Hasegawa 9075 Vought F4U-5N Corsair (Armada Argentina)

Kit#: 9075.

Price: 25$

Decals: Two options.

Notes: Difficult fit between the fuselage and wings. Phoenix Decals used for Argentinian markings.

History:

"In 1957, the Aviación Naval Argentina acquired the Corsair F4U-5/-5N for the tanks of daylight and night fighter. The Corsairs were assigned to the Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Combate based at Punta Indio, which would be later relocated to the Base Aeronaval Comandante Espora as 2° Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Ataque, which would be designated to the ARA Independencia aircraft carrier in 1959. With these aircraft, Argentina became a regional leader becaus it had aircraft with radar.

From the beginning the Corsairs were base to secondary airfields alongside the Patagonia, were they did several missions thanks to their huge armament capacity. Between them is the mission made in 1958 to the Estación Aeronaval Río Gallegos due to the border conflicts between Chile and Argentina. The next year they were deployed to Estación Aeronaval Puerto Madryn and later Comodoro Rivadavia after the detection of an unknown submarine in Argentinian waters, something that happened again in 1960, for which the Corsairs operated in patrol, exploration and antisubmarine missions, being equipped with depth charges.

The Corsairs were retired at the end of 1965 due to age."

The Kit:

Hasegawa's Corsair comes in a top opening box, with all the parts being molded in a light grey colour. There're two bags, one containing the main sprues, and the other bag containing the clear parts.

The parts have finely recessed panel lines, and there is not flash present. The model has the option of installing the flaps down, something which gives a lot of character to the model in my opinion.

The kit has a nicely done decal sheet, with one option being in Dark Gloss Sea Blue and the other in matt black. I didn´t plan on using them however, since I bought Phoenix Decal's aftermarket set for four Argentinian Corsairs.

Construction:

I began by painting the interior and cockpit parts with Revell 48 (my Interior Green of choice). After they were dry, I glued them together. When the cockpit parts were dry, I glued the cockpit assembly to the fuselage. The fuselage halves were then glued together and that was left aside.

The wings were next. They are a simple affair of top and bottom parts. I glued them together, and while I waited for them to dry, I glued the flaps. The flaps were then glued into the wing's openings.

Joining the fuselage to the wings proved to be an exercise in patience, since the fit wasn´t very good. After sanding the upper wings a bit, I was able to glue the wings to the fuselage.

I then glued the engine (painted in matt black) to the front of the plane, and then glued the cowling. With that done, I had a complete airframe.

Colours and Markings:

Argentinian Corsairs came in two colours: The F4U-5Ns were painted in Dark Sea Blue, whereas the F4U-5s were painted in Light Gull Grey upper sides and White undersides with two black areas on the fuselage were the exhaust residue sticked.

I decided to paint my Corsair as an F4U-5 2-A-214. I first applied Revell 76 Light Grey to the upper surfaces, and then White to the undersides. After the main colours were dry, I masked the rudder and horizontal stabilizers so I could paint the Argentinian flag. I then gloss coated the entire model for the decals.

The decals were from Phoenix Decals, which performed really well and settled down nicely over the panel lines with some Micro Sol. After finishing decalling, I left the decals dry overnight. The model was then matt varnished.

Final Construction:

The landing gear legs were painted in aluminium (I was too tired of painting white), then the wheels were glued, together with the landing gear doors. I decided to not use any of the armament or fuel tanks, since that would have forced me to paint the pices in white.

This stage also saw the installation of the guns, something that Hasegawa provides as little and tiny pieces. I managed to lose one of the gun mounts, so I improvised with another piece of the kit.

Conclusions:

Another Argentinian aircraft to put into my caupboard, hopefully it won´t be my last.

Bibliography:

https://www.histarmar.com.ar/Armada%20Argentina/AviacionNaval/CB-F4UCorsair.htm