David Hansen

Joe, while this is a little off point, i'd suggest salvaging the detail parts from the Trumpeter F6F, and perhaps consider taking a look at the Hasegawa F6F. Not perfect but definitely fewer shape problems than the Trumpeter kit. I was just as disappointed as you were when i saw one built up. I got 3 so i can easily spare one if you have any interest.... david

Jeff are these Mr. Color paints from the US Navy Set? Did you alter them in any way? david

Mee Still Likee. -d-

Well, the good news is i now have an experience base using the Mr Color US Navy set and the paints themselves, are rather nice. Another piece of good news is that the flat white is now on most of the plane (not the cowling or elevators though). That was probably the most tedious aspect of painting, so far. The bad news is, i think the Intermediate and Gloss Sea Blues are too dark for a 32nd scale model. I will have to wait for some Mr. Color white, so i can lighten up the blues so they look more to my liking. Took the model outside in bright daylight to look at it, and to my eye it still looks too dark. Better to stop, make the change now, than to paint the whole plane up and be disappointed. So, the painting is gonna go on hold for a little while. -d-

Did i happen to mention how much WHITE paint this model needs?

I was hesitant to say anything but yeah, the dihedral as installed was wayyy too much. Normally the problem i see with Skyraiders is very little, or no dihedral. You probably could have gotten away with the dihedral you had, so long as the model wasn't viewed by someone familiar with a AD. To those people though the excessive dihedral would stick out like a sore thumb. However that being said, you did a great job fixing the problem. You elected to do the right thing and not take the easy way out. it looks much better to me now. It was a significant risk but it paid off. I know it compromises the structural integrity somewhat, but you and i can now both sleep at night, knowing the problem is fixed. You don't become a great modeler, until you become a good repairman. david

Allan, so far the only Tamiya color i've used is the white liquid surface primer. Goes on thinned heavily with the Tamiya Lacquer thinner, and is much smoother than Model Master Flat White. However, a model the size of a Corsair in three tone takes up a LOT of white paint. Good news is the coverage is good and it sands beautifully. Everything else so far has been Mr Color. david

Hi Everyone, I'm sorry i'm so late in getting you a photo update, so here's where we are at now. We are now ready to go to paint. Here's some overall shots with everything pinned together, just because it looks cool.... My construction and detailing skills aren't like those of Ironwing, Randy Ditton, or Wolf Buddee, but they're OK. I'm more of a painting kind of guy anyway, and since this is really my first serious 32nd scale aircraft subject i'm being pretty conservative. OK, and here what its gonna look like when i actually paint it... As you can see, i modified the tabs on the elevators so i could delay installation of the elevators until after painting. I removed the tab from the rudder entirely. The rudder didn't have much of a gust lock and it was pretty big and tends to flop about in the breeze. I'm VERY glad Tamiya gave us separate control surfaces on the model, because speaking from first hand experience its a LOT of work cutting them off, and rebuilding them from a more "static" model, like the 32nd scale Revell Corsair. Here's one last shot. This model is a testbed for Tamiya and Mr Color paints using their proprietary brand of Lacquer thinner, and among the many colours i'm experimenting with is their liquid surface primer (gray little square bottle). Like most lacquers you have to thin it a lot more than you would an enamel, but it sprays on nice and wet sands beautifully. The canopy pieces were undercoated with Tamiya Flat Black acrylic, thinned with Tamiya Lacquer thinner, and over that is the gray surface primer. The outer wing panels were installed to the core airframe already painted, so i will mask off the outers and use those as humongous-sized paint test chips to verify that i'm happy with the Non Spec and Intermediate blues. If i'm happy with those, then the stabs get painted and masked off and then it'll be time to paint the rest of this big old bird. Hope i am keeping you suitably entertained, and thanks for shopping. We now return you to the Kitty Hawk F-101 Voodoo debate, already in progress. david

Very nice, restrained work. i was frankly skeptical that the model would look "right" once built up, but you changed my mind. In some shots its impossible to determine if its the model or the restoration at the Museum of Naval Aviation. i think part of the reason is the decision to not put a wash in the rivets, which seems to be sort of the accepted norm among a lot of model builders these days. I wonder if Merit will consider a later version of Dauntless. I'm kind of a pushover for a Navy plane in three-tone schemes. Wonder why they chose 18th scale in the first place anyway... Keep on posting the pics. Very inspirational and i'm much impressed. david

Well, it could be worse. You could be building an Eduard BF-109G kit. Seriously though, the wing fix on the Skyraider looks good. Just promise me you will NOT put that stupid bumblebee on the tail. david

Great choice of paint scheme. I hate that stupid bumblebee. -d-

Looks good to me. Nice to see a Skyraider wing with some actual dihedral. PS: Actually, EVERYBODY expects the IPMS Inquisition, ha ha. Am following this build closely. The AD is not my favourite choice of subject but i've seen one of these completed so far and its a very impressive plane when finished and probably has less parts than a Trumpeter Avenger. david

Whew! For a moment i thought you were talking about Gaston. david

Beautiful Job, Spook!! Interesting how "Daphne C" and "My Bonnie" keep cropping up. I've easily seen more Tamiya Corsairs finished up than i've seen Spitfires or P-51s. Also, interesting to see someone do the 360-degree wrap around cowling flap option. Love the paint, love the weathering. Hope mine looks as good when finished. Thanks for posting! david

Hi Frank, On the subject of the wing joints, i'll say that mine were pretty good, but not perfect. I wound up using liquid cement to glue the segments aft of the spar, and when that was dry i had to coax (read: force) the center and outer sections forward of the spar (the so called "D-Section) into place and tacked them up with C/A. Close but not perfect. I wound up using a little bit of CA and some Tamiya gray liquid surface primer to touch up the gaps. It's certainly acceptable, and when you consider the massive parts count and complexity of this thing, i'm not gonna complain. Overall i'd say the fit is better than that found on their 48th scale Corsair. Onward and upward..... -d-

So glad you got this finished. Nice to have met you at Seattle. Really nice build. 1st place @ Seattle was well deserved. -d-

i saw this model at Seattle last saturday and it truly is, The Shizzle. david

Brief update: Wings have been glued on. Still finalizing the gluing of the joints and she needs to outgas for a while. All clear parts (except the canopy) installed and masked off. -d-

Beautiful build, Tom. The clear parts and the smooth black finish IMHO really make the model. Hope my clear parts turn out as good. Thanks for posting! david

Kurok the subject of Goodyear Corsairs having folding or non folding wings, and whether they were manually or hydraulically folded has been the subject of much confusion and speculation. As far as i know, they folded just like on the Vought Corsair. Most Corsairs were land-based where space isn't usually at a premium, so it was rare to see land based Corsairs with folded wings. Carrier based FG-1Ds definitely had folding wings. I don't claim to be the authority on the subject; i hope Dana Bell's forthcoming book on the Corsair helps to clarify this. -d-

Brady this is going to be the prototype Goodyear FG-1. It looks just like a production Vought F4U-1, just some nuances in the paint scheme. -d-

Hi All, Update with photos. The fasteners have been installed and sanded flush... Its hard for me to tell if they are overscale or not. They are clearly visible on closeup photos of restored Corsairs and do show up in wartime B&W Imagery. However, Tamiya represented them as small raised rivet heads wich are actually difficult to see... Overall view of the fuselage. Engine is installed merely for coolness purposes. I'm doing mine with the infamous, leaky, vision-impairing wrap around cowl flaps. Because they look cool I'm also slowly beginning the installation of the clear parts. The masks are made by tracing over the recessed frame line on the window with a piece of tamiya tape covering the clear part. This tape is then transferred onto a piece of .020 card and the excess that doesnt look like a window is trimmed, nibbled, cut, and carefully filed away using dry sanding sticks. Its a little bit more time consuming, but i can mask off almost any window using this technique. Windscreen installation will probably come soon, then maybe the wings. Hope you likee. -d-

Just a minor, no-pics update. Fasteners have been installed oversize and i'm waiting for the primer to dry. Also was experimenting with some off-the-shelf (or in my case, out of the bottom of the crate) Humbrol enamels. Used the area under the rear window panels as a test surface. Result: Humbrol "77" (No FS number referenced) actually looks sort of nice. Humbrol Non Spec Sea Blue? Epic fail for this particular tin. Looks more like slate gray. Weird. Just remember- One test is worth a thousand expert opinions. Thanks for all the positive vibes. -d-

Looks very nice Frank. Better than mine for sure. david

John B: Its 1990s hip-hop/ rap slang for the..... um, The Goods. The Real Thing, if you catch my drift. Just finished sanding off the green primer. Time to install the fasteners... -d-