John1

Are there any concerns with the oil paint reacting with the base colors? Will this work with all paints?

The market demand a new-tool 32nd P-51D!

I so hope Tamiya decides to announce another "super kit" in advance (one that typically turns out to be a motorcycle or a 48th scale subject). That way we can all enjoy another 20-page thread dedicated to wish lists and insider knowledge posts on what is really going on in Mr. T's head. Fingers crossed boys!

Fundekals did a very comprehensive sheet for the F4U-1D. Check their website out, maybe you will get lucky.

Fantastic weathering reference. Also compare the absolutely filthy bomb casings to the immaculate tailfins. A common feature that many modelers miss.

Posted over on an HS forum but I thought I would share: At first I just thought this poor F4U-1D was the victim of a ground accident. However, reading the post, I find that this aircraft was shot up a Japanese "George" during a dogfight off of Okinawa towards end of war. The lucky Marine pilot was somehow able to land the aircraft in this condition! If nothing else, shows the durability of the Corsair and the hitting power of those 20mm cannons.

The Tamiya F4U was the finest model I've ever built (until I built the Tamiya Mosquito FB.VI). If display space is an issue, build it with the wings folded.

I’d rather eat hairspray than that stuff!

That actually rings very true. One of my first WIP's ages ago over on ARC was a 48th conversion of the Kinetic S-2 Tracker to a US-2B utility version. I had decided on a whim to try to replicate a US-2B that crashed at a nearby NAS when I was a kid, killing both crewmembers. I did a FOIA request, got a copy of the crash investigation and more than enough info to complete the build. The Navy's investigation was fascinating. Essentially, while out on a local training flight over Cape Cod, the crew lost an engine. They headed back to base with their one good engine starting to smoke, and through a series of miscommunications with an escorting helo, they were never informed that their good engine was having issues. The remaining engine failed 90 seconds before they would have made the runway. The crew overflew a crowed ball field and deliberately put the aircraft down into woods to avoid the field and nearby homes. Both crewmembers perished. Turns out that both engines were severely damaged by improper maintenance by short staffed, apathetic personnel at the base. Follow up QC/QA measures that would have caught this were also ignored. After the crash, the former commander of the air station argued that because of the complexity of those old radial engines and being short-staffed, it wasn't surprising that the aircraft didn't receive proper maintenance! Anyways, a few months later, I was contacted by the son of one of the deceased pilots. His family never knew the full story behind the accident, they were told it was crew error and possibly drugs were involved (they weren't). The WIP gave them a great deal of closure and a year later, I met the son, another son and the pilots widow to hand over my model to them. It was an amazing moment. Later on, the WIP ended up as the source for an article in Flying Magazine. That build made every WIP I've done since worth it.

Nice work!

Thanks very much guys. I'm still on the fence about whether my approach made sense or not. To be sure, there are a few sections (primarily the intakes) that need to be painted prior to assembly but I supposed the rest could have waited. Regardless, it took me about 30 minutes to do the touch up work. Still have a few small glitches that I'll need to fix but I'm moving in the right direction. Ignore the rain drops, it just started drizzling when I took these pictures. One of the drawbacks of using natural light. Ignore the overspray in the AIM-7 well, just a result of a poor masking job. I'll get it cleaned up the next time I'm shooting some gloss white. Quick update, thanks for checking in!

Interesting discussion. I never did WIP's until about 5 years ago. Since then, with only a few exceptions, that's all I've done. I can't explain why but as I start researching my build, I get pretty passionate about my subject and just figured I'd share what I've discovered with the rest of the class. The actual build is almost secondary. I mean, seriously - who would not be fascinated by an in-depth discussion on the color and weathering of the canopy emergency jettison handle on an F4U-1D (late version)? As far as responses to my updates - It's hit or miss. If I'm being honest, I would love to be showered with comments and suggestions after each post. That usually doesn't happen. A bit disappointing but I don't take it to heart, I'm just as guilty for ignoring a lot of fantastic builds here on LSP, or just skimming through the updates quickly before going to work and then forgetting to circle back and provide some feedback to the author. I've had a couple of builds on other sites (BM and ARC) that received pretty much no comments, post after post. In those cases, I simply stopped posting. ARC is on it's last legs anyway so I get it. After reading this thread, the one take away I got is that it's well worth spending a few seconds to hit "like" or send a quick comment when reading someone else's WIP. Just my $0.02

That’s is some seriously impressive work. Looking forward to more updates!

Now that you mention it, no. He was not. Actually, the whole place seemed kinda goofy. I’ll show myself out…

Any variant as long as it’s the one that precisely replicates a UH-1H helicopter.