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Tamiya 1/32 F4U-1A Corsair RNZAF NZ5255 1944


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Hi All

Here's my completed build of the awesome Tamiya 1/32 F4U-1A Corsair.  The build is a request of a dear friend of mine who is nuts about Corsairs and asked me to build one for here as she had no modelling experience at all and she'd seen some of my models.  When she presented this kit to me, I was a little apprehensive given that it would only be my second ever 1/32 build as I normally build the staple 1/72 and 1/48 jets.  More pressure and confusion was added when I was told that it was be in the markings of one particular aircraft and that there is only one photograph of it anywhere.  Boy don't I know when to say yes to a project!!

 

First things first as with any model subject was to do some research about corsairs and to see what I could dig up about the aircraft requested, the units it served with and where.  Basically the sum of my research as well as a little help from my "Corsair friend" was this:

 

CorsairNZ5255%201_zps4t5pkllx.jpg

 

A grainy black and white photo of RNZAF NZ5255 with brief description of it's last known service location in Guadalcanal in 1944.  I guess the good part was that it indicates the colours of certain markings on the aircraft.

 

The next task was to track down some decals for the aircraft.  I tried all the usual hot spots as well as New Zealand based forums and people I knew who specialise in such subjects.  Nothing came up apart from a thread which suggested that Ventura Publications did issue a 1/32 sheet with the markings of NZ5255 but was long out of print.  The solution I came up with was using Ventura's 1/32 Black serial numbers and letters as well as a combination of the kit decals and some scratch made masks in several sessions of cutting a placing strips of masking tape.  As for the plastic itself, the kit is made out of the box using the kit PE and all the data stencils included.  The goes together a dream but is a bit daunting when looking at all the parts in the box.  Once you get stuck in, the build is a pleasure with everything fitting perfectly.  At most all I used was some Mr Surfacer in one or two tiny spots, mainly due to me taking to much off when removing the part from the sprue gate.  After a year in the making, here she is:

 

IMG_9786_zpsnld83bbj.jpg

 

IMG_9792_zpsncjdnq20.jpg

 

IMG_9797_zpstiwrenep.jpg

 

Painting was done using mostly Tamiya acrylic paints with weathering using oils and Tamiya Weathering pigments.

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  • 2 years later...

Beautiful work and weathering, not overly done (minus the giant Photobucket watermark lol). Any idea what the significance of the US insignia is? I've not seen it like that before (that I recall at least). 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/26/2019 at 3:24 AM, Brett M said:

Beautiful work and weathering, not overly done (minus the giant Photobucket watermark lol). Any idea what the significance of the US insignia is? I've not seen it like that before (that I recall at least). 

 

My understanding is that Corsairs were delivered to the RNZAF from the factory in the 3 tone US scheme complete with stars and bars. We then painted over the stars and bars with our own markings.

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4 hours ago, Alternative 4 said:

 

My understanding is that Corsairs were delivered to the RNZAF from the factory in the 3 tone US scheme complete with stars and bars. We then painted over the stars and bars with our own markings.

Whoops, didn't even put the acronym together in my head. Great work.

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