1/18 Scale Blue Box F4U-1A Corsair Modification

[KiwiZac]

Madness. Brilliant, but mad! I love it!!

[Out2gtcha]

Man Jay, that looks terrific! I know the effort on the windscreen and clear parts overall is outstanding.

[Gazzas]

I haven;t looked at this thread in a long time, Jay.  You're really come a long way, doing some very fine modelling!

[dodgem37]

Superb detailing, Jay.

 

'There will be no bond there - too much risk of smearing glue or epoxy or CA on the glass surface.'

Try Future as an adhesive.  Works for me.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[JayW]

Settle down Jay!!  It's done.  

 

OK, it is with great pleasure that I can post this progress.  A great victory for sure, with failure threatening until the very end.

 

First let me show you the bullet-proof glass and gunsight reflector.  US fighter aircraft of WW2 all had 1.5 inch thick bullet proof glass either behind the windshield or incorporated into the windshield.  If the windshield was curved, as the Corsair's is, then the bullet-proof glass was a separate item behind the windshield.  Like this:

 

 

 

1.5 inches scales to .08 inch for 1/18.  All I have for transparent sheet material is 0.03, 0.015, and 0.010 inch thick acryl.  First I tried cementing two .03 inch pieces to a .015 inch piece, which disbonded after grinding the periphery.  So I went with plan B and just used two pieces of .01 inch sheet separated by a frame of .06 inch plastic strip.  And here it is:

 

   

 

I tried and tried to keep that little sucker clean, but it still has some stuff on it I cannot clear.  Took me all day to do that one detail.  

 

The reflector glass was easier - just 0.015 inch clear acryl with some edge members glued on.  Here it is with the bullet-proof glass:

 

 

 

Now it was time for installation onto the coaming and windshield frame.  It was a struggle.  I am certain that in the Vought factory (and Goodyear) the glass and it's supports were tooled up to control tolerances.  Something I don't have the luxury of doing.  Anyway I "fettled" (an Airscale term I learned) with it and eventually got a satisfactory fit.  Here:

 

 

 

See what I meant when I stated a couple posts back that the coaming is just full of stuff? 

 

OK, that was a victory of sorts.  But now was the time to glue in the windshield glass.  I gave up on .015 inch thick sheet - it was stiff enough that it began to craze when contour was forced into it.  But the 0.010 inch thick stuff did no such thing, so that is what I used.  First, its periphery had to be just about spot on, which it was.  That was accomplished by putting masking tape over the original windshield, marking the edges, removing the tape and replacing on clear plastic sheet, and using scissors to cut.  Some minimal sanding of edges, and voila!  Second, bonding it to the frames without smearing anything was required.  So with infinite patience that is what I did, with medium thickness CA glue.  I am so pleased with the result that I will give you huge thumbnails - here:

 

 

 

Big victory.

 

Of course, the windshield is not going to look complete until the exterior retainers are installed, which will cover up the seams.  Ordinarily I'd do that next, but I am not going to tolerate the fuselage skin panels as you see them.  So now it is time to do some skinning, something I have never done before.  Gulp.  Has to happen before the windshield retainers are installed.  A couple weeks ago, in anticipation of this, I stopped by the local hobby shop and purchased a "mule" from their discount pile of old models:

 

 

 

Actually this is kind of a cool model....but I digress.  This poor beast is going to receive some 0.004 inch thick annealed aluminum sheet skin panels here and there.  Done badly at first.  Hopefully I can develop enough skill to apply to the Corsair with some assurance of success.

 

It's either that, or the firewall.  I guess I'll make up my mind in the next day or two, and you will see next post.  Thanks again for looking in.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by JayW

[easixpedro]

THAT, looks amazing!  Holy cow.  It just keeps getting better and better! You're giving Peter a run for his money! There is so much talent in this group it's rather amazing to watch everyone continually pull it off.

[Out2gtcha]

Man Jay this is starting to look really amazing.  The clear stuff I always dread

 

 

1 minute ago, easixpedro said:

THAT, looks amazing!  Holy cow.  It just keeps getting better and better! You're giving Peter a run for his money! There is so much talent in this group it's rather amazing to watch everyone continually pull it off.

 

Well said Pete!   The level of talent around here borders from "wow, that is so inspirational I want to try it!" all the way to "Ok, I'm taking up knitting." 

[chuck540z3]

Bravo sir, but I'm not surprised at all.  You and Peter Castle can do frickin' anything you put your minds to and leave the rest of us with our jaws wide open in bewilderment.  Fantastic windscreen!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[TAG]

 

It's almost like following a 1:1 scale full-blown warbird resto, the mind reels...

 

 

[dodgem37]

This is so good it hurts.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[KiwiZac]

7 hours ago, dodgem37 said:

This is so good it hurts.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

I love it when other people are able to articulate my thoughts.

[Maxim61]

Outstanding work and scratch building. Each post just gets better.

[airscale]

just incredible Jay - as I said on email, i think this model has really pushed the boundaries for you and you are just mastering every new thing you try

 

3D parts, transparencies, and I know you are going to have a bash at skinning - all of which will just lift what are clearly other world skills into the stratosphere and will result in unbelievable models - this one and many more to come

 

Peter

[JayW]

Y'all really liked that last post judging by the comments.  Is it transparencies? 

 

OK, last post showed newly installed transparencies for a scratch built windshield.  Still to go was the exterior framing.  But, the exterior framing, at least some of it,  is basically installed on top of the fuselage skin.  And the existing skin surface needs work.  I have decided, rather than putty over panel lines and rescribe, that I am going to skin this beast with aluminum.  You saw the mule I purchased to practice on - here is some practice:

 

 

The Imgur "huge thumbnail" reveals much.  The larger painted one was my first try.  From it I learned what glue not to use (some Revell Germany contact glue).  I also learned that annealed aluminum sheet is a little soft for this application; it's a little lumpy, and the awl-pressed rivet heads deform a bit too much.  And importantly I learned that paint doesn't adhere very well to the aluminum panels.  That's going to have to be addressed for sure.  I am open to suggestions.  The large blank panel to the left was an experiment with a different contact cement - better stick, but still a bit lumpy.  And the third panel (the smaller one with all the rivet heads) turned out pretty good.  Good enough for me to try my luck on the Corsair. 

 

Here we go - small panels surrounding the windshield:

 

 

 

I am pretty happy with these.  Even though they are soft (annealed), they laid down pretty smooth, and the rivet and Dzus patterns are pretty good (required a good bit of burnishing with balsa block, brass roller, and toothpick).  I didn't have to worry too much about the boundary between the aluminum and the "glass" - it would be covered by the framing.

 

These panels are the tip of the iceberg.  I am now waiting for some heat treated litho plate (in the mail from my BFF Peter Castle, who is helping me with this skinning effort).  What a pro - I could not ask for a better instructor.  Once obtained, I will be ready to attack the acreage.  I am not sure whether or not to wait until the wing center section is joined to the fuselage - must hand-wring over that some.  

 

Anyway - I continued on with the rest of the skinning around the windshield:

 

 

 

I am pretty certain many of you watching this build are happy that I am doing something with the pock marks and trenches on this toy.  In the past I have ignored this stuff, happy enough with a well shaped and realistic modification of a toy.  No longer - gonna dive into the world of exterior finishing where I can do something worthy of the rest of the effort.  Not my strong suite, so wish me luck.

 

Once I got the rest of the small alum sheet panels glued on, I could do the exterior framing.  Here it is:

 

 

 

 

VERY stressful work - must not put a glue smudge on the glass.  And I didn't!  The effort isn't quite ready for prime time - I have a bit of smoothing to do.  Note there is less transparency there - it looks kinda like a Corsair.  

 

The customary comparison shot with the old part:

 

 

Makes me glad I went ahead with the scratch built version.  What ugly screw marks!

 

My list of things to do before joining wing to fuselage says it's time for the firewall, by God.  So that is what you will see next I think.  Stay with me, and keep those suggestions rolling in!  

 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by JayW

[LSP_Kevin]

Super work, Jay!

 

Kev