F4U Float plane

[ChernayaAkula]

Looks great so far! Any decisions yet regarding paint scheme and markings?

[Ed S]

Looks great so far! Any decisions yet regarding paint scheme and markings?

This should answer your question.  Here it is with some paint.  I plan to put Philipino markings on it.  I should get the decals applied in the next few days.



Ed

[lancer]

Are the yellow bands there for any particular purpose or are they just there 'cause they look good?

[Daryl J.]

Sea Blue, one of my faves!   Looking very very good there Ed.


Daryl J.

[Ed S]

Are the yellow bands there for any particular purpose or are they just there 'cause they look good?

ID Bands and besides, I thought it needed some color.

Ed

[sequoiaranger]

>This should answer your question.  Here it is with some paint.  I plan to put Philipino markings on it.  I should get the decals applied in the next few days.<

I like the look of your F4U floatplane. Filipino, eh? Well, your Corsair and my Gander will just have to "compete" for their contracts!

I had thought that your F4U floatplane might look cool with the standard vertical stabilizer clipped off, and with a vertical stabilizer/rudder coming up from the tail of the float to join the fuselage empennage. Just my mind going off on a tangent!

[Ed S]

Sequoiaranger.  Interesting idea.  But this model is way too far along in the build process to consider such a change.

Ed

[Ed S]

And here it is with the decals.



Ed

[nev]

Gotta say, it looks "right" in those markings

[ChernayaAkula]

Nev's spot-on, it does look right!

[John Howling Mouse]

Very handsome.   

[Captain Canada]

I dunno, Nev...it looks a little to the 'left' to me !

Nice work, Ed. Very well done,,,it just looks like it belongs in the air and the water !

[Ed S]

Back Story

Major Bernardo Alvarez stood watching the setting sun silhouette his OS4U-2N.  So what if it was over 20 years old; tonight it would be going into battle again.  This time against pirates in the South China Sea.  Recently acquired from the USN where they had been in storage in the southwest desert of the USA, two squadrons of the Buccaneers had been refurbished and updated.  Not being tied to runways, they could be stationed at various locations in the South China Sea.   The pirates have been getting brazen lately.  Hiding in a number of small islands in the area, they were virtually invulnerable to intercept by the normal ground based fighters and bombers of the Philippine AF.  The land bases were too far away and by the time they arrived, the pirates were gone into hiding.  Recently getting their hands on some PT boats and heavy machine guns, the pirates were becoming a formidable force of destruction.  It was also suspected that they had at least one  37mm cannon  mounted on one of their boats.  But tonight, Major Alvarez would be leading a hunter/killer team to patrol the area and hopefully intercept the pirates away from their hidden base.  As the hunter part of the team, Major Alvarez's plane was the -2N version with radar to find the pirate ships.  Loaded with a flare dispenser and marking rocket pod, his mission was to find and identify the pirates and mark the target for the killer part of the team to attack.  The killer part of the team were also flying the OS4U, but loaded with bombs and high explosive rockets.

Historical note

During WWII, the US Navy decided they needed a fighter type a/c the could be launched and recovered by battleships and cruisers.  Two aircraft were in completion, the Vought Buccaneer and the Curtis Seahawk.  However, Curtis was heavily involved in designing and building a new fighter for the Army Air Corp and dropped out of the competition.  The Vought Buccaneer was a modified F4U-4 Corsair, fitted with floats and redesignated the OS4U Buccaneer.  It proved a useful a/c during the war.  It had the performance necessary to intercept and engage enemy torpedo planes and dive bombers as well as land based patrol and bomber a/c.  It could provide the necessary air cover for battleship and cruiser task forces that were operating without a/c carriers.  They could also perform scouting and recce mission.  They could carry bombs and rockets for use in attacking enemy shipping and land targets.  Used extensively during convoy escort in the North Atlantic, they were able to keep the long ranged Condors well away from the shipping lanes.  The radar equipped OS4U-2N version was developed to provide for night and all weather defense and also proved capable of finding U-boats tracking the convoys.

Buccaneers  were used throughout WWII in both the Pacific and Atlantic.  Still in use during the Korean War, they  were often seen providing airborne gun direction for the battleships and cruisers along the coast.  They were also used for CAS missions supplementing the new jets, Skyraiders and Corsairs from the a/c carriers.  By 1953, the USN was on its way to becoming a Carrier based navy and the Buccaneers were withdrawn from service and sent to storage in the desert.   










Ed

[Logan Hartke]

That looks smashing, Ed.  Really top-notch.  Great job on the paint job.

Cheers,

Logan

[Green Dragon]

Great job there Ed, like the paint finish a lot.

Paul Harrison