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Ralph_S

Instructions: F4U Corsair and SB2C Helldiver

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I haven't been particularly active on Eurobricks in the last two months. I started a new job and have been very busy. However, I have bene doing a few LEGO-related things. Some of you may remember that I have been working on a series of aircraft models for USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier that is being built by Ed Diment (Lego Monster). I've posted most of them here.

F6F Hellcat

TBF Avenger

F4U Corsair

SB2C Helldiver

The intention is to build several copies of each of them. Ed has already built 5 more Avengers based on my prototype. The aircraft that we want to have the largest numbers of are the last two, the Corsair and the Helldiver. Because of that I decided to make instructions for those (using MLcar/ LDraw and LPub). Since it seems a shame to keep them to ourselves, I've decided to share them with the on-line LEGO-building community, free for downloading.

Here is a sample image:

sub_assemby.png

The Corsair has 516 parts and the instructions have 27 pages. You can download them in .pdf format by clicking the image below:

cover.png

The Helldiver has 703 parts and the instructions have 44 pages. You can download them by clicking the following image.

cover.png

These are not simple models and they require fairly large numbers of parts that aren't readily available in large numbers, but perhaps some of you may be able to build them or, at least, enjoy looking at how I build this sort of thing.

Cheers,

Ralph

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It's interesting that these instructions have gone unnoticed, but then again I guess this isn't MOCpages :tongue:

Thanks for taking the time to do this Ralph. Although I'm not particularly interested in building either model I'll probably still look through the instructions to get ideas when I start building some war planes.

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It's interesting that these instructions have gone unnoticed, but then again I guess this isn't MOCpages :tongue:

Thanks for taking the time to do this Ralph. Although I'm not particularly interested in building either model I'll probably still look through the instructions to get ideas when I start building some war planes.

No problem. Thanks for the comments. It would seem that military stuff simply isn't particularly popular on eurobricks.

Cheers,

Ralph

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I think it's pretty awesome. It would be nice if Lego would do a series of aircraft, etc. from an historical approach....

Your work is really good. Thanks for sharing the instructions!

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How did I miss these?!? *huh*

Thanks for posting, these are fantastic. I really like the Corsair - I spent too many hours as a kid watching Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Are you looking for people to help populate the carrier at a specific event(s) or are you just being generous? :sweet:

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really nice, and with some very clever techniques included! The parts seem to be in my collection so I may give it a shot some day.

Thanks! If only I knew how to use that application to change an MLcad file into presentable instructions like yours. I guess I am better with Lego than with computers...

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Thanks for the comments.

I think it's pretty awesome. It would be nice if Lego would do a series of aircraft, etc. from an historical approach....

Your work is really good. Thanks for sharing the instructions!

The closest they came in recent times was with the Red Baron, Sopwith Camel and Wright flyer sets several years ago. They were really nice sets with great parts, but on a larger scale. Somehow I doubt they'd make WW-II aircraft though.

Sweet!!!! Thanks for doing this Ralph. I'm going to enjoy building one of these beauties. Thanks again.

:jollyroger:

Thanks you. If you do build one of them, I'd appreciate seeing a picture.

How did I miss these?!? *huh*

Thanks for posting, these are fantastic. I really like the Corsair - I spent too many hours as a kid watching Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Are you looking for people to help populate the carrier at a specific event(s) or are you just being generous? :sweet:

I guess this is buried in the 'other themes' sub-forum, which generally doesn't seem to get as much action as, say, town. I too saw Baa Baa Black Sheep as a child. The main reason why I am making these is because a friend of mine (Ed Diment/ Lego Monster) in the UK is building an aircraft carrier. He asked me to design the planes for it. I've built prototypes and am making instructions of a few of the types and he and his wife are building them. I know he is also sending out parts to several other Brickish members so that they too can build Corsairs. Including my prototype we'll have 19. The whole thing should be ready for the Great Western LEGO show in Swindon in the first weekend of October.

really nice, and with some very clever techniques included! The parts seem to be in my collection so I may give it a shot some day.

Thanks! If only I knew how to use that application to change an MLcad file into presentable instructions like yours. I guess I am better with Lego than with computers...

There are a few fairly rare parts in them (trans clear 2x3 plates seem to be the rarest), but it would be great to see more people building them.

The application is called LPub. Making instructions, however, also requires that you play around with the LDraw files themselves. I'm not a very experienced user of any of these programs, but found it fairly easy-going once I got the hang of it. It does require a bit of thought. If you have an existing LDraw file of a largish model, making instructions will be a massive undertaking, because you need to add command to the files telling LPub where a step ought to take place in the instructions. That is obviously easier to do if you think about where to make them as you're making the LDRaw file from scratch, and it's advisable to use a lot of sub-models in small files. I also think it's easier to do it of you've got the physical model in bricks before you make the files. I found doing all this more work than having LPub make the instructions and condensing them into a decent-sized booklet.

Ed's wife has built one and found an error in the F4U, by the way. The aft jumper plate in step 4 on page number 15 ought to be deleted! They also found that when printed, even on a decent Laser Printer, the dark blue is very dark, which makes the instructions hard to read. I've already been playing around with making the colour a bit lighter, so that a printed version looks better. I'm also working on instructions for the F6F Hellcat. Those ought to be done in a few days time. I still have the outer wing panels to put into LDraw and then to put them into the instructions, and add a parts list and make the front cover.

Cheers,

Ralph

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Nice instructions, I think that I'll build the Corsair with a different color scheme.

Are you going to make/post instructions for the Hellcat? That's the one that I really want to make in an alternate color.

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Nice instructions, I think that I'll build the Corsair with a different color scheme.

Are you going to make/post instructions for the Hellcat? That's the one that I really want to make in an alternate color.

At first I wasn't, as we only intended to have a few of them. Ed is building Intrepid as she appeared in early 1945, at which time she only carried a few Hellcats -most had been replaced by Corsairs. However, I've learned a lot making instructions for the Corsair and Helldiver, which means that making instructions takes me far less time now. We're still talking about on the order of ten hours for a roughly 600 part model, but that is a big improvement over how much time it took to do the Corsair. I have been working on instructions for the Hellcat and hope to finish them in a few days time.

Cheers,

Ralph

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Thank you so much! I'll be sure to post pictures of the Recolored version of the Hellcat.

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