Hasegawa + Tamiya 1/72 scale F4U-1
“Which Way to Munda?”

by Rafe Morrissey

Tamiya's new 1/72 scale F4U-1 Corsair is available online from Squadron

This1/72 scale model was built for our local modeling club’s annual “Build The Same Kit” special.  The subject was the Tamiya F4U-1D Corsair. 

Wanting to do something a little different, I thought I would do a simple kit bash with the Hasegawa kit to produce the F4U-1 variant.  Who knew that Tamiya would release a kit of this variant a week or two before I finished mine?

In addition to the minor conversion I decided to treat myself to every aftermarket goodie I could find as I normally don’t use much of this stuff.  These include: 

• Eduard Pre-painted Photo-etch cockpit details and landing gear detail

• Moskit Exhausts

• Quickboost Pratt & Whitney R-2800 with pushrods added from Evergreen rod and ignition harness from telephone wire

• Squadron Vacuform Canopy

• Airfix Tail wheel: While trying to reposition the tail wheel on the kit, I accidentally damaged the kit part.  Searching through my spares box, I came across the Airfix tail gear assembly and was able to use what is probably the only accurate part in the Airfix kit to save the day! 

Painting and Weathering: 

I have been experimenting with the diffusion/ post shading technique made popular by modeling greats, Chris Wauchop and Brett Green from Hyperscale.  This model was inspired by their absolutely beautiful joint build in Brett’s Osprey book, Modeling the F4U Corsair. 

It has taken a lot of trial and error (mostly error), but I finally was able to get a good result while painting this kit. 

Chips and scratches were added using a dark gray mixture of Valleijo  Acrylic paint and Prismacolor silver pencil.  Exhaust stains are a mixture of airbrush and pastel chalks. 

A light raw umber oil paint and Turpenoid wash and a dusting of the wheels with the Tamiya weathering powder set rounded out the weathering. 

Markings

I chose the Aeromaster sheet for “Marines Dream,” one of the few Corsairs I have seen to carry nose art.  This aircraft has been attributed to Capt. Ed Olander of VMF-214 as well as VMF-222 and was destroyed in a landing accident at the Torokina airstrip on Bougainville Island. 

Using figures from Preiser, I have depicted the aircraft close to the end of its service life as a young Marine Lieutenant prepares to ferry the aircraft to the Munda airstrip in the Solomon Islands.  A mechanic is putting away his tools and preparing to pull the prop through.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images: 

Model, Images & Text Copyright © 2007 by Rafe Morrissey
Page Created 17 January, 2007
Last Updated 24 December, 2007

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