Dark Blue Killer - Tamiya F4U-1D Corsair

[John1]

While I ponder the ammo cover issue, I completed the application of all "generic" markings on my Corsair.   Even less on the port side of the aircraft and most of them are small.  Also added the various markings to the wingroots.   One word of warning on the kit decals, the large ones are a bit prone to tearing.  I had this happen with national insignia, need to go back and do a bit of touchup.  Anyway, next up will be the Fundekals!

 

Here's the port side, in all it's glory. 

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by John1

[John1]

Fundekals went on extremely well.  No bleeding of the base blue through the white decals (which has been known to happen with other folk's decals).   The decals are thin and responded very well to Micro Set/Sol.   I can't recommend these decals highly enough.   They were the reason why I decided to start this build in the first place.  Quality decals and honestly, the 45 or so page instruction sheet is something I'd probably purchase even if I didn't want the decals (however, it's free for anyone who wants to download it).     If you have any interest in this sheet (or any of their other products), head over to http://fundekals.com/ and check out their offerings.  Most of their subjects have never been replicated before and the research behind them is first rate.

 

Anyhoo...   As mentioned, the decals went on fine.  Only one missing decal and that's the aircraft number going onto the forward gear door (which has yet to be installed).   Jennings - if you are out there:  Your instructions show that the forward gear doors on "79" both had oleo servicing placards.   My only issue is - I'm not seeing this placard in any of the Tamiya servicing decals and it's not shown on their instructions.   I can probably make something up from scrap decals but am I missing something obvious here?

 

Aside from that, all decals are now in place and My Nel III is getting close to all her full glory!.   Here are some pics.   Note - I smudged the exhaust pastels behind the cowl flaps.  No worries, that's the beauty of pastels, real easy to correct / remove your work.   

 

 

 

 

To play it safe, I cut the two ID numbers apart and trimmed the clear carrier film.   Not sure it was necessary because all the other decals went down perfectly with no silvering but given the large area of clear carrier film, better safe than sorry!  Can't wait to do some weathering on the wing roots.   They look a bit strange with all that chipped metal and and everything else pristine.  

 

Still need to install the external trim tab actuator on this side of the rudder....   Also, the reference pics Fundekals provides doesn't show the small ID number at the top of the rudder.   I'll place my faith in them and assume that they have other pics that show this.    

Thanks for looking and for all the great comments.  

Edited December 11, 2018 by John1

[Out2gtcha]

Very nice!   The Fundekals sheet looks like it worked a treat

[zaxos345]

Great work John!!!

[John1]

Thanks guys!

 

Brief update.  I added the exhaust staining on the underside. I first airbrushed a diluted light grey (with a few drops of brown) added.  I then went back and added some brown pastels. I still need to clean up the exhaust stacks and do some touchup but overall, I'm somewhat pleased.  I'll also adding some oil stains, etc. so the rest of the area doesn't look so pristine. 

 

BTW, any Corsair experts out there know that those three circular thingies are between the two exhaust stack clusters?  Are they GSB or a different color?

 

A couple pics of my progress.  Next up will be to add the underwing pylons and the drop tank & 500 lb bomb.   While I'm at it, I think I'll add another black wash to the main landing gear.  I already did once but I think it needs to stand out a bit more.    These pics also do a good job of illustrating that amazing Tamiya surface detail and the subtle curves of the Corsair.  

 

As always, thanks for looking!

[Shawn M]

they are the carb backfire ports, should be fuselage color

[John1]

21 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

 

Wow John, that's looking GREAT!!!   Holy cow

 

Yes, the oleo servicing placard decal is there.  It's #80 on the small stencil sheet in the -1D kit:

 

 

Re the BuNo at the top of the rudder, it's definitely there...

Keep up the good work!  I can't **WAIT** to see her finished!!

 

Jennings, thanks for the info, should have known better than to doubt Fundekals on that tail number!   With regard to the oleo servicing decals,  that's a bummer.   The kit instructions have you applying them to the backside of the main landing gear struts as below:

 

Bottom line is that I wish I saw your post earlier in the build.   Just a bit of humble advice - might want to mention in the Fundekals PDF instructions that for those Corsairs that have the oleo servicing placards on the front gear doors, DO NOT follow the Tamiya instructions.  

 

I guess my options are to use a couple of left over stencils just so I've got something in place there or just go without and my story will be that the servicing placard wore off (it's not present on very many Corsairs, I assume the reason was it simply wore off).   

 

If anyone out there has these two decals and won't need them for their build, PM me.  I'll make it worth your while!! 

 

As a last resort - anyone have experience removing and reusing decals?   Micro Set is listed as a "decal remover", anyone know if that means it will soften it to the point where I can gently remove it intact from the landing gear and reapply elsewhere?

 

Thanks for all the good info here folks!!

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by John1

[John1]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:02 PM, Jennings Heilig said:

 

BTW, don't forget to add that little extra bit of white on the RH edge of the big "9" on the side of the fuselage there John.  It's mentioned in the instructions.  I have no clue how on earth I missed seeing it in the film of her taxiing by the camera, but by the time I did the decal was already printed.  Plenty of extra white decal there you can use for it.

 

LOL.... Glad to see you have my back Jennings.   Every time I have the decals out, I remind myself to add that strip and every time I then promptly forget.  I'm pretty sure I would have remembered anyway but who knows.    I'll make a point of getting this done my next modeling session.    Good attention to detail, I never would have caught that looking at all the pics. 

 

I noted that you also provided a different "Enclosure Release" marking for the canopy.  I assume that the Tamiya decal wasn't accurate? 

[John1]

Mini update: 

 

Been working on "the bomb".   Most of the pics available show the Corsairs on the Block Island with a mixed weapons load of HVAR's, a single drop tank (more on these later) and a 500 lb general purpose bomb.   Only issue is that the Tamiya kit comes with 1,000 pounders.   Thankfully, Jennings was gracious enough to donate a Brassin resin 500 lb bomb to assist me.  Thank you Jennings! 

 

The Brassin bomb is really nice.  Perfectly cast in resin, it also comes with the various decals needed and PE arming propellers for the front and rear fuzes. Nice stuff and highly recommended.

 

One issue I've always had is seeing WW2 (and later) model aircraft loaded with immaculate, glossy bombs.   It just didn't happen.  The bomb bodies were stored outdoors in bomb dumps for extended periods. They got scratched, faded and generally banged up.   Often they were rolled through dirt and mud prior to being mounted on the aircraft.  Even bombs being hung on carrier aircraft would still be weathered (not quite as heavily as ones on land-based aircraft).   I tried to replicate this by shooting the body overall OD, then dusting on a browner coat, followed by a lighter coating of diluted sand, sprayed very finely.  I then glossed the bomb, added the decals (they go on quite nicely) and sprayed the body with dullcoate.  I left the fins pretty much immaculate.   They were kept separate from the bombs themselves and since they needed to be in good shape to avoid the bomb going astray, they were only mounted to the bomb's body just prior to being loaded on the aircraft. Once the dullcoate was on, I dry brushed the bomb using a couple of lighter shades of tan.  I also used to toothpick to gently replicate some scratches and dings. 

 

One other thing I noted was that the bomb bodies were fitted with wooden rings around them.  These rings were used to protect the suspension lugs and also to allow the bombs to be rolled on hard surfaces.  Here's a good example of a typical outdoor bomb dump.  Note the wooden rings and how banged up these bombs are looking (although I've seen much worse in other pictures). 

 

Once these wooden rings were removed, there was often a darker color underneath.   I tried to replicate this as well. 

 

Here are some pics. Note that because it was a pretty horrible day, weather-wise, I couldn't get outside to take some pics in natural light.  These pics came out pretty bad, including being a bit out of focus.  I took these under a fluorescent light and as a result, the colors look darker and glossier than they are in real life.   If the weather improves before I install the bomb on my Corsair, I'll take some better pics. 

 

 

Note - some bombs seemed to have all the markings in line with the suspension lugs, other bombs have the markings offset to one side.  I opted for the latter. 

 

Good view of the arming propeller on the tail fuze. 

That's it.  Thanks for looking. 

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by John1

[Out2gtcha]

Nice!  Ive always like the look of  more heavily weathered bombs myself 

[John1]

More progress.   First off, I sealed the decals with another coating of Tamiya X-22 gloss.  I wasn't sure if the national markings were flat or gloss on these aircraft.   The decals themselves are very flat.   Sounds like the stars and bars were glossy on the real thing, so I applied a light coat over the markings.   I also looked at a nice color reference picture of a VMF-511 aircraft in Dana Bell's book.  It shows the upper foward fuselage to be pretty dull.  Whether that is intentional, to act as an anti-glare panel or just from all the fuel spills and maintenance work, I'm not sure.  The fuselage sides aft of the cowl flaps and the wing roots also look pretty flat.  For these areas, I hit them with an overspray of Testor's Dullcoate (my favorite flat).   Not sure if it really is evident in the pic below but in RL, you can see the difference. 

 

As you may have noticed, I also added the drop tank (and 500 lb bomb).  The drop tanks on these aircraft are somewhat involved.  Fundekals did some excellent research and noted that certain carriers used the standard issue USN 150 drop tank (same one used on Hellcats) as shown above, while other carriers used a larger 160 gallon drop tank (believe the same one used on Army Air Corp P-38's).  Those larger drop tanks were painted a non-spec light grey.   Unfortunately, Tamiya doesn't provide this drop tank so modelers need to be aware of this when they are selecting which Fundekals variant they will be building (approx half of the Fundekals subjects used the 160 gal tank).   I was lucky, I had a set of these tanks from a Trumpeter kit in my stash so I was covered either way but hopefully some aftermarket outfit will release these tanks. 

 

Anyway, I opted to leave my drop tank in immaculate GSB.   I've seen some of these tanks pretty banged up and chipped but I think most of those were post-war aircraft that had the tanks mounted for extended periods.  While deployed in combat, I'm guessing these tanks only lasted a few missions before being expended.  I'll probably go back and add a light fuel stain on the fill port but that's the extend to weathering.  Plus I think it will make a nice contrast to the overall airframe. 

 

I also added the 500 lb bomb.  Hopefully these pics do a better job of showing my weathering efforts.  Had a slightly brighter day today when I took these pics.  I do like the contrast to the overall blue aircraft.  Have to admit, that bomb looks pretty small compared to the overall bulk of the Corsair.   Not sure you can see it in any of the pics but I also added the arming wire that held the nose fuse windmill in place until the weapon was dropped.   This is a small feature but seems to be neglected on most models (along with weathering of the bombs themselves).   Note how the rear fins (hopefully) stand out from the weather-beaten bomb body. 

 

 

That's it for now guys, thanks for looking. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by John1

[bcauchi]

Fantastic work. Only thing i would do is put some more weight on those tyres since the plane is carrying such a heavy load (bombs+external tank)

[JayW]

That corsair is really looking great!

 

[Fvdm]

A corsair is always nice but this is a real beauty.

[John1]

3 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

Looking great John!  Re the anti-glare - you can really see the NS Sea Blue anti-glare panel on brand new Corsairs, but in service the gloss flattens, and the flat gets something of a sheen on it, so the difference isn't that stark.  It's almost impossible to see on many airplanes aboard the ships.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought...  honestly I'm not sure if the anti-glare panel was painted on all GSB Corsairs or just a few.  Regardless, I didn't go with the sharp demarcation, for the very reasons you mentioned above.  Here is a picture from Dana Bell's book of a Corsair that coincidentally is also from VMF-511, on Block Island.  You can see how flat the upper deck is.  Whether that was intentionally painted flat or just weathered is anyone's guess I suppose.  This is also a good reference for general weathering.  Even thought these aircraft didn't fly for extended periods, as this pic shows, they still managed to get pretty beat up.  Not sure I'll make Nel this grimy, we'll see...

 

BTW, if anyone thinks I shouldn't be posting pictures from Dana's book, please advise.   I don't want to cross any copyright boundaries.   I can't recommend these books enough for anyone interested in building a Corsair.   

 

 

Bcauchi - I was thinking the same thing but in the pics of found, the tires aren't showing that much deformation.  I think on carriers, they increased the tire pressure due to the stress put on the tires during landing, so they wouldn't be bulging as much as land-based aircraft.   Plus, the tires are resin, so my options are a bit limited!

Edited December 18, 2018 by John1