1/48 Minicraft F4U-5N Corsair

by Darius Aibara

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I have been interested in Korean War aircraft for some time and when Minicraft announced, a few years ago, that they were releasing a 1:48 nightfighting Corsair I was eager to build the kit.  Opening the box was somewhat of a disappointment as the main airframe detail was soft, the cockpit detail non-existant, and the canopy terrible!  A true details resin cockpit and Squadron vac-formed canopy cured the latter defects and some sanding and filling the former.   The flaps looked crude in the moulded on raised position so I cut them off, re-formed and re-attached them in the dropped position.  The rudder was moulded with a huge trench demarcation and so it had to be removed and re-attached.  On the plus side the decals were very nice and included a nice representation of the toned-down night fighter markings.  I replaced the kit-supplied wheels with some spares from a Hasegawa F4U-4.

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The completed fuselage was primed with Halfords acrylic auto primer and Humbrol dark sea blue brush applied. The kit decals were used, sealed in with Johnsons Klear varnish and matt cote for the "anti-glare?" finish on the nose.   The kit does not supply parts for the wing gun flash suppressors so I fabricated some from the heads of Academy 1:48 Hunter F6 rockets.  The result of all this work - Hasegawa goes and releases a decent F4U-5N in 1:48...ain't it always so!!!!

Darius

Photos and text © by Darius Aibara