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

[JamesonC]

On the ride home from work last night talking to my flying buddy, we were talking about the release that was coming in a couple hours. We both grabbed the F22 in the first pre-order since it was an absolute must have for both of us. 100% true quote from last night from me to him: "Since I just dropped all that money on the F22, I can't see them releasing any prop plane that I would just have to have right now unless it was a 1600mm Corsair like they did with the Spit." Well... dang it Alpha! Looks like you are better than my wife at cracking open my wallet! LOL:corsair

[Alpha]

Alpha, can you tell me if the US National Markings (Star or Star-and-bars) are factory applied? I'm hoping "not" as that opens up some great alternate color schemes -- British, New Zealand, etc. I'm thrilled about the birdcage version -- so long overdue!

I'm a designer -- so I'm always interested in hearing your rationale for why you did things one way or another. It appears to me that the main wheels are smaller than scale -- am I right, and where did you run into trouble?

Finally, I received my new F-22 on Friday and assembled it Sunday. It's a truly gorgeous piece of industrial design -- congratulations on a superb job. Can't wait to fly it.

Hi MrSmoothie, both variants of our Corsair arrive factory painted, but without any decals applied. Users can select from the included decal sheets, or feel free to customize on their own. As always we recommend Callie-Graphics.com for custom decal sets.

Regarding the wheels, the tail wheel is just about 100% scale, and the Mains are sized down slightly by 15% so they can fit into the wings. On the real aircraft, the wheels can sit up against the upward facing skin of of the wing, but on a foam model, one must account for the minimum thickness of foam (which is more than eight times thicker than the real aircraft's skin at the same location!). The result is an overall smaller wheel, but not too noticeable to most pilots, and most importantly to us, it doesn't negatively affect the model's ground handling.They're basically as big as we could make 'em.

I'm glad you like your F-22, thank you for your support!

On the ride home from work last night talking to my flying buddy, we were talking about the release that was coming in a couple hours. We both grabbed the F22 in the first pre-order since it was an absolute must have for both of us. 100% true quote from last night from me to him: "Since I just dropped all that money on the F22, I can't see them releasing any prop plane that I would just have to have right now unless it was a 1600mm Corsair like they did with the Spit." Well... dang it Alpha! Looks like you are better than my wife at cracking open my wallet! LOL:corsair

I like that emoticon, JamesonC! My heartfelt apologies to your wife for cracking the wallet. Actually, scratch that. I'm not sorry. Tell her she'll love us for it, just give it time! LOL

[quitcherbitchen]

Very nice. How did the whole "five eyes" relate to a Corsair though?

[dkalwishky]

Alpha, can you tell me if the US National Markings (Star or Star-and-bars) are factory applied? I'm hoping "not" as that opens up some great alternate color schemes -- British, New Zealand, etc. I'm thrilled about the birdcage version -- so long overdue!

They are NOT applied. James covers that in the build video that was released last night.

[JamesonC]

Very nice. How did the whole "five eyes" relate to a Corsair though?

Per Alpha: World War II, II:I Kill Ratio. = II:II:I = IIIII = "Five I's" = "Spoken not spelled = "Five Eyes"

[quitcherbitchen]

Shouldn't those be "two eyes and 3 ones";)

[Alpha]

Per Alpha: World War II, II:I Kill Ratio. = II:II:I = IIIII = "Five I's" = "Spoken not spelled = "Five Eyes"

Yes, correct! My other clues were Pythagoras (Ratio) and Snake Eyes (Colon). II:I is a ratio, represented by a colon. We all knew that Five Eyes was a FlightLine bird, which currently defaults to WWII predominantly (for many reasons). So if anyone converted the "spoken not spelled", they would have written out "IIIII" instead of writing "eye". From there, two of the "II" are WWII, leaving three "III". Scanning common WWII aircraft, one of the Corsair's most commonly parroted stats is its II:I ratio of aerial victories. Line them up and you have "IIIII" --> Five I's --> Five Eyes

Again, even in hindsight, don't always expect a clean academic answer. These project names are generated internally for reference among my team and others in our supply chain. It's purely for our use, not intended to be reverse engineered, so when the "reasoning" is made public, it might not always fit conventional logic.

But anyone who knows me knows I'm anything but conventional.

Speaking of quasi-conventional, I'm quite proud of the little window beneath the pilot's feet. There's an interesting history behind why the real plane had it (initially) and why most eventually were painted over.

[James]

[James]

[Alpha]

I'm very interested to see how some of us end up customizing and weathering our Corsairs. I airbrushed the factory master, pictured below, then began to dirty it up a bit on the left side with paint wear down to the primer, and on the right side with panel fades. Eventually it will look like it's spent a couple months outside under a coconut tree on Guadalcanal.

[James]

Alpha, Patrick was saying he wants to weather the left wing above the gear where the maintenance guys would jump on the wing. Over time the paint would just be gone from it. Scale scale and more scale

[TwistedGrin]

Plan A.....Sell two planes and order the Birdcage
Plan B ....Order the birdcage and put two planes up for sale

I went with Plan B

I'd like to see "INSIDE" the plywood spar hollow wing truss that Flight Line has now adopted:

• Multi-material wing incorporates foam, plywood ribs, carbon spars, and aluminum joints for optimum strength

Gents, IMHO - The 1600mm Spitfire is one of the finest flying foamies on the market.....I expect the 1600mm series Corsair to do the same.

TwistedGrin

[Elbee]

Yeppers, Puttin' this on my Christmas List. I have been a good boy...pretty much. Happy Christmas to all and the New Year should be "Outstanding", Best, LB

[Alpha]

I got a couple PMs asking for a battery shot, so here it is. As shown in this picture, an Admiral 6s 5000mAh (newer longer type) pushed all the way forward is where I like to fly this bird on the stock ballast setup (4pcs factory-installed). The fuselage sort of dwarfs this big battery. You 6000 pack guys won't have to worry.






And also, per another person's PM request, here is a comparison of the gear up and gear down. Note the tailwheel is partially exposed (scale). The tailwheel's steel pin is set in a collar, which itself is set to the metal trunion within the retract. The collar, like the F7F's nose wheel, allows quick servicing to the strut without needing to remove the entire retract unit.

I'd like to see "INSIDE" the plywood spar hollow wing truss that Flight Line has now adopted:

• Multi-material wing incorporates foam, plywood ribs, carbon spars, and aluminum joints for optimum strength

Gents, IMHO - The 1600mm Spitfire is one of the finest flying foamies on the market.....I expect the 1600mm series Corsair to do the same.

TwistedGrin

Hey TwistedGrin, here's a shot showing part of the wing's internals installed in the upper side of the wing. From inboard to outboard, you have a carbon tube (high K), encased in a plastic sheath which itself is molded around an aluminum bar (almost half an inch thick and an inch tall), which then ties into an outer plastic sheath that terminates in a square carbon rod. The carbon rod intersects the four outer plywood ribs along the mainline and a secondary spar toward the LE. Not shown below are the control surfaces, which are also carbon spar reinforced for alignment. The bottom side of the wing has a large plastic casing for the retracts, which then ties into other reinforcements. Essentially, it's a bulletproof wing. Like the A-10 and Spitfire, these are rigid where we need them to be and flexible where we want them to be, without being overbuilt or unnecessarily heavy.

[OV10]

This WILL become part of the fleet fire rebuild program later in the spring.
The thing I'm really stoked about as a modder is the 18 inch prop and the rotating etract.
This etract really opens the door to FL for a Hellcat and Skyraider.
The pricing for both parts is really reasonable and as such bought a pair of etracts for use on the HSD Skyraider.
No more way overpriced FMS rotating gear.:Cool:
No stock on the 18" prop assy yet but I can wait:PLOL
Still hoping for that :ov10 Alpha ;)

[Beeg]

This WILL become part of the fleet fire rebuild program later in the spring.
The thing I'm really stoked about as a modder is the 18 inch prop and the rotating etract.
This etract really opens the door to FL for a Hellcat and Skyraider.
The pricing for both parts is really reasonable and as such bought a pair of etracts for use on the HSD Skyraider.
No more way overpriced FMS rotating gear.:Cool:
No stock on the 18" prop assy yet but I can wait:PLOL
Still hoping for that :ov10 Alpha ;)

I think you meant the retract opens the door for the P-36C! :Cool:

[OV10]

I think you meant the retract opens the door for the P-36C! :Cool:

And that too ;)

[TwistedGrin]

Outstanding Alpha !!

I always wanted to understand the hollow wing......The foam wings have zero evidence of the inside construction.....marvelous sir......simply marvelous

TwistedGrin

[MrSmoothie]

Thanks Alpha for the info about the main wheels design decision -- very interesting. The only alternative I've seen to deal with that problem (wing skin thickness) is going with sheet plastic skin in that area (like on the FW Venom).

I realize full well that every design decision impacts something else, whether physically or with respect to production complexity/cost. I'm sure you have had endless debates over seemingly minor aspects. The "up sweep" at the wing tips is a great touch and so overlooked on many models.

I love your weathering job on the prototype -- well done! Those early marine Corsairs really took a beating (and the New Zealand ones looked even worse).

Thanks for the info on the decals (not being applied). I wish this was the norm for all of the planes, like the v2 ME-262 for example. The build video (where this was evidently explained) was not posted last I looked last night.


I just pre-ordered my Birdcage Corsair!

[OV10]

Thanx for showing the details of the internal wing engineering Alpha.:Cool:
Better than destroying the airframe like I did with the A-10 to see the wing structure.:Scared::Whew:
So that Corsair wing looks like it is laying on your next EDF project..............my eyeball says it is a P-80:PLOL