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


JayW

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The engine work is spectacular, Jay!  I don't have the skills or knowledge to do the type of exacting replication that you routinely pull off but I can just imagine the satisfaction of cowl ring getting more rigid as the supports were added.

 

As you've discovered, the teeth detail on the skull logo is pushing the limits of what I can produce using the Silhouette Portrait cutter.  I have a feeling that the decals will be able to show the teeth with better/cleaner detail and might be the better choice.  No worries at all if you don't use the masks... they were very easy to produce.  

 

Oh and by all means... get an airbrush!  Double action, gravity feed with a top-mounted cup big enough to accommodate your 1/18 scale needs would be my recommendation.

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Go Jay!!! Awesome to hear you looking at paint options and methods, a sure sign things are moving along! :) I've been thinking about those issues ahead for me, and as I can't get MRP paint here in NZ, I'm trying SMS which will hopefully work (and they have their own etch primer as well).

 

Really excited to see what's next on this epic journey!

 

Craig

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5 minutes ago, MARU5137 said:

WHOA  !! that Engine  is totally AMAZING. 

 

You think so?  Thanks!  It looks better when I don't use huge thumbnails.  See pages 1 - 11 of this build thread if you want to see how it was built up, and how long ago!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress on two fronts, slow but steady.  First - wing skinning:

 

I have finished completely the skinning of the RH lower center wing:

 

aVDyYxtl.jpg

 

Bpmv2vkl.jpg

 

It's just a sparkling sea of natural metal!  A shame it is going to be painted.  Of note - the landing gear strut was not broken off.  Yay!!  The damaged gear doors (I managed to break both of them off) have been repaired.  Yay!  Also, I took this opportunity to rip off the sub-par flap gap doors from many months ago, to make flap skinning easier, and improve on the doors themselves.  This pic shows the RH side lower wing and the LH side lower wing, which has not received flap skinning or the new flap gap doors yet, for comparison:

 

Ghzhw0Vh.jpg

 

Gone are all the trenches and oversize holes representing fasteners.  It went well by and large.  Next task is to finish the LH lower wing skinning, not a huge task at all.

 

On the second front, I am continuing work on the engine cowls (when my finger gets sore from the awl punch!).  Alot of detail remains on the cowl flap ring, although all 18 of the cowl flap fixed support fittings are installed and painted:

 

Fp38OV5l.jpg

 

Magnets are also installed, on the underside of the channel.  That is going to be one complicated ring once done.

 

Work has begun on the nose cowl locating fixture:

 

7LErpYXh.jpg

 

You see the fixture itself (salvaged from the cowl flap ring location fixture), with the existing .75 inch hole for centering the engine, and four towers on the sides that establish the fore/aft location of the nose cowl.  You also see a flat silver painted circular plate that serves as a rest for the nose cowl (it sits atop the four towers), and a centering device (3D printed), whose OD matches the ID of the nose cowl opening.  The shaft on it slips into the propeller shaft hole on the engine reduction gearbox thus assuring concentricity of the nose cowl with the engine centerline.  Here is how it is going to work:

 

First the engine is placed in the fixture - 

 

8Q03yP4l.jpg

 

The nose cowl (recall it is a 3D printed part) is inserted into the ID of the resting plate (there is an aligning mark labelled "up"), a nice tight fit - 

 

EdZIRafl.jpg

 

The resting plate and cowl are placed over the engine, and centered using the centering devise (again, the centering devise has a shaft that is inserted into the propeller shaft hole in the front of the engine) - 

 

6L10sjHl.jpg

 

Then the resting plate is bonded to the four towers on the fixture, and the centering devise removed after cure - 

 

CSc0kPnh.jpg

 

Presto - the nose cowl is properly oriented to the engine itself, although unattached.  From there, some but not all of the attaching ribs will be attached to the cylinder head flanges and the nose cowl, to fix the location of the nose cowl to the engine.  This is similar to what was done to locate the cowl flap ring.  That will be the most difficult and important step.  Once done, the fixture will be broken apart to free the engine/cowl combo, and I can install the remainder of the nose cowl ribs.

 

A picture of a nose cowl rib (3D printed):

 

cAhUa7yl.jpg

 

Corsair efficienados will recognize that part.  There will be 18 of them  :wacko:.

 

Man - so much to do!  That engine cowl work is really going to be something.  I sure hope my removable panel plan works.  Many issues.  Please stick with me!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by JayW
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8 minutes ago, JayW said:

Gone are all the trenches and oversize holes representing fasteners

Exactly why you owed it to yourself to skin this masterpiece Jay! :) Beautiful work on the covering. It certainly brings the exterior up to match all the hard work you've put into the interior.

 

Back to reading the rest of your post, but I had to comment on that when I read it!

 

EDIT: Just finished reading the rest of your post. Can't tell you enough how much I enjoy seeing all the engineering effort in this build. Not only in the fabrication of individual parts, but also the clever creation of fixtures to bring all those parts together as assemblies. 

 

I doubt anyone here is ever going to tire of this thread!

 

Craig

Edited by brahman104
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1 hour ago, easixpedro said:

It’s exciting to see this getting closer to completion.

Really?  The finish line takes high power binoc's to see!  Thanks though.  The skins - the only really hard ones are the ones with severe compound curvature.  If a panel is relatively flat, or with single curvature, none of the steps is difficult.  Tedious - yes, but not really difficult.   Really helps BTW to view engineering drawings of the panels to sort out fastener patterns and sizes.  I try to represent every fastener be it a 1/8 inch rivet or a 3/8 inch flush head bolt.  I do not represent spot welds - which the Corsair had thousands of (in real life there was probably some sort of subtle mark). 

 

The upper surface of the center wings still has to be done, aft of the main spar.  The big acreage panel right behind the spar, in the valley of the inverted gull wing, is compound curved, and will wrinkle badly until I burnish it down same as with the big LE panel in front of it on the other side of the spar.  It will be made from annealed stock which isn't as well behaved as the litho stock Airscale provided me with (that stuff is awesome!). 

 

Stay with me bro!         

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there are so many incredible things going on at once here Jay :)

 

love the jig for the cowl ring - that is real planning & forward thinking stuff! The skinning looks beautiful, in fact so beautiful I almost double dare you to paint it. I remember trying to find a NMF F4U as I was going to build one - there is a wartime silver one out there, but it was painted so I dropped the idea.. I really don't know how you can do it :)

 

..there is very little difference between what you are doing and fully scratchbuilding, maybe after the P51 consider trying it - basically you can have any aircraft you want

 

Mind you, i should reconsider that statement as you will think I just sit here prodding and poking you to do more and more things you haven't done before :)

 

truly a master at work

 

Peter

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On 7/2/2022 at 4:27 PM, airscale said:

..there is very little difference between what you are doing and fully scratchbuilding, maybe after the P51 consider trying it - basically you can have any aircraft you want

 

Hi Peter!  Thanks for the gracious comments.  For those who don't know what Peter is talking about, I bought another 21CT 1/18 P-51D a few months ago, updated some from the first one.  I thought it was a large improvement over the kit I used for the original "Miss Velma" I did years ago.  But it actually isn't - it has the same glaring inaccuracies as before, some of which cannot be resolved (mostly shape issues).  

 

Yeah - my thoughts exactly Peter.  One can get to the point where you just scratch build the entire thing rather than live with inaccuracy.  I think my 21CT P-51 is going to go the way of your P-40 - just a total waste of money....  We'll see.  Your skills with foam compound, templates, and P-38 and all that is very developed.  Must I delve into this also???    :unsure:  

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2 hours ago, JayW said:

 

Hi Peter!  Thanks for the gracious comments.  For those who don't know what Peter is talking about, I bought another 21CT 1/18 P-51D a few months ago, updated some from the first one.  I thought it was a large improvement over the kit I used for the original "Miss Velma" I did years ago.  But it actually isn't - it has the same glaring inaccuracies as before, some of which cannot be resolved (mostly shape issues).  

 

Yeah - my thoughts exactly Peter.  One can get to the point where you just scratch build the entire thing rather than live with inaccuracy.  I think my 21CT P-51 is going to go the way of your P-40 - just a total waste of money....  We'll see.  Your skills with foam compound, templates, and P-38 and all that is very developed.  Must I delve into this also???    :unsure:  

You two are like Neo…seeing through the Matrix. It’s all basic shapes that in the end you turn into masterpieces.

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Hello folks.  OK - have had everyday summer life compete for my precious modeling time!  That, and quite frankly I am at one of those stages where the modeling is tedious and repetitive.  Anything involving that engine is likely to be repetitive (often multiples of 18 - the number of cylinders).  This is the case with the cowl flap ring, where the cowl flap supports and linkage are times 18.  So I am not exactly chomping at the bit to sit down in front of the table, don high magnification goggles, and start whittling away on very small parts.  I mean its happening - but a bit slow.  I will post progress before long.

 

Meanwhile, the lower center wing skinning is complete:

 

AMQuerEh.jpg

 

That's a big deal, actually.  The under carriage is now safer from damage, until I mask for paint.  How in the world am I going to mask that big thing.... first self-etching primer, then a top coat of insignia white.  And hairspray and silver in between maybe? 

 

Also, I need to order some more 3DP parts - 

 

- cowl flap tabs (qty 18).  I already have them, but they are weak and fragile, and I have redesigned them.

- the tail wheel and tire!  Remember?     wPhOZG7b.jpg

- modified shoulder parts over the exhaust stacks.  Recall they are too short.

- tail landing gear and arresting hook parts.  Arresting hook you ask?  I may or may not do this.  Shore based Corsairs often had these components removed for weight savings; however many Jolly Rogers aircraft (which were shore based for quite a while) were involved in missions that required carrier deck landings and takeoffs, if for no other reason than refueling to get home.  

 

One of these days work will commence on the mid and aft fuselage.  At that point I will need those tail LG and hook parts.  So as usual to make the overseas postage worth it, I need to have a good many 3D parts in the order.  I am OK with them gathering dust for a while.

 

So to do that, I have been doing a little Rhino design engineering:

 

31GACXph.jpg

 

The real parts:

 

Gi4hwHxl.jpg?1

 

I have no idea how I could have made those parts from scratch.  3DP to the rescue!  That Rhino model defines two parts (not one) - the carrier fitting, and the yoke (or fork).  The yoke was relatively easy; the carrier fitting was very difficult.  It may be also difficult to 3D print - we shall see.  Oh, notice the yoke is not the extended version, which you see on the photo.  That came later on, and isn't correct for any of the -1A VF-17 aircraft. 

 

There will be some more - all are parts that I could not do a good job of scratch building myself -  the hook detail itself, and perhaps some of the other detail that are visible in the tail wheel compartment.  It's a busy place:

 

FIKO8hel.jpg

 

There are chains in there too.  I don't have a plan for that!  

 

Hopefully my next post will show a complete cowl flap ring replete with cowl flap supports, all the magnets, and some other x18 details, and maybe work on the nose cowl.

 

Til then, stay tuned! 

 

 

Edited by JayW
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