Hasegawa

F4U Corsair Egg Plane

Kit Number: 60122

Reviewed by  Mike Hinderliter, IPMS# 45124

MSRP: $15.95 Kit Supplied by Dragon Models USA - Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The "Aircraft" Hasegawa has put together a series of egg planes that are parodies of the major aircraft of the 20th century. The Corsair is number 12 in the series. The first thing my son said was how cute they are. Each box art has a cartoon looking picture of the aircraft and a cartoon girl dressed up in the uniform of the period. My son says that they should think about putting together a series of the girls also to go with the planes. The Kit This is NOT a snap kit, but it is quite simple. The mold is good and free of flash. My kit was missing the instructions, but as I said it is a simple kit and they weren't really needed. I do know that the WW2 planes have a few more parts than the jets and are just a little bit more involved. ie: the wheel well doors and having to fit an engine inside the body. There are 2 sprues of solid parts molded in blue that are so close to the right color that you really wouldn't have to paint it if you didn't want to and a clear one which has the very large canopy. The decal sheet is quite detailed and pretty complex. It even had a decal for the gauges. There were markings for 2 aircraft. I did the one from the box art because of the lack of an instruction sheet. Assembly and Painting As I said before there are no problems putting this model together. Everything fits cleanly. I only had to scrape the seam on the fuselage where it came together, but no putty, filler or other work was required. This kit would be really good for a kid that was just getting away from snap tight kits and just starting on using glue and other basic techniques. I painted the fuselage with Testers Sea Blue enamel # 1172 but you could get away without painting it if you wanted. The engine was painted in Floquil Engine black and dry brushed with Floquil Old Silver. The landing gear, struts, and bombs were painted in Floquil Old Silver as well. I was trying to keep this kit with a cartoon look and stay with the humor that I believe was intended. The propeller was painted black with yellow tips. Tips were painted with Testers Flat Yellow enamel # 1169. Decals I used the decals for the version on the box art. The decals were kind of thick but went down nicely with Microset and Microsol. Overall Recommended, especially if you like some humor in your model building. Let's face it sometimes you need a laugh once in awhile, and to get away from those serious builds and have some fun. This would be a great starter kit for a less experienced modeler. Everything fits, there aren't a lot of parts, and it was a lot of fun to build. In the words of one of Batmans' bad guys, Egghead, This kit is EGG - CELLENT. Thanks to Dragon USA for the review kit, and IPMS/USA for a good laugh and a fun build.