HobbyCraft 1:48 Corsair F4U-1D Kit No HC1527

Interior
Simple instrument panel but rest of cockpit nicely detailed. A few items are glued to the sides of the cockpit to enhance the detail. Some work will produce excellent results

Wheel Wells
Some ribbing but no real detail here. Rear wheel well does have a massive seam running down the middle. Won't normally be seen but will be a bit of work for the modeller who is a perfectionist. No instructions for raised wheels. Real wheel assembly has to be glued together instead of one piece. This produces a weak spot. I can see a lot of landing gears breaking here

Tires
Two sets of tires are included. One with a tread and one without. Tires are bulged and nicely engraved

Windows
Raised portions of window seem to scale. Windows aren't too thick. Front of front window is a very bad fit and puttying was needed to close the gap

Flaps
Raised and lowered flaps provided. However if you wanted raised flaps you will have to perform some surgery. Instructions provided for this. Separate lowered flaps have no definite mounting points so some fiddling will be needed here

Kit Fit and Finish
Slight gap between the wing root and fuselage. Inserts for the guns were not the same shape as the rest of the front wing. A lot of puttying and sanding needed here. Front cowl also needed some puttying. Not much needed elsewhere

Decals
Decals needed to be trimmed. Used with Micro-Sol the decals conformed very nicely to the surface detail. Thin decals but opaque enough

Conclusion
Not a bad kit. Nice detail overall. Excellent recessed panel lines. Port and Starboard lights could be clear lenses but this is being nitpicking. Some puttying needed but overall a good kit for the price. Haven't seen the Tamiya offering yet but that should be a killer of a kit