Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hey guys,

Is the F4u-1A Corsair worth getting? Its the one with the paint chips all over the front of it and has 86 on the side.

Another one I was thinking about getting was the all black Messerschmit.

are these two worth getting or should I spend my money on others?

I ran into 3 differetnt WM and the one had a nice selection of p-47's and 1:32 p47's along with the FW 109 and they were on sale!

Geo,
"Among tastes there shall be no dispute"

So, get what suits your fancy. I love the Nightfighter - I think it looks cool, do I need any better reason?

And I think you are describing the Boyington Corsair, which I also think looks pretty damn sweet (paint chips from gravel kicked up by the prop). That said, you may want to also consider the bbi Corsair, which is at TRU for $40-45, and is from all accounts an amazing piece.

In the end, there are so many cool pieces out there if you are just starting that I think you need to confer with your budget and decide how your money is best spent. Good luck, it ain't easy....

Yes I agree its all about personal choice I guess on the corsair I was more looking for the historical factor and acuracy. The Meserschmidt I have never seen an all black one so that struck me odd but deff cool looking.

I have a few planes that are on the must get list

1.) the Zero
2.) The F-86 Saber jet
3.) the regular green Stuka not the one with the doggie
4.) the Starfighter

I wouls alos like the P-40 I thought I read somewhere they were redoing a Fling Tigers P-40??
I also thought I read somewhere that when they did the first P-40 that it was too bulky and not to "specs" in regaurd to size and porportion any thoughts on that?

I have the P-40 and it is mediocre at best. Unless you get a steal of a deal, save your money for the other, much nicer, planes. Better yet, I'll pull mine off the fishing line hanging from the garage rafters and send it to you for $40 shipped (sorry, I don't keep my boxes).

Geo, both the 109 & especially the Corsair are very accurate. Check out Teamski's website button for some pics & profiles of all the 1:18 scale birds. Lately with AC the companies have been sticking to service paint schemes, which I think is good.

Yes, the Corsair, which replicates an aircraft used in a photo-shoot of the famous Pacific Ace, Pappy Boyington, is dead on. The '109 is also a good plane. The majority the aircraft made by 21st Century toys, with the exception of a couple early examples, are spot on accurate to actual examples that flew during WWII. BBI is about half-n-half with the accuracy. While the BBI WWII aircraft are VERY nicely detailed, some, such as the BBI Corsair and P-51D sport markings that are not quite accurate, but which look good nonetheless!

digger wrote:Geo, both the 109 & especially the Corsair are very accurate. Check out Teamski's website button for some pics & profiles of all the 1:18 scale birds. Lately with AC the companies have been sticking to service paint schemes, which I think is good.

As digger mentions, both schemes are spot-on. Check out the profile album by pushing the website button below. Some photos of the original planes are in the album.

-Ski

Well I am loving the input from you guys so thanks.

Well I was able to put both the Corsair and the 109 on lay- a- way at WM seeing as though there were only those 2 so I ddin't want them to dissapear. So I prob. will end up getting them both.

Now on to something other, I just started collecting these airplanes last year. I have noticed from reading the fourm here and my own personal observations that in fact there are some small discrepancies with the models such as: wrong markings here or there or misplacements of antenna masts, wrong pilot names, inproper landng gear stances ect. all minor stuff and would not even be noticed to the casual observer but to those of us that are perfectionists or anal about such things I put forth the following questions.

1.) Do you try and alter the aircraft to as close to orginal as possible? or do you just leave well enough alone and levae the plane like is?

2.) If you do alter your plane ineveitably there will have to be some touch up painting going on. How do match up the paint. eg: the Bf 109 antenna is in the wrong place and should be moved up towards the rear of the canopy. Moving the antenna is not a problem, however, by moving it and filing down the fusalage where the antenna was leaves a spot to be touched up paint wise, so how do you touch up the paint without a color refference?

Yeah so thats all I got for now so looking forward tohearing about what you have done to your planes and stuff

Geo,
Go here for all the tips/tricks, etc...

viewtopic.php?t=539

I know a lot of guys don't want to paint, but there are plenty of simple mods on various pieces that can add a lot to the way a plane sits or a hinge folds.

As for the paint, since most of the 21C birds are not weathered at all, just as easy as covering that small spot with a perfect match of paint would be to weather the whole plane. Again, up to you.

Both planes are worth getting no doubt about it. So if you can get them do it.

As for the detailing thing? Well I'm a stickler for accuracy so I try to update my planes every chance I get. My two most recent projects were my BBI Corsair and Hurry Home Honey P-51D. What I did with my Corsair was replace the main landing gear tires and replace the tail wheel assembly. Then I removed the "Marines Dream" nose art and replaced it with a VF-17 skull and cross bones emblem. It now represents the Corsair flown by Lt Paul Cordray. The flaps were a pain in the butt so I glued them in the lowered position.

As for my P-51 what I did was fixed the landing gear to the position where it shows a 51' when it was parked. I hate the extended look. I also replaced the radio mast, put a pitot tube undernieth the wing and fixed the tail wheel to the correct position. I also took two drop tanks that were on my P-47 Thunderbolt and put them on my P-51.

As for my Thunderbolt all I did with that was filled in the seams and that was it.

My other planes dont get the same treatment because I dont have the time like I do for my Corsair and P-51. But if you want to upgrade them it is possible to many things with them because of their size which gives you loads of opportunities for detailing.

Is the bubbletop withte checkered front with name (eileen's dream )spelling wrong - - hard to find or rare - i saw one today - should I put that one or the me109 nightfighter (black ) on layaway.

I also have a chance at a busted box starfighter that the manager said would be on clearance on wed. _I also want the new stuka - and I know of about 10 motorworks britt p47

too many to choose from - im going to end up with two that I can hang from my son's ceiling

STUKA wrote:Is the bubbletop withte checkered front with name (eileen's dream )spelling wrong - - hard to find or rare - i saw one today - should I put that one or the me109 nightfighter (black ) on layaway.

I also have a chance at a busted box starfighter that the manager said would be on clearance on wed. _I also want the new stuka - and I know of about 10 motorworks britt p47

too many to choose from - im going to end up with two that I can hang from my son's ceiling

It's not any more rare than any other bubbletop, subject to distribution of course.

-Ski

Hey thanks for the info about your planes. I was thinking along the same lines as you to some of the mods. How did you match up the paint on the planes or did you repaint the whole plane? I was thinking if I filled in the seems say on the p47 eileen how did you match up the paint without painting the whole plane? ? Ihave a experimental P-47 that the paint job was realy bad so I am thinking of doing a whole new color scheme but Iam unsure of what way to go as far as stripping the plane down to repaint would sanding or chemical be better to take off old paint on these planes? OK well thanks again

Geo

Other small problems with the bbi P-51 you may want to fix include:

The placement of the drop tanks I remember people saying were too far from the fuselage (or too close?).
Also,
1) The spinner is too blunt (not really noticeable to my eye anyway),
2) the canopy is wrong,
3) and the "rivets" are very noticeable which they were not on the real thing.