Interpreting Photographs For Paint Reference: "Vargas Cowgirl"

[Ambaryerno]

I posted this over on the Large Scale Planes forum, but I'm trying to get as comprehensive feedback as I can.

I'm gearing up to start working on my Tamiya 1/32 F4U-1A, which I plan to build as White 8 "Vargas Cowgirl" of VMF-422. This is the one and only picture I've ever been able to find:

The first question I have: Has anyone ever found another photo of this bird? Especially one that shows the aircraft's left side?

Anyway, I want to try to get the model as accurate as possible to the photo, so have been studying it to get an idea of how to approach painting. The analysis of the original I came up with is this:

From the looks of it, she has red surrounds and very faded tricolor on the fuselage, with the uppers very poorly defined from the vertical surfaces. However, the wing uppers appear to be considerably darker. I presume this is because the non-specular paint on the fuselage is more susceptible to fading than the semigloss on the wing and stabilizer uppers. Most interesting is the cowling also seems to be darker than the rest of the fuselage. This is especially evident where the cowl flaps are considerably lighter, and I'm also not seeing any sort of demarcation line between the upper and vertical colors. Could the cowling have been repainted, or perhaps replaced? This photo was taken c. May, 1944, by which point the Navy had implemented overall gloss sea blue. Could the cowling have been taken from another Corsair that was painted in the latter scheme?

There's a very heavy black stain that looks like it starts just aft of the cowl ring, back along side of the fuselage and upper wing, (though bizarrely doesn't appear to have covered the cowl flaps) and it looks like it may also reach the horizontal stabilizer. However, this appears to be an older stain, because the the step above the wing is cleaner than the surrounding fuselage, suggesting the staining was worn away. My first thought was this was a smoke or exhaust stain, but could this actually be from an oil leak?

I'm still trying to make sense of the inner wing uppers. Am I seeing a lot of dirt and dust, or is this sandblasting wearing the paint down to primer? I would also interpret the reinforced step pad as having been worn all the way down to bare metal, much like the surfaces aft of the oil cooler intakes.

It's hard to make out the tread pattern on the tire, but it could be diamond tread. The tail wheel is completely hidden by one of the men in the photo, so it's hard to tell whether or not she had the taller tailwheel common on land-based Corsairs. However, it appears that her tail hook had been removed, as it should be visible in this image.

There's some sort of black lines under the national insigna that almost looks like text but I can't quite make sense of it. Anyone have thoughts on what that could be?

I also ran the photo through an AI colorization, with this being the best result:

Obviously not perfect, but does provide some interesting new insights. For one, the colorization has a red surround on the let wing insignia, but thinks the fuselage had blue surrounds. Were there instances of mixed surrounds like this? I know 17740 from the VMF-214 baseball photo had its outer left wing replaced with one from an older Corsair that still had the six-point national insignia, so ended up with two roundels on the left wing (one above, one below). Could the same have happened here? Or would it be safer to assume the AI made a mistake on the fuselage?

The forward fuselage also appears much more faded than further aft. You can JUST make out the demarcation line where the non-specular sea blue curved down towards the top of the wing, but then it appears to fade again as it moves forward with a second demarcation line curving up again, from around the fuselage step towards the aft of the tape covering the fuel tank panels. Everything below the fuel tank appears to be much more faded. Perhaps from the prop acting like a big sandblaster and spraying crushed coral all over the forward fuselage?

The colorized photo also reinforces that the cowling appears to be a different color than the rest of the aircraft. Especially when you compare it to the cowl flaps. There's also no apparent demarcation line to indicate a transition from non-specular sea blue to intermediate blue, with that darker shade going all the way down, though it could possibly be covered by that black stain (which is still strange it does NOT cover the cowl flaps). However, you'd think you'd then see it again on the cowl ring forward of where the stain begins. The cowl flaps appear to be demarcated, roughly at the top of the third flap.

Doesn't really help much with the inner wing surfaces, although it's easier to see where there may still be some patches of the semigloss sea blue, and that the black stain doesn't extend out onto the wing until maybe 1/3 back from the leading edge. Nor does it make the black likes under the bar of the fuselage insignia any clearer.

Does anyone else have any thoughts about what I'm looking at as far as the potential paint job? I could especially use some guidance on the engine cowling (am I rightly seeing the cowl may be GSB rather than tricolor?) and those inner wings. I've tried finding references of other Corsairs, but this seems to be a particularly beat-up machine, and I'm not finding many other examples of with this level of weathering/fading on the inner wing surfaces.

 

[SaparotRob]

I got nothing but that was a great post!

 

[mikewint]

Check out: Cutting Edge 32-037: F4U-1A Corsair. There are also differences in the everyday paint schemes of the aircraft and the "dress-up" schemes done for publicity photos. Number "8" (not 827 as is sometimes shown) was flown by 1st Lt. Stout of VMF-422 from Engibi Island during mid 1944.

 

[cvairwerks]

Couple of things I noticed, is that the fuselage star is the later pattern with the red surround and the left wing has had the star and bars reapplied, but rotated. The white on the right side of the fuselage, wing and canopy area is dry chemical from the fire extinguisher. Looks like he landed with an accessory section fire

 

[buffnut453]

Regarding the national markings, I think it's far safer to assume that the AI made a mistake in the colorization. I've never seen US national markings in the configuration shown, nor have I seen the later bar marking with the blue surround showing as lighter than the blue of the star roundel. To me, it looks pretty clearly like a red-surrounded marking. If you can date the photo from your original post, it might tie things down with greater certainty.

 

[Ambaryerno]

Couple of things I noticed, is that the fuselage star is the later pattern with the red surround and the left wing has had the star and bars reapplied, but rotated.

I think I see it. So at one point the roundel was repainted over the existing insignia, but turned slightly.

The white on the right side of the fuselage, wing and canopy area is dry chemical from the fire extinguisher. Looks like he landed with an accessory section fire

So rather than being heavily faded on the forward fuselage and inner wing, that's just junk from the extinguishers (the fuselage uppers are STILL heavily faded, as the demarcation line aft is very faint, but not as much as what it appears in the photo).

Do you think that black stain was newer, or older? I lean towards older since the fuselage step and wing pad have had it scuffed out, and the pad appears to have been worn down to bare metal. And as i previously noted, it also doesn't cover any of the cowl flaps.

nor have I seen the later bar marking with the blue surround showing as lighter than the blue of the star roundel.

Yeah, I've seen them darker because the blue surrounds were painted over the old insignia, but I don't recall seeing any the other way around.

If you can date the photo from your original post, it might tie things down with greater certainty.

I don't have an exact date, but the info with the decal sheet suggests it's from May, 1944. The red surrounds were no longer being used by then, but many of them didn't get repainted on the front lines.

 

[fubar57]

Some info here. These guys are usually pretty good.... F4U-1A "Vargas Cowgirl"

 

[Donivanp]

Some info here. These guys are usually pretty good.... F4U-1A "Vargas Cowgirl"

Great info Geo

 

[Ambaryerno]

Some info here. These guys are usually pretty good.... F4U-1A "Vargas Cowgirl"

Ha, that's actually my skin I was working on. Haven't played WT in a while, tho, because I'm tired of the gaminess of it.

As far as the skin itself, I now realize that I've been interpreting many things in the photo wrong, IE the cowling and such.

 

[Ambaryerno]

Ok, summing up so far:

• The star on the left wing insignia was reapplied at some point, having previously been incorrectly rotated (or have the bars been rotated, as well?). All insignia have red surrounds.
• Fuselage uppers are well-faded with poor demarcation from the verticals.
• Wing and stabilizer uppers are less faded (excluding the leading edges, which were painted in the fading-prone non-specular sea blue).
• The inner wing upper may be discolored by material from the fire extinguishers, rather than being the result of wear or weathering. This may also extend up onto the sides of the fuselage above the wing.

Main remaining questions:

• The engine cowling is notably less faded than the cowl flaps, with no apparent demarcation line. Could this be painted differently from the rest of the aircraft?
• Is the stain on the side old or new?

 

[mjfur]

Couple of things I noticed, is that the fuselage star is the later pattern with the red surround and the left wing has had the star and bars reapplied, but rotated. The white on the right side of the fuselage, wing and canopy area is dry chemical from the fire extinguisher. Looks like he landed with an accessory section fire

My guess is the white on the wing walk area is more likely the white sand/dust from foot traffic over the wing and worn paint. Notice the wing and fuselage step doors show the same color/worn as well.

 

[Ambaryerno]

My guess is the white on the wing walk area is more likely the white sand/dust from foot traffic over the wing and worn paint. Notice the wing and fuselage step doors show the same color/worn as well.

Ah, so that could be something I'd still want to paint on after all. Or maybe use something like this for a "dusty" effect:

Pure White Weathering Powder – Huge Miniatures

Our weathering powders are versatile custom pigment mixes that feel natural and are well suited to numerous environments. Each flip-top container comes with 30ml of weathering powder.

hugeminis.com

 

[Wurger]

If I may ... IMHO the plane is the typical example of the fading three-tone camo. Let's start with the engine cowling ... its appearance is caused by two factors. The first one is the heating from the engine. The two top colours got darker because of the overheating effect. The third color there isn't noticable because of the low demarcation line. What is more, the Corsair is leaning towards the starboard and down due to the landing leg damaging. The Gamma Correction revelas that there was a lighter colour at the underside. A good eample is the Corsaire of the VMF 113 of not that shabby and dusty uniform. See the shot below. The second factor is thet the engines were covered with a fabric dust jacket to protect the power unit against the dust , rain etc. So that may be the reason the cowling loks much better than the entire aircraft.

 

[Wurger]

Here is the full image of the VMF 113 kites I found via the net. Both planes wear almost similar to the White 8 damages to the camoufflage although not of that faded and dusty tones. Because the blue coats fade quite quickly because of the sunlight getting the grey tone the demarcation lines usually became unnoticable. Additionally these semi-gloss or gloss paints become matt. In the case of course the differences in the paint tone can be seen.

 

[Wurger]

Regarding the US national markings ... it can be found in many pictures with the F4U at the islands that top part of the blue outline of the markings on the fuselage became lighter than the bottom part. And it is the case as well. What is more it can be noticed that there are the paint dump patches that you considered to be the black lines under the national insigna that almost looks like text. The red outline looks differently in the B&W pics. So the fuselage Stars got the blue outline.

the pic source: the net.

 

[Wurger]

Reagarding the top wing Star ... actually I have a doubt the roundel was repainted because the previous one was incorrectly rotated. IMHO it could be done because of the changing of the roundel size rather. I would say that there are traces of masking while the marking was applied. The remnants of the masking tape glue caused the surface of different feature and the dust or dirt was accumulated here caused the lighter appearance at the areas. A very similar effect you may find in the pic of the VMF 113 Corsairs. Additionally the blue colour was applied over the red outline often. For some reason the colour could fade with changing its tone or even peel off. Certainly the ouline in the pic looks like being of the red.

 

[Ambaryerno]

Curious there's a noticeable sheen on the forward fuselage of those two VMF-113 birds, considering those parts were painted non-specular. A result of leaking fuel and oil on the forward fuselage?

For the actual engine cowling, it sounds like I just wouldn't fade the NS sea blue and intermediate blue as much as I would on the rest of the fuselage, rather than actually darkening it. Maybe discolor it slightly with a hit of brown mixed in?

RE the surrounds: AFAIK, on the later (post-October 1943) insignia both the roundel and surround were painted in the same insignia blue, which means they SHOULD be fading together. In cases where the red surrounds were painted over with insignia blue, the result was the surrounds ended up darker than the roundel since the roundel had faded more

 

[Wurger]

The the matt paints can get the gloss finish if cleaned with a rag soaked with the oil or fuel or other thinner. Also it is enough the rag was dirty. So the gloss apparance of the VMF 113 kites at the areas might have been cause just by this.

RE the mixing of the brown ... it would be fine if the cowling would be of the steel. But it wasn't so some of the black would be the one to add rather.

RE US Star outline ... the way with the same paint you mantione above was used in the factory. But in the field workshops where the maintence crews repaired and upgraded the stuff the paint used might be of different quility, type although of the same tinge. As a result its fading process was different from the rest of the marking. Also the tool for applying should be taken into consideration. While it was an airbrush" in a factory it could be a brush at the field. Additionally the thickness of the paint layer also might affect the process.

 

[Ambaryerno]

Vargas Cowgirl looks pretty matte from what we see of the forward fuselage, though it's hard to tell what the panels over that accessory compartment would have been like, so I'll probably not worry about applying any sort of gloss, there.

So mix a little black into the NS sea blue and intermediate blue, though it looks like there still ought to be SOME fading.

So this brings me back to whether or not the fuselage insignia would have been blue surrounds (could explain those dark marks underneath, dripping paint from a hasty job being splattered on the side) while leaving the red surrounds on the wing. The consensus so far was that it would have been unlikely.

 

[Wurger]

You also asked about the tyre .. it is quite difficult to state. I have enlarged the pic with it . And I found a couple of tyres used for the Corsair.