(Editors note: Pei Chi is back with his awesome Bird Cage Corsair night fighter. Pei has an affinity for the bent-wing bird and did this one justice. Beautiful work Pei!)

by Pei Chi

The Build:

This is the Tamiya 1/48 Vought F4U-1 bird cage Corsair (kit# 61046) built straight from the box with one aftermarket component: the seat harness. In addition, some items were scratch built or modified such as the brake lines, ignition wires, and repositioned empennage control surface.

This is a very straightforward build with typical Tamiya engineering. The cockpit is beautifully represented with beautiful details negating the necessity for after market add-ons. The kit comes with the option of building an F4U-1 or F4U-2 night fighter.

The addition of a radar pod on the starboard wing necessitated the deletion of one machine gun. A cover plug for the deleted gun is provided in the kit.

The wings can be built in the folded or extended position. I have always loved the folding wing features of US naval aircraft so I chose this position for the build.

This is one of many great features of this kit. All of the required parts for a folded wing are provided without the use of troublesome aftermarket parts.

Moreover the folded wing is proper in terms of its alignment. When folded the outer wing panels have a forward tilt and a bit of toe-in. In comparison the Hobby Boss Corsair has a beautifully molded wing fold mechanism but the wing fold alignment is noticeably wrong.

Color and Markings:

The kit was painted with Tamiya acrylic paints over-sprayed with a coat of Future floor wax prior to decal application. Here is the only down side of this kit: the decals. They are thick and stiff even after micro sol was applied. Moreover some of them silvered in some spots but luckily they are not too conspicuous. The finish was sealed with a final coat of Tamiya Flat.

I really enjoyed building this kit. It builds into a very respectful model straight from the box. If, however, one wishes to take it to a higher level, there are numerous aftermarket parts available to augment an already beautiful kit. Happy modeling!

Pei Chi

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