Sometimes as an artist I find it hard to achieve the vision that I set out for myself at the start of a project and every now and then I fall short. This is not the case here-on this occasion I was presented with a lovely gift in the form of Hasegawa’s 1/48 F4U-5N Corsair.

Thanks Frank!

The brief was simplicity itself! Build the kit-Have fun!

As some of you may know I have been struggling with my health of late and time in the studio is as ever at a premium. I have lots of projects in progress. Some are long term commission works that require maximum effort and time and as such not much else gets done in the studio. In between these works I needed an outlet to just let go and not worry about the end result. A little project to play with, an amusing distraction if you will.

So my friend Frank gave me a tooled up, mud mover of a Corsair and upon opening the box and seeing the marking options my mind had one thought…..”Paint it black!!

Here’s what I was thinking of:

As I got into the work, I added a few tweaks here and there. I added detail to the cockpit, then I reworked a figure to make a pilot and strapped him in with a home-made harness. The engine was wired up, the exhausts hollowed out and resin gun barrels were fitted. I even added a napalm tank to the wing load! Before I knew where I was I had created a small piece of South Korean air base with PSP plating and airfield detritus strewn about the place! I even found a crew chief to give our pilot that age old parting shot:

“You better bring her home in one piece flyboy-Or your ass will be hanging from the flagpole in the morning!” 

You can see the WIP post here: F4U-5N CORSAIR

So I had an idea in my head of how I wanted my little fun project to look and I am happy to say that I got exactly what I wanted. Its nice when that happens,  huh?

Here she is! My  Vought Corsair F4U-5N from USMC Squadron VMF(N)-513 based at Kunsan, Korea in 1953.

I hope you have enjoyed this model. Thanks for stopping by.

Take care, and Happy Modelling!

Darren.