Ram-bro

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Does anyone make the "Birdcage Canopy" for the F4u Corsair for either the Top Flite or Byron Kits? This would be a neat and relatively simple modification for these birds.

da Rock

The Royal kit I've still got in my stash is of a birdcage. Maybe there is a Royal connection still alive somewhere.

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

Could you please post a picture of it? I have never seen a Royal kit (in ANY size) which had an F4U-1 'Birdcage' canopy.

There was a guy here at RCU who made a mold and was producing and selling 1/8 scale 'birdcage' canopies, suitable for Top Flite, Royal, and other 1/8 scale Corsairs. He went by the handle Dionysus..something or other, then changed his handle a few times. I have a few of them myself, but don't want to part with any of them.

Rocketman612

My Feedback: (85)

LOL,

Jim your killing me.

Pete

da Rock

Well, it's a good news, bad news kinda night.

When I saw your question, I thought, "you know, that dude knows his Corsairs, and you've never opened the box"....... and it was time to go down in the shop and check on how the fake engine has glued up into the cowl on my H9 Corsair so........

OK, one story at a time. Turns out the bad news it the H9 Corsair firewall. The fake engine glued in perfectly. Centered and square. And the glue was dry so I slid the sucker on and %$@#!&$$$$ With the OS's thrust washer centered in the fake engine, and it being perfectly aligned, and the motor mount positioned to place the thrust washer so the cowl will line up perfectly, the bloody cowl points up in front like somebody punched the airplane in the chin. I thought all along that the blasted firewall looked screwed up. Screwed UP. Like it gives the motor about 4 degrees of up thrust. And with everything perfectly aligned around it, the cowl doesn't come close to aligning along the CL of the airplane. Crap. I figured all along that I was just not used to building an airplane like the Corsair. It's fuselage from the cockpit forward has a downward slope. So the firewall ought to look off perpendicular, but this is just screwed. Got to sort out for sure what was screwed in the layout, but it looks right now like it's clearly a firewall that's way too slanted. I've finally taken the time to layout the fuselage centerline and the upthrust is clearly wrong. And it's all in the firewall. Oh well, not the first time I've sorted a problem like that.

Wonder what thrusts would be best. Time to start from square one on that. Maybe this is a good thing to have happen. CorsairJ, any suggestions?

OK, now for the good news.
And it's a story too.
I bought the Royal Corsair kit back in the late 70s, early 80s from a buddy who said he'd just gotten it and didn't want it because it was one of those birdcage models but that it was a good kit, one of the Gold Series kits. I always wanted to build a Corsair and figured this was a way to get the canopy and cowl already done. I never got around to even opening the box. And never actually looked at it. Figured it'd just make me sad, knowing it'd be years before I had the time to build it.

OK, cut to the chase. I just went down and dug back to the box. It still had his tape across the end, "Gold birdcage". I should have looked closer sometime in the last 25-30 years. I only ever saw the box end. Darned if the box top doesn't look really good. Good side view. hmmmmmmm So I cut the tape and pulled the top. Really nice aluminum cowl shining out of one end. And it looks like the kit has vacuformed cockpit pieces. And right under them is a beautiful clear canopy. Got the really nice round part of the cockpit frame that looks sorta like a parasol sunshade over and behind the pilots head and the two braces that identify the first series of blown malcolm hood canopies. The sucker ain't no birdcage. And it turns out the guy didn't even read the boxtop where it says it's a "Junior Series Royal Kit". Nowhere on the thing does it say anything about being a Gold Series.

Thanks for kicking me loose. If I hadn't gone down there to take the picture for you, I'd have probably not found this out for another year or so. I figure I will get around to building it some day. These frickin' ARFs are getting less and less worth the time it takes to redo them.

His tape was over the printing that says it's supposed to be an F4U-1D. Which actually seems to be a bit of a problem, looking at the braces on the canopy. I thought the braces were gone by the end of the A production and the Ds all had braceless sliding hoods. Maybe I better look that up.
Nope, wrong again. Early Ds had braces.

whatever........

Thanks for making me look.

It's a Royal Junior Series F4U-1D. With the proper canopy shape.

Now to go do some serious measuring.

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

Hi PETE!!! [sm=tongue_smile.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

-TOMAS

Rocketman612

My Feedback: (85)

Hey Tomas,
Hope you had a good summer flying.
Take care,
Pete

da Rock

Here is what I got following the instructions in the manual. I should have followed the first thoughts that came upon seeing the upthrust on the firewall. I should have measured the sucker.

And later, seeing the layout of the offset lines for positioning the motor mount should have convinced me then to measure. But I didn't.

As it is, if for some reason this airplane needs about 4 or 5 degrees of upthrust, I'll simply move the motor mount down the firewall to center the front of the cowling to follow the fuselage centerline, keeping in mind that the top front of the fuselage is certainly not parallel to the CL.

However, if the airplane actually needs straight thrust or downthrust, shimming the motor mount to get either straight thrust or downthrust is a bit easier to do than moving it.

Anybody with experience flying this airplane have any advice on the thrustline?

da Rock

OK, I worked out the problem.

Looks like the firewall angle requires the motor mount to be lower down the slope. No problem other than it's extra work.

The angle is basically off of the downsloping nose so actually isn't an angle of consequence until the matter of cowl orientation rears it's ugly head.

Paint programs are nice to have, ain't dey. I just layered the sideview of the fullscale into the picture of the model, made it semi-transparent and moved it over the model. That shows the fullscale prop shaft lining up with the model engine's shaft, so the thrust line ought to be good to go. Except on the model, with it where it is now, the front of the cowl is too high with the shaft centered in it. so.............. time to move some bolt holes.

bosssman

My Feedback: (35)

Jim (corsairjock) above did an OUTSTANDING bashing of this very plane some time back using electric power making it look 100 PERCENT better than it is out of the box. One of his mods was the use of the Top Flite plastic (thick) Corsair cowl which is visually shorter (and better looking IMHO) than the piece from H9. If he doesn't post here with the thread, try doing a search under his username as I believe he also did a MAJOR mod on the wing root as the H9 is WAY OFF in the way it meets the wing saddle. Good info....

randy

da Rock

The guy who made the few birdcage canopies a year or so ago was dionysusbacchus or if it wasn't that then, it is now.
Did anyone use any of them?

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

If I remember correctly, he is the guy who did the ARF hellcat modifications.

bosssman

My Feedback: (35)

That is correct. I have one of the Corsair birdcage canopies, and ALL of the CMP F6F Hellcat mods (canopy, cockpit kit, drop tank, correct dummy radial engine, etc), although I decided not to use them on the F6F that I finished as I was too far along in the refinishing (stripped off the covering, and did a glass/Deft lacquer finishing job). Luke Zollner (who I think goes by "bentwing" or something like that) made such nice Hellcat pieces (and that Corsair birdcage canopy), that I have decided to use his pieces on a properly done up CMP Hellcat (ie, shorten the wings back to correct proportions like he did and install proper flaps) once I repurchase another one. Luke also did other things for the Corsair (ie a very nice cockpit), but I only managed to get in on the canopy part of it. He, like many part time business guys, do things in "batches", usually as time from regular work and family permits. I am selling off a 35+ year collection of Mustang (cars) parts along with 12 complete cars myself and it is taking some doing!!! So, I know where these craftsmen that get pressured to make "copies" of their work are coming from - not enough hours in the day to satisfy everyone!.

randy

p.s. - i forgot - this is his website http://www.zollnermodels.com/, and as you can see, he hasn't much of anything lately....

busy, busy, busy.......

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

Thanks, Bossman.

OK, here is a pic of my electric H-9 Corsair with Top Flite cowl and canopy. Documentation of this aircraft can be seen in a pre-ceeding post by da Rock (post 9). It is finished as an F4U-1A, flown by Navy Lt. Streig of VF-17/ Jolly Rodgers squadron.

It is now completing it's 3rd full flying season, and all with the same set of stock retracts (altho I keep thinking I should install a better set). Over 200 flights on it now, and it doesn't look quite as good now as when this picture was taken 2 years ago, so I am considering a winter re-finish project which would also entail installing one of my birdcage canopies.

The antenna wire is now gone (unfortunate, since it was in a scale location), as I am now using a Futabe 2.4 GHz radio system.

da Rock

Jeez, what a pretty airplane. And the model too....*

Makes the idea of painting one even more appealing.

Man, I wish there was a canopy somewhere that wasn't so...... so....... blown. Having the framing right is nice, but that excessive bulge really annoys.




* Only Corsair lovers will probably understand this attempt at humor.

bosssman

My Feedback: (35)

Hey Jim,

I just ordered (two days ago), the Futaba 6 channel FAAST 2.4 ghz system with the microservos to use in a little GWS Corsair I bought. I did as much reading as possible, and although I like the Spectrum radio (and its cheaper price), I have been a Futaba man since the very early 1970s, so I bought it. Big question - how do you like it?????

randy

NCIS

CorsairJock,

I am going to make my 1/4 scale Don Smith Corsair patterned after Lt. Ira Kepford's VF-17 #29 of the Skull and Crossbones Squadron. Here are pictures of it before and after restoration. My question is the correct model of this plane. Was it a F4U-1A? If not what was it? In the restored photo you can see that they replaced the braced canopy with a full bubble.

Gibbs

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

The original was an F4U-1A. There are few, if any F4U-1As left in existance. Even if there were any left: many of the F4U-1As as well as the 1st run of F4U-1Ds had the braced canopy replaced with the non-braced version.
Thus, if you are modeling Ira Kepford's Corsair: the braces should be on it.
The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of a restored F4U-1D (or FG-1D), and it is NOT the original aircraft flown by Ira Kepford.

tevans55

Hey Da Rock- It may be to late to throw out another idea but my H9 Corsair flies great with 1 degree of down thrust. I have a book that shows 2 degrees of down thrust on the real plane. I also used engine gasket material one time between the engine mount and the fire wall to adjust my thrust angle...it worked great and really helped reduce vibration.