Revell Germany’s new Corsair kit has some unique features: A separate upper forward section to its three-piece fuselage eliminates the usual pesky middle seam through the fuel-tank filler. Separate oil-cooler intakes and gun ports eliminate seams through their centers as well. The wingtips are separate parts, suggesting a future reissue as a clipped-wing Royal Navy Corsair. Optional parts include open or closed cowl flaps (with basic exhaust detail inside), a pair of drop tanks, and excellent clear parts with a separate, posable canopy. The separate exhaust stacks are well done, and the separate rudder may be posed offset.
The engine has nicely executed crankcase detail, and the cockpit’s a little jewel, with raised detail — or optional decals — for the instrument panel and consoles. Decal seat belts are also provided. Parts have fine recessed panel lines, but there were some problems on my sample — sink marks on the fuel tanks and pylons, a couple of ejector-pin marks, and small amounts of flash around the wheel wells. A word to the wise: The kit’s molded in white plastic — so paint the inside of your wing halves black, lest you look into the gun ports or shell-ejector chutes and see white. Ask me how I know.
Fabric detail on the rudder, elevators, and outer wing panels is nicely represented. But Revell Germany has also incorrectly added it to the outboard flaps, which were metal-skinned. The kit shares this fault with other mainstream kit manufacturers whose Corsairs have the same inaccuracy.
Part fits varied from outstanding to average. The joints between the fuselage and upper wings were the finest I’ve seen on any Corsair kit. But filler was needed for the lower wing-to-fuselage joint, the three-part cowling, and around the upper forward fuselage section. The wingtip-to-outer-wing seams fell right in the middle of the fabric detail, interrupting the pattern.
The landing-gear drag braces are missing one small link (easily added using styrene strip), but the gear fits into the wing better than all the other F4U kits I’ve built. In my opinion, that makes up for the fault. The two-part wheels have open spokes and look terrific.
Markings are given for two Southwest Pacific Corsair aces: VMF-214’s “Pappy” Boyington, and VF-17’s Jim Streig as based at Bougainville. I opted for Streig’s aircraft, mainly for the white-tape fume seal around the fuselage fuel-tank panel. The decals are excellent and are so sharp that the Hamilton Standard on the prop logos is readable. I found no photos of operational Bougainville VF-17 Corsairs carrying two external fuel tanks, but I hung them anyway since they came with the kit.
The kit’s innovations cure problems common to other F4U kits. But they can cause a couple of their own issues in the fit department.
The model scales out just a couple of scale inches big — virtually imperceptible in 1/72 scale. It’s not perfect, but neither are the others on the market. And its good features are pretty cool, making it a viable subject for bent-wing bird-watchers. It’s a simple build that took me 14 hours.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the January 2015 FineScale Modeler.