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Tamiya Corsair Construction Notes

98Wrangler

By 98Wrangler
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98Wrangler

98Wrangler

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Posted

As expected from Tamiya fit is excellent. I am working on this kit by the book, so the cockpit is first.

 

The color call outs have a mix of XF-5 at two parts to XF-8 at one part, which is flat yellow mixed with flat blue 2:1. Save yourself some time and use Model Master Interior Green FS 34151, as that is the interior color of most of this aircraft, and it is what you get when you mix XF-5 and XF-8. I don't know about the Salmon or pink as all the Corsairs I've seen up close at NASM and Pensacola did not have it.

 

The instrument panel D-20 with L-14 clear insert has a decal number 94 representing the instrument faces. IT is very important that you cut that decal EXACTLY on the black outline around the decal or else there will be fit issues when you mate the decal to the clear part. And DO NOT USE a decal solvent. Use of the solvent is not necessary and will cause the decal to float off the clear piece. And D-20 fits so precisely that not only is glue not really needed but you run the chance of glue seeping up into the decal.

 

The info booklet included with the kit has excellent color photos and should be your guide to detail painting in the cockpit. Part number E-28 has a color callout for red on each of the knobs on the handles. The booklet photo shows two knobs in white and one in red (the far right knob). Other reference sources such as Detail and Scale, and the Corsair Walk Around has photos, including original black and white from WW II showing these knobs as two white and one red.

 

The interior green color in the cockpit of the Corsairs I have inspected did not extend above the consoles to the cockpit sill. Everything from the consoles up to the cockpit edge was flat black.

 

IMHO, this will be Kit of the Year.

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Juggernut

Juggernut

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Interior green, from what I've been reading is not appropriate for these early corsairs. The recommended color is dull dark green/bronze green. If you can find photos of the Lake Michigan corsair, the cockpit coloration supports this statement. Also, black on the sidewalls was for later corsairs and those early ones rebuilt and retired to traing duty in th U.S. Check out the discussion on this at ARC,

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tatzelwurm109

tatzelwurm109

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Thanks for the tips on your build! Here's a quote on F4U interior colors from USN-USMC research historian Mr. William Reece:

 

"F4U-1 Birdcage, Corsair. Cockpit: Well this is tricky. The best evidence is black. Photos of F4U-1s taken at the time show the cockpits as being a very dark color. The F4U-1 E & M manual calls for Dull Dark Green. Photos and some wrecks show flat black. A photo of 'Pappy" Boyington in Bruce Gamble's book, The Black Sheep, shows him sitting in a Birdcage with a black armor plate and upper seat. This a/c also has no headrest. All other areas of the F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair would normally be 'Salmon'. Salmon is a pale pinkish/brown primer made by mixing Indian Red pigment with Zinc Chromate Yellow. The closest Munsell match is 2.5 YR 6/8 or between FS 32276 and FS 32356. This color was applied to the whole F4U before the final camouflage finish. The landing gear bays were this color. The insides of the main gear doors were Light Gray. Sometimes this was only over spray over the Salmon. Note: there were canvas covers on the inner and outer wheel bays that were either Olive Drab or Light Gray. The closest paint that I have found to the Salmon samples in my possession is PollyScale Railroad, Southern Pacific Daylight Orange. The E & M manual calls for the wheel bays, engine cowling and accessory cowlings to be painted in Non-Specular Light Gray to match the underside of the aircraft. Recovered wrecks show these areas to be Salmon however. Color photos of early Corsairs show the cowling interior to be Non-Specular Light Gray.

F4U-2
The -2's were pulled from the -1 Birdcage assembly line so they're the same. They would have had Salmon wheel bays and gear door interiors with Nonspecular Light Gray as an alternative. This may have been just overspray. Cowling interior; Ns Light Gray or Salmon. Black cockpit interior. I'd use some RLM 66 with black mixed in to make it a bit different than the instrument panel.

F4U-1A Corsair. Cockpit: FS 34151 Interior Green. All other areas of the F4U-1A were Zinc Chromate Yellow, FS 33481. Early F4U-1A's may have been Salmon. Landing gear: Light Gray or Aluminum Lacquer. This was true well into the F4U-4 production. Some a/c may have had Insignia white landing gear after overhaul or repaint.

F4U-1D Corsair. Cockpit: FS 34151 Interior Green. The area above the consoles was black. This matches the Navy's directives at the time very well. Inside of the wheel bays and engine cowling were also Interior Green FS 34151. Wheel bays could have been Zinc Chromate Yellow, FS 33481. Landing gear was Light Gull Gray or Aluminum Lacquer. After overhaul aircraft could have had the landing gear, wheel centers and wheel bays painted Glossy Sea Blue.

F4U-4 Corsair. Cockpit: FS 34151 Interior Green. The area above the consoles was black. Inside of the engine cowling was Zinc Chromate Yellow, Interior Green or possibly Flat Black with the area ahead of the cylinder seal in Glossy Sea Blue. All other visible areas were Glossy Dark Sea Blue similar to the F6F-5. Landing Gear: Aluminum Lacquer or Light Gray. After overhaul aircraft could have had the landing gear, wheel centers and wheel bays painted Glossy Sea Blue."

 

I hope you find this information helpful.

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Guest Peterpools

Guest Peterpools

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Egads

Sounds like the discussion we had for the Mustang colors. Sure wish once, something would actually be easy and so so controversial.

:mental:

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Saber

Saber

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Posted

Oh boy...here we go...;)

 

Speaking for myself, going to enjoy this build immensely.....concerning colours, going to use several shades of dark interior green, along with 'aircraft interior black' toned down with dark greys.

"To quote Shep Paine: "If it looks right...."

 

Waiting (im)patiently for some replacement wheels....

 

Shooting clear gloss on Widow this afternoon....attach a few things like gear doors, etc.....then will ease into the Corsair build...already went through instruction manual & made notes....

 

Happy modeling!

Jim

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Guest Peterpools

Guest Peterpools

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John

I'm with you. There just doesn't seem to be one definitive answer and I'm sure being wartime, the paint variations were quite numerous. This is another reason, we all question 'restoration aircraft' for specific details.

:rolleyes:

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tatzelwurm109

tatzelwurm109

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William Reece's information was based on his extensive research into original Navy Bureau directives and as many photos and actual relics he could get his hands on. For reasons stated by others, above, there certainly must have been variations. This issue is the same for so many aircraft, just like some people will state with certainty that all Bf109 landing gear legs were RLM02 Grau and yet numerous excellent color photos of them in service clearly show them in RLM65 Hellblau or RLM76 Lichtblau. Thankfully, this is a hobby- lives aren't usually on the line and the fate of the world doesn't rest on one's interior color choices. All we can do is gather as much information as possible and make our best guess.

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SinuheH

SinuheH

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Posted

Thanks for the tips on your build! Here's a quote on F4U interior colors from USN-USMC research historian Mr. William Reece:

 

"F4U-1 Birdcage, Corsair. Cockpit: Well this is tricky. The best evidence is black. Photos of F4U-1s taken at the time show the cockpits as being a very dark color. The F4U-1 E & M manual calls for Dull Dark Green. Photos and some wrecks show flat black. A photo of 'Pappy" Boyington in Bruce Gamble's book, The Black Sheep, shows him sitting in a Birdcage with a black armor plate and upper seat. This a/c also has no headrest. All other areas of the F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair would normally be 'Salmon'. Salmon is a pale pinkish/brown primer made by mixing Indian Red pigment with Zinc Chromate Yellow. The closest Munsell match is 2.5 YR 6/8 or between FS 32276 and FS 32356. This color was applied to the whole F4U before the final camouflage finish. The landing gear bays were this color. The insides of the main gear doors were Light Gray. Sometimes this was only over spray over the Salmon. Note: there were canvas covers on the inner and outer wheel bays that were either Olive Drab or Light Gray. The closest paint that I have found to the Salmon samples in my possession is PollyScale Railroad, Southern Pacific Daylight Orange. The E & M manual calls for the wheel bays, engine cowling and accessory cowlings to be painted in Non-Specular Light Gray to match the underside of the aircraft. Recovered wrecks show these areas to be Salmon however. Color photos of early Corsairs show the cowling interior to be Non-Specular Light Gray.

 

F4U-2

The -2's were pulled from the -1 Birdcage assembly line so they're the same. They would have had Salmon wheel bays and gear door interiors with Nonspecular Light Gray as an alternative. This may have been just overspray. Cowling interior; Ns Light Gray or Salmon. Black cockpit interior. I'd use some RLM 66 with black mixed in to make it a bit different than the instrument panel.

 

F4U-1A Corsair. Cockpit: FS 34151 Interior Green. All other areas of the F4U-1A were Zinc Chromate Yellow, FS 33481. Early F4U-1A's may have been Salmon. Landing gear: Light Gray or Aluminum Lacquer. This was true well into the F4U-4 production. Some a/c may have had Insignia white landing gear after overhaul or repaint.

 

F4U-1D Corsair. Cockpit: FS 34151 Interior Green. The area above the consoles was black. This matches the Navy's directives at the time very well. Inside of the wheel bays and engine cowling were also Interior Green FS 34151. Wheel bays could have been Zinc Chromate Yellow, FS 33481. Landing gear was Light Gull Gray or Aluminum Lacquer. After overhaul aircraft could have had the landing gear, wheel centers and wheel bays painted Glossy Sea Blue.

 

F4U-4 Corsair. Cockpit: FS 34151 Interior Green. The area above the consoles was black. Inside of the engine cowling was Zinc Chromate Yellow, Interior Green or possibly Flat Black with the area ahead of the cylinder seal in Glossy Sea Blue. All other visible areas were Glossy Dark Sea Blue similar to the F6F-5. Landing Gear: Aluminum Lacquer or Light Gray. After overhaul aircraft could have had the landing gear, wheel centers and wheel bays painted Glossy Sea Blue."

 

I hope you find this information helpful.

Thanks - that will be useful with my build, once I get my grubby lil hands on thet kit.

 

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Hagar

Hagar

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I'm probably wrong, but using Vallejo interior green for my nuild. Black is being done with Vallejo German Grey with black oil washes where required.

I'm just going to enjoy this build for the build I think.

James

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modelmkr

modelmkr

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'm probably wrong, but using Vallejo interior green for my nuild. Black is being done with Vallejo German Grey with black oil washes where required.

I'm just going to enjoy this build for the build I think.

James

There is strong evidence for using Dull Dark Green for the cockpit interior on Birdcage Corsairs... above and below the side consoles, floor, seat, seat frame and generally all visible metal areas of the cockpit (and interior of canopy frame too I believe)... obvious areas like instrument panel details and side consoles were black. As I understand it, Interior green would be correct for F4U-1A/ D, and then transitioned to black around the post war/ Korea era.

 

At least this is the formula I am going with.

 

Marc B.

Edited by modelmkr
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David Hansen

David Hansen

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Having done 2 48th scale Corsairs with Cockpit Black interiors, i'm using Dark Green (MM FS34092) on this one. I may be doing a Goodyear FG-1, so i'm not launching into construction just yet. I want to see what Dana Bell comes up with. I have a Late Brewster F3A-1 under construction using Interior green. My guess is when the Navy took over the place they instituted use of Interior green if Brewster hadn't switched over already.

 

david

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Juggernut

Juggernut

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Posted (edited)

Well, I just thought I'd order two tins of WEM Colorcoats from Mid Tenn Hobbies but when I checked out, I was charged $9.20 for shipping! I proceeded to dump the cart and close my browser. Sorry but I'm not paying $9.20 to ship two tins of paint by ground (paint cannot go air in the U.S.) so they just lost a sale. Granted not a big sale but I'm gonna check out WEM in the UK and see how much it'll cost me to ship two tins to me....

 

EDIT: Rats! WEM cannot ship paint to the U.S. according to their website. Hmmm....How did Mid-Tenn Hobbies get the paint then? Must be a B2B thing.

Edited by TimC
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