1:48 F4U-1 CORSAIR

A birdcage over the cockpit

The first production Corsair received a canopy made up of many narrow panes in a solid frame, which for its appearance came to be called the birdcage. Together with the high-set nose and the inverted gull wing it forms the most conspicuous feature of the early version. The machine reached the front at the beginning of 1943 in the hands of the Marine Corps, and its rough carrier landings led to a whole series of later modifications, among them the replacement of the cockpit by a blown dome.

Work from the smallest panes

On this cockpit in particular it pays to start with the small parts in the middle and to work toward the outer surfaces only at the end. Large pieces seated first take up the space the small shapes lean against, and the accuracy drifts a fraction on every further pane. Going the other way round, the last large area can be adjusted, because it has play at the sides.

Working with small shapes

Lift the small parts off the backing with the point of a knife and hand them over to the tweezers in mid-air so that you never touch them with your fingers. Grease from the skin is the greatest enemy of adhesion and shows up precisely on the narrowest strips, which have little area to hold on by.

What is in the box

Inside lies masking for the birdcage from both sides, a field with American insignia and a decal sheet. The dimensions follow Tamiya plastic in 1:48 scale. A more experienced modeler will make himself masks for the circular hatches, which the kit does not distinguish, out of the offcuts around the outlines. The remaining strips will serve when masking the wheels and the covers.