Customer Reviews

Revell Corsair F4U-4 1:48 Scale

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This review is from a model builder's point of view.

Positive points concerning this model:
It is sufficiently detailed, nice to paint on.
The cockpit detail is excellent. If you put a bit of customization, such as a seat belt, it looks really good.
It has retractable landing gears. The landing gear doors also work, and when they close, they fit fairly well.
The wings can be folded, which is also a rarity.
The decal is very detailed. It is 3% larger in scale compares with the instruction manual, but no one would notice.

95% of the design quality is good--as in all the parts fitted as they should.
The negative points of this model:
Parts that don't look as good is the canopy.
The clear canopy doesn't seem fit as well as I would like to--had a hard time trying to squeeze the main canopy into position.

I also wish that you can open the cockpit canopy, so you can see inside it. With the "clear" canopy closed, it's a bit hard to see inside.

I know the picture presented that the wings can be folded.
While that is true, I wouldn't fold the wing back and forth too much.
The wing hinges are too weak. I personally think the hinges should be bigger thus, withstand the folding movement.

There is an instruction problem which I will email Revell after this review. If a builder follows the hinge attachment with the manual, he/she will not be able to get the outer wing fitted on correctly. The hinges are upside down. However, do play around with them before you glue. That's how I discovered the issue.

Overall:
This is a good model, and had a great time building it.
For me, the building time was one week.

good little model for the price, some fit issues with the fuselage,older casting to be sure, but good for the money.

Though the previous review makes light of the wing hinges not fitting properly in reality on a plane this small that can lead to great frustration, especially for novice builders that could very possibly turn them off to building. My suggestion would be to stay away from it until this has been addressed and fixed in the instruction manual. The fix is actually very much a trial and error issue, which I found greatly frustrating, (I actually had to take the thing apart and figure out how it should go together before I could finish it and the chemical that loosens the glue is notorious for ruining the plastic the model is made of if you do not use it sparingly) and I am a seasoned builder, most kids would walk away in tears because of it.

I actually would have given this model only 1 star because I consider any instructional mistakes that lead to having to take a glued model apart to re-construct differently than instructed, to be a "deal breaker". However, that stated the amount of detail incorporated into this model and the fact that it has working landing gear and folding wings in a 1/48 scale (details that are usually only found on the bigger and extremely more expensive 1/32 scale planes) to merit a star for that alone so I gave it a two.

Once the instructional issue is fixed I would give it a four because it is still a small model and therefor hard to paint with any real detail unless you are very experienced with painting.

Stay away until instructional issue is fixed and even then would not recommend for anyone that has not been building for several years.

This is the first scale model and it is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought it would be smaller and difficult to get parts together but after reading the instructions and carefully cutting , polishing, painting and getting the aireplane looked good I realize it was the perfect choice. I am very happy with it and will start collecting more of them.

I bought this item as a gift and hear that he really enjoyed building this the only thing was that it didn't come with any glue. But that is expected most do not. I, however, did not think about that when purchasing.