<> **** DONE: 1/32 Corsair F4U-1A - WW1 / WW2 over Water.

[turbo]

Username: turbo
First name: Kirby
Category: Advanced
Scale: 1/32
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Model Type: F4U-1A Corsair
Aftermarket addons: Barracuda cockpit stencils and placards, Montex canopy and insignia masks, some scratchbuilding

Hi folks, I'm joining in the group build at the kind invitation of a few members and administrators. The subject is Tamiya's magnificent 1/32 F4U-1A Corsair. The detailing of the Tamiya kit is terrific so I haven't gone with much aftermarket stuff, just Barracuda's cockpit stencils and placards to do the cockpit justice and Montex masks for the canopy and painting the large national insignia (the only down point of the Tamiya kit is the decals are a bit chunky so I don't fancy using them for large insignia, etc).

The subject will be Greg "Pappy" Boyington's mount from the famous Black Sheep squadron VMF-214 based on Vella Lavella in late 1943.

 

[Crimea_River]

Welcome aboard. Looking forward to seeing your work on this build.

 

[turbo]

Thanks CR, happy to be contributing and I'm sure I'm going to be needing some help from you guys along the way!

The aftermarket addons,

Cockpit sub-assemblies were first black-based with Humbrol satin black enamel scaled with approximately 10% Humbrol white satin. This will act as a primer for later creation of shadows and highlights and the black components of the console. I mostly use acrylics these days, I'd forgotten how nice enamels are to spray (apart from the fumes!).

Components in high traffic areas to receive some chipping were then sprayed with Tamiya flat aluminium, retaining some shadow where I wanted it. I used this paint to obtain a flat finish without having to apply a matt varnish, which will be important for controlling the chipping in the next step.

 

[Wurger]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking great so far.

 

[SANCER]

Welcome to this great family; You have the support and camaraderie of a great number of connoisseurs of aviation and modeling.
Very good start of project and happy to accompany you in the process.
As far as I can help you, count on it.
Greetings from Mexico.

Luis Carlos
SANCER

 

[fubar57]

Welcome to the site. Nice start on a great kit

 

[turbo]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

So next step was some chipping in the high traffic areas. It seems from various sources on the web that the 1A cockpit interior was ANA 611 Interior Green, so I'll be using Gunze H58 Interior Green which is a pretty good representation. I decanted some hairspray from the Cruise Director's can and sprayed 2 coats through the airbrush and allowed to dry for an hour. Interior Green was then sprayed and allowed to dry for another hour. I've found the drying times as well as the base coat finish are all important for controlling the sorts of chips you want. In the case of the cockpit I want fine controllable chips to recreate wear such as seen on the foot plates.

Chipping was done with a stiff brush and toothpick dipped in water. The seat, pedals, stick, and aft bulkhead also received some treatment.

The forward bulkhead which will be recessed was sprayed from oblique angles to take advantage of the black-basing to create shadows and highlights which will be further refined with washes and drybrushing.

Next start some work on the console...

 

[fubar57]

Looking good

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks fantastic.

 

[SANCER]

Very good work in those chunks; Everything seems to indicate that your process will be very illustrative. Congratulations.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Welcome aboard, and nicely done.

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far!

 

[turbo]

Thanks a lot everybody!

Painted up the side consoles and added Barracuda's detailed stencils and placards. Fiddly and time consuming work but well worth the effort in the end I think. I can recommend the Barracuda decals, although it was fiddly work the decals are great quality and go on very nicely. I have needed no varnish over the top in the image below.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Beauty!

 

[Airframes]

I agree - excellent work, and welcome to the mad house.

 

[le_steph40]

I agree - excellent work, and welcome to the mad house.

+1

 

[Builder 2010]

Nice work. I will be following great interest. Tamiya big planes fit together nicely.

 

[Totalize]

Yes, With all here nice work. Looking forward to seeing more of this one.