Corsair Mk II - Leslie Durno - Aircraft of the Aces GB

[Catch22]

Username: Catch22
First name: Cory
Category: Beginner
Scale: 1:48
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Model Type: F4U-1A Corsair
Details: First FAA Corsair ace with 5 kills, 1834 Sq., HMS Victorious
Aircraft Assignment: Sub. Lt. Leslie Durno of Toronto, Ontario
Accessories: None
Decals: Kit? Most markings will be painted, possibly some roundels scrounged from other sheets.

This, my 5th Tamiya Corsair kit, will be in the markings of Canadian ace Leslie Durno. Not much is written about him, and I actually only stumbled across anything about him in Osprey's Royal Navy aces. He achieved ace status on January 9th, 1945, but sadly while over a strike over Palembang on the 29th, he had to bail out and disappeared.

Now, I know what all the colours, patterns etc are, except for the bottom roundel. It's blue, then a strange colour, then white. Wojtek mentioned in an older thread that he thought the strange colour was red. I also picked up a circle cutter so I can do all the roundels myself, and will probably have to paint the code letters.

 

[Wurger]

 

[brucejscott]

Nice choice Cory. Love the corsair in that color scheme.

 

[Airframes]

Good one Cory. I might be wrong, but I doubt the second colour on the underwing roundel would be red. personally, I think it's locally-mixed blue, showing lighter than the original roundel, and is there to reduce the size of the white area. The latter is supposed to be 'off white' a mix of blue and white, giving light blue, but the RN seems to have used white.

 

[ozhawk40]

Should turn out great Cory, those Tamiya Corsairs are a decent kit.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good choice Cory and don't tell me, it's your favourite kit!!!!

 

[Catch22]

Thanks guys, and Vic, you may be right!

Maybe I should aim for the light blue used by the RAF then?

 

[Airframes]

Not really sure there Cory. The tones in the photo aren't conclusive, but the centre might be 'off white' (pale blue, like my recent Spits). The freshly painted area corresponds with the required size of the blue roundel to meet ACSEA specs, and I'm convinced that's fresh blue paint over the original, larger blue portion of the roundel. A similar effect can just be seen on the upper roundel on the port wing, and only just visible on the fuselage roundel. I believe that the lighting is accentuating the fresh paint on the lower wing surface, which would probably not be as visible under normal viewing conditions.
I think you'd get away with a blue and white roundel laid over a larger, slightly darker blue roundel.

 

[Wayne Little]

Cory and a Corsair? seems like a good choice to me....

 

[Crimea_River]

You've bee threatening to do this one for a while Cory. Glad to see you finally tackle it and I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

 

[Catch22]

Thanks guys! My internet's been horrible so I haven't been able to post progress, so I guess another decent dump of photos will have to do.

Here's the cockpit construction etc.:

And here's it painted:

Most of the decals are now on, and I've figured out a way to do the bottom multi-coloured roundels by using the Testor's decal making kit, but I goofed up cutting them out yesterday so they'll have to be re-made.

 

[Airframes]

Looking good Cory, and quick work.

 

[Wurger]

Yep....

 

[brucejscott]

Agree with all Cory, good AND fast.

 

[woody]

Dang Cory your fast looking good.

 

[Andy70]

Looks great!

 

[Catch22]

Thanks!

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Cory.

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff Cory!

 

[ozhawk40]

Looks very neat Cory - well done