Vought F4U-1D Corsair “white 167”
PART 2 Engine:
Without a doubt the most challenging part of building demanding precision and patience was the engine – the spectacular 18 cylinder, two-star-shaped Pratt and Whitney R-2800. Used was the beautiful forming from Aires including engine lodging, partitions, oil basins and other details found in the engine area.
Even here there was a lot of room to make new parts which were not found in the etching set or were better to substitute rather than using the original photo etched parts and using wires.
The trickiest part in preserving accuracy and geometry was when gluing all eighteen cylinder castings to the body of the motor. It is very important to constantly control the positioning of the cylinders and that in all four directions otherwise we might later on have some complications installing muffler pipes and the center ring with the head cover of the cylinders where there are electrical wires that connect to the spark plugs. I solved this problem by placing a small bearing of “Tack-it” in all the cylinder openings and afterwards pushing in, one by one, all the cylinders which because of its gluey substance, held tight to the body of the motor and was also possible to slightly adjust to its proper position. When after some time I managed to correctly position the cylinders into their proper place I then poured a thin cyanoacrylate (second glue) on them. Next was to build 36 new weighted valve strokes from an injection needle, spark plug electrical system made out of wire, aluminum cylinder covers, connecting segments between cylinders and other little bits.
As long as we don’t underestimate the precision of the job the muffler system and other parts of the motor shouldn’t create any further complications.
I would also like to mention the necessary creation of 18 tiny ribs with openings and precise angling for the inner “ring” of the front cover of which we will later attach to the front surfaces of the cylinder heads.
The Completion:
The final completion of individual complete-sets continued without complications, that is, not considering the motor as a whole and its lodging into the motor partitions. Major efforts and precision were needed to insure the right geometry and steel nerves during the installation of all pipes, cable systems and pulleys in the engine area.
The icing on the cake was the tightening of the antenna line. I used Synton 0.05mm color thread with spring segments made out of iron wiring wound to 0.25mm. Isolation was extracted from small white plastic tubes
Briefing:
Kit: Vought F4U-1D Corsair
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Accessories: Detail set Aires
Position lights CMK
Masks Eduard
Hand-made parts
Colors: Gunze series C
Vallejo brushes
Polishing paste and pigments Agama
Abteilung oil
Pastels
Glues: Gunze solvent
Flash cyanoacrylate, thin
Loctite cyanoacrylate, gel
Hercules dispersion adhesive