Hobby Boss is reportedly preparing to release a new F4U-5N Corsair [Late] Night Fighter model kit in 1/48 scale.
The F4U-5N Corsair [Late] is a radar-equipped night-fighter version of the ultimate piston-engine Corsair, the F4U-5, featuring a longer nose, all-metal wings, a raised cockpit, and a 2,450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-32W engine that made it the fastest carrier-based piston fighter (about 462 mph). Carrying an AN/APS-19 radar pod on the right wing, flame-dampened exhausts, and four 20 mm cannons, it traded a bit of performance for night operations but retained a heavy bomb and rocket load for night intruder and close-support missions. In the Korean War, F4U-5Ns with VMF(N)-513 and Navy detachments hunted “Bedcheck Charlie” Po-2s, attacked supply convoys and trains, and even produced the conflict’s only Navy ace, Guy Bordelon, who scored all five of his kills at night in an F4U-5N.
As of this writing, details on the new kit (80391) are nonexistent, although release is planned for some time in September.
(via AeroScale and Scalemates)
