F4 Corsair Diorama WIP #1

I know, another project started!

But this is one with some difference. During this past year, I have managed to pick up two of Tamiya's 1/48th scale models of the Vought F4U-1A corsair kits, one of them being having a motorised propeller. Both kits have the same set of decals in them, so the idea came into my head about building a diorama using both aircraft.

This is the scene that I am trying to recreate. We are on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Pacific during WWII, one of the Corsair's is sitting with the wings in the down position with the engine ticking over. The other aircraft has the wings folded and is being towed out onto the deck by the tug to its start-up position. The pilot for the aircraft being towed, is standing on the wing of the other aircraft talking to the pilot sitting in the cockpit.

So far, most of the work done is on the non-motorised Corsair. As can be seen in the photos below, this aircraft is not far off from painting. The good thing about these Tamiya kits is that the wings can be removed by sliding them off the hinge units. This will be great for when they are being transported around and save the risk of them being damaged. Both of the Corsairs are being built straight out of the box, I have not bothered with adding any extra detail to them and will enhance the models with weathering, etc.

The motorised Corsair is still in the early stages of building at the minute. In the instructions for this model, Tamiya say to drill a hole through the underside between he main wings for the wire to pass through into the plastic base supplied with the kit. The sight of this wire hanging between the undercarriage spoils the look of the model. So I am re-routing the wire out of the tail-gear bay and connect a small two pin connector to ease connection to the power supply and avoid securing the model to the base. Modifications have been done to the cockpit area to route the wire through here to the tail of the model. Now I just need to get a small two pin connector to finish this off.

The tug has also been built and is near to the painting stage. This is the same tug that Tamiya supply with another release of the Corsair, which was given to me by a club member as he did not need it. I just need to do a little modification to the tug prior to it being painted. 

I will take some photos of the other Corsair and the tug soon and post them in the next WIP posting of this project.