PhilB Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Schuweet or what! Gonna start sending you my cockpits to paint! Love the leather effect you got on the headrest. Outstanding Sir! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted September 18, 2010 Author Share Posted September 18, 2010 Hey guys, thanks for the nice replies! Baron, my side hurt from laughing on your post, thanks! Bring those cockpits on Phil. Glad you liked the leather, it was hard to get a pic that showed how it looks. Work continues but the Corsair Sensei is upset with me as my eye has started to wander to a side project involving lots of styrene and sheets of paper. No worries though as I am having lots of fun with this build. Tail wheel madness. The serial number I am doing fell into what I believe to be the second production block of -1A's so it would have the original tail wheel setup. All I had to do was shorten it. Easy-peasy. I did want to have the wheel yoke to castor and also be strong enough to survive my ham-fisted fondling so I added a brass rod. Lots of monkey motion madness here. The wheel pivots nicely and the brass tube will hopefully hold up. My photographic skill set is seriously lacking and a friend suggested that my iphone takes a better picture than my ancient Canon... Here is an attempt to show the groove I filed into the carrier hook. The kit has this represented as a flat section, but it appeared to have a groove. I am still on the fence regarding the hook. Some VF-17 planes seem to have removed it which seemed odd for Navy men even if they were land based. I have not been able to see if Chico's 34 had the hook or not. It appears that #35 deleted it and Chico's own #7 was missing it as well. That's it for now. Next up is detailing the tail area after removing what must be the hiding place for all the missing ejector marks from the last 20 kits I have built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted September 23, 2010 Author Share Posted September 23, 2010 Still plugging away here. The decision was made to delete the tail hook. Seemed to be a toss up for or against so off it came. I have also made some changes to the kit tail wheel well. No retract for me. Inspired by Brian Cauchi's fantastic Revell build and some line drawings my sensei provided, I am slowly building up this area. The post at the rear is for the elevators and a link arm will connect to the bell crank. The post toward the front is for the lift tube. The ribbing is not perfect but hey, no ribbing... I had to close off the cutouts for the rudder and vertical stabilizer as well as the horizontal stabilizers. The post with the bell crank is for the rudder. It is deflected just a bit as I have my pedals offset in that direction. Sneaky. Now I just gotta get my rudder offset enough but not too much. I need to set up the supports for the cabling and some other stuff as well as the elevator linkage and some bulkheads. It should be suitably "busy" when done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJ Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 The ribbing is not perfect but hey, no ribbing... Great work Matt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngtiger1 Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Really nice work in the cockpit. So, now I see it a Corsair but who is the Chico? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Matt Your attention to the smallest detail is amazing. Enjoying following along and learning as you go. Fantastic cockpit and the worn and realistic weathering is so very well done. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted September 26, 2010 Author Share Posted September 26, 2010 Thanks for the comments guys! Peter, I am doing my best to learn about the Corsair. Just when you think you know something it slips through your fingers. Mike, Lt(j.g.) Doris Clyde "Chico" Freeman, was the pilot of white 34. He was an original member of VF-17 and flew both tours scoring 2 confirmed and 2 probables. He was from Los Angeles and named his plane L.A. City Limits. He was killed by a kamikaze while in the ready room on the Bunker Hill. While with VF-84, he scored three more confirmed and became an ace. Sometimes it is easy to forget these guys were just kids. Progress continues slowly. I have been building furniture so the bent wing bird has taken a back seat to paying jobs! Tail wheel well madness. The Trumpeter tail wheel is close but not a scale representation of the Corsair tail wheel. The top mounting setup Trumpy made for the retracting motion is clever but not accurate. I chose not to re do it as it lets the tail gear be very solid and most of it won't show anyway. I did add the elevator pushrod linkage and what looked like a backup cable system. Here I added the wiring for the tail light and the cables to the rudder bell crank and counterweight. They still need a bit of tension but I am working on it. As you can see, very little will be seen once it gets closed up but it provides a little interest for this area. My sensei has directed me that the wheel well should be chromate yellow and not salmon. We have found that most -1A's were yellow. The main wheel wells will be salmon as will the primer on the fuselage. We think the wings may have been primed in zc yellow. That is an argument for another time. No painting today, it's gonna be 105f in the shade... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicus Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 You got MAD SKILLS!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted October 1, 2010 Author Share Posted October 1, 2010 Hey Metallicus! Thanks, but my real skill is getting mad! There used to be a sign over my desk that said "Caution: Matt in Bad Mood". Ok. The madness continues. I did not like the tail gear and wheel well I did so out it went. It is tough to get a good reference shot of the area and I was working from a bunch of drawings that were all different. Gee, I wonder why I had a problem. Another issue was that the kit tail wheel well was located too far forward by about 3mm. Here is the new right half with the tail light wiring and bulkhead Now for the left half and the reworked tail gear mount. I redid the rudder bellcrank and made a new bulkhead placed in what I think is a more correct fuselage station. The Trumpy tail gear is close but still off. I would make one from scratch but am not sure I could pull it off. Here she is closed up a bit. There are some pieces missing but I don't think it will be too noticeable so I left some stuff out. Studying the tail section of this think has been a challenge. I might get it right next time.... Ya sure.. Finally back to some painting soon, I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Wow Matt, most impressive! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Excellent work, Matt. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRutman Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Every one of your projects gets better and better. Looking good bro, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted October 9, 2010 Author Share Posted October 9, 2010 Ahhhh, back to work on my bent wing bird. Got some painting done on the cockpit sidewalls. I know there are supposed to be two CO2 bottles for the emergency gear blowdown and fuel tank but the one doesn't show so I decided not to scratch a second just to know it was there. Next time, maybe. I did find that the canopy slid on an outer guide that was made of either wood or a phenolic kind of material. It was painted interior green on the examples I saw and the top contact portion had worn the paint off from the canopy movement to reveal the brown color underneath. Now with the consoles attached. Clearance on the rest of the cockpit is still good and I think it looks nice and busy. I still have to install the handle that attaches next to the CO2 bottle. Thanks for all the encouragement guys! I need it as this project is hitting me with a LOT of corrections. It is a great learning experience and I am having a good time. So far... The tail wheel well paint is up next and then it is time to close up the fuselage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Matt One heck of a tail wheel and arrestor hook assembly. Your cockpit detail and weathering has just the right touches of age and use. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Great work Matt, a nice tribute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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