JayW

Gun bays? Hadn't planned on it. Oh no - is this going to be another one of those items where my arm gets twisted?

You got it Thomaz. The drawings are so cool - you actually see what was created on vellum back in 1942 or 43. Sometimes I feel duty bound to try to duplicate it. To a fault. I hope my audience here will indulge me as I do a Corsair celebration of sorts, as this is a big milestone - fuselage completion. Before beginning wing work, I decided to final install the engine and cowling plus all that was waiting for it - the dead flap mod panel, and the exhaust stack cover plates. Also I repaired (again) the landing gear doors in hopes that I will not break them off again. Doing all that was oh so satisfying, because I have waited years to do it. Finally. Let the show begin...... Many of you will remember way back when, when I fabricated six exhaust stacks, assisted by a complicated locating fixture. These were made mostly from .125 inch thick solder, the thickest pliable material I could find and not quite thick enough - should have been about .14 inch diameter. I now could permanently bond them onto the back of the engine cylinders: With that, I applied a liberal amount of 2-part epoxy and bonded the long awaiting engine to the fuselage. You have already seen some pictures of it just placed in position, but never permanently, and never with the exhaust cover plates installed and weathered: Man, what a mess. Peering inside the open cowl flaps, as if it wasn't busy enough, now the exhaust stacks can be detected in there: Note too the dead flap panel is now permanently bonded in place. Closer still: Some are intake pipes, some exhaust stacks. OK lets pan back some and look at the whole model as it stands so far. First with canopy closed and engine panels in place: The "17" on this side is about as good as it's gonna get. I am very proud of those scratch-built elevators. The rudder - not so much. I have decided I will make another, probably my next task. Let's open some stuff up - after all I worked my tail off designing and making things that can be removed or slid back: Last post didn't show the yellow handle well enough....there it is. I still remember the discussions a couple years ago about leaving the engine out and displaying it alone. Well - here it is as exposed as it is going to get. I am so happy that tail wheel can swivel - I see Corsair pics all the time with the tail wheel in odd orientations - clearly from being towed or pushed backward, or sideways. OK enough of this shameless show-boating. This thing is far from perfect, but OMG what a difference from the original: OK - it's been right at four years now since I posted that last picture. What remains is as follows: Rudder Mk 2 Wings Radio mast and wire rigging Axle caps on main wheels Then it's time for the RFI post. It will happen later this year - the wings will be a pretty big deal. Thanks for looking in, and thanks for your patience! Hope you like the finished fuselage.

Kevin - anxious to see how well that 3D printer of yours makes parts. I sure would like to have one of my own.

Hey Kevin - Jay here. Wow - this is the kit that got me back into modeling after a decades long absence. What memories! Mine was the "Millie G", and not as nice as yours. Following.

Well - some of the hardware you use would make it even more effective, although much mor expensive. For this many, I need a more cost effective solution - Meng nuts set B (small). In real life those screws/bolts and nuts are at the most 3/16 inch (#10) diameter. Many are even smaller - 5/32 dia (#8). Scaled down, it's just terribly small. I use a fresh blade, and cut a 0.8 mm Meng nut part way up its height (leaving the washer portion behind), doing my utmost to make a 90 deg cut so the nut sits square. Even that is too large but that gives the smallest nut I can make. One of five or so just disappears suddenly in the process. I mean disappears. Poof! One second it is there, one second it is not. Like quantum mechanics.

It is with great pleasure that I can present to you the sliding enclosure for this big Corsair - all finished. Remember here is what it started out as: This is a list of what I did to it to make it better: Grind away the intermediate frames (the halo) and replace with accurate frame segments Widen the forward frame Add internal framing Add release mechanism including the external release "button" RH side Add forward roller trolleys that engage previously installed sill tracks on fuselage Add emergency release mechanism (which blows the canopy for bail-out) Add three mirrors Here we go: A couple of things - you can see the single roller above. The actual canopy has a pivoting double roller trolley at each of the four corners. With two rollers per trolley, since the forward and aft tracks are not parallel, those trolleys must pivot a few degrees back and forth as the canopy travels. That was way beyond what I could do, hence the single rollers at the forward locations only. That was hard enough! And they do engage the tracks on the sills. You can see I retained the aft posts that engage the aft track slots (no rollers). The twin red handles are part of the emergency release mechanism. This mechanism far as I can tell, when clips are disengaged and the handles are pushed (pulled?) hard, will disengage the canopy frame from all four trolleys, allowing the canopy to depart the aircraft (leaving the trolleys behind). The single yellow handle (made from a ball-headed pin) is for normal opening and closing of the canopy. Note also the external red button which protrudes from a round hole in the RH canopy glass - that is also part of the normal release mechanism and does the same thing as the yellow handle. All this stuff relies on adjustable length cables and dogs and cable pulley brackets and iddy-biddy cranks to work. I used 0.009 inch dia fishing line, thin brass tube, and various chunks of plastic. Very complicated, and very difficult and maddening to make just because of the small size and part count. Note the three mirrors - I used litho aluminum sheet polished as best I could, bonded to a piece of plastic with little (real little) mounting brackets. Installed: Yup- it slides. I believe in true life it slides back a bit more than this one does. If I let mine go aft any more than it does, the top mirror fouls the fuselage, and the canopy frame begins to cover the aerial antenna insulator bump on the RH side too much. You might notice I added some slot filler blocks at the aft end of the track slots - kinda like the real thing - to limit aft movement. When closed, it matches up with that scratch-built windshield far better than I thought it would - hoorah! I am going to declare victory on this project. So much had to be done, and all of it putting the transparency at risk of scratches or a glue smear or an errant paint brush stroke. It's not future'd, but the glass is OK for me. The new intermediate frames are so much more accurate. I do believe the wings are next. I am trying to decide to just jump on them now and install the cowling, exhaust stacks and prop later. Or vice versa. I'll think a bit more on that and post something soon. Take care, enjoy the spring.

Welcome back John!

Hi Peter! Oh I thought long and hard about that. For exactly the reasons you are thinking. On the real Corsair, the plexiglass window details have rabbeted edges, such that when combined with the canopy framework, the outer surface of the frame is the same as the outer surface of the glass (e.g. no step). My part already has about a 0.01 step, and I have attempted to sand it down a bit, at least the sharp edges, to minimize that inaccuracy. I thought about sanding all the framing down to eliminate the step altogether. Then skin it like you suggest. But with all that sanding I felt like I would ruin the part, so I didn't go that far. Sanding away the intermediate frame was tough enough! Would have been fun; oh well. So I have to accept that 0.01 inch step, knowing that probably meant no skinning. I actually made a litho part to see how it would look, and I didn't like it (too much step). This is also the case on the windshield (flush frame and glass). My windshield has a .01 inch step (frame-to-glass) and it is noticeable. So, in the end I elected not to have the even larger 0.015 inch step on the canopy, hoping the repairs I make to the fastener holes could handle the awl punch marks.....

Many very kind comments WRT my last couple of posts - thank you all. Last post I told you that the next project was to be the sliding cockpit enclosure (the canopy). And so it is. Over time I had considered making an all new canopy - making a 3D printed master shape in Rhino, and getting some help making a vac-formed part - something I've never done. In the end I decided (hopefully a good decision) to just work with the existing part. I had already done three important things for the canopy part: 1 - sand away the inaccurate intermediate frames and locally restore the transparency. This took a heckuva lot of time and patience. 2 - fill in the hundred or so ugly holes that are supposed to represent fastener heads. 3 - widen the too thin forward frame. This is where it started (what the model came with): This is where I was after accomplishing the above three items: My plan going forward - A - Make new intermediate frame strips from .01 x .08 Evergreen strip that are more accurately shaped, bond same onto canopy transparency. Very dangerous. B - Awl punch new fastener head marks. C - Make a robust pair of forward roller trolleys that engage the already made tracks on the tops of the cockpit walls. This will allow the sliding canopy to actually slide. A most delicate step, and the trolleys MUST be robust, or they will break off. D - Make other interior components as realistic as possible (alot of very small scratch built parts including thin fishing line for cables) - three mirrors, and Rube-Golderg complex release mechanisms. E - Weather using hairspray chipping method, Florey washes, Tamiya Weatherine pastes. F - Gloss clear layer, decal, flat clear layer. It is ambitious and I have to be cognizant of the "less is more" axiom. I have begun a Rhino model for all the little knick-knacks that comprise the roller trolleys, and release mechanisms. I'll show that when it is more developed. Meanwhile here is where I am on the canopy (steps A and B and part of E above): Should have provided a picture before I masked and painted, but forgot to. I offer a huge thumbnail for ruthless examination of details. I am basically pleased with the new intermediate frame strips; so will you when this is done and masking comes off, I believe. Here is what I am NOT pleased with - I used medium viscosity CA to fill in the existing fastener holes, thinking that gave me the best chance of a robust material that might withstand the awl punch. As opposed to a putty which would for sure locally shatter. Above you can see several spots where a CA repair coincides with an awl punch mark, and things didn't go well for many of them. They basically broke apart. The bad ones (about 8 of them) have received another blob of CA as a start to another repair. NOT HAPPY. This was not very visible until the blue coat went on. Still to come is sanding, a careful retry with the awl punch hoping the repairs hold up, and a repaint. It's going to get there I suppose, but this modeler is on edge again, which runs counter to the enjoyment modelers are supposed to experience. It seems that the more time passes (been about 4 years now), the more invested I am in this grand Corsair project, and the more nervous I get that I will ruin it somehow. That canopy has to be good - it dominates the overall appearance of the model. Wish me luck!

Beautiful! How did you do that?

It's fun to compare this to what I have been doing in 1/18. I am jealous in a way (I'm tired!). It looks beautiful so far Woody.

Soooo, in parallel with the fuselage preparations, as you will recall, I had been working on the seat and seat support - this contraption: Picture complements of Dana Bell volume 8. The seat was attached to the already completed seat support via four slider brackets. Seat belts and shoulder straps were made from some photo-etch parts given to me by Peter C (Airscale), and lead sheet from a wine bottle. Add some little bits like handle levers, and the bungees, and you get this: See the bungees back there? Made from 0.022 inch dia solder. So it became time to install that bad boy into the airplane - that along with the remaining armor plate (the rectangular one): Here it is (getting good pics is a bit difficult): That seat installation, my friends, completes the cockpit. AGES ago I began the cockpit work, and this post signifies its completion. Makes me a happy camper - this cockpit was a heckuva challenge in so many ways.... Here are a few shots of the complete cockpit, just to celebrate a bit: Anybody who has done big cockpit efforts knows that a significant portion of the work becomes basically invisible unless a flashlight is used. So I guess it's just a labor of love. Next is the sliding canopy. You might recall it had very inaccurate intermediate frame segments, that looked like a halo. I took this shot about 8 months ago: I sanded away the offending frame strips and got to work trying to restore the transparency to its former sheen. We had a bit of discussion on this back then. So this is what I have so far: Getting there. Now this part has various inaccuracies some of which I have addressed, or will address. Some shape issues I just have to accept, if it is going to fit onto the fuselage with its own inaccuracies. So it is going to receive two more accurate intermediate frame strips, and already I have increased the width of the forward frame, and filled in the little fastener holes with CA. Also, it is going to receive various interior knick-knacks - roller trolleys of some kind, mirrors, and possibly hardware associated with emergency release. That is what you can expect in the next post. Take care and stay tuned!

I might take another vote on the rudder - part of me says to do it over, take the lessons learned that were applied to the elevators, apply same to the new rudder. It will no doubt be an improvement. But - it was a pretty long project with alot of parts, and not particularly enjoyable..... The wings? First, finish the seat and its support, plus seat belts and shoulder straps, get it installed with the last of the armor plate, and the all important canopy (that will also be a bit of a project). THEN - the wings.

Are ya keepin' up? I'm having some fun now. The log jam has broken and things are happening after a busy winter of detailing. First though, next little project was the tail gear doors. They are 3D printed, came out really nice, but I was not able to completely get rid of some of the pock marks left after trimming the parts from their support sprues. That was my excuse to skin them in aluminum, and I am glad I did: The newly painted and chipped seat photobombed my picture. Doing the seat work in parallel. I have more fun with those saw horses! And, it gives an idea of how large or small these components are since the saw horses are to scale. Skinning of the doors was a snap, and a big improvement. Wish I had done that to the main gear doors... Painted, weathered, installed: I must show you the finishing touches on the chain-driven door operating mechanism (the chain was quite literally the first project I worked on for the aft fuselage months ago): The finishing touch being the little push rods that attach to the doors themselves. The sharp observer will see the chains in there. Here also are the even smaller little rods that link the forward doors to the aft doors: Door installation went pretty well, but I think they are supposed to open a bit more than they are. I couldn't do anything about that - not now. Hope you like it OK. And with that, the way was cleared, at long last, for fuselage join: Yes - she is officially on her legs! I think the color matching worked out pretty well. The join is a bit messy though - somehow I think I will touch it up some, keeping in mind wartime pictures of these birds show them in just awful shape. With severe weathering, and very amateur paint repairs. Right up my alley. Some more shots: Again - the rudder is just temp installed. Gonna make another one, unless I just run out of steam.... Take a look at the aft cockpit: Note that first picture shows I still have some more work to do on that split "17". The head armor is now in place, and the radio deck buttoned down. Pretty stoked about this also. Now, to complete the seat and get it, and the seat back armor, installed. That will 100% complete the cockpit after years of on again off again work. Another giant milestone. And it comes soon. A parting fun shot: Stay tuned folks.

Ha - now you tell me (or yesterday)! I actually improved that misalign by limiting my re-masking to aft of the join, where I am getting good stick. No more damage to the forward fuselage! I will show the match-up next post when I show the join.

Head esplodie! Fantastic work!

Peter, thanks my man - it may look easy, but easy it is not! I'm turning into a nervous wreck!! NOTHING is easy about this SOB! It fights me nearly every step of the way it seems. And when it doesn't - when something goes smoothly for a change - it feels strange. Pleasurable, but strange. Inserting the long pin that attaches the tail gear carriage - easy. Pleasurable. The paint job on the other hand has been a nightmare.... Yes I did! All my 1/18 scale builds have swiveling tail wheels save the P-38 which has a non-swiveling nose wheel. I would note though, that there are only two positions where the flat on the tire is coincident with the ground plane. The swivel axis is not perpendicular to the ground.... You might recall I slightly tilted the tire flat so that the wheel can be oriented at some angle other than straight ahead. First apply semi-gloss paint. Probably should use full gloss? Second - apply decal. I normally use my own (cleaned) fingers for this; some use tweezers, etc. Let it dry at least a few minutes. Third, dab micro-sol on decal with a Q-tip. I skip this occasionally if the decal looks like it laid down really good (for the Corsair I have used it every time I think). Have never used the micro-set / micro-sol combination. Should I? Fourth, after a day or two drying, I cover with flat coat or semi-gloss coat to seal it up. Then after that seal coat fully cures, washes, etc. The quality of the decal matters it seems - I have two kinds. One, provided by Airscale as a "one-off". These seem to be the better of the two. Two, my own making using Bare Metal Company's "Expert Choice" decal paper and a normal inkjet printer, plus Testor's decal bonder. The paper is good I think. The inkjet ink, and bonder is probably not so good.... Comments? Thanks Andy! This time I used post-it notes! They are so much less sticky than masking tape. However the stencil mask itself has adhesive. Some are stronger than others. My last paint lifting episode was from the mask itself; not surrounding masking.

I am on a roll. Able to get in some first class build time. Here is what has been accomplished since the last post: decals weathering with Flory wash (dark dirt), Tamiya weatherine master (mud) flat coat to seal it all in lights - top and tip antenna mast insulator (where the MHF aerial antenna will attach) elevator install including balance tab control rods rudder temp install (with double back tape) tail gear install arresting hook install It's been fun to see all these parts finally go together. Here we go: Note it's pretty dirty. Also note the decals are just not that great especially the one on the fin where some wash leaked under it. The rudder is not permanently installed; it has some double back tape holding it in place. I am probably going to make another one although I contend this one doesn't look that bad. Look at the tail feathers: Note the balance tabs that are always level no matter what the attitude of the elevator. Note also that some YZC has found its way onto the surface. Grrrr. But really, I am going to say that the sun just bleached the devil out of this aircraft and that's what happened. I got some of that on the forward fuselage too, some will recall. And also note that cute little tip light. The gear and arresting hook stuff: You are looking at a bunch of 3D print parts right there. What a great process! Probably should have left off the hook; we talked about that a while back. But it's so cool; VF-17 used them a couple of times only; they were primarily land based. There it is with it's push rod. Up top - the other light, the insulator bud, and the VHF mast: The VHF mast is not glued in, I'll do that later. It's a bit fragile. It's also black. I can change that if I get good enough input. It could be blue....or silver.... Boy - the huge thumbnails are so unforgiving - makes that imperfection on the skin edge look awful when really it isn't. BTW that is that joint that isn't supposed to be there, some will recall. Had alot of trouble with that panel... My Corsair project to date: Man, the cool factor for F4U Corsairs is just through the roof. No wonder they are modelled alot. I am trying my bestest to be worthy of it. The wings loom large! They will come soon enough. I have one task remaining before I join the fuselage halves - the tail gear doors: I was going to wait on those, but then it dawned on me that they are better done while I have more access, and the fuselage half is less unwieldy. And that will be what you see next post. Maybe even the join, which will be one of those BIG milestones. Take care; thanks for looking in.

Wow - I have a million questions. Let's see. What printer are you currently using, and do you think it is capable of reproducing all that nitty gritty detail on the digital models for your final parts? The test parts look quite crude. My experience with 3D printing so far is that gages less than about 0.015 inch are just too much to ask (at least from the machine my 3d print supplier uses). That being the case, it is a serious limitation for a 1/24 scale engine. Is that Rhino 7 you are using? I think I recognize the work space layout. I use Rhino 7. Where are you getting your technical information on the R-2800? Your parts look like you used drawings of some sort. I cannot find any drawings of the R-2800. Where did you get your technical information on the Bendix carburetor? The distributor?

Following that Hurricane build Mike - beautiful so far!

Thanks for the suggestions on alternatives to masking, all. In the end, as I am so apt to do, is stay the course and damn the torpedoes. I used the Maketar masks directly, and the remainder of the masks Thunnus gave me (the #17 numerals). I gotta tell you - I was as nervous about this step in this long build as any so far. But here you are: Can you find the paint lifting? None on the first picture, and a couple of wee specks on the second picture. I will let them be - part of the weathering. What a relief! Dodged a bullet. Rolled sevens. Now I can give a hearty thank-you to Chuck for suggesting X-22 clear gloss acrylic as a base coat. Who'da thunk? Man those stencils are huge! Also, post-it notes! What a great way to mask off large areas! Low stick. Awesome. Matching the split number 17 on the LH side was a bit less of a success, but no paint lifting: I am going to try to improve on that edge match a bit, but I don't want to tempt fate with alot more masking; I may just tinker with the match with hand painting and invoke the messy 1944 Ondongo airfield paint repair excuse. Gotta do something about that fairly large paint chip on the forward fuselage that you can see in that last pic aft of the wing trailing edge....it will be messy. Gonna let the euphoria wear off as the paint cures some more, and then give it a little rub-down to tame those raw edges on the star insignias, then some semi-gloss for decals. Then, weathering and we will see if those colors can blend in with the forward fuselage. Stay tuned!

Dude - you aren't going to believe what's coming.

Wow Woody! What a result! For me, I have low confidence I could get as good a result. But the great thing about it is that there is no risk of ruining the painted finish. I will think on this. At the same time, I did a tape pull test this morning on the side of the fuselage with no lifting. So, so far so good. I'll have to decide soon what to do.

OK - time to face facts. Fact 1 - I have a paint lifting problem on the forward fuselage, along the sides on the furthest aft edge, both LH and RH sides. It occurred while masking for the "17' numerals, months ago you will recall. And I don't really know why it happened. It's repaired, but the repair is more fragile than the surrounding undamaged paint. It cannot be touched. Fact 2 - I split the fuselage in two a couple years ago, to split up the mountain of work. Fact 3 - I fully painted and weathered the forward half of the fuselage before I even started on the mid/aft fuselage. This all leaves me with a couple of challenges. How do I minimize the chances of paint lifting on the mid/aft fuselage while masking for the remainder of the "17" numerals, and the large US star insignias on either side? And, how do I get a good color, transition, and weathering match between the forward and mid fuselage at the join? As I reported last post, I did six test panels to test for paint lifting again, and found, amazingly, that a base layer of Tamiya X-22 clear seemed to provide a more robust stick to bare aluminum than the self-etching primers I have just for the purpose. Thanks Chuck, it was your suggestion, but wait! Maybe I should not hand out thanks just yet. Also I am making more extensive usage of rubber gloves to minimize the odds of contaminating the surfaces that will see masking. So I committed to X-22 clear lacquer for the base coat. That was step one. Easy enough, except it's clear and gloss, and it is very tough to tell how it is laying down on the aluminum surfaces because you cannot see it!! No pics. Step two was hairspraying areas where I want chipping - basically the empennage leading edges. Easy enough. No pics. Step three was a full coverage of YZC. Probably didn't need full coverage; it's only needed where chipping and scratches will be. Oh well. A picture: To my surprise and disappointment, some of the formed panels show where the forming took place - just kneading with a long brass tube on a mouse pad get the panel detail to have a curve. I am hoping as the paint scheme is applied and the star insignia, and heavy weathering, that it will be unnoticeable. Step four was the second application of hairspray, mostly on the empennage leading edges, again. No pics. Step five was top coats! First the insignia white, second the medium blue, and third the darker Navy blue. The real challenge here was to try to match the forward fuselage without masking. Here: What do you think? I think I was able to successfully match up the transitions. Pleased about that! We are going to have to wait on the color matching - the weathering is the difference so far. It really changed the tones on the forward fuselage. I must somehow duplicate it. A couple more pics of my work today: Probably should have cleaned up my garage work bench a bit more. Ugg. Step six is stencils. That is the biggest deal here, and the one that has me chewing my fingernails. The X-22 has to work for me. Has to. Next post you should see those results, good or bad, plus maybe step seven - chipping and scratching. Take care!

Kev- on this model, everything came off (but only locally if you recall). So it was the primer-to-metal bond that failed. It is very possible that I was not careful enough cleaning it though, when I was prepping the surfaces. At any rate, I am giving the X-22 a go. Am very nervous about it.....