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1/48 Tamiya F4U-1D with extras


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Long time, no update 😌

 

2/20

 

We have some blue paint on the model!  After researching some more, I’ve discovered that painting the gear wells and wing folds Zinc Green Chromate was a mistake and they should’ve been Gloss Sea Blue for any war time F4U.  So, I called an audible on the markings and am going to replicate the FG-1D from the Boeing Museum in Seattle, since I’ve used my pictures of her as a reference since day 1.  


PBw4eut.jpg


The antenna configuration is slightly different from the out of the box Tamiya kit.  I cut off the antenna post on the top of the vertical stabilizer (After I took some of these pics) and added an antenna fairing on the port side of the fuselage.  

 

g8XkFhA.jpg


After a few coats of Mission Models Gloss Sea Blue over a black base, this is where things stand.  I went for a uniform finish since it’s a museum bird.  I am planning on an overall gloss coat, except semi-gloss on the fabric areas of the control surfaces.  

 

UPQ65GU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/t22sEZI.jpg

 

Wing walkways were masked and painted as well. 
 

li7jAeC.jpg

 

I ordered a set of Maketar Masks for the Insignia and “89” numbers.   I also have 3” 45 Degree ID letter and number decals enroute for the ”NAVY” and bort number on the vertical stabilizer.  After I get the markings on, I will attempt to paint the recessed rivets in a metallic silver, just like the museum bird, and then the natural metal areas behind the cowl flaps and on the undersides adjacent to the exhausts.  More soon!

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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The F4U Corsair has been one of my favorite WW2 fighters. That iconic "Bent-wing" design, that

looks all business and not an aircraft a pilot would want to go against in combat. You've done a

tremendous job with it so far, going beyond the OOB build by adding all the goodies!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/21/2020 at 9:13 PM, Brett M said:

Nice org and smooth paint job. That’s going to be nice and clean looking. I picked up some Maketar masks as well, but I’ll end up using them on another Corsair later.

Thanks Brett- I really enjoyed using the masks!  This thread is a bit behind the build, but I will do a full update soon!

On 2/22/2020 at 9:31 PM, The Underdog said:

The F4U Corsair has been one of my favorite WW2 fighters. That iconic "Bent-wing" design, that

looks all business and not an aircraft a pilot would want to go against in combat. You've done a

tremendous job with it so far, going beyond the OOB build by adding all the goodies!

Thank you sir!

 

I have a full update coming, but here is the “before” picture 😜

KwFuxpp.jpg

 

And a sneak peak:

uSZ6AnO.jpg

 

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Update 3/10

 

Greetings everyone!  Let’s get right to it-

 

I applied the 24” and 36” Maketar ID Number and Letter Masks to the fuselage.  I put a few strips of Tamiya tape over the masks before removing them from the backing paper, then placed the whole mask on the model, and carefully removed the overlying tape, then the “inner” part of the mask.   What you are left with is pictured below:

 

GDNiGJA.jpg
kwgVBcO.jpg


The insignia were a bit trickier due to the extra cutout for the insignia blue surround.  I taped over them again before transferring and carefully aligned them on the fuselage before burnishing them down.  Again, removing the top layer of tape that I used to transfer the masks was a bit more complicated on these.  Patience is key, along with de-tacking the strips of tape used to transfer the masks.   Once in place, I carefully removed the “star and bar” tape and saved them on my cutting mat for later.  Since I was airbrushing white over gloss sea blue, I didn’t want to take any chances for overspray and I covered the entire wings and most of the fuselage with tape.   
mCvmgix.jpg
 

I painted everything white, starting with Tamiya XF-2 as a base and then finishing with Mr Color Gloss White. 
 

Y1mi3BW.mp4


Part II below

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Part II

 

Once the white was fully cured, I reapplied the Star and Bar masks...

UPTyGkj.jpg 


...and carefully removed the surround for the insignia blue.  I simply taped over the numbers and letters since most of the model was already masked off.  

hHEefRl.jpg

 

The underwing insignia was a bit tricky due to the rocket rail, so I ended up touching that up by hand when I was finished with the airbrush.  
 

I sprayed Model Master Acrylic Insignia Blue over the masks to finish off the process.

 

 n4IFgA7.jpg


Now for the moment of truth... please no bleed through 🙏🏻

tlEy356.jpg

And there you have it...

uSZ6AnO.jpg
 

ajei5X9.jpg

 

V8W6LL3.jpg

 

I touched up a few areas, but have to say I am pretty happy with how things turned out.  I sanded down the inevitable ridges with 8k micromesh and will do the same after the overall gloss coat.  I have a few touch ups and details to paint, but we are getting closer.  There’s a model show in Denver on Mar 28th that I’m aiming for as a completion deadline.  So, maybe this helps if you are a bit of a mask rookie like me, but I learned a lot and enjoyed the process!   Thanks for looking!

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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Very nice work on the masks, clean work. Looks like the kabuki tape is easier to burnish than the vinyl, noted for the future.

 

Keep at it, looking forward to seeing this finished!

Edited by Brett M
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15 hours ago, Brett M said:

Very nice work on the masks, clean work. Looks like the kabuki tape is easier to burnish that the vinyl, noted for the future.

 

Keep at it, looking forward to seeing this finished!

Thanks Brett.  Yep, I agree the tape is better, which is also why it’s probably slightly more expensive than the same vinyl masks on the Maketar site.   It is definitely tricky to align the insignia masks due to the sticky nature of the mask itself.  I spent nearly an hour lining up the right side fuselage insignia to match the left.  I wish I was exaggerating 🤦🏼‍♂️.  

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Really like the way those markings came out!  Looks like you are doing a very late war bird, those single letter ID’s only came out in the last few weeks of the war.    What squadron is she from?  

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1 hour ago, 11bee said:

Really like the way those markings came out!  Looks like you are doing a very late war bird, those single letter ID’s only came out in the last few weeks of the war.    What squadron is she from?  

I’m doing the Boeing Museum FG-1D in the livery that she is currently in.  Scroll up a few posts to see a picture.   I went up there and took a bunch of reference photos and detailed my gear bays and wingfolds based on the museum bird - oops!  I painted these areas zinc green chromate when they should’ve been GSB. So that limited me from doing any war time birds accurately.  I figure this will be a nice opportunity to go for a clean museum finish. 

 

Steve 

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  • 2 weeks later...

3/24. Quick Update

 

I used Archer Fine Transfers for the prop stencils and Hamilton Standard logos.   I’ve never used dry transfers before but they sure look nice.  They burnish down easily using the tip of a paintbrush handle. I cut out a rectangular shape around each transfer and used tape to aid with positioning it on the blades.  
 

GsZIMlN.jpg

I glossed the rest of the model and will be adding some details and other odds and ends once the clear cures.  More soon, especially now that we are all on lockdown 😜

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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Update 3/29

 

ZyLsbDs.jpg
 

I finished adding all of the stencils and placards.  These primarily consisted of Corsair specific stencils from an old Microscale sheet, and generic stencils from an Airscale sheet.  I also used Archer Fine Transfers Silver Placards for a few stencils.   The aircraft tail number and “FG-1D” on the tail were cobbled together using Microscale 3” 45 degree letters.  This was incredibly tedious, and not quite the right scale compared to the real thing, but the exercise tested the limits of my patience and eyesight, so I’m not convinced that I could have gone with 1/72 letters and tried piecing something even smaller together.   It’s mostly straight...mostly 🤪
znw2cJZ.jpg


RcfX2Al.jpg

 

I glossed the entire airframe with Tamiya X-22 thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner before proceeding with the washes.  The Boeing museum FG-1D has a lot of fastener and rivet detail in natural metal.  It really looks cool against the dark blue.   To replicate this, I made an enamel wash with Model Master Aluminum and did my best to keep the metallic wash out of the actual panel lines and confined to the rivets.  It took a few attempts to get the effect I was after, but overall it worked.  Cleaning up the metallic flakes in the excess wash has proven to be a bit of a nightmare, and even now when I look at the pics, I can see some areas I need to go back and work on removing some of the residual wash - she’s not supposed to sparkle 😂

 

I used Tamiya Dark Brown wash on the rest of the panel lines and then gave the model another overall gloss coat.  I keep finding areas that have some aluminum wash pigments, so I am currently in this continuous sand, fix, and re-gloss process.  I’m getting there.  
 

oVj63Cj.jpg

 

The engine assembly is just “press-fit” for these photos, but I wanted to show off the overall airframe.  Speaking of the engine, I found that the vector resin details in the front of the cowl prevented the kit engine from sliding all the way forward into the cowl.  This prevented the entire engine assembly from fitting correctly, but the fix was simple.  I filed off a few mm’s of plastic from the engine firewall “stump” that slides into the engine crankcase, and all was well.   
 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Steve

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update 4/14

She’s on her legs!  All of the landing gear doors and one external fuel tank were added.  The tank was modified from the kit to add the fueling port.  Not much else to say, so I will just show a few pictures.  
geDp3Uy.jpg

 

F4tOs8o.jpg

Thanks for taking a look!

 

Steve

 

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On 3/29/2020 at 5:57 PM, 11bee said:

Looking good, love the cowling interior. 

Thanks 11bee!  It definitely livens up the engine area.  

 

10 hours ago, cruiz said:

Great work Steve

 

The finish does look like the pictures of the museum item you posted.

 

Thanks for sharing

Thanks Cruiz!  Your F4U-1A is absolutely spectacular and I am following along with great interest.  
 

2 hours ago, The Underdog said:

Steve,

Looking really nice on the gears. Are you gonna lighten-up the tires a bit (more Gray and

flat instead of gloss) and address the wheel slots for the brakes? 

Thanks for checking in Underdog.  I used Tamiya Rubber Black straight from the bottle on the tires and plan to leave them that way, although I may add a light dust wash in the tread.   I think the bright desk lamp is making them look shinier than they are.  I’m not sure what you mean by address the wheel slots?  I thought I was done with the wheels 😂

Edited by Falconxlvi
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I was able to get one of the wing-folds together tonight - I am pretty happy with how it turned out.   There are a couple of lead wires that need to be retouched with rubber black paint, but the ease of working with and bending lead wires cannot be overstated!  I am a fan.  I purchased mine from UMM-USA.  The metallic blue valves are 1/24 resin pieces intended for car models.  The wiring isn’t 100% accurate but I tried my best to imitate my references.  A few pages back in this thread, I went into a bit more detail on the wingfolds if you are interested.   
 

The entire spar assembly is press fit into the wing and it’s tight!  I added a bit of Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Setting glue around the rib and that’s all that is needed. 
 

 Here’s a picture.  

IGP9cdX.jpg

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23 hours ago, Falconxlvi said:

Thanks for checking in Underdog.  I used Tamiya Rubber Black straight from the bottle on the tires and plan to leave them that way, although I may add a light dust wash in the tread. I think the bright desk lamp is making them look shinier than they are.  I’m not sure what you mean by address the wheel slots?  I thought I was done with the wheels 😂

 

Painting the slots in the wheels a dark color, to replicate a "visual depth of field" as I

did on this model.

 

48507624477_89ac84546a_b.jpg

48498895872_360ef1f19e_b.jpg

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7 hours ago, Mstor said:

Really beautiful work. The quality of your paint finish is just superb.

Thanks Mstor, I appreciate it.  
 

11 minutes ago, The Underdog said:

 

Painting the slots in the wheels a dark color, to replicate a "visual depth of field" as I

did on this model.

 

48507624477_89ac84546a_b.jpg

48498895872_360ef1f19e_b.jpg

oh I see what you mean now.  I have a light wash in there already.  I may darken it up a bit.   👍🏻👍🏻

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