1/48 Hasegawa Corsair AU-1 |
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Gallery Article by Ed Fuquay
on Sept 15 2003 |
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“ONE MEAN MARINE MACHINE”
The AU-1 was
the last Corsair produced for the United States Marines Corps. This aircraft in
particular holds the record for the longest propeller driver fighter produced.
Its primary role was close ground support. This sturdy machine served well the
U.S. Marines during the Korean conflict. The machine depicted served with
VMFA-212 “The Lancers”
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The kit is
very good, only minor errors. One of these being the position of the upper
exhaust pipes which interfered with the alignment of the cowling. Reference
photos show exhaust pipes in that location. The instructions do not give you
indication of the other exhaust stubs that protrude on the side of the cowling,
where there is an indentation that suggests an obvious location for them! I
followed my hunch and located the stubs in the indentation and attached thinner
pipes where the instructions indicated the pipes location.
The
joint of the cannon tubes and the wing is a bit sloppy, but workable. The rest
of the kit is wonderful. I had very little filling and sanding to do. The
cockpit detail is adequate and with care it looks pretty good. The Clear parts
are crisp and thin. A parting mould line is present on the top of the canopy and
that must be dealt with. I smoothed it with a sharp blade with an adzing motion.
Then I used a fingernail polishing stick to bring back the transparency. A coat
of Future wax took care of all minor scratches.