F4U-7 Corsair 133828/20, Flotilla 15.F, Suez Crisis, 1956

This is another kit “lost” on the shelf for 17 years awaiting decals. A very colorful scheme even if only worn for a short time.

The Subject

The Corsair is one of the first aircraft that enjoyed a very long life with numerous Air Forces and Navies around the world. The French Aeronavale operated a number AU-1 and F4U-7 aircraft. All were “borrowed” from the US to fight communist insurgents in Indochina under the umbrella of the Military Assistance Program in the 1950’s, albeit the AU-1’s were war-weary USMC aircraft from the Korean War, the F4U-7’s were new built to Aeronavale specifications.

This particular Corsair was operated by Flotille 15.F (Fighter) from the French aircraft carrier La Fayette (R96) which was the former US Navy light carrier USS Langley (CVL-27). From late October to early November 1956 a joint French-British-Isreali force attempted to take control of the Suez Canal from Egypt and oust President Nassar. The French Aeronavale was tasked to strike ships in Alexandria, but the US Navy blocked them. Eventually the UN, led by the US and USSR convinced the joint Anglo-French-Isreali forces to withdraw.

Aircraft from both French and British forces, as part of Operation MUSKATEER put distinctive yellow and black markings for identification, even though the markings were on for only about 3 weeks, they make for a unique subject.

The Model

When Italeri first released this kit I jumped on it. Italeri have a reputation for easy to build kits and this proved to support that. Unfortunately, and I only found this out a couple of years ago, their Corsair line of kits has a failing in their basic shape. The fuselage is a bit too short, making the fuselage look “scrunched up”. Not an easy fix, certainly not for this very average modeler, so the models will remain on my shelf until I replace them. I believe if a modeler wanted to take the aft fuselage of a Hasegawa Corsair, marry it to the nose and wings of this kit you’d get much closer than this kit out of the box.

The most difficult part of this kit was painting the stripes. I agonized over whether to paint them over the blue or paint the blue and black over the yellow. Eventually I chose the latter and I’m quite happy with the outcome. From studying photos it was obvious that the wing stripes were not the same width as the kit instructions and decals would lead you to believe, so I marked them out via the eyeball method.

The paints are Modelmaster with the exception of the Glossy Sea Blue, that’s from Aeromaster. Just like the other kits in this batch, the paint had been marred by styrofoam while in storage…and just like those others a very light sanding with a super-fine stick cleaned them right up.

The decals are from the kit and went on without any hitch using the Microscale system of Sol followed by Set. I did of course put a coat of Future (Kleer) on before and after the decals.

Summary

I enjoyed this kit and with the unique shape of the nose and canopy the -7 Corsair in French colors is a nice add to the collection. As you can see in the photos, it doesn’t look right in the fuselage, being obviously short. I’ve since discovered that High Planes Models used to sell a number of late model Corsairs, including the F4U-5, AU-1 and F4U-7. I’ve purchased two of the F4U-7 kits, and because they are limited run have not yet started them. One of course will be an AU-1, using the spare cowl from this Italeri kit.

Thanks for looking…