COBI Vought F4U-1 Corsair Set 5773

COBI's Vought F4U-1 Corsair is a 1:32 model built from 680 blocks, with a pilot figure. The canopy slides, the undercarriage retracts, the control surfaces move, and a display stand and plaque are included. All markings are printed onto the blocks rather than applied as stickers.

The wing is bent because the propeller was too big

The Corsair's inverted gull wing is the first thing anyone notices, and it looks like a styling decision. It is not. It is arithmetic.

Vought built the aircraft around the most powerful engine available, the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, and to convert that power into thrust it needed an enormous propeller — 4.06 meters across, the largest fitted to any American fighter. A propeller that size needs ground clearance, and ground clearance normally means long landing gear legs, which on a carrier deck means legs that snap.

Bending the wing down at the root solved it. The gear attaches at the lowest point of the wing, so the legs could stay short and strong while the propeller still cleared the deck. The angle where wing meets fuselage came out close to ninety degrees as well, which cuts drag.

One consequence was not solved. The long nose made the deck invisible on approach, and early carrier trials went so badly the US Navy sent the Corsair to the Marines to fly from land. British pilots worked out a curving approach that kept the deck in view, and the aircraft went back to sea.

In the COBI range

Set 5776 is the Me 262 at the same scale, and 5774 the B-29 Superfortress.

Specifications

Pieces: 680 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:32 · Display stand included · No stickers