Tamiya 1/32 F4U-1D, VBF-84, 3/9 update

[cbk57]

This will be a short whip.  I have this mostly assembled.  I painted this in black primer, then used black basing technique which lots of marbled shades under the paint.  The effects are subtle.  The gloss sea blue is Mission Models.

I forgot to photograph ti cockpit before sticking it in the model and glueing it all up.

 

I am using the Funkdecals sheet:

 

Forgetting the unit number but tried to simulate the overspray on the group symbols, my strategy was to use a superfine masking tape about the scale of the tape used by navy, then mask leaving a gap like below.  I think I have the lower wing group symbol on the wrong side, have to pay close attention here.  I thought it wrapped around the wing but bottom g symbol is on left wing top symbol is on right wing.

 

After that I just tried to do a bad paint job and this is what I got:

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by cbk57

[Uncarina]

Really creative approach!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Out2gtcha]

Nice!

[cbk57]

Think my wing group symbol is wrong, I thought they were on same wing top and bottom wrapped around, turns out the top one is on the right wing and bottom is on left wing opposite the national insignia.  So I will repaint bottom wing and move symbol to the other side.

[John1]

Looking great!   I was originally going to build one of those VBF-84 Corsairs but got scared off due to all the fidely masking required.    Question - what color did you paint the wheel wells?  Thought all -1D's had them painted GSB?

 

Looking forward to more posts!

[dennismcc]

Another Tamiya Corsair, I must get around to building one as they have a great reputation for being well engineered kits, I like the painted on markings approach, it looks so much better, looking forward to seeing more.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[cbk57]

6 hours ago, John1 said:

Looking great!   I was originally going to build one of those VBF-84 Corsairs but got scared off due to all the fidely masking required.    Question - what color did you paint the wheel wells?  Thought all -1D's had them painted GSB?

 

Looking forward to more posts!

I am confused in that regard, I painted wheel wells grey, I thought the wheel wells and inside of doors were grey until the latter -1D's then they were painted blue.  My plan was blue landing gear and grey wheels and wells.  Is it supposed to be the other way around?

[MikeMaben]

Detail and Scale says gear bays were 'usually' the underwing color on -1s

but were sometimes salmon. I have seen photos that appear more grey.

Apparently there was some latitude there. Struts could be grey, a steel

color or the underwing color. All blue didn't happen until the later dashes

and there were exceptions there as well.

 

hth

[ade rowlands]

Nice approach to the G symbols. Had planned a very similar approach myself should they be the markings I do my Corsair in when the time comes. I was going to get the over spray by lifting the masks off the kit surface a little. 

[cbk57]

10 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Detail and Scale says gear bays were 'usually' the underwing color on -1s

but were sometimes salmon. I have seen photos that appear more grey.

Apparently there was some latitude there. Struts could be grey, a steel

color or the underwing color. All blue didn't happen until the later dashes

and there were exceptions there as well.

 

hth

Thanks,

 

I looked again at Dana Bells book.  The very late -1D’s had blue landing gear painted from the factory towards the end of the war.  Before that it looks like they should be grey.  Dana Bell book shows blue landing gear in the color photo but that is post war.  I can’t find anything that clarfies what the wheel wells should have been on a -1D in May of 1945.  Would love to hear if someone knows.  I think consensus is GSB but it does not make sense to me that the landing gear would be grey and wells another color unless that color were either grey or Yellow chormate.  

 

Seems like if wells were GSB they would not have masked of the landing gear and left them in grey.

 

I am going to repaint my landing gear gray for sure as I painted them GSB, but will either leave the bays as is or paint them GSB if I get some good information.  

 

As to Group symbols, the edges are hard edged, however you need a super fine overspray line to be in scale, so I just tried to get super close with the airbrush and let there be overspray so that hopefully the overspray areas were inconsistent.  It worked to a point, I think in scale it mostly looks right, it does not look hard edged until I take a high resolution close up photo.  Looking at it in person from a couple feet back it does not look as solid.

[John1]

For whatever it's worth - I asked a bunch of questions on Corsair details and read up on multiple older threads as part of my ongoing build here and I'm pretty sure that the consensus was that for -1D's in the late-war periord, the LG was glossy light grey and the MLG wells were GSB.   That being said, not sure anyone will ever be 100% sure and I personally like the splash of color as opposed to pretty much everything being dark blue.   

 

Your call.  

[cbk57]

1 hour ago, John1 said:

For whatever it's worth - I asked a bunch of questions on Corsair details and read up on multiple older threads as part of my ongoing build here and I'm pretty sure that the consensus was that for -1D's in the late-war periord, the LG was glossy light grey and the MLG wells were GSB.   That being said, not sure anyone will ever be 100% sure and I personally like the splash of color as opposed to pretty much everything being dark blue.   

 

Your call.  

Thanks for the reply, I am inclined to go gray and gray wells and gear respectively, I just think it logically consistent.  I think I am going to shoot some overspray into the wells of GSB on the theory that underside was painted with wheels down and doors open, nothing masked much.  

[cbk57]

1 hour ago, Jennings Heilig said:

On GSB F4U-1Ds the wells and the insides of the gear doors were GSB.  I’ve never seen anything other than that in photos.

Thanks much I can still repaint them.  

 

Great decals by the way, will have more photos on the weekend.  I have a lot of them on.  Been avoiding the bottom of the plane though until I made up my mind about the final color for wheel wheels and bay doors.

[Fvdm]

Great build and like others said before, nice approuch on the white symbols. Looks great.

[MikeMaben]

Forget my earlier post :

 

Dana Bell post from a coupla years ago ...

 

There's been some new research into Corsair colors. Records from the National Archives show that only the first 300 F4U-1Ds wore the four-tone camouflage; all of the FG-1Ds wore overall Glossy Sea Blue.

The only green versions of zinc chromate could be found in the cockpit - everything else was one or two coats of yellow (untinted) zinc chromate. When the cockpit switched to tinted zinc chromate, there would still be components (particularly seats and rudder pedals) in Dull Dark Green for some time. Eventually, everything went to Interior Green at some unspecified time in production. Fuselage sidewalls were painted black above the consoles late in FG-1D production, after Vought had switched to F4U-4 production. Vought had found a stock of aluminized zinc chromate - a very bright candy apple green primer - and received permission to use this up as a cockpit color; that stock was probably depleted by the time the F4U-1D went into production.

 

Wheel wells were normally painted GSB like the exterior, but at least one -1D carried a Light Gray finish coat.

What you would see inside the flap coves would be sections of the exterior skin that folded up as the flaps came down. The little I've seen of the fuselage skin above the flaps suggests the exterior color was used there. There would be no bulkhead forward of the flap cove; anything you might find there would be yellow zinc chromate.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Dana