Tamiya F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair

[Shaka HI]

Regardless of the accuracy of the chipping, Carl -- I think it looks fantastic! And it's ballsy you're experimenting on the model itself!

 

(Oh wait, you did practice...I take the ballsy comment back, you wuss.)

 

Regarding the Salmon...I just don't like this fish raw..the same foroctopus/squid. I think it's nasty. Steaks -- I will take it  bleeding rare as well.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Shaka HI

[AdamR]

A fine example of Corsair paint wear and chipping:

 

 

Link to photo: http://www.airpages.ru/img/cors_02.jpg

Edited December 7, 2016 by AdamR

[David Hansen]

I agree; that's a pretty representative photo and a good starting point. There's a lot of coral dust mashed into the anti skid area. Not sure if we are seeing coral dust, or YZC primer showing thru the "low spot" on the leading edge of the wing over the wheel well.

 

This photo also appears in Jim Sullivan's latest "In Action" Corsair book.

 

 

-d-

Edited December 7, 2016 by David Hansen

[AdamR]

I agree; that's a pretty representative photo and a good starting point. There's a lot of coral dust mashed into the anti skid area. Not sure if we are seeing coral dust, or YZC primer showing thru the "low spot" on the leading edge of the wing over the wheel

To me it looks like primer showing forward of the wing walk strip—possibly from mechanics scooting off the wing on their butts? The area next to the forward wing root looks worn and chipped to bare metal.

[BloorwestSiR]

Thanks gents! I'm going through my limited references to find suitable reference photos.

 

Hopefully I can find something representative and give it another shot on the starboard wing.

 

Carl

[KUROK]

My only comment is if you have paint chipping, you have to discolor the paint around the chipping.

Remember, the paint was worn through by soles of shoes and tools over time.  It should be distressed.

I always shake my head when I see chipped paint with pristine camo paint around it.

[Azgaron]

Nice work! Chipping looks great! Wrong forum, but I love to see the Slave done!

 

HÃ¥kan

[AdamR]

Re. that wing walk material in the Corsair photo above, I don't think it is ground-in coral dust. It seems that wear appearance showed up across different aircraft:

 

 

https://s28.postimg.org/77vwrwkn1/IMG_0301.jpg

 

It appears almost white where it is worn through. I'd love to know the color, as there is an F4U-1a in my near future. Was the actual anti-skid stuff a light color which was painted over with flat black after it was applied?

Edited December 10, 2016 by AdamR

[AdamR]

My only comment is if you have paint chipping, you have to discolor the paint around the chipping.

Remember, the paint was worn through by soles of shoes and tools over time. It should be distressed.

I always shake my head when I see chipped paint with pristine camo paint around it.

Indeed. Note how the paint irregularly merges into the bare metal in this example:

 

I'd be interested in any tips from the experts here on how to achieve this effect. I've seen the multiple layer method of paint-primer-metal used with the hairspray technique, but that does not really give the gradual wear effect I'm looking for. Rather, it just creates some more sharply defined edges between paint and primer levels.

Edited December 10, 2016 by AdamR

[David Hansen]

Re. that wing walk material in the Corsair photo above, I don't think it is ground-in coral dust. It seems that wear appearance showed up across different aircraft:

 

 

https://s28.postimg.org/77vwrwkn1/IMG_0301.jpg

 

It appears almost white where it is worn through. I'd love to know the color, as there is an F4U-1a in my near future. Was the actual anti-skid stuff a light color which was painted over with flat black after it was applied?

No i think you misunderstand. The wing walks were applied at the factory and i think it was probably some kind of coal tar with pummice or something mixed into it. It was a dark gray colour; it wasn't a big piece of Emery paper like what Grumman did on the Wildcat. What i meant was when crews were walking on crushed coral airfields, coral dust from their boots got tracked onto the antiskid ares and sort of got stuck in place there.

 

-d-

[David Hansen]

Hey Adam, if you look at my works in progress posting you can see the (unsuccessful) results i had with wearing the paint away. While my first attempt didn't work out as well as hoped,  i still think the approach has merit and i'm gonna try it again.

 

-d-

[BloorwestSiR]

Thanks for all the different pointers and suggestions everyone!

 

Adam, with your concern about the chipping looking too thick instead of worn away got me thinking about a bit about that. I hadn't really considered it since I tend to spray light coats of paint without too much build up. This hasn't been an issue when I paint my markings one using masks so I don't think it'll be one here. I hope.

 

Seeing that the chipping might be a bit harsh, I decided to try something else. Knowing that I'm going to repaint the inner wing anyways, I gave it a gentle sanding.

 

 

I used a mostly worn out 1000 grit sanding stick wet and very little pressure so as not to sand thru the Duralumin coat.

 

 

I think combining this with a more selective bit of chipping will be get a better result.

 

I'll also try some paint modulation beforehand too and see if that adds to it.

 

What do you guys think?

 

Carl

[Guest]

I still like what your doing Carl. I hope all gets straightened out before I get that far. ....Harv

[Shaka HI]

I like it!

[LSP_Ray]

It looks great! Worn just like coral runway grit would do to paint on the real thing!