Hobby Boss F4U-5N another Corsair blunder.

[Otto]

I also have this kit and believe me that it is much worse than you think. If you saw the old Hasegawa kit which has an accureate front end or even the Academy kit which also has an accurate front end, you would see the difference.

[Otto]

I guess the best way to explain it is that the front cowling is a scale 6" too small in the vertical dimension, in the area where the cowling meets the cooling flaps. Which is about 10% and that is a LOT. It just makes the model look too skinny from the profile in the front. It basically looks just like a F4U-1 from the profile while it should look much more "robust" than it do. Since it is so difficult to post personal pictures here I can't show you. But when you place the Hasegawa front end and this front end nose to nose it jumps out at you. It is a mistake which is next to impossible to fix with any kind of reasonable surgery.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Otto

[CorsairMan]

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.

+1 on that.

[Otto]

I didn't even know about their -1 Corsairs. The big question is WHY?

[Brad-M]

For me, I wanted to get the HB 1/48 scale -4 Late kit, until I saw a preview and the kit comes with FAA Clipped wing tips. Not sure if HB has fixed that minor issue or not. Sometimes I just shake my head.

Brad :(

[Otto]

For me, I wanted to get the HB 1/48 scale -4 Late kit, until I saw a preview and the kit comes with FAA Clipped wing tips. Not sure if HB has fixed that minor issue or not. Sometimes I just shake my head.

Brad

You will do better with the old Hasegawa kit and a cockpit upgrade from someone. I think the Eduard is fine and it is inexpensive. Since panel lines are a matter of taste it will depend on you if you want to re-scribe them or not. There is no -4 more accurate in shape than the old Hasegawa. I have the late dash four from Hokey Hoss and it will be a hangar queen or used for parts to upgrade a Hasegawa kit.. The whole front end is an abomination from the profile and overall shape. From that angle you can't tell if it's a -1 or a -4. You should be able to spot the difference immediately between the two. BTW they did fix the clipped wing. There is one more way to get an accurate -4. If you remove some material from the mating surfaces in the spine area and cockpit area on the Academy kit. It is a tad more work but still easy to do and use the canopy from Squadron for the Hasegawa kit. Remove just enough of a wedge to fit the squadron canopy. to date they have had very few (accurate) good gits, one of witch is the F4F-3. That is a nice kit. Only a little heavy on the control surface fabric effect.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Otto

[mawz]

For me, I wanted to get the HB 1/48 scale -4 Late kit, until I saw a preview and the kit comes with FAA Clipped wing tips. Not sure if HB has fixed that minor issue or not. Sometimes I just shake my head.

Brad :(/>

The clipped wings today are only in their Corsair II kit (which they are correct for), only the first run of the -4 Late had them.

[Brad-M]

Any idea how to tell which kit would have the correct wings?

Brad

[greycap]

hi there

you 48 scalers don't do too bad, try to get an ,anywhere near,accurate 1/72 dash 5/6/7 only the high planes kit has the right shapes that I am aware off.

regards

greycap