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F4U-4 CORSAIR

Switch Kit

Switch Kit

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2005
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I always have been fasinated with this World War 2 / Korean fighter plane starting back from the TV series Bah Bah Blacksheep. I just got a old Monogram model from 1963 a month ago. Anybody know what kind of radios these guys were using back then ?
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I think you will find this interesting,,,, basically 2 meters ! I'm not 100% sure about the Navy but the Army Airforces used a five channel VHF radio that weighed about 80 lbs! I think I remember reading somewhere the freq range was 130 to 150 mhz. If equipped they had HF also.

Nice looking model, did you build it?
 
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I could believe the 80 pounds back then ! I remember the squadrons would be talking to each other when they were fighting the Japanese. Yes I built the thing Park , first one in 30 years . Some guy found a storage shed full of them all dating back to 1963 in there original boxes , so I got this one from him for a couple bucks. Parts were a little hard to deal with but I did the best I could with what I had. I was blown away that I could still get those 47 year old parts and decals to still work. Thanks Park for the info.
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Nice job ! The antenna just forward and to the right of the cockpit looks about like a 5/8 wave for 2M ha ha. Same antenna that’s on the bottom of the nose of a P-38 Lightning. BTW when the HF rigs were used the mode was CW. The P-39 Airacobra was in production before WW2 and if it had HF installed there was a portable keyer that was kept in a little glove box the pilot could use. After the war broke out and the USA through every resource (wish we would do that again) at the war pilots were training so fast that it was not absolutely necessary that they know CW so most of the fighters were not equipped with HF. Did I mention I love WW2 aircraft
I'm having trouble posting pic's. Please look up the P-38 and P-39.
 

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When one considers that these planes have an incredible amount of vibration (consider the horsepower of these planes) - it's a wonder that the radios didn't self-destruct. A tube radio at that!
 
i dont know about the radios they used switch but you got me searching for information on ww2 aeroplanes which led onto ww2 engine developement and aerodynamics the sound barrier and early jet engine developement, kept me entertained for a good while (y)
 
Rob KI6USW said:
When one considers that these planes have an incredible amount of vibration (consider the horsepower of these planes) - it's a wonder that the radios didn't self-destruct. A tube radio at that!
Click to expand...
Yes an 18 cylinder radial engine would create a certain amount of vibration.

"There was no other single engine fighter flown during the war that could absorb greater battle damage than the Corsair and still get home. Even the USAAF admitted that the F4U was a more rugged airframe than the tank-like P-47 Thunderbolt. That is a remarkable admission. The big Pratt & Whitney radial engine would continue to run and make power despite have one or more cylinders shot off. The P-51D, on the other hand, could be brought down by a single rifle bullet anywhere in the cooling system.
Advantage: F4U-4"

Side view of plane's antenna.

f4u4.jpg
 
you ain't kidding about them decals 7732 :eek: I suppose ? the plastic may have been slightly peaked and tweaked from age , I was using alot of rubber bands :headbang hard to believe it had been since the 10th grade some 30 some years ago I even built one of these things. Although the decals were all over the place once they hit the water , I was able to get them off fairly well with some tweezers. Started to paint the pilot but I just didn't have the eyes for it , a magnafied swing lamp could have helped.

How about that Bob , with the good old Internet , who needs
encyclopedia's anymore. All that info at your finger tips. My better half got her own lap top a few months ago , she now has all the answers :LOL:

Thanks Park on the info , should have known HF/VHF , the technology from then to now is surely amazing and just seems to be getting better better . After a few days of building that thing , IM wondering if a newer model might be easier to deal with then this one was ? talk about patients and tolerance why don't you. Thanks guys.
 
The more I think about it......
You need to build 24 more, so you can have a fighter wing and a bomber wing. :LOL:
 
park said:
I think you will find this interesting,,,, basically 2 meters ! I'm not 100% sure about the Navy but the Army Airforces used a five channel VHF radio that weighed about 80 lbs! I think I remember reading somewhere the freq range was 130 to 150 mhz. If equipped they had HF also.

Nice looking model, did you build it?
Click to expand...

The navigational beacons (NDB's, which was all they had for navigation back then other than sextant and dead reconing) are in the LF/MF band 190 kHz-535 kHz. They still use them today Non-Directional Beacon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

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