Kit: No. 1525
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Hobbycraft Canada, 140 Applewood Crescent, Concord, ON L4K 4E2, Canada
Price: $16.98
Comments: Injection molded, 83 parts, decals.

HOBBYCRAFT CANADA’S new “dash one” Corsairs lead off with the initial production version of the famous fighter. The F4U-1 featured a framed canopy that has over the years been referred to as the “birdcage” to differentiate it from the “bubbletop” canopy introduced with the F4U-1A.

The new Corsair features fine recessed panel detail. There’s a little flash to clean up here and there, but many of the seams fall on panel lines to help them disappear.

The most interesting features are the separate landing flaps that are designed to be installed in the lowered position. To attach them in the raised position you’ll have to perform surgery on the trailing edges of the wings. The instructions include a detailed mini-step for this.

Other options are opened or closed cowl flaps and a positionable canopy. The well-printed decals provide markings for two Marine Corsairs in the early blue-gray over light-gray camouflage scheme.

Dash-one Corsairs had no cockpit floor and were built to have a small window in the belly so the pilot could look down. Hobbycraft provides a good cockpit with the proper footrails and a trapezoid-shaped hole in the bottom of the fuselage. A gray styrene piece is included to fit in this hole (to represent the belly window that was later paneled over), but the instructions indicate a clear piece which was not included in the kit.

The fit overall is good, but installing the dropped flaps presents problems. The instructions show how they should look when you’re done, but aren’t much help getting there. Small hinge fairings on the bottom of the leading edge of each flap section look as though they match corresponding fairings on the bottom of the trailing edge of the wing. Mounting them this way creates huge gaps between the flaps and the upper surface of the wings (see small photos).

Here’s how to fix the problem. File off the fairings from the flaps — they will be invisible when the flaps are mounted properly. Sand away the tabs on the inside of the upper surface of the wings — these have no function and only complicate the fit of the flaps.

Now install the inboard and outboard sections of the flaps so there is only a tiny gap between them and the upper surface. Shave the corners of the leading edge of the center flap to get it to fit between the others. While you have your tools out, drill and carve the missing boarding step in the right inboard flap. You may want to cut wedges of thin sheet styrene to represent the sheet metal between the flap segments.

The machine-gun-muzzle panels don’t fit well in the leading edge. Strips of thin sheet styrene can be used as shims to improve the fit. The forward antenna mast is shown in step 7, but not in the painting drawings. Check your references to determine if it is present on the aircraft you are modeling.

I painted my model with Polly Scale’s light gray (underneath) and blue gray. The instructions would have you paint the vertical stabilizer, rudder, and the underside of the folding portions of the wings light gray, but most vintage color photos of birdcage Corsairs show these as blue gray. Again, check your references.

The printing of the decals is fine, but the white stripes for the cowl seals came apart on my sample, so I used the alternate set. The remaining decals went on without problems and settled down with Micro Sol.

The Corsair’s measurements, compared with the dimensions in Squadron/Signal’s F4U Corsair in Action, are right on in span, and only six scale inches short in length. Fixing the ill-fitting flaps is well within an experienced modeler’s bag of tricks. You also may want to add the missing elevator trim tabs and open the step in the flap.

I spent 15 hours on my Corsair, and it’s a welcome addition to the growing selection of 1/48 scale World War II fighters.

Phil Kirchmeier