Whatever plane you finally decide on, get yourself one or both of the Squadron/Signal books, "Walk Around" and "In Action". That is, "P-47 Thunderbolt Walk Around", "F4U Corsair In Action" , etc.
They are very helpful in answering those kinds of questions. Also, look around the net for the plastic modeler sites. They are nuts for detail and you can learn a lot from their sites. Here's an example;
P-47 details