Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan

[Hugh Wiedman]

Following up from last week, here’s my finished repaint of the XF4U-1 prototype Corsair, which first flew 29 May 1940. My Flightline Birdcage Corsair first flew May 2019 and has over 200 flights to date. Motion RC

VERY IMPRESSIVE! Great work S25. That will get a lot of attention at the field and I'll bet it looks even better in the air, well done!

[EA-6B Geek]

Following up from last week, here’s my finished repaint of the XF4U-1 prototype Corsair, which first flew 29 May 1940. My Flightline Birdcage Corsair first flew May 2019 and has over 200 flights to date. Motion RC

Love it! Way to go.

[rifleman_btx]

Following up from last week, here’s my finished repaint of the XF4U-1 prototype Corsair, which first flew 29 May 1940. My Flightline Birdcage Corsair first flew May 2019 and has over 200 flights to date. Motion RC

I look forward to some flight video!

[Tigerman]

Just like to thank everyone that gave me advice on how to land the Corsair without it bouncing. I took all your advice on board and as adviced landed it with about 20% flaps and about 40% throttle. I have been practicing this non stop and finally I have my Corsair landing now with no bouncing. In fact now I have got use to landing it with flaps and throttle. I wonder why I had such a problem landing the Corsair. Thanks everyone that gave me some great advice 😊👍

[Aros]

Skosh25 great job, love the tip o' the cap to the prototype!

[davegee]

I must be a modeler with "the fever" or possibly an idiot, or a combination of both. Today, I drove two hours each way to get a root canal done, and when I got home, I started in painting my new Corsair that came in the mail yesterday. Building (or at least assembling) and painting and detailing these foamies is still fun for me.

I'll attach a couple of pics I just took. On the horiz. stab picture you can see tiny scale screw heads for the inspection panels on the left stab. The same is done for the right stab, which has the inspection panels on the bottom, as these were interchangeable units. A pretty sage idea for back then, in my opinion!

Cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

I must be a modeler with "the fever"...

DG, Lookin' good. there is no such thing as 'idiots' when it comes to making a model 'our own'. Bravo Zulu. Best, LB

[rifleman_btx]

I must be a modeler with "the fever" or possibly an idiot, or a combination of both. Today, I drove two hours each way to get a root canal done, and when I got home, I started in painting my new Corsair that came in the mail yesterday. Building (or at least assembling) and painting and detailing these foamies is still fun for me.

I'll attach a couple of pics I just took. On the horiz. stab picture you can see tiny scale screw heads for the inspection panels on the left stab. The same is done for the right stab, which has the inspection panels on the bottom, as these were interchangeable units. A pretty sage idea for back then, in my opinion!

Cheers

davegee

Idiot! Lol j/k man that's going to be an awesome looking bird! Looking forward to the finished product! gonna be great!

[davegee]

DG, Lookin' good. there is no such thing as 'idiots' when it comes to making a model 'our own'. Bravo Zulu. Best, LB

Thanks, LB. Always enjoy seeing your marvelous work and comments.

My "idiot" remark had to do with making a 4 hour roundtrip to get a root canal done, and then start in on the model right after I got home. Might have been better headwork to take a night off and come back fresher the next day. Still, things worked out ok, even in my "depleted" condition. Will post other tidbits of what I like to detail, even on foamie models.

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

Idiot! Lol j/k man that's going to be an awesome looking bird! Looking forward to the finished product! gonna be great!

Thanks, Rifleman. Always enjoy reading your posts, too. Will follow up with some progress pics soon.

Cheers

davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks, LB. Always enjoy seeing your marvelous work and comments.

My "idiot" remark had to do with making a 4 hour roundtrip to get a root canal done, and then start in on the model right after I got home. Might have been better headwork to take a night off and come back fresher the next day. Still, things worked out ok, even in my "depleted" condition. Will post other tidbits of what I like to detail, even on foamie models.

Cheers

davegee

Dave, with the incredible work you're producing, if that's a result of a root canal, 4 hours of driving and more likely the effects of any "make me feel great" pain killers, sign me up for a dozen root canals, a road trip around the US and a "boat load" of happy pills! Great job, and I'll bet your Corsair is unique in many ways, including the screw heads on the panels.

[davegee]

Dave, with the incredible work you're producing, if that's a result of a root canal, 4 hours of driving and more likely the effects of any "make me feel great" pain killers, sign me up for a dozen root canals, a road trip around the US and a "boat load" of happy pills! Great job, and I'll bet your Corsair is unique in many ways, including the screw heads on the panels.

I couldn't do That to you, my friend! I had never had a root canal before, and was expecting the worst. But it turned out to be a fairly no brainer experience mainly because of my fantastic endodontist, who everyone sings his praises. Up in these parts, specialists like him are few and far between, and many people travel hundreds of miles to see him and other specialists. But I guess the tradeoff is, we don't have any traffic jams up here ! (LOL)!

[davegee]

Here is an update to my Corsair project. I've decided to let out all the stops on this one, or at least some of them, even if it is just a foamie. It's still fun and a challenge.

I decided to model the trim tabs on the Corsair like the real one, making little actuator arms and cutting the tabs out a little bit to reposition them slightly from totally faired to a look how they might be as the pilot makes subtle changes in trim. I don't think my deflecting these little trim tabs out a bit will cause any problems for the actual airplane flying. I've done it on big gassers, but not the little foamies yet.

I never cease to be amazed at the incredible forward thinking design of this aircraft over 80 years ago. And, they kept improving the Corsair and I think it stayed in production until the early 1950s which is pretty good considering everyone was going to jets back then.

Anyway, here are a few shots I took just now. The aileron had a trim tab on the left wing, and a smaller one inboard of that that I think was like a balance tab: that is to say, it moved mechanically when the aileron moved to lower stick pressures to the pilot.

The rudder had just one trim tab. The elevator was the complicated one. Each elevator had one trim tab (the bigger one) and one balance tab which moved automatically to reduce stick pressures like for the ailerons. And, these stabilizer/elevator units were completely interchangeable, so you didn't have to worry about being on some forsaken island in the Pacific waiting for a "Left Elevator" assembly, and get sent 20 for the right one! Whatever your needs, you were covered.

[Aros]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I think the trim tab mod is such a great scale mod for this model! Well done sir! What did you use for the actuator arms? Bravo Zulu to you!

[davegee]

Thanks, Aros. I just used some aluminum metal rod from my scrap box, probably less than 1/16 inch in diameter. To simulate the moving joints on the actuator, I used a drop of white glue and played with it a bit with a toothpick to shape it before it hardened. Wasn’t hard to do, especially since I did this with my last Corsair that crashed a few years ago, and two 1/5 scale ESM models I did for museums several years ago.

cheers

davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks, Aros. I just used some aluminum metal rod from my scrap box, probably less than 1/16 inch in diameter. To simulate the moving joints on the actuator, I used a drop of white glue and played with it a bit with a toothpick to shape it before it hardened. Wasn’t hard to do, especially since I did this with my last Corsair that crashed a few years ago, and two 1/5 scale ESM models I did for museums several years ago.
cheers
davegee

Looks like Elbee finally has some worthy competition! This one may be headed for "Overtime"! Can't wait to see who finally installs the black smoke spitting out of the exhaust tubes on start-up!

[Aros]

Thanks, Aros. I just used some aluminum metal rod from my scrap box, probably less than 1/16 inch in diameter. To simulate the moving joints on the actuator, I used a drop of white glue and played with it a bit with a toothpick to shape it before it hardened. Wasn’t hard to do, especially since I did this with my last Corsair that crashed a few years ago, and two 1/5 scale ESM models I did for museums several years ago.

Wait a minute, this is you?!?

https://bestpilots.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/05/museum-quality-modeling-with-dave-gianakos.html

If so, you've been my inspiration for my 1/5 ESM Corsair, I've had that link bookmarked for years now! I finally got her home after several years delay during the build process but always marvelled at the skill and attention to detail and hoped one day I could get mine even in the ballpark and I would be happy. A masterful job and I know the family was proud.

[davegee]

Wait a minute, this is you?!?

https://bestpilots.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/05/museum-quality-modeling-with-dave-gianakos.html

If so, you've been my inspiration for my 1/5 ESM Corsair, I've had that link bookmarked for years now! I finally got her home after several years delay during the build process but always marvelled at the skill and attention to detail and hoped one day I could get mine even in the ballpark and I would be happy. A masterful job and I know the family was proud.

That''s great, and thank you. That was one of many projects I did around that time. Those were two special airplanes. The first one, painted up in Bob Hanson's colors went to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL, in time for the 100th anniversary of Marine Aviation in 2013. The second one that you discovered in that Lyle Vasser article for Best Pilots was also a 1/5 scale ESM airplane (both never designed to fly but be museum pieces) was of General Bob Owens plane, as he commanded VMF-215, "The Fighting Corsairs." Bob Hanson was one of his ace pilots, in fact, the highest scoring ace in the Corsair with 25 kills.

I tried to find a decent photo in my files of these planes, but for the moment all I can come up with is if you google my website: www.precisionaerospacereplicas.com you can scroll through any of the various projects I have done, including these two planes.

Cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

Looks like Elbee finally has some worthy competition! This one may be headed for "Overtime"! Can't wait to see who finally installs the black smoke spitting out of the exhaust tubes on start-up!

HW, Competition, Hah. Not my thing anymore. For me this is a hobby that let's me experience in a small way all the planes I have not flown and couple that I have and I get a chance to research some history, too. I have admiration for anyone who can see beyond the OEM.

davegee is a talented modeler, as are you. For me, it has always been about building in details I notice and those first flights seeing my vision in the air. Pretty corny, I suppose, but after that, it is about the next project. The Corsair is an icon and worthy of any extra effort no matter the level.

Like many of us, I am looking forward to seeing DG's completed airplane and I know of one other pilot who is modding his Corsair to a high level, but has yet to post any pictures.

This FL Corsair and the FL Spitfire are two models I could build again and again. Bravo Zulu, Flightline and Motion RC for bringing these to market whatever the cost. Best, LB

[davegee]

HW, Competition, Hah. Not my thing anymore. For me this is a hobby that let's me experience in a small way all the planes I have not flown and couple that I have and I get a chance to research some history, too. I have admiration for anyone who can see beyond the OEM.

davegee is a talented modeler, as are you.For me, it has always been about building in details I notice and those first flights seeing my vision in the air. Pretty corny, I suppose, but after that, it is about the next project. The Corsair is an icon and worthy of any extra effort no matter the level.

Like many of us, I am looking forward to seeing DG's completed airplane and I know of one other pilot who is modding his Corsair to a high level, but has yet to post any pictures.

This FL Corsair and the FL Spitfire are two models I could build again and again. Bravo Zulu, Flightline and Motion RC for bringing these to market whatever the cost. Best, LB

I totally agree with LB. I used to do competitions with big gasser warbirds at a national level for several years, but that is all behind me now. I just have fun playing with these foamies. In fact, the main purpose of detailing this present model Corsair is just to pay homage to the Chance Vought company that produced some of the finest fighters for their time. The innovations of the Corsair, for instance, were decades ahead of their time. I enjoy modeling to a reasonably high level these days, even with foamies, but I like to also enjoy and appreciate all the wonderful works that come out of our entire modeling group. I'm happy to be a part of this group.