1/72 Testors F4U-1D Corsair

by Jeremy Housdan ("Skull Leader")

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This is my first entry into the ARC galleries. The kit is a 1/72 Testors F4U-1D kit. I thought in this world of constant upgrading and modifications, it might be nice to get back to the basics a little, so I built this kit completely OOB, decals, weapons, cockpit... all stock. Having said that, there isn't much there! I paid a grand total of $3 for the kit, and I got about $3 worth of detail for it. The kit has no real cockpit to speak of, just a "shoulders up" pilot sitting behind the windscreen. The under-wing ordinance was a pain to install... with no guides on the rockets or bombs, it was very difficult to align them under the wing correctly. The kit came with an external drop tank, but it somehow disappeared during the course of assembly, and I didn't want to invest the time to scratch up a new one, thus.... no drop tank. The kit provided a decent variety of markings, and I opted to build it in the VF-84 scheme (lol, LONG before they were the Jolly Rogers). The decals, while varied, were of questionable quality. Two of the "stars and bars" broke apart on me almost instantly. I was able to save both of them though. Everything else went on fine. I used standard Model Master acrylic paints (dark sea blue and insignia yellow), and I was quite happy with the results. A coat of future and it was ready to go! All told it spent 2 days on my bench. A nice way to kill a weekend, and for $3 you get a reasonable facsimile of a Corsair!

Jeremy

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Photos and text © by Jeremy Housdan