Revell new tool 1/72 F4U-1 Corsair

[Jonathan Mock]

But they didn't go quite so mad trying to make the base kit possibly serve so many other versions.

OK, hopefully on the final lap with this one, at least as far as construction goes. I'm still trying to clean up the wing tips and the break means you may end up with an area no rib or fabric detail. I really don't know what the fix here is right now, I did think about trying to carve a recess to match the other areas, in the end I may just end up simulating it with paint.

[Jonathan Mock]

OK, we're finally getting towards the paint stage but, frankly, I just to finish this thing off now. A few coats of primer, one of the leading edge radiators is still being troublesome to clean up. I'm going to let this primer harden off overnight, then blast the gear bays with ZCP.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Jonathan Mock

[Jonathan Mock]

Time to start getting the final subassemblies ready for paint. The engine was a tight fit into the cowl, I had to sand the back down in order to stop the cowling sticking out, but also trimming the sides so it would fit in without cracking the cowl open.

Time to try and be clever - or fall on my face. I gave the wing roots a coat of ZCP, hairspray, and then silver (should have been the other way around). Hairspray will go on prior to the final top coats with the intention of trying to chip it back to the underlaying colours - in theory!

And finally some colour! Reading the IPMS Stockholm article on F4U-1 colours, I decided to paint the main gear bays, undercarriage and doors white, though I did hairspray them so I can chip back to some ZCP if I want. My choice of white was Tamiya's XF2 and X2 (gloss), 50/50 and then thinned with Mr Color self levelling thinner at around 40%. The gloss white effectively thins down the matt. I sprayed at around 15 psi, nice low pressure, and just built up the colours slowly. One of plus points of the Japanese acrylic lacquers is that they can be pushed a little, I was able to lay down some quite wet coats that flashed off quite quickly. My final coat was pure X2 mixed 50/50 with thinner, and then a final coat of just thinner to level it all off again. I didn't go for high gloss, just something smooth with a little shine to aid weathering, Yes, no preshading! I'm trying something different here.

And that's that for now, I shall let that white really harden off for a day or two.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Jonathan Mock

[Jonathan Mock]

The two blues came courtesy of the Mr Color US Naval Aircraft Paint Set. The intermediate blue went down no problem, the dark blue seems to have dried loking a bit rough but is smooth to the touch. I sprayed at low pressure and at around 50/50 thinner, weird. It also didn't quite dry gloss either! No problem, I can level it down with some Skotchbrite. I didn't preshade on this model but opted to leave the upper colours a but patchy so I can define panels with oils later.

Time to leave this to cure off for a day or so.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Jonathan Mock

[Falcon50EX]

Looks Nice!!

I will have to try your technique of mixing the 2 Tamiya whites.

david

[mawz]

Nice build.

As to the kit, I was looking forward to it, as a cheap but good Corsair would save me a lot as Revell kits are usually 2 for 1 vs Tamiya's. I'll be buying the Tamiya's overall but I'll build at least 1 of these.

Aside from possible dimension errors (wondering if they were trying to get a -5 in there) the pylons, canopy and prop argue that it really only builds up as a mid/late -1D regardless of what's in the box. I'd be curious to see where the extra length is, if it's somewhere in the nose that's readily fixable, if it's spread out, it's not so easily fixable. Almost looks like they got the length with prop and length to the front of the cowl mixed up.

Edited September 1, 2014 by mawz

[Jonathan Mock]

I'm going against my normal routine by applying decals first, then weathering the model. But before that, a couple of coats of gloss. I decided to give Tamiya's X-22 clear gloss a go - lovely stuff, you thinned about 50/50 and sprays at low pressure, you can apply really wet coats and it'll flash off in seconds. I could have micro meshed this down a bit more, but I wasn't looking for a mirror finish, it's silky enough for decals and the matt finish will even it all out.