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F4U-4 Kit Recommendations?


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Howdy everyone. I'm looking for input, please, for a good 1/48 F4U-4 kit. I have the old Academy kit, and the fit and detail are just lacking enough that it became a "slug" for testing techniques.

 

Are the Hobby Boss F4U-4 kits a good selection?

 

Dang it, it's be great if Tamiya offered a kit of the -4. Oh well.

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This is a discussion/debate that has been going on for years because there isn't any really top notch F4U-4 kit in 1/48. Leaving aside the Academy F4U-4B, which is really misshapen, the two choices are the relatively recent Hobby Boss and the much older Hasegawa (ex-Mania). Rather than reinventing this particular wheel, here are some hopefully useful links to check out and make your own choice based on your own priorities:

 

https://imodeler.com/2021/03/hobbyboss-f4u-4-corsair-1-48-a-small-build-review-of-sorts/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234916352-148-f4u-4-how-would-you-do-it/

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/1-48-f4u-4-corsair-which-kit-t516487.html

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NvNqAERUMHHpqKrxHoLlt6fFuIgHXx-i/view

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If you are inclined to kitbashing, you can take the Hasegawa/Mania kit and combine it with the Tamiya F4U-1D.  Here is a link to my effort at doing this.  

 

What did you just finish building? - Page 73 - The Display Case - ARC Discussion Forums (arcforums.com)

 

Edited by Geoff M
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I have opinions about the Minicraft kit - stay far away from it!  It is not a good representation of an F4U-5.  I built one many years ago, and don’t recall all the issues, but I do remember using an old resin conversion set that was intended for the Hasegawa F4U-4 (or maybe it was intended for a Heller AU-1 or F4U-7 kit, it has been more than 20 years) in order to correct what was wrong with it, and I’m pretty sure I needed the windscreen, canopy, and the area just behind the cockpit of the fuselage from the Heller kit as well (the Heller late Corsair canopy really is a very nice example).  Far more work to get a decent F4U-5 than building the superior Hasegawa kit, but Minicraft released theirs a couple years before Hasegawa did.

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2 hours ago, Joe Hegedus said:

I have opinions about the Minicraft kit - stay far away from it!  It is not a good representation of an F4U-5.  I built one many years ago, and don’t recall all the issues, but I do remember using an old resin conversion set that was intended for the Hasegawa F4U-4 (or maybe it was intended for a Heller AU-1 or F4U-7 kit, it has been more than 20 years) in order to correct what was wrong with it, and I’m pretty sure I needed the windscreen, canopy, and the area just behind the cockpit of the fuselage from the Heller kit as well (the Heller late Corsair canopy really is a very nice example).  Far more work to get a decent F4U-5 than building the superior Hasegawa kit, but Minicraft released theirs a couple years before Hasegawa did.

 

Thanks Joe.

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