f2k
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2011
- Messages
- 301
Well, I suppose it’s about time I got going on this build...
I eventually settled on doing a simple Revell 1/72 scale F4U-5 Corsair from the Korean War. Should provide a nice and easy way to get back into modelling after some truly hellish months...
Looking at the box the models seems to be a cannon and rocket armed Corsair from the early fifties in the typical dark blue paint scheme with yellow details and black anti-glare paint. On opening the box, however, I found that things weren’t quite as easy as that.
The box contains the instructions, a warning label, decals for two different aircrafts and a plastic bag with three sprues.
The instructions are typical cheap Revell instructions – a loose bundled of papers, folded along the top, with the basic instructions. On looking through them I must admit that I was less than impressed. Sometimes colours are shown to be applied without marking what colour should be used. Details come and go, sometimes shown, sometimes not. The icon for “glue†and “do not glue†is shown to be the same in the beginning of the instructions while it’s later shown, at least in some cases, to be different. All in all a quite unimpressive manual.
The decal-paper does seem to be a bit thick and other reviews that I’ve read suggests that they can be somewhat difficult to get affixed. But I’ll deal with that when I get to it.
The sprues are fairly simple with 62 pieces in all. They’re moulded in a dark blue hard plastic which is, in places, thin enough to let light shine through.
There’s not much flash but some of the pieces are marred by having ejector holes in some very obvious places. These will have to be filled and sanded as the aircraft is assembled.
So... What does this kit represent, then?
Truth to be told, I’m not really sure...
According to internet rumours this kit is, in fact, a repackaged Italeri F4U-5N which, in turn, shares a lot of parts with the Italeri F4U-4b. As a consequence this kit is a strange mishmash of various components. The cockpit seems to be somewhat okay for a F4U-5 but the hull itself is from a F4U-4, meaning that it’s somewhat short for a F4U-5. The wings are the metal covered wings from a F4U-5 but with elevators from a F4U-4. And there seems to be some details from the F4U-5N such as glare shielding on the exhausts and cannons.
In addition, while there are pylons for the rockets there are neither rockets, nor bombs for the centre-mounts included in the kit. And the pilot seems to be AWOL...
All in all, not a particularly good kit. But then again, it’s quite cheap...
I’ve seen examples of people fixing this kit with parts from other kits and aftermarket parts. However, I think I’ll just build it as it is. I simply don’t have the time or energy to collect aftermarket parts and scratch build the front hull. And, let’s be honest, unless you’re really in to this kind of things you probably won’t notice anything amiss.
Now I’ll only need to figure out exactly what colour it should be painted in. The instructions call for a mix of Lufthansa Blue and Anthracite Grey – neither of which seems to have an equivalent Vallejo colour...
I eventually settled on doing a simple Revell 1/72 scale F4U-5 Corsair from the Korean War. Should provide a nice and easy way to get back into modelling after some truly hellish months...
Looking at the box the models seems to be a cannon and rocket armed Corsair from the early fifties in the typical dark blue paint scheme with yellow details and black anti-glare paint. On opening the box, however, I found that things weren’t quite as easy as that.
The box contains the instructions, a warning label, decals for two different aircrafts and a plastic bag with three sprues.
The instructions are typical cheap Revell instructions – a loose bundled of papers, folded along the top, with the basic instructions. On looking through them I must admit that I was less than impressed. Sometimes colours are shown to be applied without marking what colour should be used. Details come and go, sometimes shown, sometimes not. The icon for “glue†and “do not glue†is shown to be the same in the beginning of the instructions while it’s later shown, at least in some cases, to be different. All in all a quite unimpressive manual.
The decal-paper does seem to be a bit thick and other reviews that I’ve read suggests that they can be somewhat difficult to get affixed. But I’ll deal with that when I get to it.
The sprues are fairly simple with 62 pieces in all. They’re moulded in a dark blue hard plastic which is, in places, thin enough to let light shine through.
There’s not much flash but some of the pieces are marred by having ejector holes in some very obvious places. These will have to be filled and sanded as the aircraft is assembled.
So... What does this kit represent, then?
Truth to be told, I’m not really sure...
According to internet rumours this kit is, in fact, a repackaged Italeri F4U-5N which, in turn, shares a lot of parts with the Italeri F4U-4b. As a consequence this kit is a strange mishmash of various components. The cockpit seems to be somewhat okay for a F4U-5 but the hull itself is from a F4U-4, meaning that it’s somewhat short for a F4U-5. The wings are the metal covered wings from a F4U-5 but with elevators from a F4U-4. And there seems to be some details from the F4U-5N such as glare shielding on the exhausts and cannons.
In addition, while there are pylons for the rockets there are neither rockets, nor bombs for the centre-mounts included in the kit. And the pilot seems to be AWOL...
All in all, not a particularly good kit. But then again, it’s quite cheap...
I’ve seen examples of people fixing this kit with parts from other kits and aftermarket parts. However, I think I’ll just build it as it is. I simply don’t have the time or energy to collect aftermarket parts and scratch build the front hull. And, let’s be honest, unless you’re really in to this kind of things you probably won’t notice anything amiss.
Now I’ll only need to figure out exactly what colour it should be painted in. The instructions call for a mix of Lufthansa Blue and Anthracite Grey – neither of which seems to have an equivalent Vallejo colour...