1:48 Vought F4U-1D Corsair

The gull wing over the Pacific

The version with the 1D suffix was created in 1944 as the mature combat form of the type. Compared with the early examples it received a bulged canopy with no framing, a raised seat and a better view forward, which finally made a safe landing on a deck possible. Racks for drop tanks and unguided rockets were added under the wing, so that a thoroughbred fighter became at the same time an attack machine supporting a landing.

The characteristic inverted gull wing was not merely a design idea. It made it possible to use a propeller of over four meters in diameter and at the same time to shorten the landing gear legs, so that the machine could take a hard touchdown on a pitching deck. Marine Corps pilots made it famous in the fighting for the Philippines and Okinawa, where a dark blue coat covered the whole airframe.

The motifs on the sheet match this period: fuselage numbers, unit emblems and the accompanying lettering of the kind that appeared on the machines in the last year of the war. Against a uniformly dark surface they are the most conspicuous item of the whole model.

Light lettering on a dark coat will test the covering power of the printing. Polish the surface, then, and lay the decal onto an area that is still damp, so that it can be fine-tuned into position. Once it has dried, unify the surface with a satin varnish, which will hide the transition between the carrier film and the paint.

Reckon straight away with the taut areas around the folding joint of the wing, where the motif runs over an edge and calls for more softener and more patience.

Builders will be pleased that the type stayed in service after 1945 with several foreign users as well, so a model left half-built can later be taken to a form quite different from the one it had on the deck of an American carrier.