1/48 Hobbyboss F4U-4-on hold for repairs

[johnv]

OK I will give this a try. I still have Imgur so here goes. My build will be Tom Hudners' VF-32 plane from Korea. Here is the kit. John

[johnv]

I have the cockpit done and added Eduard belts. John

[aur0ra145]

Off to a good start, I'm really digging the seat belts.

[johnv]

Thanks, just finished up the engine. This is a model in itself! Too bad it won't be seen. John

[digger303]

Nice work.

[johnv]

Thanks. I took a break from glueing and painting to fix the strange looking main landing gear doors. Hobbyboss made a weird multi sided opening on the front of the MLG small door. It can be seen in the last image, the one on the left side of the picture is the Hobbyboss one and the one on the right has been corrected. I scribed a line on both sides then using a new Xacto blade cut the offending area out and then filed the cut smooth. John

[Stokesy44]

Nice work. The Corsair's a great subject to work on, so many interesting angles and parts

[Garion77]

Nice work indeed ! the kits looks nice also. Never built an Hobbyboss kit before. Have 2 in my stash that I heard great things about.
I'll follow your build for sure.

[johnv]

It is a nice kit but has a few shape issues and in places is a bit over engineered. Also be very careful when removing small fragile parts. I had 2 tailwheel parts break, Items E42 and E47. They are the small triangular part below the wheel and the retraction strut at the very bottom and at the far side in the image below. John

[johnv]

I have all the sub assemblies installed in the fuselage halves and closed up. It went together nicely with no fit issues, take you time and think things out, I sometimes go too fast! John

[johnv]

I have seen on 3 different sites where the flaps on the Hobbyboss were dropped so I will give it a try. I saw where the front of the hinge was cut allowing the flap to move forward, dropping it. So far it seems to work. John

[Twokidsnosleep]

Great project, love the box art
Keep at it looking good so far

[digger303]

[johnv]

I filled the strange looking shape on the doors and puttied then sanded them. John

[johnv]

Hobby scribed the foot step in the right wing flap. I took a new X Acto blade and cut it out. the held it up to the light and scribed the far side for the cut out. I had to do some filling with putty. John

[johnv]

I have the wing stubs built and attached to the fuselage bottom. All that detail on the wing fold will never be seen as I am building it with the wings down. It's time to do some sanding on the seams John

[digger303]

Looks like it is fitting really well.

[ForeverPlasticKits]

Good work on this mythic plane!

[Tomcat64]

Great to see you got imgur working.

The cockpit looks great and the rest of the build is coming along nicely as well

[johnv]

I had Imgur all along .....it was emptied out a few years ago, still looking for a better site, safer, FREE, but this works for now. John

[Tomcat64]

I had Imgur all along .....it was emptied out a few years ago, still looking for a better site, safer, FREE, but this works for now. John

Yep understand, let's hope bfrd hears something positive back from cluster for you.

[johnv]

Thanks, that site sound super safe and unlimited number of pictures. John

[johnv]

One wing is on and the other being built. I will do the flaps after both wings are on and I want to putty and sand them before I finish the outer flaps. John

[johnv]

I have the wings on and puttied up. Once it is all sanded I can finish the flap installation. John

[digger303]

[Stokesy44]

Very nice work

[johnv]

The puttied areas on the wings are sanded then I painted the inside of the engine cowl and cowl flaps dark sea blue. Next is the outer wing flap assemblies. John

[Tomcat64]

That's properly taking shape now - nice work

[johnv]

The horizontal stabs have been added and the last 2 dropped flaps. I still need to add the 2 outer wing flaps in the neutral position. John

[digger303]

Looks to be a lovely kit.

[johnv]

Thanks, the wing tip lights and landing light lenses are on along with the rocket stubs. I just have to add the windscreen then mask and paint the gloss sea blue. John

[digger303]

[johnv]

It's blue. John

[Stokesy44]

Tis blue indeed Sir!

Nice coverage

[Tomcat64]

Nice progress John - and yep that's definitely blue

[johnv]

All glossed up and ready to decal. John

[aur0ra145]

Wow, the blue came out really well!

[digger303]

The colour looks spot on.

[johnv]

This plane is on hold, it took a fall last June and I don't know if it is fixable. I may be able to repair it or just start over.