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21st Century F4U-1D kit


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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks Studly!

 

Well, I've had a hard time sticking to this project for a wide range of reasons, mainly associated with the nice weather, a cranky lawn mower and aquiring resin-casting skills.

 

Anyway, she's ready for paint now. The dihedral angle has been fixed. About 1/64" was trimmed from the top of the outer wing at the joint, and most of the attachment stubs had to be removed to get them up where they're supposed to be - about 5/16" higher at the tips than stock:

post-30-1179797515.jpg

 

I think that one fix made a big difference in the overall apearance of the airplane.

 

The kit's landing gear doors were little more that rectangular blocks of plastic so new doors were scratched from sheet styrene. The incorrect location of the landing gear (too far inboard) on the wing made it impossible to get the shape right on the top of the doors. The only option was to cut them off at an angle that matched the wing. :blink:

 

The small white styrene stubs on the engine mounting boss were installed to positively correct the angle of the engine. Without them, the designed 'seat' of the engine is angled down about 3° from where it is supposed to be.

 

I'll post more after the paint is on.

 

D

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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Ok, this one will get done within the time frame. :rolleyes: Thanks for moving the whole thread over here!

 

Type, Scale & Manufacturer have been covered by the previous posts. My aim with this is, was and always will be to ENJOY THE BUILD.

 

What stopped this build? Good weather, pure and simple. Pretty hard to be inside fooling with plastic models when the 6 months of the year without snow & ice are out there calling me. By the time the weather goes cold, I'll be pretty well burned out and in dire need of some quality time at the work bench. What do I think would help this build get through to completion? Sour weather. Even the occasional rainy day is a good enough excuse to tinker.

 

Anyway, this Corsair is ready for paint, the paints and parts are all sitting on the paint bench and it is next up in the cue. Might even get some rain tomorrow...

 

D

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  • 4 weeks later...

Man, you ain't kidding, Matty! Good thing I wash my hands before handling things. :)

 

Seriously, though, thanks for the compliment. I forgot to mention that the Gloss Sea Blue is actually a custom mix with quite a bit of MM Blue Angel Blue added to the MM GSB to bring the color to life. It took a bit of experimenting with various mixes on 1/48th test mules before it looked "right" enough to shoot on this one. Of course, those color tests were conducted just before the nice weather set in. The final exam of this color will be see what the background blue on the national insignia decals looks like against it...

 

D

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Wow, nice gloss job! If you look closely, we can even see your reflection in the paint job!! :P

 

Are you going to leave it that glossy, or dull it a bit for the final product? This is a question I have asked myself whenever I do a GSB aircraft. I know the gloss is historically correct, but it seems to make the model look more toylike.

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Thanks, Ray!

After the decals have been applied and sealed with another coat of Glosscote, the gloss will be toned down here & there with satin clear and Dullcote clear. This thing was still tacky when I shot the pic (handled by the clamp on the nose then sitting on small bits of plastic), but has since toned itself down a bit to more of a satin sheen once it fully cured. That's what I'll be doing on purpose (hopefully!) with the final coats & some mild weathering.

 

D

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Looks spectacular D!!!

 

About to throw some paint on mine myself. Just built it out of the box as a leisurely weekend build.

Cut all the wingfold stuff out and glued the wings on. (After slight modification as you have also found out.)

 

 

 

Jody

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Thanks Jody!

 

The decals are on:

post-30-1190561019.jpg

 

After all that color experimenting, I'm very happy with the GSB color in relation to the blue of the insignias. As with all these 21C kits, it was a bit of a chore getting the decals to snuggle down into the panel line trenches. Otherwise, they went on fine. The "tape" over the fuselage fuel tank panel lines would have been easier if one didn't have to cut and apply them individually. The circular decal for the access hatch there came from a much picked over Eagle Strike sheet.

 

Next session: Satin Clear coat and mild weathering.

 

D

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Thanks Ray!

 

I must admit that I'm a bit intimidated by the next step of clear coats before the weathering. Getting it just right (not glossy, but certainly not dead-flat with somewhat textured areas over the "fabric" parts) is going to be a challenge.

 

 

The next rainy day will tell the tale...

D

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