature without folds. The model, paints and glue are not in the bag.

The star with side bars is a two-color insignia with a hard division, so it pays to spray the light base first and the blue layer only through a narrowed mask. The result has no rim of carrier film, which otherwise shows through on curved surfaces.