Falconxlvi Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 Fantastic Carlos! I have been getting up to speed with the last three of your updates. The riveting looks great, as do your mods to the Aires pit. This will be a stunning Corsair- your attention to detail is awe-inspiring! Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 Thank you, Steve, I wish I could work as good and fast as you; I'm following your F-111 build with interest. Hello all, some more progress. Here is the first step to modify the fuselage spine behind the armored plate, in the kit, is represented as a rabbet (to accommodate the closed canopy I assume) but in reality should be beveled; also, the rail for the canopy on the side of the fuselage should continue on the bevel. The contour of this section was copied to a piece of plastic card using Tamiya tape. The white part that you see inside the fuselage will not be the armored plate (as both Tamiya and Aires represented it) and is only to give some support when the fuselage is glued. Moving to the cockpit, those parts were primed using AMMO One-Shot and painted using Tamiya 1:1 mix of green and yellow, some of them also have Vallejo's metal color beneath the paint. The kit parts were also painted to serve as a testbed for some weathering techniques before using them on the resin parts. I tried to simulate some scratches on the seat, the armored plate, and the footrests using Vallejo's chipping medium, but I couldn't get the desired effect and in some of the parts, you can see the water stained the paint. I need to get a hold on this technique because I plan to give this bird a battered look. Finally, I couldn't find a definitive reference on how the interior is painted so that I will be using black for the side consoles and the instrument panel and the Tamiya mix for the rest; the fuselage interior is masked to preserve the green paint. Only one of the Tamiya's consoles is painted in black because the other will be used to practice brush painting (which I suck at it) for this and future builds. That's all for now; the next steps will be the detailing of the cockpit and the painting of the landing gear wells; for this, I plan to use yellow zinc for the interior of the tail gear and white for the main wells and maybe some scratches in yellow zinc. Still, I'm open to suggestions to represent reality better. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Cruiz, Your build is really fascinating to watch 🤓 You’ve got great skills and I’m eager to see your next updat👍 Keep building, Mr.Happy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted August 20, 2020 Author Share Posted August 20, 2020 Thank you for your encouraging words Mr.Happy The cockpit is almost halfway, more detail painting and touch up is needed before final weathering. Masking the side consoles was tedious, but in the end, it was a better option than to paint them with a brush. I experimented with brush painting with both Tamiya and Vallejo, first on the kit parts to avoid mistakes on the resin ones. I found Vallejo easier to work with, but since I don't have all the colors needed, I'll have to use Tamiya also. Here are the parts, I'm not entirely happy with the scratches I did, but I hope to improve the appearance with washes and some oils. The colors of some details are selected randomly to add some interest. The detail of the fuselage behind the armor is done for the most part. That's all for now. Thank you for your comments and critiques. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Fantastic! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 Thank you Gianni. Small update from last weekend; the cockpit is finished, weathering was done using AMMO dark sea blue panel line wash, carefully cleaning it to create only shadows and not grime. Lights were done using regular yellow oil paint for the green parts and AMMO buff Oilbrushes for the black ones; Tamiya's brown Panel Line was used to dirty the footrest and of the seat. The parts were coated with Future to protect the paint before the weathering and finally, after left the oils to dry for a week, a coat of matt Lucky Varnish from AMMO. I tried to give the instruments a light yellow hue by applying Gunze's clear yellow before Tamiya's flat white, but the result was not the one I intended; next time, I'll try with a lighter coat, either with clear blue or green instead of yellow. Before closing the fuselage, I've to finish the tailwheel well; some details needed repair and touch-ups; the fuselage halves interiors were primed using AMMO's One Shot, the front part is painted black and the mid-section is painted dark aluminum, both from Vallejo. The mid-sections will be used to test different methods to simulate scratches; for this, the halve in the picture has some dots of Masking Fluid, Chipping Medium will be used on the other one. That's all for now; thank you for looking. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falconxlvi Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 (edited) Wow Carlos! The cockpit is spectacular in every way. I love the tonal variety with highlights and shadows- it has a ton of depth. Looking forward to your next update 👍🏻 Steve Edited September 11, 2020 by Falconxlvi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 amazing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 (edited) Thank you, Bounce. Thank you, Steve; first time using oils for this purpose, and I'm pleased how ended up. Lots of work these past days, but little progress to show; first, this is how the test for making scratches went on. Vallejo's chipping fluid was used on the right half, as you can see, it hasn't gone well; some thinner was still in the airbrush when I pour the fluid, this caused to become a gooey mess in some parts that I had to remove it. I let the fluid to dry for a few hours before applying a coat of Vallejo's black. I let the paint dry for a few hours, and then I wetted it to make some scratches. Realized that the fluid coat was excessive because the paint went off with a simple pass of the brush; the only paint left was on the portion where I removed the gooey fluid. The left half went better; the masking fluid was removed easily, leaving sharp scratches, although the shape of them wasn't too convincing. A new round of chipping fluid on the right (a lighter coat this time) and masking fluid on the left was applied before covering with Vallejo's yellow zinc. The paint over the chipping fluid went off easily, even after two days, but this time I had more control over it. On the other half, nice combined scratches of black and metallic formed where the masking overlapped previous scratches; next time, on multilayered scratches, I'll not remove the previous masking until the very end to prevent leaving some of them covered with paint. On the landing gear section, since the paint has a smooth finish, I've made a bet to apply the AMMO's dark blue wash without protecting it first with a glossy coat, barely got away with it. I was in such a hurry to close the fuselage that almost forgot that I'll replace the kit's engine with a resin one from Vector, so I have to make previsions, in case some rework is necessary before gluing the halves. After some research on the engine and comparing the kit's parts, not many modifications will be necessary. Here are the parts ready for a coat of primer; the process of cleaning and preparing each piece was a tedious one; to facilitate the assembling, holes were drilled were cylinders and hoses will meet, sections of wire were glued to this last ones. You can also see the kit's engine and several lengths of stretched sprue from where I hope to obtain enough 0.5 mm (0.02") sections for the pushrods. That's all for now; excuse me for the boring recount of such meager progress. Carlos Edited September 22, 2020 by cruiz Images not working, finally knew how to make them work, thanks to Dave Williams and Hajo L. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Carlos, Your build is getting better and better each time I get to tune in. Keep up your incredible updates and build. Cheers, Mr. Happy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 very nice presentation here as well. a model (ha! a pun) to follow for the aspiring like myself, photography and layout... it's a pleasure to scroll through this thread. it delivers. estupendo trabajo! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falconxlvi Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 I’m looking forward to seeing the vector engine built up! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 Thank you Mr.Happy, I'm glad you find it interesting. Thank you for kind words Bounce, I'm just trying to share back a little of all I've learned here. Steve, lets hope I can do justice to Vector's engine. Mini update Here are some parts after painting and basic detailing before a varnish coat and subsequent washes and weathering. All parts primed with Vallejo; cylinders painted Dull Aluminium, Steel was used on the admission tubes and Exhaust Manifold on the short ones. All Vallejo's Metal Color The body and the reduction box were painted with a 3:1 mix of Dark Gull Gray and P.R.U. Blue from Vallejo. Scratches and other details brush painted with Vallejo also. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 Hello all Currently working on two fronts, first is the engine; here is the current state of things. All the parts from the Vector's kit are painted, weathered, and varnished. The cylinders on this picture are dry-fitted, the body is varnished satin, the cylinders matt, both from Vallejo. Tamiya's parts for the engine and their cover are so well engineered that it is almost impossible to misalign between them and the rest of the fuselage. The main challenge with the Vector's engine will be to solve the alignment and create a solid attachment to the cover and the fuselage. The other front in the cockpit, there are five main parts but doesn't have a positive fit between them, neither the fuselage. After much thinking, I plan to solve the more visible areas first and work from there. I choose the side panels first to take care of the union to the fuselage and because this will be the alignment point fort he rest of the parts. Here are the parts glued to the fuselage; you can see I've carved a notch on the bottom of the right panel; this was to make room for the oxygen bottle, I'll explain more later. That's all for now; thank you for watching. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Carlos, You continually amaze me with the attention to detail you have utilized in this build Best of luck on your continuing project, Mr. Happy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falconxlvi Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 The engine looks outstanding- if I build another Tamiya Corsair I will definitely buy the Vector set! I really like what you’ve done with the cockpit as well. The leather map case is very convincing. Nice job! Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zaxos345 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Really nice work there!!!! John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 my thoughts during the day keep coming back to this engine of yours; I came back to look again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chukw Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Beautiful paint work, Carlos- cheers! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 On 10/5/2020 at 9:07 AM, Mr.Happy said: Carlos, You continually amaze me with the attention to detail you have utilized in this build Best of luck on your continuing project, Mr. Happy Thank you Mr.Happy; in fact, a large chunk of the time invested in this build is devoted to get and study references; I really wish Detail&Scale had re-edited their Corsair's book to make life easier. On 10/8/2020 at 10:15 AM, Falconxlvi said: The engine looks outstanding- if I build another Tamiya Corsair I will definitely buy the Vector set! I really like what you’ve done with the cockpit as well. The leather map case is very convincing. Nice job! Steve Thanks, Steve; Vector's engine is very good, just some misaligned mold marks on the rear cylinders so they are not too evident. The leather finish has been one of my weaknesses modeling-wise; this time I was disappointed again so I tried covering with clear orange as the last resource, that did the trick. Great job you are doing on your current and paused builds. On 10/13/2020 at 5:05 AM, zaxos345 said: Really nice work there!!!! John Thank you John. On 10/13/2020 at 6:20 AM, Bounce said: my thoughts during the day keep coming back to this engine of yours; I came back to look again. Thank you Bounce; I'm glad you like it. On 10/13/2020 at 12:20 PM, chukw said: Beautiful paint work, Carlos- cheers! Thank you chukw, I consider myself a devoted student of your modeling techniques. Thank you guys, not much progress these days due to my work. Hope to catch up this weekend. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Hello all, Small update and a request for help for you Corsair experts; here is the current state of the engine; all are Vector's parts plus the push rods made from stretched sprue; there are two types of thingies over the crankcase (magnetos, I think) what is the more accurate for an F4U-1A?. In photographs of the R-2800, you can see, between the cylinder heads, a sort of hoses connecting them at the top; what are these?; are they on all the cylinders or some only? The engine is halfway; to help with the engine cover support, I'll insert a ring between the cylinders rows (like in the real airplane) and maybe the mounts that connect the ring with the cylinders. Still missing are the ignition wires and the exhaust tubes, which will be made from stretched sprue. Moving to the cockpit; the lower part is glued to the right side of the fuselage; the challenge here was to align it with the side consoles and also with the window on the bottom, all of this while keeping it horizontally. The back of the cockpit is shown here dry-fitted only; I've had to glue a pair of plastic tabs to help both with the support and the alignment; after several iterations of fit tests and scrapping, I was able to close the fuselage and maintaining the part in place, squared and centered without glue. A small portion of the headrest section of the fuselage was shaved to made room for the armor plate that will be inserted later; unlike the kit, on my references, this plate protrudes slightly from the fuselage instead of end flush with it. The only left to be solved, the front section placement before I can glue the fuselage close. Doing the first fit tests found that I placed the instruments dials on the right console too high, so I temporarily removed them, as you can see in the picture. I hope to make more progress this weekend. Thank you for your comments and advice. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falcon50EX Posted October 20, 2020 Share Posted October 20, 2020 (edited) Hi there, So far, the engine progress is looking good, but there seems to be a bit of a mashup; looking at your photos, it appears you have one type of distributor on the right side and a completely different distributor on the left; The cone shaped one i think belongs on the much later R2800 CB-16 variety and not the wartime R-2800-8 and -10 series engines. There should also be a magneto (singular) painted semigloss black, that resides in between and slightly behind the two distributors at the 12 O' Clock position. Don't mean to be "That Guy", but i am sure other people are seeing the same thing i am. At the risk of sounding too critical, i DO like the treatment you gave the where the canopy nests up on the fuselage sides towards the rear. Hope this helps. david Edited October 20, 2020 by Falcon50EX added additional comment Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted October 21, 2020 Author Share Posted October 21, 2020 8 hours ago, Falcon50EX said: Hi there, So far, the engine progress is looking good, but there seems to be a bit of a mashup; looking at your photos, it appears you have one type of distributor on the right side and a completely different distributor on the left; The cone shaped one i think belongs on the much later R2800 CB-16 variety and not the wartime R-2800-8 and -10 series engines. There should also be a magneto (singular) painted semigloss black, that resides in between and slightly behind the two distributors at the 12 O' Clock position. Don't mean to be "That Guy", but i am sure other people are seeing the same thing i am. At the risk of sounding too critical, i DO like the treatment you gave the where the canopy nests up on the fuselage sides towards the rear. Hope this helps. david Thank you David, your advice is helpful for sure. Indeed the distributors (now I know) are different, the Vector kit comes with two types of them, and I only dry-fitted one of each to show them; as you pointed out, it seems that the cylindrical is the correct type. The magneto is already painted in black as you mention it; there is only one type provided in the kit, along with what I think is the propeller governor, also painted black. These pieces will be glued last after I finish the rest of the detailing. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 Hello all While trying to figure out how to attach the last part of the cockpit, I started working on the Vector's cowl kit. Here is the front part with the supports fixed in place; references show that they should be aligned with the top of the cylinders. In an ideal world, I'll have had used Vector's engine as a reference but found out that I didn't get the cylinders evenly spaced; so, I used Tamiya's part instead. It is evident that the front of the Vector's cowl is based on the Tamiya part (on the right), down to the ejector marks that I filled with CA. At the first test, the fit of the part was almost perfect, without a gap except for a small section, that unlucky, was on the top of the cowl. At first, I thought to fill it after gluing the parts but, since the small gap had the same thickness as a panel line, I decided to sand all around the length of the edge to match; in this way, I don't need to make the panel line in the union. The cowl flaps were also well casted, with only some small air pockets that I filled using CA; the actuators braces need a little cleaning, they each have a small hole at the base that I thought will serve to pass a wire through it to simulate the actuator cable, so I cleaned each one. After studying references, I found that those holes were too close to the base, and in reality, the cable pass between the pulleys at the top of the braces; if you use the Vector kit, I recommend not to use the holes, use the molded pulleys instead. Here is the current work; I use stretched sprue instead of wire because I don't have one that is stiffer enough to simulate the tensioning. Back to the cockpit, after many unsuccessful tries to get the IP section in place, I glued a strip of plastic to the edge; in this way, I could rest the part over the base of the cockpit and maintain it in place while test fitting with the closed fuselage. Small strips of plastic, glued over the top part of the side consoles, help align the IP part; here, you can see that I removed the paint to have a better surface for gluing. Before placing everything, I'm filling some imperfections where the side consoles meet the IP coaming. That is all for now; thank you for watching. Carlos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falconxlvi Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Fantastic work Carlos! Your research is top notch! The vector cowl ring and flaps add so much detail- it’s definitely worth it. I never realized the holes were in the wrong spot for the actuating wires though! Keep it up 👍🏻 Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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