Blue Box 1/18 F4U-1D Converted and Rebuilt into a F4U-1A

By Jay Wheaton

Here is the culmination of approximately 4 1/2 years of on again off again work on what was a Blue Box Toy Corsair in 1/18 scale. Here is the 1/18th scale kit against a 1/32nd one:

Here is a picture of it before I began the work:

The aim was to convert it from a -1D into a -1A (VF-17 Jolly Rogers), greatly improve the realism in general, provide an openable engine compartment and engine accessories compartment, and improve the cockpit and gear bays and landing gear. I am especially proud of the accessories compartment:

Along the way many new skills were learned including aluminum skinning and 3D printing (plus learning the computer CAD program necessary for creating digital parts to print), and my first use of the airbrush. Also, as has been the case with all my 1/18 projects, I made extensive use of original engineering drawings found at Aircorps Library, to help me scratch build parts.

The first year of the project was dedicated to the R-2800-8 radial engine that powered the Corsair. Before installing it into the aircraft it looked like this:

It is scratch built 100%, and many parts were turned on a mini-lathe.

For your inspection, first the buttoned-up shots:

Let's inspect some details:

The underside with the gear bays:

The main landing gear:

Most of the landing gear and gear doors are 3D printed. Tim Perry in the UK printed these up for me from Rhino 7 digital models I created myself.

Scratch built tail feathers:

Aluminum skinning should be in evidence - the tail area was the most difficult of all to skin.

Tail wheel:

Almost the entire tail wheel and support were 3D printed. Also, the tail hook and the doors

Wing trailing edge (flaps and ailerons):

That last one shows the effects of the "double hairspray" method of chipping two layers to expose both yellow zinc chromate and bare metal. The ailerons, BTW, are 3D printed.

The prop and nose cowling:

Both items (prop hub and blades, nose cowl) are 3D printed. This aircraft (#17 VF-17 Pilot Roger Hedrick) had a white painted prop spinner to identify his flight. Other flights had other colors (black, red, etc). Also note the open cowl flaps - another big sub-project.

Cockpit, windshield, and canopy:

Windshield is scratch built; the canopy salvaged and heavily modified. The cockpit, other than the engine, was the largest and most complicated sub-project of all!

Engine compartments open:

There's that engine! The cowl panels are held in place by little magnets. More:

You can see the magnets. The engine accessories compartment is chalk full of 3D printed parts. I am especially proud of the engine accessories compartment - it was an integration nightmare that had a good ending.

Many fellow modelers helped me out on this effort. I got technical advice from Kaeone57 and TAG and OldBaldGuy. I got modeling technique advise from Airscale, Thunnus, and others. Painting advise from Chuck540z3, Thunnus, others. Airscale also provided me some of the decals, and aluminum sheet for skinning - all free of charge. Thunnus provided stencils for the numerals - also free of charge. It also helped to have a retired Naval Aviator looking in - Easixpedro. I hope I didn't forget somebody, darn it. I must give a shout-out to Aircorps Library for all their technical information - drawings, manuals, catalogues. It's just amazing. Also the books I bought - Dana Bell volumes 7 and 8, Lee Cook's "Skull and Crossbones Squadron", and the huge "R-2800 - Pratt & Whitney's Dependable Masterpiece" by Graham White. I would like to thank all my dozens of followers on the build thread who were patient for 4 1/2 years and kept me going with kind and enthusiastic comments - it's great to be an LSP-er!

I hope you like the big F4U. It's a far cry from its beginnings. For the full details on the build, check out my build thread in the Work in Progress forum. Thank you for looking in!

Blue Box 1/18 F4U-1D Converted and Rebuilt into a F4U-1A

By Jay Wheaton

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