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Hobby Boss F4U-5N another Corsair blunder.


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Well guys, Hobby Boss screwed up another Corsair. Even though the cowling is vaguely right (Vaguely is the operative word) the basic updated which the real bird received are completely missing. Such as the complete metal wing which is still shown as fabric covered on this kit is one blatant mistake and the "oh so distinctive lifted canopy with the turtle deck bulge behind the canopy is also missing. They attempted a microscopic lift but it is literally tiny in comparison to the actual bulge and shape difference in the real aircraft. I am not sure what variant of corsair this kit even comes close to. The Hasegawa has its faults but is still much better than this thing.

Edited by Otto
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What's wrong with the Hasegawa -5/7 kits (aside from the tiny mold misalignment on the fwd fuselage that makes them unbuildable)?

You forgot the AU-1; There is one major dimensional issue with the Hasi kit. This is the fact that what Hasi did to the turtle deck is not add the hump aft the canopy to the original dimension of the Corsair but actually cut down the aft deck to leave the aft part of the canopy at the same height after adding the hump. The hump was added to raze the canopy due to the higher seat position to see over the longer nose. This is actually fixable with a bit of surgery, plastic sheet and sandpaper. I love that kit otherwise and don't mind fixing mistakes that are singular. I do mind fixing mistake upon mistake upon mistake upon mistake etc. etc. so on and so forth. Oh, I forgot, synonymous with trumpeter/hobby boss/great wall. Unless it of course is some obscure Chinese subject or a copy of a Russian subject. They really butchered up the D.H. Hornet, Spiteful, Seafang, F4U-4 series etc. Etc.

Edited by Otto
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What's wrong with the Hasegawa -5/7 kits (aside from the tiny mold misalignment on the fwd fuselage that makes them unbuildable)?

Nothing! haha... but these (AU-1/-6/-7) are getting hard to find and when you do find them, sellers demand a premium for these "rare" kits. The last time I saw a -6 at a show, the seller wanted $40 for it and would not budge.

I was hoping that the HB kits would provide me with a viable alternative but with a fabric wing.... ugh. Even if I wanted to fix that, I wouldn't know how to do it and not make the kit look awful.

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Nothing! haha... but these (AU-1/-6/-7) are getting hard to find and when you do find them, sellers demand a premium for these "rare" kits. The last time I saw a -6 at a show, the seller wanted $40 for it and would not budge.

I was hoping that the HB kits would provide me with a viable alternative but with a fabric wing.... ugh. Even if I wanted to fix that, I wouldn't know how to do it and not make the kit look awful.

There is always plenty of them on eBay. I have seen them go from $15 all the way up to $65 for those. I have a mix of those in my stash, about 6 or 7 I would say. In actuality the Hasi F4U-4 is also dimensionally and shape wise a good kit. The drawback to that kit is the raised panel lines and spartan detail. The Hasi F4U-4 puts the Chin. kit to shame shape wise. If they would have copied that kit and modernized it, they would have had a world class F4U-4.

Edited by Otto
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There is always plenty of them on eBay. I have seen them go from $15 all the way up to $65 for those. I have a mix of those in my stash, about 6 or 7 I would say. In actuality the Hasi F4U-4 is also dimensionally and shape wise a good kit. The draw back to that kit is the raised panel lines and spartan detail. The Hasi F4U-4 puts the Chink kit to shame shape wise. If they would have copied that kit and modernized it, they would have had a world class F4U-4.

Maybe I get a different eBay but I've never seen a -6 or -7 go for $15!!

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Maybe I get a different eBay but I've never seen a -6 or -7 go for $15!!

That's how I bought all of mine. I never paid more than $25 for one. Now granted this is two to three years ago. I know at one time I paid about $15 for a bunch of AU-1s. It got so ridiculous I think I had about 6 or seven of those. I actually wound up putting them back on ebay and selling them again.

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AU%2B1%2BNATC%2B1948%2B(2).jpgThe funny part is that these new Chinese kits cost $40 also. Guess which I would rather pay the $40 for.

127183_big.jpg

Edited by Otto
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Here is the real irony. These morons are using the F4U-4 fuselage just by inserting a new sanopy aft spine. The late corsairs had a completely new and different forward fuselage in front of the wing leading edge. Hasegawa got it right on the money. The The Hokey Hoss is way off wack. Who I feel bad for are the wholesalers and retailers who are going to get stuck with these expensive kits. I wound up buying a Hokey Hoss F4U-4 just to scavenge detail parts from for my Hasegawa Corsair because I paid $12 for it. So I just considered it as a detail set. Throw away the wings, Fuselage and Cowling and you have a decent detailing set left over.biggrin.gif

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I appreciate you input on model kits, but you REALLY need to eliminate the racial slurs from your posts.

Corey in Colorado

You'r right, done.

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Awesome, thanks. Now here's to hoping for some better late model Corsair kits!

Corey

I would love to see one from someone like, Airfix, ICM, Zvezda, Revell or such. Italeri, Eduard and the others will charge a premium for a new kit. The F4U-4 is the one that really needs to be done. The later models are well covered by the Hasi kits, only if they would re-release them. The cut down turtledeck on the Hasi kit makes it look a little slender but that is OK. As I mentioned it is not hard to fix. There is a panel line in a convenient spot where it can be sliced and a small wedge can be inserted and it is good after that, if one inclines to want to fix the only mistake which actually makes a difference. To Make a good -4 however takes one of a couple of options. Either sand and re-scribe a Hasegawa -4 and use a Academy forward cowling or graft this combination of nose and speed ring onto a Tamiya -1 kit. Personally at this point I prefer the first option.

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Here are some photos of one of my -4 Corsairs. I did it using the CMK conversion and the Tamiya kit. I had problems with the fit of the resin. I believe the resin had shrunk after casting. There are some minor accuracy problems mostly caused by myself, but in the end the finished product is good enough for me. I would like a nice modern kit so I could make a couple more though....

DSCN16432.jpg

DSCN16442.jpg

DSCN16462.jpg

Corey

Edited by Corey
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Well I have the F4U-4 and it's a pretty good kit as far as I can see. Looks like they screwed up the later marks after the F4U-4?

Their -4 is extremely inaccurate and has some severe shape issues both around the center wing and forward fuselage amongst others.

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Their -4 is extremely inaccurate and has some severe shape issues both around the center wing and forward fuselage amongst others.

I admit I'm far from a Corsair expert but the 4 doesn't look too bad to me. One magazine (I think it was Model Airplane International) described it as the best kit of it available. Got any diagrams to show how inaccurate it is?

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Simple pictures from different perspectives are enough. Drawings are not even required. If you take a look at the WWW for the -4 and find pictures of it, it will be quite obvious. The front cowling is a disaster. The forward fuselage shape on the sides is completely wrong also. The Hasegawa -4 by far is the best for shape accuracy. Those can be bought on eBay for as little as $16 if you wait for the right moment. I have worked on corsairs and am intimately familiar with the shape. The Hokey Hoss is not it for sure. Even the replacement cowling from True Details is not much better. As far as fit and detail crispness and quantity it is a nicely manufactured kit otherwise.

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The only item that can be considered wrong with the Hasi kit is the chin scoop. It should be a bit more "pronounced". If it was a person, you could say that it has a bad "underbite" The Academy kit did a better job of the front cowling otherwise they made some major spine screwups. Here are the best front end pictures I could find to show the intricacies of the front end and cowling.

a4941591-9-F4U-4-Corsair-CVG-102-VF-783-CV-31-USS-Bon-H-Richards-01.jpg?d=1339819464

28574_original.jpg

9307117032_e1cd4f1585_b.jpg

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Who I feel bad for are the wholesalers and retailers who are going to get stuck with these expensive kits. [/img]

Nope, 90% of those who buy these won't know they're inaccurate or care less, likewise those who see the finished articles. The Corsair illuminati that frequent this forum & others like it are a statistically insignificant sample of Hobby Boss' market. That said, its probably little harder to make an accurate kit so why didn't they? :unsure: Afaik, their 1/72 -4 is not too bad, certainly better than the Italeri one, but then, that might be damning it with faint praise. I know it'll do for me to make a Death Rattlers one, hell, its even got the right decals for this. :)

Steve.

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Nope, 90% of those who buy these won't know they're inaccurate or care less, likewise those who see the finished articles. The Corsair illuminati that frequent this forum & others like it are a statistically insignificant sample of Hobby Boss' market. That said, its probably little harder to make an accurate kit so why didn't they? :unsure:/> Afaik, their 1/72 -4 is not too bad, certainly better than the Italeri one, but then, that might be damning it with faint praise. I know it'll do for me to make a Death Rattlers one, hell, its even got the right decals for this. :)/>

Steve.

The biggest problem HB has with their Corsairs is price. They're way too expensive compared to the Tamiya kits. This wasn't as much of an issue when they were only doing late Corsairs but now that they have -1's out for the same cost as their -4's and -5's it's a real issue. Who is going to buy the HB kit when the Tamiya is only 2/3rds the cost? And that's regardless of any accuracy concerns.

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Simple pictures from different perspectives are enough. Drawings are not even required. If you take a look at the WWW for the -4 and find pictures of it, it will be quite obvious. The front cowling is a disaster. The forward fuselage shape on the sides is completely wrong also. The Hasegawa -4 by far is the best for shape accuracy. Those can be bought on eBay for as little as $16 if you wait for the right moment. I have worked on corsairs and am intimately familiar with the shape. The Hokey Hoss is not it for sure. Even the replacement cowling from True Details is not much better. As far as fit and detail crispness and quantity it is a nicely manufactured kit otherwise.

I've got the front cowling in front of me now comparing it to your photos and whilst it should maybe be a bit more curved around the bottom intake it doesn't look a disaster to me. Most model kits have inaccuracies like that at the very least.

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