Hooray! Tamiya releases a 1/72 "birdcage" Corsair! It was obvious to all Corsair fans back when the original F4U-1D release came out that Tamiya had planned for an eventual -1 release. This kit is the -1D kit with the clear parts replaced with new ones for the windscreen and canopy (both the original "birdcage" and the type that was bulged on top for a rear-view mirror are included) as well as a new sprue which provides the narrow-blade prop, short tailwheel, spine section and step-less flap. Aside from the canopy, all the original -1D parts are included, which means lots of useful spare parts like HVAR rockets and a paddle-blade prop good for Hellcats and late-model Avengers. And if you wanted to do something "different", there were -1 Corsairs used by stateside training units in Gloss Sea Blue with the longer tailwheel struts, and since that strut is still in the box...

Markings are for 4 aircraft: tricolor-schemed No. 12 and No. 13 of VF-17 "Jolly Rogers" off the Bunker Hill in 1943, "83" of VMF-214 "Black Sheep" (the instructions say it is Boyington's aircraft, but -214 didn't assign aircraft to particular pilots) and Lt. Kenneth Walsh's "13" of VMF-124. This last aircraft is inthe early blue-gray over gull-gray scheme.