Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1D Corsair

[jgaudon34]

Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1D Corsair, built as an FG-1D from VBF-88, Air Group 88, USS Yorktown CV-10 Jun – Oct 1945.

Air Group 9 departed the Yorktown in early June 1945 at Leyte when CV-10 retired from the battle around the Japanese Islands for a quick refit and crew rest. Air Group 88 then embarked. They used Air group 9's F6F-5/SB2C/TBM-3 aircraft but also brought with them Corsair aircraft to be used on Yorktown for the very first time. They offloaded 37 of the 73 F6F-5 Hellcat fighters, and replaced them with 37 FG-1D aircraft for VBF-88 under Lt Cmdr Joe Hart.

Air Group 88 committed to battle for the first time on Jul 1, 1945 while painted standard Dark Sea Blue, using geometric symbols for aircraft recognition markings. USS Yorktown aircraft displayed a white wedge on both sides of the tail and upper right wing tip. These symbols had been used since January 1945.

With numerous aircraft carriers now becoming available and the 3rd fleet size growing daily to prepare for the invasion of Japan, the fleet changed to lettered recognition symbols on July 25. Yorktown adopted the RR recognition code on both sides of the tail and upper right wing tip.

The kit was built out of the box, and used Aeromaster Carrier Based Corsairs Pt II decal sheet. I opted to use the Model Master FS15042 (1717) Glossy Dark Sea Blue for this build. I don’t usually use enamels, but that was the best match I could find. Alclad Matte sealed the finish. EZ line string was used for the aerials.

It took a while but I found many references in order to be sure of colors of gear, struts and gear doors. There is also a great color home movie made by one of the pilots during that cruise that helped a great deal. Its Tamiya, it just fell together.

This is part of a group build by our IPMS group for our show next week. I also have a Eduard Hellcat, and Accurate Miniatures TBM-3 to do in these markings as well at some other time. An enjoyable build with a great connection for me from all the references I read.

FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr
FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr
FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr
FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr
FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr
FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr
FG-1D CorsIr VBF-88 Aug 1945 by Joe Gaudon, on Flickr

[bfrd]

Lovely! I have this one in my stash. Who knows when I will get to it.

[Filmman586]

Great work!

[Vindicare]

cool plane!