Corsair restoration pics

[Randy]

These pics were taken recently at a shop in Northern California that, apparently, is trying to corner the Corsair market . . .

first up is (tangetially) a composite (co-ro-lite 1100) 175 gallon tank from Columbia Rope in original paint. Note the vertical seam, all pics I've seen have the horizontal seam - wonder if those are metal ones.



(yep, that's a Corsair aft fuselage in the background)








Next we have spare prop blade kits (not sure if they were available as part of a master kit with the groundloop kit) stenciled for both F4U and F6F. These would have been the source for F4Us going from the bat handled blades to the paddles (whice were each 1.5 inches shorter). The . . . owner had about a dozen of these and has sold most (used on P-47s and fourblade Corsairs also).





Also, new WW2 tires.

[Randy]

An interesting spar. It was marked F2G in numerous places but we can't seem to find any differences from the FG spar. It must simply have been allocated to F2G then switched back to the main line to close out FG production (aircraft was fifth from last FG-1D). New spar caps are on hand.
















an example of the corrosion





new caps

[Randy]

An F4U-4





basically scratch build-up

[Randy]

. . . Stuff . . . and note the short tailwheel fork . . . as well as the ever popular deck tire . . .

[Geek44]

Nice pics mate and thanks for posting them. One wonders how many of these fine birds are left...possibly more than I think actually. There's a rather large restoration 'industry' going on in Australia as well. Despite the fact that Australia built P-51s under licence for years, there aren't many left...one crash landed less than a month ago. There's an airfield in my state that specializes in WW2 aircraft and when they restore an aircraft, they often have to fabricate parts from scratch. When they do, they cleverly make several of the parts in question for sale to other restorers around the world. The proceeds go toward further restorations (what a great job). I've seen pics of junk that would fit in an average garbage can being dragged out of the bush...only to see the same 'junk' flying several years later. Their current project is a P-38 Lightning that currently resembles a pile of crushed soda cans.

[Randy]

The canopy being worked on is for a freshly restored/flying Buckeye. I'm not sure how many Corsair spars I saw but they had six spar cap sets made and they do plan on completing 3 fliers.

[TRDG]

Very nice Randy, have you heard of any combat stories over the years about this plane by chance, ones we may have never heard before??

Cheers, Great pics there!!

Tom

[No_Nickname]

Looks cool, can't wait to see it when it'f finished, maybe you can record it's "first" flight and upload it to youtube and then post the link in the forums

[Panzermacher]

Nice stuff Randy, can't wait to see it done. Does look like alot of work tho...

[Wustenfuchs]

Fantastic stuff Randy!! Thanks for posting.