Vought F4U-1 Corsair U.S. Navy Parts 1-4 & 6

LPS Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Xtradecal's 1/72 scale Junkers Ju 87 B/K/R Stuka decals
are available online from Squadron.com

The F4U corsair is a true classic and a justifiably popular modelling subject.  LPS Hobby’s latest five releases are presumably pitched to take advantage of this. Each is titled Vought F4U-1 Corsair U.S. Navy, although the pedantic will note that Parts 1-4 cover US Marines aircraft.

Each set of decals comes in a zip-lock plastic bag. A folded A-4 sized header is printed in colour featuring a profile of each of the two subject covered per set.

The painting and decaling guides provide three-view drawings of each subject, and are I think ink-jet and have a matt finish. The instructions include ANA codes in many cases along with a colour name. Stencil and fuel tank seal locations are also given. The decals sheets for Parts 3, 4 & 6 include what appears to be a pair of black wing-walk markings. Like the other markings, these have arrowed numbers on the decal sheets, but no mention is made of them in the guide. Similarly, Part 3 includes a fuel tank sealant tape decal, but this is not mentioned in the guide. I would describe the instructions as being adequate, but unimpressive.

The decals are printed by Microscale and appear to be of excellent quality, with superb registration and what looks like good opacity.

The sheets advise in each case that the sets are designed for use with the Tamiya F4U kits. The fuselage fuel tank sealant tape lines may be optimised to fit the Tamiya kit, but is should think the decals will suit any brand of 1/72-scale F4U kit.

In the past LPS Hobby has provided three subjects per sheet but only with sufficient national insignia and stencils to complete one option, something I had questioned the value of in previous reviews. The sets reviewed here all have sufficient national insignia and stencils to complete the now two subjects covered by each set. The release notice accompanying these samples mentioned this as being a deliberate change in philosophy on the part of LPS Hobby.

I wondered about why I had no Part 5 to review, and note it is not mentioned on the LPS Hobby website, yet it is listed by Hannants as a future release; so perhaps there have been production delays with this set.

The Subjects

Part1:

• F4U1A white 777/Bu No 17777 of 1stLt Phillip C DeLong, VMF-212, Vella Lavella, November 1943.

• F4U-1A white 22 of Ens John M Smith, VF-17, Bougainville, February 1944.

Part 2:

• F4U-1A white 740/Bu No 17740 of Maj Gregory Boyington, CO of VMF-214, Vella Lavella, December 1943.

• F4U-1A white 722/Bu No 17722 of 1st Lt Phillip C Delong, VMF-212, Vella Lavella, November 1943.

Part 3:

• F4U-1A white 735/|Bu No 17735 of Capt Arthur R Conant, VMF-215 Barakoma/Torokina, January 1944.

• F4U-1A white 596/Bu No 17596 of 1st Lt Robert M Hanson, VMF-215, Torokina, February 1944.

Part 4:

• F4U-1A white 596/Bu No 17596 of 1st Lt Robert M Hanson, VMF-215, Torokina, February 1944.

• F4U-1A white 735/Bu No 17735 of Capt Arthur R Conant, VMF-215, Barakoma/Torokina, January 1944.

Part 6:

• F4U-1A white 3 of Frederick J Streig, VF-17, February 1944.

• F4U-1A white 5/Bu No 17656 of Lt(jg) Thomas Killefer, VF-17, Bougainville, February 1944.

The quality of the decals in these sets appears to be excellent, and that obviously counts for a lot. The subject choices seem rather run of the mill, to me at least, but no doubt will appeal to others.

LPS Hobby’s change from three to two subjects per set, but with sufficient national insignia and stencils for both, unlike the triple subject sets only having enough for one. This seems a sensible change.

I always struggle with LPS Hobby reviews, because no matter how I look at things, the very basic markings guides and limited subjects per set makes me question their value compared to several other decal brands; that seem able to offer far more subjects and better guides for the same or less cost. 

Despite my concerns regarding value, there are no obvious flaws with these sets, and may be just what some others are looking for, and value perception can vary widely amongst different people. I recommend them to those who are happy to pay.

Thanks to LPS Hobby for these samples.

Text and Images Copyright © 2016 by Mark Davies
This Page Created on 6 September, 2016
Last updated 6 September, 2016

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