F4U-1 Control Surfaces

1/48 scale for Tamiya

Aires

Aires' 1/48 scale F4U Control Surfaces will be available online from Squadron.com

4253 in Airies Hobby Models Masters Series provides resin control surfaces for the Vought F4U-1 Corsair. 

The kit comprises seven resin parts, and these are:

• Left and right horizontal stabilisers.
• Left and right elevators.
• Rudder.
• Ailerons.

The parts have been cast in a mid-grey coloured resin that is reminiscent of that used by Cutting Edge.  As we have come to expect from Airies, the casting is superb, so nice in fact that once they have been separated from their casting plugs you are hard pressed to recognise them as resin pieces at all.   

Airies do not identify which F4U kit that they have produced the kit for but when you place the Airies parts next to the parts from the Tamiya offering, you can easily see that they have been modelled from the kit parts.  They are not exact copies however as the detail on the trim tab actuators are a little finer and there is no antenna mount on the top of the rudder.  Thankfully, Airies have retained the positive locking tabs that Tamiya engineered into their kit and once removed from the casting plugs and cleaned up, they will click into place on the Tamiya kit and fit as if they had been produced by Tamiya themselves. 

Kit parts (below) and resin Aires parts (above)

The trailing edges of the pieces are nice and thin, again, just like the Tamiya pieces.  The trailing edges of the horizontal stabilisers have been cast with an undercut so that the leading edges of the elevators (that have been cast with rounded leading edges) will slot right in.  The leading edges of the rudder and the ailerons get the same rounded treatment. 

Whilst the rudder and ailerons are nice to have, the horizontal stabilisers and the elevators are worth the price of the kit.  If you have a look at pictures of F4U-1s, you will see that the elevators are just about always in a drooped position.  The kit pieces are moulded so that the elevators are in the raised and neutral position.  Sure, you can modify the kit parts if you like but for my money, (and time) this set from Airies makes the task a whole lot easier. 

Assembly instructions are simple yet more than adequate exploded view black and white line drawings and the kit comes packed in a plastic baggie with a stiff cardboard header.

Recommended.

Thanks to Aires for the review sample.