ShotMagnet

So, moving along...
 
After washing all the plastic for this kit, and having a real good look at the state of the metal landing gear, I decided to get the Dremel Tool out while I was waiting for the plastic to dry after it's wash as the metal parts really needed a good cleanup and have heaps of seam lines in them.

The Dremel metal polisher head that I used was pretty much shot once I had finished, time to buy another metal polishing pack.

I also took a few of the larger parts off the sprue and cleaned them up with a few Flory sanders and did some dry fitting. I know understand that if you put a little work and effort into the model before you just go crazy with glue, it will probably go together better. One thing I should probably point out here is that this is only my second aircraft I'm building after being away from the hobby for a number of years, and boy is she quite a beast.
 

 

 

 
Cheers,
Steve

The cockpit placards make my eyes hurt, but they do look the part.
 
How did you find working with the HGW belts?
 
 
 
Shot

The model is easy to build.
It doesn't require a large amount of putty.
 

This time the A-4M Sky Hawk model.
Model from Trumpeter scale 1:32, made as always straight from the box.
The model is easy to fold and fits on every shelf.
 

The delivery of the Dana Bell book has been delayed so I've been taking it easy on this build.
 
Tinkering with the engine assembly, I've drilled out most of the wiring holes in the engine. The curved oil lines on each cylinder head were pieces from a coil of wire that I had wrapped around a paint brush handle earlier. And I've already made up the oil salvage pipe at the bottom of the engine.  I'll separate all of the components before painting.


 
Just to show the relative size of the engine assembly... it a nice chunk of plastic in my hand!

Thank you so much Alfonso!  My engine component assumptions were based on other modeler's references so it will be good to get the misconceptions corrected.  I believe the engine in the F4U-1a is the R2800-8W.
 
Now that I have the terminology correct, I can present this option.  The Vector cowling resin set came with a gear reduction case, magneto, prop regulator and a pair of distributors.  The case is a solid chunk of resin which I did not want to futz with.  But I thought I might use the Vector magneto on the Tamiya gear reduction case since there is a bit more detail on it.

 
They look a bit different and I don't know enough about the F4U to know if one or the other is more accurate or appropriate for Bu No 17740, which was an early series F4U-1a and probably used a Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8W.  Here's what it looks like on the engine...

 
The prop has been cleaned up and given a coat of primer.

Ok... Gonna do my best to be clear here. Here goes...
 
Looking at the engine head on...
 
1- Is the "bell" shaped gear reduction housing.
2- Located on the GRH @ the 11:00 and 1:00 position are the 2 distributors. In this case tear dropped as she's an early bird. Later came the "rounded" type with the "arrow" looking ignition connect on top. People wrongly call these magnetos and it makes me wanna barf! Lol
3- The magneto is located @12:00 between the 2 distributors.
4- Forward of the magneto also @ 12:00 is the prop governor.
5- Underneath at the 12:00 position under the PW logo is the oil scavange pump which has a line that leads back and attaches to the oil sump underneath.
6- The collector ring with the attachment points for the spark plug leads, 2 per cylinder, 1 fore/1 aft. "Tubular" type for the 2 "tear drop" shaped distributors and "flat" for the "round" shape. 
 
Just rough descriptions without giving manufacturers names for these items as that would be a bit much, eg: Bendix or Kelvinator magneto...etc...lol
 
Hope this is clear. Just useless mental data from the top of the dome. The type of $..t you can't talk to people about! Lol
 
 
BTW-GEORGEOUS WORK!!
 
I wish I had my Corsair stash in front of me to pic and send your way. I'm sure their must be loads of pics online on PW R 2800, I forget the subtype numbers. For wiring just emulate what you see an an actual but match the distributer and GRH and Ignition ring. I mean they need to match, the written word is not my friend, LOL
 
Alfonso

Leaving the cockpit and fuselage aside for a moment, I moved over to the prop and engine.  The prop is comprised of three parts for the hub and three separate prop blades.  To take advantage of the 2,000 horses provided by the Pratt & Whitney radial engine, it's a big a$$ prop and undoubtedly would be carving a trench in the carrier deck without those gull wings to lift it higher.

 
There is a join on the back of the prop blades that needs to be taken care of.

 
Here is a dry-fit of the major engine components just to get a feel for what I'm working with.


 
After I fix the joints on the prop, I will paint it before moving on to the engine.  I still need to figure out the wiring.

With the completion of the instrument panel hood, the cockpit assembly is just about done.  

The assembly of the HGW belts took a few hours but it was easier than some of the Luftwaffe belts that I'v'e worked on.  That was because the loops in the metal buckles were large enough to easily accommodate the double fabric straps.  The loops are super tight on the Luftwaffe belts and it takes a lot of fiddling to work that second strap through the loop!
 
I've added a few more bits onto the cockpit.  Most notably the throttle linkages which I've used four pieces of brass tubing to portray.

 
Due to the throttle being mounted on the cockpit sidewall, it would be almost impossible to physically tie the linkages to the throttle body so I just want to get them close.  They should terminate somewhere underneath the throttle body.  To check this, I've attached the throttle using a blob of Blue Tack.

 
With the cockpit tub in place, we can see that throttle linkages look ok.

 
I've attached the instrument panel as well as the hydraulic bottles.  I made up an oxygen hose by wrapping a wire around thicker lead wire.  It's hard to get a good photo of the cockpit since there are so many details sticking out in every direction.

 
I'm working on the instrument panel hood, which holds the gun sight and am creeping towards the point where I can close the fuselage halves.

The cockpit placards make my eyes hurt, but they do look the part.
 
How did you find working with the HGW belts?
 
 
 
Shot

Hey folks, updating work ...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
 
By.....

Hey folcks.....
 

 

 

Rubber and elevator
 

 

Ailerons.
 

Anti collision light.
 

Will receive a new anti-collision light in the future.
 

Original landing gear.
 

Removal of the landing gear lock to construct a new one.
 

A new damper will be installed.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insignia white.

 

 

 

Hey folchs..... go to Workbench 100% full .....

Art box.
 

Engine cables.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firewall.
 

Adjust….
 

 

Correct the fluid tank.
 

 

 

 

Assembly test.
 

 


 

 Radiator full scratch
 

Aluminun coat.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Cockpit parts.
 

 

 

 

 

Speed brake.
 

Speed brake support in aluminun.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Functional system.
 

 

Tail…
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
By my friends….

What do you guys think?
 
 

 
I'm reminded of the quote from "Contact" where the guy says "Why build one at full price when you can have two for double?" or something like that.
 
Anyways, I started on the starboard side. I figured the best place was the round escape hatch just aft of the waist window.
 
I started by cutting out a circle 17mm in diameter. This was edged with a strip of 0.015 x 0.030 which I curled a bit before gluing it to the edge.
 

 

 
 
With the edge completely in place.
 
 

 
 
I then added the internal bracing to match the rivet pattern on the outside.
 
 

 
I then measured the distance from the waist window and glued it in place.
 

Great diagrams of how the bomb bay was configured Martin!
Here's what that looks like in my model:
 

 
I've ordered the same radio sets that Herr Clunk did as I've noticed the top turret compartment is going to be a bit bare without the cheek gun ammo bins in there.
 
Carl

Those Barracuda placard decals are crazy right?  So small that some of text is not readable under my magnifiers.  Got through most of the cockpit decals and decided to dry fit some of the cockpit components together.



 
The tail wheel well components have been painted Zinc Chromate and given a dark brown wash.  A flat coat is still to come and I'm trying to figure out if I need to do any more weathering here as it will be pretty buttoned up when the fuselage halves go together.

There's Tamiya Detail and then there is Barracuda Detail.  Hard to believe the impact these tiny decals make on the cockpit side consoles.  They are small and hard to handle and need lots of patience to place but well worth the effort.  I'm about 3/4 of the way done on the decals for this piece alone.

Thank you very much!
 
I finally moved forward on the central cockpit piece. This contains the two side panels of the cockpit and I've laid down the base painting.  The silver switches are old school enamel so I'm going to let this dry completely overnight, seal it with a gloss coat and then try to apply the Barracuda cockpit stencils.  After that I can start adding the other detail bits that attach to this piece.


 
The tail wheel well needs to be finished before the fuselage can be closed up so I'm starting the work here.  Very nice detail out of the box that I will not add to but hopefully I'll be able to highlight the detail with some careful painting and weathering.  There are some ejection pin discs that need to be filled.

I've got Mr. Bell's Volume 2 on the way so I'll have that in my hands soon.
 
The seat belts have been glued into place.  I gave the seat a light gloss coat and then a dark brown wash to dirty the harnesses up and yes, the stitching did get highlighted as advertised.



 
One of the sub-assemblies that have been painted.  They are hydraulic bottles of some sort.

Alfonso... thanks for the clarification about the flare pistol!
 
About the "rudder troughs"... could it be in reference to the "plates" on top of the foot supports?  I noticed that the F4U-1a kit has plates that are glued on top of the foot supports while the Birdcage kit does not.
 
My F4U-1a
 
 
Birdcage F4U-1 Build

I don't know any of that stuff is, LOL.  Except the cockpit flare pistol and I'm sad to leave that out because I was looking forward to painting it.  Maybe I'll leave it as a possible retro-fit?
 
The cockpit on this thing is nowhere near completion.  I'm stalled out on the central cockpit assembly... keep pondering "glue then paint" or "paint then glue".  It'll be a slow, methodical combination of both approaches as I'm too lazy to be systematic about it.  I've got other things on my plate too so I can't devote 100% of my mental capacity to the task at hand.
A few hours at the bench and I pushed myself to assemble the HGW seatbelts.  I pity ya'll who are brave enough to tackle these intricate sets in the smaller 1/48 scale... no thank you!  These weren't too difficult but still took about three hours of work to get them together.  I've read that giving them a wash will bring out some stitching detail so I think I'll give that a try after I attach them to the seat and give them a clear coat.
 

Thank you Scott and Welcome Alfonso!  It's always great to have subject matter experts visit my builds and I appreciate the input, especially since Allied aircraft are not my forte.  I love the mismatches caused by replacement parts and I think a Blue Grey port wing will make a neat visual statement.  My guess is that Sea Blue was not applied on the top of the port wing based on the photos... maybe the rest of the Sea Blue had faded to the extent that it wasn't necessary?
 
Exterior issues aside, the work on the inner Corsair creeps along.  Here's the seat.  It's made up of four parts including a etched metal part.

 
The rear bulkhead, which will ultimately hold up the seat was my next painting assignment.  Based on Scott's comments, I wanted to account for cockpit components painted in a Dark Green due to more than one contractor supplying the cockpit sub-assemblies.  Since no specifics were given on WHAT might be Dark Green,  I thought about doing the seat but I decided to do the seat mounting frame and panel behind it.


 
The seat was chipped using the MIG Scratches Effect fluid and given a dirty wash.  The base metal finish was kept dark to help tone down the shine of the chipping effect.



 
Also painted at this time was the intermediate bulkhead that houses the foot pedal controls.  Chipping was done on the pedals and also the plate beneath the pedals.  The components have not been glued together yet and I was only able to get a single shot before the assembly kept coming apart in my light box.  I've given the instrument panel some light chipping along the edges to better match the worn surroundings.

 
And here is the control stick painted up.  Not sure what that cone thing is...almost could double for a pee-pee relief container but it is on the wrong side.  I added a wire to the end of it.

 
The central cockpit station between these bulkheads is still to come.

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.

I just got back from a short vacation to Hawaii!  Got back on Saturday and managed to do a little work on the Corsair on Sunday.  Decided to work on the Vector resin cowling parts.  The resin comes with small bulkheads for the nose cowling.  So you have to remove the molded bulkheads first.

 
The major surgery was performed using my Tamiya snips like a pair of scissors.


 
I then used a dremel to grind down the raised plastic.

 
The interior of the cowling was then sanded down with sandpaper and sanding sponges.

 
The resin bulkhead pieces were sawed off their casting bases.

 
I used CA glue for attachment. I'm not sure if this will be visible or noticeable once the engine inside the cowling but the additional detail is nice.


 
I moved on to the resin cowl flaps and decided to glue in the little actuator parts.

 
Stretched sprue was used for the cable that is strung along the actuators.  I think this detail will be very noticeable and is a nice addition compared to the plain flaps that come with the kit.

 
That's all for now! Thanks for checking in!