Revell Corsair of VF-84
By Dan LoRusso
Here are the shots of my VF-84 Corsair. My Dad was a plank owner of the USS Bunker Hill CV-17. He and my Uncle Frank actually worked on her at the Quincy Ship Yard. My Dad was VERY proud to be able to serve aboard a ship he actually helped build.
The kit is the Revell F4U-1A kit. "Back in the old days" we didn't have them there resin after market stuff like we do now !! Being one to NEVER build a kit out of the box and especially with the first hand knowledge of my Dad, I just had to build a bird from the infamous May 11, 1945 Kamikaze attack. The aircraft depicted may not be VF-84 whereas the "Holiday Express" also had a small contingency of Marine Fighters aboard at the same time.
The rockets, engine and wheels came from the Hasegawa F6F Hellcat as did the drop tank which I modified. The bomb is from the Monogram Phantom Mustang. I constructed new exhausts out of aluminum tube after drilling out the ports. Note I also dropped the manifold on the belly. The gear doors were scratchbuilt to get some internal detail. I also modified the landing gear adding some springs and the brake lines.
Pipe screen was added to the oil cooler intakes. (Cleaning those was my Dad's LEAST favorite job !!) All the lights were drilled out and replaced with clear plastic back painted the appropriate colors. As you can see I cut away the rudder (which actually moves ! I used R/C hinged tabs). The toughest part was the dropped flaps. After they were cut out, I added the bulkheads with sheet stock, then I built up the leading edge with plastic rod and putty.
The markings are a mix of kit decals, MicroScale Corsair sheet, and my own hand cut arrows.
For a bird I did over 25 years ago she holds her own.
© Dan LoRusso 2003
This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016