David Hansen

i like it, Andy!!

Paint mismatch corrected. Crisis averted. A Nation rejoices. Back to cleaning up the underside.... -d-

Short answer- Yes. The colour in the smaller bottle is different. At least that's been my experience. You would think that despite differing part numbers, the actual colour in the jar would be the same. But noooooooo......... This is not confined to XF-17, either. I got burned by X-3 Royal Blue as well. Since you have a big bottle of the stuff, try mixing a batch from each size bottle, compare them (outdoors!) and go with the formulation you like. My next Corsair will use this simplified formula, since obviously i got the front end painted, LOL. -d-

No, i don't get off quite so easily. This is a factory fresh Corsair. But i fixed the problem so its all good... -d-

There is *another* ANA 623 Gloss Sea Blue mix that's been suggested over on Britmodeller. It uses only two Tamiya colours, but it's a bit sensitive to confusing the old and new formulations of XF-17 Sea Blue. There's some variance in colour between the "Big" and "Small" bottles of Tamiya paint. Nominally the same colour, but different part numbers. Research and development work on US Navy colours is a continually evolving process.... -d-

Well, latest progress report.... The model has a full coat of ANA 623 on it, though there seems to be a discontinuity between the paint on the right wing and the center section. I'm not really sure what happened. I'm positive i got the mixing ratios correct and the pipettes were pretty clean. I *might* be overthinking things. Gonna repaint some of the control surfaces, to see if they begin to agree with the rest of the model. Also i think once the 1 inch walkway lines, non skid walkways and red filler caps go on it will distract the eye and make it less noticeable. By the way, the model does have a coat of super clear on it now (the topsides, anyways), so it's definitely easier to handle now. -d-

I like what i am seeing Andy.

....And this is where matters stand when my trigger finger gave out. And now... back to my day job. -d-

Painting continues on El Corsair Grande... I tried wet sanding the finish with 4000 grit. It felt silky smooth to the touch but it did not change the gloss one way or the other. Painting will continue into the evening as long as my trigger finger holds out. Fly Navy!! -d-

Making mistakes and recovering them is par for the course in model building. Something i consider a tragedy is when you finish a model, you acquired a whole bunch of practical experience and wisdom from building it. Much of it is thrown out the window if you start a completely different subject. Not all of it, but a lot. "Well, i won't do THAT again" comes in particularly useful if building more than one of the same thing.... -d-

Okay, the Insignia Blue surround has been added and we're left now with the cleanup process. The Insignia Blue was made with 2 parts XF-8 Flat Blue to 1 part XF-1 Flat Black. I used the "Enhance" feature in iPhoto, so what you see in the photos may not be truly representative of actual colour fidelity. I think the iPhone gets "confused" if it's photographed against a lot of contrasting background colours. However, the first test is that the Insignia Blue is darker than the adjacent Sea Blue. Which it is. The alignment of the Corsair insignia is very precise; the separation between the white bars and the blue surround run exactly on the wing spar line, and when i removed the masks after putting on the white, you could see the alignment was not exactly perfect. This required re-jiggering the outer mask for the Insignia blue, which required cutting it up and re positioning it to more properly align with the Spar. This also necessitated slightly relocating the star and the width of the insignia blue surround on the bars got a little bit wonky. Also, the location of the fuel vent mast (remember the -1As still had the 63-Gallon wing tanks) did not help. Since i was mixing a much smaller batch of paint, the ratio of Super Clear to the paint was a lot greater -which is why the Insigna Blue appears glossy (adding Super Clear to paint is still something i'm learning to master, especially when mixing large batches of paint. The Gloss Sea Blue did not get as much Super Clear added as i would have liked). So, obviously the overspray that got onto the outboard bar needs to be fixed and i will re-mask and paint the forward lateral blue bar to make it appear more straight. This is the 4th 32nd scale Corsair where i've painted the insignias on. I think in 32nd scale this is definitely the way to go, but i still have a lot to learn about getting the masks in position properly. Thanks for tuning in and as always, keep those letters and cards coming. -d-

Thanks, my Scandinavian Sidekick! The Tamiya F4U kit.... like the Tamiya Spitfires and P-51Ds is about as elaborate as a "Shake and Bake" kit can get, but you need to add very little to it- especially if you don't mind working with the etched nickel seat harnesses (The rubber tyres are another story- they have to GO!). Admittedly there are more paint scheme options out there for Spitfires and P-51s, but a factory-fresh FG-1A sort of has an elegant simplicity that sells itself- if i don't muck things up. -d-

Well, the time has arrived to (cautiously) begin painting the Big Blue Corsair... As mentioned before, this is my custom mix for ANA 623 Gloss Sea Blue, made from Tamiya Sea Blue, Flat Blue, White, Deck Tan, and Super Clear. These photos were taken shortly after the model was painted, and some of the gloss has been lost. This is partly because of the underlying flat primer (acrylics shrink a lot as they cure) and because i think i did not dump in as much Super Clear as i normally do (i'm running low). In case you were wondering, i masked off the formation and identification lights using (i think?) Tamiya tape and my trusty punch and die set. It might have been 3M 2093 but now i can't remember. The reason i masked off the wing, is partly because the wings on the real plane arrived at the factory pre-painted and marked. Also, this is a large model and it takes a while to cover the surfaces area and multiple batches of the paint need to be mixed up. If there is any minor variance between batches, separating the two along a panel line i think will mitigate the mismatch. I will mask off and paint the left wing the same way. This model is also the first test drive of the One Man Army insignia and stencil mask set. I decided to begin on the lower right wing, and my initial experience laying down the mask has been problematic. I think it's operator error, in terms of selecting the transfer tape. 3M 2093 Blue is just too dark and you can't really see the insignia through the tape. Not only that, but the location of the star and bar marking on Corsair wings is very specific. I did the best i could, but it felt a lot like pinning the tail on the Donkey. And that fuel vent mast didn't help, either!! This is *also* a test of Tamiya Insignia White, LP-35. In the bottle it looks like a very light grey, sort of like FS 36622 or ANA Light Aircraft Grey. However, according to Dana Bell's books Insignia White is actually a 50-50 blend of plain white and light aircraft grey. I was reluctant to use it on my 48th and 72 scale models because it looked too dark and grubby, relative to the blues. However, after viewing results somebody else got on their Airfix Hellcat build, i thought i would try it. As you can see here, it really does not look dirty or grey at all. Up next i need to apply the Insignia Blue surround. I made a dogs breakfast of the paint mask trying to get it in position, so i had to cut it into smaller pieces in order to coax everything in place. It's done with the Mk 1 eyeball and the disc may not look perfectly round when done....but that's why we started with the undersides. -d-

It's decanted Tamiya white surface primer, that's been tinted by stirring in a brushful of XF-4 yellow green. YZC primer was not mixed to a specific colour requirement, so there's a lot of variance to be seen between manufacturers. Tamiya acrylics just stick to a primer, better than to bare plastic, especially if its very smooth. I wet sand all of my surface before painting, and it may seem like overkill, but i never have problems with Tamiya paint lifting. Typically, my paint schemes tend to be rather masking-intensive.