Eenyweeny

Finished with a Satin Clear. I was thinking that sheen would look more realistic. I've continued to work on my airbrush technique. Instead of spraying in long strokes I did smaller areas and built up the paint slowly. I managed to do all this in 2 coats doing it that way. It's taken me awhile to get the airbrush technique down. My other work with dark colors has come out somewhat splotchy I think, not a uniform color across surfaces. This is much better. It's still a bit hard to capture the fading that I did with the black basing but you can see some in the pics. Later I'll try to take better pictures and see if I can capture it better. The positive thing about it is that the fading is reserved and doesn't look overdone. In regular light it shows up really well so I'm sure I can get better pictures.




 

Hello all,
 
Tamiya’s masterpiece Corsair. The best kit I’ve ever gotten my sticky mitts on. 
 
Grey Matter engine bay and various additions - see the build log for details.
 
Thanks for looking in 
 
 
Guy
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Some photos with where I'm at...
 
Roundels are now sitting nicely - albeit with a few cracks that will need touching in on the fuselage roundels.
 
Model loosely put together - with dry fitted undercarriage - and, for the first time - test piece canopies in place to test fit (these are not the final quality ones!).
 
Excuse the dust on the model - will just wipe off!
 

 

 

 

 

 
Have fun!
 
Iain
 
 
 
 
 
 

OK - needs more polishing (and still some Novus plastic polish residue in the photos) - but this is where we're at - with a little more trimming needed on the vac part - but very almost there:
 

 

 

 

 
Definately a good step forward!
 
Iain

not much progress on this one, but at least it looks colorful, not the best kit on the market but at least is something different for a break of military birds
 

I don't like these forums anymore... your incredible work puts mine to shame!!! 

Incredible work!! I can't wait to see how well this turns out. I'm going to shamelessly follow your work and copy the parts I feel that my meagre skills will allow, on my next build, which is the very same model. I actually have 2 birdcage's in the stash. because the Corsair is my absolute favourite bird!

My Hasegawa FW-190A-8 in Heinz Bar colors.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So my 2nd Typhoon is now complete.  Aftermarket resin seat, wheels, cannons and metal rockets were added and finished using Tamiya paints and oils for weathering.  Which is my favourite of the 2?  Like children I'm sure you arnt supposed to choose but for me as much as i love this one and it was the one i started first the desert scheme (see link below)just has it for me.  What next?  well definitely not a Typhoon!  The HB B24 is calling me from my stash as long as i can come to terms with the turrets!  my immediate problem though is what to do with 2x 1/24 Typhoons that won't fit in my display cabinet!!  Cheers  Matt
 
 



















 
 
 

Finally completed this model, after starting it back the summer of 2018.  My first large scale Tamiya kit and I'm absolutely blown away by how good this was.  For those who have never built one of these kits, you have to treat yourself!  My subject is "My Nel III", a late war Corsair assigned to VMF-511, flying off the USS Block Island.    Decals courtesy of the truly awesome Fundekals set. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here's a full list of all the corrections and updates I incorporated into my build.  Not saying it's the complete list of every modification the kit needs or that all of these are even necessary.  Some are just to update the kit to the late -1D variant I was building.  Just posting in case it helps anyone else.
 
cockpit flare gun deleted entirely Delete upper wing ID light Delete lower wing landing light Add left side armor plate (installed to protect the pilots throttle arm)  Add under seat armor plate (installed when the Corsair gradually started performing air to ground missions).  Add left side windshield hand grip  Add a thin metal bracket on top of seat for seatbelts Fill in cockpit vent in fuselage (this mod was only seen on post-war Corsairs, with maybe a few limited exceptions).  Fill in wing fuel tank fill ports (these tanks were deemed an explosion hazard and were gradually eliminated from later production runs).  Drill out cockpit frame lightening holes Add rudder pedal adjustment levers Added multiple hydraulic lines on forward cockpit bulkhead Added pins and retaining cables for pilot's back armor plate Drilled out top tubes on pilot's seat mounting frame Removed moulded on seat adjustment lever and replaced with scratchbuilt part.  Drilled out lightening holes on footrest support frames. Added multiple electrical lines underneath instrument panel and side consoles Used awesome Barracudacals cockpit decals Used thin acetate between kit instrument panel and decal, instead of thick kit clear part Added hydraulic line to cockpit accumulator  Added large heating duct to right side of cockpit Added stubs of pencils sticking out of map case Used pilots oxygen hose, to run from regulator  Thinned levers on throttle assembly Drilled out opening of pilot's relief tube and added drain hose Added HGW harness instead of kit PE Added bomb emergency release lever on left side of console Added very basic 2D radio behind cockpit seat  Added multiple electrical cables to radio and IFF control boxes on right sideway of cockpit Added rocket control panel (kit part R-44 but not shown in instructions) Added rocket firing handle on upper left side of cockpit Added electrical lines for MG switches on glareshield Sand down the fabric stitching on wings and control surfaces Added Vector cowling set.  Fiddely but in my opinion, well worth it if you are leaving the cowl flaps open Added cowl flap actuator rods and linkages Added engine ignition lines, with clips to hold the lines together Added oil drain line on bottom of crankcase Added curved oil lines at top of cylinders (see my comments above) Added larger diameter lines that connect cylinder tops to each other Added electrical and hydraulic lines to main landing gear bays Carved out openings at bottom of main landing gear retraction struts Drill out lightening holes in main landing gear bays Thinned kit exhaust openings Opened lightening holes in sides of flap panels Open up lightening holes in LG oleo scissor links Added Barracuda resin wheels  Added ignition "pigtail" leads to HVARs Added Brassin resin 500 lb bomb in lieu of kit 1,000 lb bomb (thanks Jennings!!) Added arming wires to front and rear bomb fuzes Added scratchbuilt wingtip navigation lights Added multiple hydraulic and electrical lines to wing-fold area Added emergency release handles and linkages to interior of canopy frame. Used those awesome Fundekals decals.  
If anyone's interested, the full build is here:
 
 
 
 

Everything forward of the rear row of cylinders has been glued into place  The wiring has been completed.  I didn't follow the wiring all the way to the rear of the cylinders as this did not allow the cylinder covers to lay down flat.  Won't be able to see from the front anyway.

Thanks Ray! 
 
The gear reduction housing has been painted.  The black magneto is from the Vector resin set.  The P&W logo is a kit decal and the data plate is an unused decal from the Barracuda sheet.  Didn't catch that the P&W logo was placed upside down until it was already fused into place.  Darn it! 

Dad gave me this kit when he was cleaning out his study. The fuselage was unfortunately wrecked, but thanks to Kagemusha, who was able to supply me a fuselage he didn't need. I'll be building the kit for my old man, not sure on colourscheme yet, probably build it with the wings folded too.
 

 

evening Mustang fans
 
 
Thanks Jay - the wing filler on the surfaces is a little problem I am trying to get my head around right now, and I think I am going to need a little advice from the community!
 
 
 
 
that is a stunning photo Chek - really useful, thank you - one interesting thing is the rivets - on a P51 it seems they are tiny and flush and as can be seen here are acually lots of different tones in themselves - I can't hope toreplicate the tones, but it is a good prompt to go down to tiny sized when it comes to the fuselage..
 
so, since the last update I have been trying to work out what is going on with a P51 wing skin surface - I know there have been useful threads on the forum but I can't seem to find them so am asking for any advice to be offered right here if you know about this stuff
 
here is what I know - I know filler is applied to certainly the front of the wings, I know on the Oshkosh Grand Champion resto of Lopes Hope (and they are as nuts about detail & accuracy as we are..) the wings were also painted silver all over apart from the gear doors, and the lower skins over the wing fuel tanks
 
this pic shows how they did it..
 

 
..and another..
 

 
..on a couple of upper surface ones I can definately see a few panel lines on the leading edge near the wing root, but curiously on the bottom it looks completely smooth..
 
I toyed with not skinning the wing and just doing it smooth, but then I saw this pic of Lopes Hope wing being done..
 

 
..all Aircorps Aviation WIP pics only show the leading edge being filled to about a thrid of the chord, so my current working theory is that I will skin the whole wing with aluminium, fill to the line I can see they are doing and then paint the whole wing apart from the panels they also leave NM..
 
..now then - this is where I need a spot of help - does that sound right?
 
hopefully someone knows a lot more about this than me and can give me some pointers while I get on with the skinning..
 
..speaking of which I had better post some actual work..
 
..I stitched together multiple factory drawings to try and get the layout of ribs, stiffners and access panels - printed these to scale and stuck them to the model with pritt-stick paper glue..
 

 
..then I cut along every line with a scalpel so I could draw it out on the wing - after doing so I brush water on the paper & strip it all off..
 

 
I started the skinning with the Nav Light panel - taking a template from the model & blending it with drawings to get the shapes and lines of rivets - the holes were dremmelled out with a wide based triangle burr..
 

 
..after rivetting it needs washing in thinners as the awl I use for rivets actually punches out a tiny disc of tape & these can come free and mark the metal as I burnish the part on a hard surface to flatten out all the detailing..
 
..the light lens bracket was one of the extra bits of PE I did when I did the 1/24 airscale Hellcat cockpit set..
 

 
..added that panel & moved onto the next - this one has a tricky oval access panel and sets the position of the panels above & below it as it sits below the wing spar - here I am using tamiya tape to hold it in position so I can just fold it back, add the contact cement and fold it into position - the masking tape stops me getting glue everywhere I don't want it..
 

 
..then the other panels were added and the area cleaned up..
 

 

 
..I always work synchronosly so that I don't get bored repeating an action later on, so the same panels are made at the same time for the other wing... this side has a big lens in the leading edge for a landing light so I haven't got to that yet..
 

 
..in other news, i made castings of my prop blade master, cleaned them up a bit and shot a coat of mr. surfacer..
 

 
..they still need more sorting out, but they do fit the prop hub...
 

 
..and I think starts to give that unmistakeable P51 character to the nose..
 

 
..so yes, I do intend to skin the wings and then cover it in filler....
 
I must be mad..
 
TTFN

Peter
 
 
 
 
 

I don't like these forums anymore... your incredible work puts mine to shame!!! 

9th Hog finished.
HGW wet transfers & seat belts
Barracuda wheels
Maketar mask
All colours Mr.Paint/MRP
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last few pics, couldn't get them to fit on the previous post:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thanks for looking!!

Ok lads, I think I'm calling this one done.   I added the antennas (probably the hardest part of this entire build).   It's not really up to my standards (such that they are) but it's all I could manage.  My hat is off to all the modelers who do such a good job in this area!   A couple of notes - I thought about painting the sprue black but in looking at my references, it seems like the antenna is a natural metal with whiteish insulators.   Not sure I like the current color, I may go back and try to gently apply a dark wash to the antennas.    Also, the lower antenna is a bit loose.  In some pictures, it does appear to have some sag.  I plan on going back and CAREFULLY apply some heat to try to tighten it up. Given that the last time I did this, the entire assembly collapsed, I figured I'd better my pictures in her current state.   If I can improve this area, I'll repost a couple of shots.     
 
This build kept me happily employed for nearly 3/4 of a year.  It's the most fun I've had modeling in ages.  I just want to thank every one who contributed all their feedback and more importantly their advice.  Two people I want to personally thank - Jennings, first off for his awesome decals, without which I never would have been interested in building this aircraft and secondly for his generous contribution of the Brassin resin 500 lb bomb.   I also want to thank "One to One Scale".  He generously bailed me out twice.  First with a replacement landing gear leg and second with some extra decals.    Thank you guys so much.  Here are some final pictures, I'll also post some shots in the Ready for Inspection forum later.   I'll also pull together a summary of all the modifications I did to this kit, in case anyone is interested.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Note that the reflection of the GSB adds a weird tone to some of these pictures, trust me - it's the camera, not the paint job!
 
 

Incredible work and a real inspiration for me to up my game! 

Just found this. Pretty cool, especially for a retired RCN guy like me... even though I served well after she was decommissioned.
 
Dave/Ironman1945
 
 

Interesting comments about 740's wing.  A replacement wing makes sense given the lack of white bars on the bottom port wing star.  Since many of the birdcage Corsairs were painted in the two-tone scheme, do you think it is possible/probable that the port wing star may have been Non-Specular Blue Grey?  Photos of 740 aren't conclusive but it appears that it might be a possibility.
 

 

 
 
 
Feel free to follow and copy!  No shame in using other builders' techniques... great way to learn, IMO!
 
 
 
Thanks!  The Vector resin IS very nice but the final judgement comes when we mate the resin cowling onto the engine/fuselage.

Incredible work!! I can't wait to see how well this turns out. I'm going to shamelessly follow your work and copy the parts I feel that my meagre skills will allow, on my next build, which is the very same model. I actually have 2 birdcage's in the stash. because the Corsair is my absolute favourite bird!

Thanks Scott!  I'll keep tabs on those sites to see if I can incorporate the metal exhausts on this build.
 
I'm still feeling out this kit and don't really have a clear path forward, especially when it comes to the cockpit.  It's a multi-step process with many, many small parts.  Most of it is contained in the central cockpit assembly but there is also stuff that needs to be hung on the fuselage walls.  It's hard to figure out what to paint, when to paint it and in what order.  I have to account for any added details (which won't be too many) and the Barracuda data stencils.  There are just so many of them and I don't want to put in myself in a position where I can't apply the decals properly.  
 
I selected the forward cockpit bulkhead to test my cockpit painting procedure.  I'm going to lay down the base color, Interior Green, on bare plastic (no black base), highlight raised structure using a lightened Interior Green and pick out any details with a fine brush.  I'll then give it a dark pastel wash.  Since the bulkhead will be largely hidden and comprised of only two parts with no stenciling data, I thought it was a good place to start.


 
I'll have to figure out weathering on the more accessible parts of the cockpit like the seat, foot pedals, etc.

This video reminds me of the engine start sequence in Flight of the Phoenix.
 
 
 
 

I really like what I've seen so far, kit wise, just really wish it was a -3 so I could pick one of a dozen or so early tri-color schemes that I very much do like, as overall GSB does absolutely nothing at all for me. Looks like no -5 kit will be in my future.