F-5U Morsair (December 2004 - May 2008)

[Captain Canada]

Great stuff !

Looks alot of work, tho............oi !

 

[John Howling Mouse]

Not the best pic (a flash-shot taken at night) but...the wings and carefully cut filler bits of styrene are assembled!

[John Howling Mouse]

Shot from under...since I had hacked at the bent wings with all the precision of drunken Alberta chopping down a birch tree, I had to cut two very different strips of styrene card to match the distinct voids left b/w the wing sections and b/w the wing chord and fuselage.  And the cut card was bent/curved to match the curves of the wing's leading edges. It's all a pretty decent match-up, too!

Oh what fun.  For comparable entertainment, I believe tomorrow night I will explore the wonders of home dentistry!

[Ollie]

Holy Smokes Barry!

I think I just thought of an easier way to do your wing thing.

Why didn't you butt-joined the un-gulled wings with styrene strips reinforcements from inside, making wing halves like a normal kit?

I'm sure it would have worked!

   :ar:  

[nev]

hey-hey!  She's coming together  B)


I would say she's on the final straight, but knowing you, you've got some further teeth-pulling styrene torture planned!    

[John Howling Mouse]

Nev was quite correct.  You can see from these better (daylight/no flash) photos that I still have my work cut out for me.  But I do like the way the Corsair's original wing profile from top or bottom is retained and so are the radiators.

Now it's mainly a matter of filling in the leftover gaps with various bits/strips of styrene, filler putties, and some accelerated CA glue to bind it altogether.

[John Howling Mouse]

Here's a real nice close-up so you can see the true Morsair ugliness.  
Looks terrible, doesn't it?  It will all turn out fine in the end (my new mantra).

Notice the plastic "crazing" where I simply bent some of the joining edges of the wing's trailing lines to more or less mate up.  Sounds barbaric but it was quick and dirty and it worked.

At this point, the rest is relatively easy---some additional styrene strips and other fillers to complete the overall finish.

Then there's that unavoidable requirement to finally vacform the custom canopy on that resin master pattern I had shaped...

It will all turn out fine in the end, It will all turn out fine in the end...

[John Howling Mouse]

A frontal shot so you can see how the adjoining strips of styrene were curved to match the leading edge of the wing.

For someone who builds skin-on-strut RC planes all the time, this would be nothing.  For me, it was a great relief to finally see those great big voids filled in!

[nev]

Looks terrible, doesn't it?

Aye Carumba!

You shouldve stuck to the long range shots where we couldn't see all the kit-bashing ugliness!!    

Its like one of those "celebrities as you've never seen them before" kind of things, where that fit bird you fancy on telly is shown without the benefits of make-up and airbrush touch-ups and she's a flabby, spotty, greasy haired mess!  

Still, it will all turn out fine in the end...  

[Ollie]

Excellent Barry!

I still think that thing need a V-12 to escape the Corsair's radial...

     

[John Howling Mouse]

I still think that thing need a V-12 to escape the Corsair's radial...

Well, there's always the NEXT one...!    

Never agaaaaaaaaaain !!!!!!!!!!!

[elmayerle]

I still think that thing need a V-12 to escape the Corsair's radial...

Well, there's always the NEXT one...!

Cut and splice the engine installation from a XP-47H?

[Supertom]

Man, you're right.  The Corsair DOES look goofy on straight wings.  Can't wait 'till it's done.

[John Howling Mouse]

And I started wondering today what a Mustang or
>>gasp<<
a Spitfire would look like with the inverted gullwings of a Corsair....


Hellllllp meeeeeeee!

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, I'm finally satisfied with the finish now that the cuttin'/choppin' stuff has been reassembled and morphed into the straight-wing (boring) Morsair version...