Oh No It's the dreaded tri-colored scheme ?

[Liberator24]

I need some input. I have built my Tam Corsair and ready to put down paint, but I dont like the Model Master Intermidiate Blue..its grey...too grey.

I need to hear from you guys what you use for the tri-color, blue's. Can you help me out? What are you using?

-Jim

[timc]

I used the same color as you but lightened (added white) it up until it looked right. Experiment with adding some white to it (don't add white to the entire bottle if it's not obvious, just take some of the MM IB on a pallete and add white) and see if you can get a satisfactory color from it.

Edited January 4, 2014 by timc

[Liberator24]

I have thought about that. Thanks for the quick reply Tim! BTW, if you are still in New York you guys can have a lugh on us Floridians. We are getting 30's and 40's and I am literally freezing my arse off! If it got some of the temps like up North does we would die...

-Jim

[Hal Marshman Sr]

if you're putting the "3 tone scheme" on, bear in mind the scheme was depot applied, not factory. The birdcages came out of the factory in Blue/Gray over Light Gray. When they were repainted at the Naval depot, the quarter light window was masked over, prior to spraying. Regardless of what Tamiya says, that area under the glass remained Blue/Gray. It was NOT Intermediate Blue, nor was it an interior color. Hal Sr

[toadwbg]

I mixed my own Tamiya colors and they turned out great. I'll try to post the formulas if I can find them.

eDIT: did some searching but couldn't find my old notes. Here's some stuff I found via Google search:

Sea Blue (XF-17) and Medium Blue (XF-18)

I know these are pretty close but I think I lightened them a bit or tweaked them some.

Edited January 5, 2014 by toadwbg

[PFlint]

I like to use Pollyscale Great Northern Sky Blue (in the locomotive line)

right now I can't seem to find the bottle , but the number is 414###

you can also find the petroleum-based paint in the Floquil line.

[midnightprowler]

. We are getting 30's and 40's and I am literally freezing my arse off! If it got some of the temps like up North does we would die...

-Jim

If it was that warm we would be in shorts. High temps tomorrow are going to be 15-20 below.

[Liberator24]

Thanks to everyone. Thanks for the infor Hal, I will try to correct that....LOL! Yep, I went with Tamiya...

-jim

[Falcon50EX]

I need some input. I have built my Tam Corsair and ready to put down paint, but I dont like the Model Master Intermidiate Blue..its grey...too grey.

I need to hear from you guys what you use for the tri-color, blue's. Can you help me out? What are you using?

-Jim

Hi Jim,

I partially agree and disagree with the responses I've seen so far. On the subject of the Intermediate Blue, I too agree that the MM Intermediate blue is a bit too dark, especially if you are modeling in a smaller scale, like 1/72nd. I agree that adding some white is a good way to go. The model will also get slightly darker when you put the clear coats on to prepare for decaling, so just know that going in you are going to get a colour shift. id also suggest adding intermediate blue to the Non Spec Sea blue to make it a little lighter, bluer and less greenish, but its a matter of personal preference. One problem with Corsairs is with such little colour imagery its very hard to be definitive on the shades of blue.

On the subject of the Blue Gray vs. three tone scheme, it think its premature to say that ALL Birdcage Corsairs were repainted into the three tone scheme at the depot level. I'm reasonably sure that Vought switched to three tone application before the changeover to the raised cockpit/ blown hood canopy Corsairs. I know for a fact that Goodyear was delivering Corsairs in their interpretation of the three tone from the very beginning. I have a gut feeling that Everett Vaughn's "Shirley June" was also painted in Three tone before delivery. Brewster delivered its First F3A-1A in three tone, but that says nothing about the Birdcages that led up to it.

Dana Bell will be publishing a book on the early Corsairs and from what he's told me he's been very successful at uncovering new information at the National archives. Hopefully it will fill in a lot of missing gaps related to the Corsairs sort of murky history.

Hope it helps, or at least sheds a little bit of light on why its kind of a thorny issue.

david

[toadwbg]

Ah Here they are! And I must say these colors turned out very well for me:

NON-SPEC. SEA BLUE:- XF17:5 + XF8:3 + XF2:2

INTERMEDIATE BLUE:- XF18:5 + XF2:4

LIGHT GRAY:- XF19:2 + XF2:1

[Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy]

Speaking as a fellow MM user, you're right about not liking the IntBlue. Look for the MM shade "Navy Blue Gray", I think it's called. Definite winner with me, at least comapred to IBlue.

[Captoveur]

If you can get it I like Gunze for the tri color scheme.

[Scooby]

Hi Jim,

On the subject of the Blue Gray vs. three tone scheme, it think its premature to say that ALL Birdcage Corsairs were repainted into the three tone scheme at the depot level. I'm reasonably sure that Vought switched to three tone application before the changeover to the raised cockpit/ blown hood canopy Corsairs. I know for a fact that Goodyear was delivering Corsairs in their interpretation of the three tone from the very beginning. I have a gut feeling that Everett Vaughn's "Shirley June" was also painted in Three tone before delivery. Brewster delivered its First F3A-1A in three tone, but that says nothing about the Birdcages that led up to it.

Dana Bell will be publishing a book on the early Corsairs and from what he's told me he's been very successful at uncovering new information at the National archives. Hopefully it will fill in a lot of missing gaps related to the Corsairs sort of murky history.

Hope it helps, or at least sheds a little bit of light on why its kind of a thorny issue.

david

I agree in regards to F4U-2 production, the F4U-1A was in production at the time of -2 development and the Navy wouldn't release any of the 1As for -2 production. So only the last build -1s were used for the -2 builds. Tri-color had been adopted prior to -2 production and therefore most, if not all -2s left the factory in tri-color.

I feel for years modelers have been misinterpreting a heavily faded tri-color scheme as a blue-gray scheme on -2 Corsairs. Black George, depicted incorrectly on Tamiya's F4U-2 instructions as blue-gray scheme was most definitely tri-color.

Shirley June was a F4U-2 and I agree it was likely a factory applied tri-color scheme.

I have read that -2s were war weary -1s repainted from blue-grey to tri-color but have always been doubtful of this.

A lot of -2s were altered further once in theatre for night flying. Some of them received the dark undersides or the intermediate blue was painted over, making them look to be a solid color which could also be confused for a blue-grey scheme.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Scooby