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1/48 Tamiya F4U-1D with extras


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Hi folks,

 

I thought I would share some pictures of my third build for the year.  It is the superb Tamiya F4U-1D kit, augmented by some Eduard etched parts, Vector Resin cowl, and Ultracast resin (wheels, prop and spinner, and exhausts).   

 

I built the cockpit up, painted everything Mission Models US Interior Green and added Eduard F4U placards and US Navy Steelbelts. I used the kit supplied decal for the instrument panel and then filled in each dial face with some future.  

 

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Edited by Falconxlvi
Added vector resin
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Lets talk engines...

 

Since the F4U has such a large cowl opening, I wanted to detail up the Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine, or at least what could be viewable from the front, as much as possible.  

 

To that end, I purchased a resin engine face from Quickboost (QB48006) designed specifically for the Tamiya kit.   Although an improvement in detail over the kit part, the engine is regrettably under scale, and this becomes super apparent when placed inside the cowl next to the kit supplied engine. 

 

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 So, I discarded the resin piece and went back to the kit engine.  I decided the most noticeable improvement would be adding the ignition wires from the harness to each cylinder.  There are two leads for each cylinder - one going to a spark plug in the front and one in the back.   The R-2800 is a twin row radial with 9 cylinders in the front and 9 in the back, offset from the front bank.  I pulled out my micro drill bits and used a 0.1mm bit in a pin vise to create the holes necessary for adding wires to the ignition ring.  This was a long and tedious process as you can imagine.  

 

 

Next, using tweezers and very small (32 gauge) copper wire, I used thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue to secure each wire, which was then trimmed to the correct length to adequately reach each cylinder plug.  The cylinder plugs were drilled out with a slightly larger .2mm drill bit to allow for more play in attaching the other end of the copper wire.  Those holes were also drilled about .5mm deep so that the ignition wires could be press fit into the cylinder without the need for more glue.  By the time all the wires had been glued to the ignition ring, it was a mess of dried CA glue.  I used Great Planes CA debonder on a QTip to remove the excess glue and get the plastic clean and ready for paint.   

 

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All of the parts were then primed with Mission Models Black Primer, and the cylinder banks were sprayed with Mission Models Faded Aluminum.   Each pushrod was painted black using Vallejo Acrylics.  

 

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I painted the reduction housing and ignition ring part in Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey and picked the bolts out with Citadel Boltgun Metal and Testors Brass Enamel using Tamiya High Finish Small Pointed Round brushes.  Each of the ignition wires was carefully painted in Panzer Aces canvas and then the wires going to the front of each cylinder were attached with tweezers.  The ignition wires going to the aft of each cylinder admittedly “float in space”, but the effect is quite convincing when viewed from the front I think.  The final step was adding Eduard placards for the Pratt and Whitney logo and dataplate.  

 

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14 hours ago, 11bee said:

Looking good, the Corsair is one of my favorites. What are you using for decals?

VMF-351 from the old Super Scale sheet, but I will paint some of the markings for sure.  

55 minutes ago, Alternative 4 said:

Shame about the quickboost engine. With your detail work the kit part looks better than the resin one anway.

Thanks- yes it was a bummer to waste the cash on it, but the kit engine suffices.  Most of the lack of detail on the front of the reduction housing will be hidden by the prop and spinner assembly anyways.  

 

 

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jM9OSVA.jpgUpdate 7/7

Fun with resin, tweezers, superglue, and razor saws.  

 

I worked on the front cowl ring of the Vector Resin set this weekend.  The set was super detailed and I had no casting flaws on my sample.  You get a few extra actuators, just in case, and it’s a good thing too as I managed to mangle one up pretty bad while removing it from the pour stub.  I did find the Vector resin really easy to work with.   Thankfully, the front cowl ring is cast with tiny ridges on the inside marking the location of each of the 18 actuators.  Although the work is tedious, the results are fantastic!

 

Surgery...

 

The final part of installing the new cowl involves cutting off the kit cowl ring along the engraved panel line.  I used a JLC razor saw to get a clean cut and then scrapped a slight taper along the inside of the remaining part with a No.11 blade.  I sanded the cut with 1500 grit paper to smooth the mating surface.  The fit of the resin part into the kit plastic was perfect- the resin part even has a slight male lip to assist with alignment.

 

I need to tidy up some glue marks with CA debonder, and then the cowl innards will be ready for paint.  That’s all for this weekend, thanks for stopping by to take a look!

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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That's an excellent job you are doing here Steve; I like both the cockpit and the engine, too bad about the resin one but your work with the kit's engine compensated for it.

 

I remember seeing in someone's build that the Neomega cowl front was slightly smaller in diameter compared with the Tamiya's cowl, and the modeler corrected that by making a longitudinal cut to remove just a tiny amount of material and glued it back together; did you have to make some adjustment?, Your sample appears to be just fine.
 
Carlos

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Carlos,

 

   Thanks for stopping by!   Your F4U-1A is incredible!  The cowl parts fit perfectly- I didn’t need to modify anything.  Perhaps I got lucky, but both the resin front cowl and rear cowl flaps are spot on in diameter where they meet the kit part.   

 

Steve

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16 hours ago, Bravosierra001 said:

That is looking fantastic!!

Thanks!

 

4 hours ago, 11bee said:

Love the Vector cowling.  I used it on my 32nd scale build, I think it really adds a great deal to the model.

 

 

I agree!  Your Corsair was excellent and it really tempts me to get the 1/32 Tamiya F4U.  I’ve got too big of a stash as it is 😂

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2 hours ago, Bob Beary said:

What's the purpose of the semi-circular cutout in the razor saw? I've never seen that before.

 

Thanks.

Ha, it serves no purpose- the blade broke off there and I haven’t replaced the whole blade yet because the other side is good.   

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Update 7/14

 

I got some more work done on the aft cowl ring this morning.  Each of the cowl flap actuators had to be cut from the stub, cleaned up, and then superglued to the ring using tweezers.  One tedious task remains- joining each actuator with thin copper gauge wire 😬   Then paint, wash, yadda yadda 

 

I really like the added detail, especially with the kit engine exhaust plug inserted.  With the cowl flaps open you can see the exhaust pipes.

 

Have a great week everybody and happy modeling!

 

Steve

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Edited by Falconxlvi
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Update 7/19

 

Finally!  The Corsair cowling is done and painted.  CA glue cleanup was a bit tougher due to the fragility of the parts and tight spaces.  It’s definitely not as “clean” as I would’ve liked but the most visible part of the actuators and connecting wire that are visible look ok.    Anyways, I used 0.010 brass music wire, cut to the appropriate length, to link the cowl flap actuators.  If I told you this part of the build was fun I’d be lying.  😅

 

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The entire assembly without the engine

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The aft cowl ring with a dark wash

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It’s time to move onto the next sub assembly- the main wing box and landing gear bays.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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  • 2 weeks later...

Update 7/28

 

  The Tamiya kit shows its age in the wheel wells.  This kit dates from 1998.  Due to the tight spaces to work in the wheel well, there are a ton of difficult to remove ejector pin marks.  Anyways, after a chisel, putty, 600/800/1000 grit sandpaper glued to a fine pointed toothpick, primer, and a sanding sponge, I achieved a crappy result temporarily hidden because of the black primer 😂

 

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  My solution?  Adding a few hydraulic lines to hide some of the flaws in the finish.  I’ve attached a picture looking towards the aft end of the wheel bay from my “research” trip to the Boeing Museum’s FG-1D Corsair.  My apologies for the lighting.  

 

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  There is one big line across the back and two smaller lines that run from the back towards the front on the outboard side of the bay.  Also of note, there is a wooden skid block to slow wheel rotation as the tire retracts into the bay.  I tried to replicate this as best I could, and I will freely admit this is my first time attempting something like this.   

 

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  I used UMM-USA 0.2mm and 0.5mm lead wire and some Evergreen styrene for the skid blocks.   Each hydraulic line was anchored in a tiny hole drilled long the sidewall of the bay and anchored with CA.  I used 1mm kabuki tape to create fasteners and only AFTER permanently securing them with CA glue did I realize I put the fasteners in between the ribs instead of on the ribs 🤦🏼‍♂️...ugh.  The tape sections are much longer than the fasteners should be.  I had a hard time working with a strip of tape about 1x2mm - perhaps Bare Metal Foil may have been a good choice here?  I will try to camouflage the fastener size during the painting phase. 

 

  I also cut one of the 0.5mm wires a wee bit short, so it is anchored to a piece of Evergreen rod that I’m calling a pump to correct my “shortcoming” (get it?) and add some visual interest.  Anyways, this was more of a “let’s try something new” and I think it’s at least...50%...(in)accurate? 🤫 😂

 

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The aforementioned “pump” is in the pic above on the left side.  I may punch a small disc and add it to the front side to give the part a little more “oomf”.  

 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.  I should have time to paint this up tomorrow.  

 

Steve

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Update 7/29

 

Today was all about Zinc Green Chromate.  I painted up the landing gear bays and doors using Mission Models paint over their black primer.  The Tamiya doors look pretty good after painting and I’m sure a wash will further highlight all the relief.

 

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I proceeded to pick out the added hydraulic lines in the bay with Testors Enamels- Aluminum for the big line, black for the smaller lines, and chrome silver for the masking tape fasteners.  The wood skid block was painted with Panzer Aces “new wood” and will get some burnt sienna oil paint streaking for the wood grain once I clear coat everything.  I am hopeful the enamel wash ties everything together in the bays.  

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This is an awkward angle to photograph, but hopefully it shows what will be seen when looking at the underside from the front of the aircraft.  

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The next sub-assembly I will tackle is the landing gear itself.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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  • 2 weeks later...

Update 8/6

 

I was able to start working on the landing gear over the last few days and am at a point where I feel I can post a worthy update.  

 

The kit gear struts are a bit simplistic and so I decided to add a few details that stood out to me when I took my reference pictures of the Corsair at the Boeing Museum of Flight.   

 

First, the reference:

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There are two prominent springs on either side of the strut and I wanted to duplicate that look.  I ruled out using an actual spring due to the fact I couldn’t find any available that small!  So, I substituted small plastic rod for both the spring, and attachment nut.  I figured I can paint the spring silver and dry brush it a bit with a darker color to get a spring type effect.  

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The next thing I wanted to add was the red tie down ring, located just behind the top spring attachment point.  It gives the gear a bit of color.  For this part, I used UMM-USA 0.3mm lead wire wrapped around a wire bending tool with various circumferences and then CA glue to attach it.  

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There are various linkages that that could be added, but those are a bit beyond my fabrication skill level at the moment, so I decided to add the brake line and call the landing gear struts complete.   The brake line is made from UMM-USA 0.4mm lead wire.  I drilled a 0.5mm hole on the lower landing gear door support and ran a continuous wire through it to the top of the strut.  Then, I used 1mm Kabuki tape to simulate the various fasteners along the strut, and solidified the mount of the tape and wire with a drop of thin CA glue.  

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The final addition was a set of Ultracast ribbed Corsair tires.  These are noticeably thinner in width than the kit wheels, and generally more detailed.  Here is a comparison shot between the kit wheel detail and Ultracast’s wheels.  I have used Ultracast products a lot and really like their  quality!

 

 

So here is where we stand at the moment- ready to prime and paint.  Hopefully I will have another update soon to show the results.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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