F4U-1, -4 Corsair

AJ Press, Modelmania No.9

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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For those not familiar with the company, AJ-Press was established in 1991 with their focal point being to provide books for the enthusiasts of military history and weapons.  To facilitate this the company has developed a series of titles which now number eight in all - four of them are in the Polish language, two in English, with the other two being bilingual in both the English and Polish. languages.

Aircraft Monograph 9 covering the dash 1 to dash 4 versions of the Vought F4U Corsair is amongst the company's latest releases.

The book is from their Modelmania series which is squarely aimed at the modeller.  The text is in both English and Polish.  The book is laid out with two columns per page with the English language text on the left.

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The book comprises follows a layout that is common to the other books in the Modelmania series that I have seen.  It comprises 129 pages in all and is divided into 9 sections or chapters as follows:

History.  25 pages in all and illustrated with excellent quality full colour period photographs.  It traces the history of the initial development of the F4U and its evolution from the pre-war XF4U-1 prototype to the post War F4-U-4 and all the variations in between.  You are treated to a description of each variant as well as the differences unique to each.

Scale Plans.  This section has 31 pages and shows scale drawings of each variant in both 1/48 and 1/72 scale.  The drawings are left and right hand side profiles, upper and lower plan views front-on and end-on views.

Camouflage.  21 pages in all and comprising 22 colour plates with both 1/48 and 1/72 scale illustrations.  These really are first rate too and they take the form of brilliantly executed landscape formatted artwork by Zbigniew Kolcha.  There are side profiles as well as plan views of upper and lower surfaces.  There is a two page “generic” one that shows left and right hand side profiles as well as upper and lower surface plan views that shows stencil data placement and also acts as a guide for the bonus tri-scale decal sheet that is provided with the book.  All of the various camouflage schemes employed by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps are covered and there are also two plates featuring four Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm machines and a further plate with two Royal New Zealand Air Force machines.

Fuselage.  This is the first of five sections that could just as well be described as a walk-around and “in action” section.   It has colour images of extant restored airframes and period black and white engineering type drawings.  These walk-around images are excellent!  Seven pages in all.

Wing.  Eight pages in all and the images include close-ups of wing folds, flaps, trim tabs, and position lights.

Tail.  Just two pages with this one.  Nice sharp close-up images of the vertical stabilizer, rudder, horizontal stabilisers, elevators and trim tabs.

Cockpit.  Four pages in all.  An excellent section indeed as it carries a first-rate period black and white drawings of predominately the F4U-1 keyed to a legend identifying each control/instrument.  A colour illustration (drawing) is also included.

Undercarriage.  Seven pages.  Walk-around shots of both left and right hand undercarriage legs, wheels and gear bays as well as the arrestor hook.  Period technical drawings too
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Engine.   Three pages.  Images of the inside of the accessory bays, inner surfaces of the cowl flaps, exhausts, and intakes.

Weapons.  Two pages.  Period black and white images and drawings as well as contemporary colour shots of the Royal Navy’s preserved Corsair IV at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton which is widely acknowledged as being a time capsule with regard to originality.

Model kits.  18 pages in all, this section includes an illustrated build of a 1/32 scale Trumpeter F4FU-4 kit in the Korean War markings of VMF-323 and a 1/48 scale Tamiya F4U-1A in a tri-colour camouflage scheme using loads of aftermarket resin and brass etched accessories.   The build article is spread throughout the section and it is supplemented with listings of available F4U injection moulded kits in 1/32, 1/48, 1/72 and 1/144 scale, as well as available etched metal and resin detail parts/mask sets in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scale.  Strangely, there is no listing of decals at all.

As mentioned above, the book includes a decal sheet for a three different machine in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scales.

The three options are:

• F4U-4 of VBF-94 aboard the USS Lexington in August of 1945.  In overall glossy sea blue with the late war single letter ID marking and a modex of 65.

• FG-1D of VMF-213 aboard the USS Saidor in mid 1945.  Again, in overall glossy sea blue with the late war escort carrier easy identification markings comprising white vertical/horizontal stabilizers and right wing tip and bands on the fuselage and a modex of 115.  It is good to see that the numeral “5” is depicted in the correct “upside down numeral 2” format.

• F4U-1D of VMF-312 at Kadena Air Base Okinawa in April of 1945.  In overall glossy sea blue with 700 modex.  An odd choice as far as I am concerned as the cowling and rudder wore white chequerboard markings which are not provided. 

Extensive stencil data is provided including the individual modex numbers for the vertical stabilizer.

The decals have been printed by Techmod and are very thin with an absolute minimum of carrier film.

Some stats for you, the book is 200mm x 290mm in size, consists of 128 pages printed on good quality glossy paper features 16 black and white photos, 168 colour photos,
30 drawings, 31 pages of scale plans, 22 colour plates, and six tables between cardboard covers

This is an excellent book indeed.  It certainly meets the publisher’s aim of providing books for the enthusiasts of military history and weapons but as far as I am concerned, it is aimed more at the modeller than the armchair enthusiast/historian.   It will go a go a long way indeed as an aid to help you to detail to your next F-4U1.

Thanks to Air Connection for the review sample.