‘The damaged decal was sanded to smooth the surface. This Tamiya tape was employed for the tedious task of masking and removed even more of the lettering. The only solution was to spraying the base grey colour, then painstakingly measuring, mask and respray both the grey background and the black letters. masking and painting each letter. A few sections of the red wallaway outline were éamaged, so ‘The canopy parts were masked with Tamiya tape and mounted these were also masked and sprayed. The result was worth the ‘on a backing of self-adhesive Post-It Notes. This backing prevents extra time and effort. unwanted overspray on the inside of the clear parts. Paintbrush handles are being used to hold the parts during painting Five-inch HVAR rockets, shown painted. The nose of each rocket Brake lines have been installed using tin wire glued to the was temporarily secured in Blu Tack so that all eight rockets undercarriage legs. Brake-lina ties have also been added, u could be sprayed at the same time. thin strips of Tarniya masking tape.After painting, the last task was fitting the undercarriage, ordnance and small details, A small oval of white paint was applied to the top of the rear fuselage, and a drop of watchmakers cement positioned over the top to represent the spine navigation light. Aerial wire was added using invisible mending thread. With all the dangly bits and the undercarriage installed, I thought that the bomb was slightly off-centre, so I held the model firmly by the wing and tried to bend the bomb on its pylon. But then ... snap! To my absolute horror, I was holding the starboard outer wing panel in one hand, and the rest of the model about 18in. away in the other. Despite being reinforced by the plastic spar, the wing had sheared off. Examining the split, I could see that re-scribing the wing fold line had weakened the join considerably. Fortunately, the break was very clean. I test-fitted, then fixed the panel using superglue. The new join was not perfect, but it would do for the time being, 1 was also disappointed to find that my Prop Action propeller did not spin. The most likely reason was the modification to the kit engine. I tested the motor before final installation and it definitely worked. I can only assume that the tolerances of the propeller shaft could not handle the changes that I made to the crankcase. Despite the distress of bubbling decals, broken wings and engine failure, | still enjoyed building Tamiya’s Corsair. However, next time I will probably build the model with the wings folded and not bother about the spinning propeller! The main components are laid out in preparation for final assembly.ABOVE Fine copper wire has been used for the fuse wire at tho BELOW The finesse of Tamiya’s surface features and detail may rear of each rocket. A small blob of superglue at the bottom of _be appreciated here. Note the subtle febric texture on the each sire represents the plug. rudder.ABOVE These markings must be amongst the most striking ever BELOW Tamiya's FAU-1, FAU-1A and F4U-ID kits are che best applied to the Corsair. The style of markings was modified over early Corsairs available in 1/48 scale. time in the service of El Salvador.