This sheet is for anyone who has an interest in building the aircraft of the very colorful and very controversial Major Greg Boyington.  All six Corsairs covered by this sheet were flown by Marine Fighter Squadrons include four that Boyington flew.

The first Corsair is an FG-1 of VMF-222 (993) with a USMC and Seabees badge on the port side of the cowl. It is painted in the 1943-1944 camo scheme of non specular Sea Blue over Intermediate Blue over Insignia White.

The second Corsair is an F4U-1A from VMF-122 (643) painted in the late Pacific Paint Scheme of Sea Gloss Blue.  It is notable for the Ace of Hearts painted on the port side of the cowl and the white panel painted on the tail.

The next four Corsairs are all F4U-1As flown by Boyington at one time or another when he was Squadron Commander of the VMF-214 Black Sheep in Nov 1943 to Jan 1944.  All of four Corsiars painted in the tri color scheme.

The first of Boyington's Corsairs is the famous 86.  According to the Cutting Edge Decal Sheet, this plane was only painted up as Boyington's plane for PR purposes (complete with kill markings) and really not flown in combat by Boyington.  And for those who are true sticklers for detail, the plane was called Lucybelle and not Lulubelle.  86 had the 1943 style national insignia with the red border.

The next Boyington Corsair is 883 "Martha."  This Corsair also has the red border around the national insignia.  Cutting Edge recommends that if you want to depict this plane as it flew in combat, you should not add the Kill Markings.

The third Boyington Corsair is 915 and the last one he flew with VMF-214.  915 and Boyington were shot down in Jan 1944 near Rabul in a fierce (and controversial for reasons I won't get into here) dogfight. Boyington was captured and sent to a POW camp in Japan.

The fourth and last Boyington Corsair is 740.

The decals are what you expect for an aftermarket set: very thin and the clear borders are almost non existent.  The detail is very sharp and within register.  There are some stencils provided for each plane, but it looks like you will have to use some of the Tamiya Stencils to complete the plane.

Cutting Edge has thoughtfully provided a paint and placement guide to highlight the differences between each of the Corsairs.

One important note is that Cutting Edge recommends these decals require the Microscale Finishing system and strongly state that one should NOT use Solvaset.

Dan Lee