David Hansen

Looks great, Eric. Truly amazing the amount of "Value Added" to that conversion. Myself, i managed to scoop up an Aires cockpit for mine, based on your experiences. -d-

I am loving it. And i never knew about the differences in the J57 Afterburner irises.... -d-

I'm talking about something entirely different, that you may want to address in your build, since its on the upper surface of the wing. -d-

You probably know this already, but Mr Leveling Thinner has a retarder baked in, which does seem to help the self leveling characteristics of the paint, especially with gloss finishes. -d-

For your first Corsair i think it looks great. MM Acrylic is rather fickle stuff. In future projects i suggest you try Tamiya Acrylics or Mr Color, thinned with Mr Leveling thinner, and be sure to apply it over primer. But this is a big achievement! You should be proud! -d-

Hey Eric, for what its worth, if you're fixing issues with the wing, bear in mind that the upper surface of the wing at the wing fold hinge point is perfectly flat; it is not a raised fairing like on some other types. This is an error that runs like a theme thru all of the F8U kits i've encountered. -d-

Cool! I too am doing a VFP-206 bird. -d-

John, FWIW you can make the lower fuselage IFF antenna with a broken #80 drill bit with a blob of epoxy on the end for the "Ball". If you look around in here you might find pics of the antenna installation i did on my FG-1 and F4U-2. If you can't find em let me know. -d-

It looks really good so far Eric. I have one started as well, but i got bogged down in the cockpit and since its being built for someone else, i have a Tamiya F-14A in the works for *me* that i want to get knocked out first. I haven't chopped the fuselage halves yet; following the instructions pretty much word for word. When you test fit the cameras onto the tabs mounted onto the sides of the intake trunk, you'll notice the attachment is rather loose and floppy. Bonding some plastic strip onto the tabs to thicken em up (i think) will make the attachment more robust. The integrated nose/intake trunk is sort of a critical piece to "muscle" the left and right fuselage halves into position (it overcomes some slight distortions that are endemic to the resin casting process), and you also want to make sure the underside of the fuselage is perfectly flat, and not slightly bowed in like a Revell Germany kit box. Just some observations based on what i encountered so far. Feel free to use or discard as you see fit. -d-

Hi Robert, It looks very nice so far. If you don't mind, i'd like to point out a couple of things you need to be aware of as your build progresses. None of em have to do with your technique; rather just some quirks of the model you need to be prepared for. When you glue the left and right fuselage halves together, pay attention to get a straight across joint at the front of the base of the windscreen. If the two haves don't join level with each other (when viewed from the top) you might have fit problems when mounting the windscreen. If you tape the parts together and test fit you'll see exactly what i mean. When you assemble the outer wing panels, pay close attention to the instructions. There is a sleeve that is nested in the wing without glue, which then slides over the wing spar. If you glue this piece in by accident, the wing will slide onto the spar 3/4 of the way and then get stuck. People have reverted to hacking off the ends of the spar, or scalloping away from their surfaces to make the wing fit. If you follow the instructions, when you slide on the wings, you will notice the upper surfaces have a gap between .005 and .010., running chord-wise, aft of the main spar. This is consistent and appears on both wings. You will not have a similar gap on the wing undersides, where they mate to the center section. when you glue the wing center section to the lower fuselage, you will be left with very fine gaps in front of the wing leading edge where it mates with the lower fuselage. Those are supposed to be there. The only gaps which need to be filled are in the rear lower fuselage along that angled joint. Be careful mounting the firewall inside the front fuselage and make sure its seated properly against the ridge. When you glue on the horseshoe shaped "boot cowl" to the front of the fuselage, you will again see a gap where it joins. Do not fill this. Its hard to see when the part is unpainted, but there is very fine Dzus fastener detail which becomes visible after a coat of paint goes on. The landing gear strut attachment is very strong and positive, but if you test fit the struts, once they go into their sockets, they do not want to come out. Make sure the mounting pins/flanges on the strut are free of paint- and don't forget to install those metal rods!! The weak point of the gear struts is just above the upper torque link on the strut. If you use enamel based weathering washes they will soften and weaken this part until fully dry. Take my advice: do not go there. Its a lot easier to paint the model if you leave the middle and inboard flaps and horizontal stabilizers off until after painting. Makes it a lot easier to maneuver the airbrush and avoid getting fuzzy overspray in places where it shouldn't be. When building the engine, The cowling nose ring in front and the cowling flap ring in back serve as the retainers for the upper and lower cowing segments. Most people who have built the model (myself included) have found the gaps around the front and back to be excessive. This mainly has to do with the engine getting "longer" as its built up, leading to build up of fit errors where each point comes together. Most people have been filling the gaps with Mr Surfacer, white glue, etc. I hope this is helpful and allows you to continue your build without worry or unwelcome surprises. -d-

Progress effectively stopped. Nothing really went wrong with the project per se, but i do need to go back and improve the tabs that the cameras mount to. As they are now, the mounting is very loose and floppy; the cameras could break loose once installed in the fuselage. I wanted to build something for myself for a change, and after finally getting John Lawler's Tomcat delivered to him, i wanted a VF-211 Tomcat. It's entering the home stretch. -d-

Honestly, i don't think any -5s were delivered in anything other than Gloss Sea B ue. You might be confusing it with the F4U-1D. -d-

No, its not just you. In some photos- but not all- the wheels look a little bit odd. I'm sure its being addressed. -d-

You know, this might be a test case to see how well a 24th scale Navy subject is welcomed by the community. If memory serves, the last US subject Airfix did in 24th was the P-51D Mustang. -d-

I'm a big fan of the F6F Hellcat, but i admit i never saw this coming. I thought a more logical choice would be a Corsair, but considering everything that's wrong with the 32nd scale Trumpeter and Hasegawa offerings.... i'm more than willing to make my first 24th scale build a Hellcat. I'd probably build a specialized display case for it. Maybe i'll fold one wing... maybe not. Plenty of interesting markings out there and in 24th scale painting the "G-Symbols".... and the insignia, for that matter... should be easy. Bring. It. On. -d-