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

[chuck540z3]

Jay,

 

I have an idea about metal primers that might be helpful, or a complete waste of your time.  Since you appear to be game for experimentation most of the time, here goes.

 

I also used Mr. Metal Primer on the brass landing gear of my Hellcat with mixed results.  While it was certainly better than nothing, it also peeled in a few small areas and did not live up to it's label and expectations, which made me think, "What paint have I ever used that really stuck to the surface?".  The answer is Tamiya acrylic X-22 gloss clear coat.  It goes on smooth and with a flash coat of straight Tamiya lacquer thinner, it is about a smooth a surface that you can paint with anything.  Once it cures for a day or so, you can sand it easily since it also gets quite hard, unlike Future/Pledge which remains relatively soft.  I really doubt that it will lift from your metal surface with masking tape, which is the key.  Since it can be thinned with synthetic lacquers like Tamiya and Mr Leveling Thinner, lacquer paints like you are using with similar properties should be able to bite into it and you can mask anything at will.  Of course if the X-22 doesn't stick to the metal as well as I imagine, my theory is rubbish, but I think it's worth a shot since nothing else seems to be working.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[JayW]

10 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

I have an idea about metal primers that might be helpful,

 

Well Chuck - I have alot more skinning to do, and I will test this idea.  Thank you!

[JayW]

11 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Not sure it’s as big a deal as you think.  These airplanes were patched and spot painted into oblivion already.  A little careful touch up...

 

Hah!  My thoughts exactly OBG.  I have made the repair already, and it doesn't look that great.  But I am going to live with it.  This beast is getting heavy weathering, and I think the repairs will be kinda lost in the forest so to speak.  

[JayW]

11 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Did you perhaps get a tight grip on your model there when barehanded at some point?

 

I don't think so.  I don't grip the model there.  Maybe though.  We'll never know.  I tell ya - even with steel wool sanding (to try to sand down the edges of the paint), the new paint is still pretty fragile.   Can't wait to join the aft fuselage to the forward, and mask for paint!  

[brahman104]

Hi Jay, 

I've got nothing really useful to aid your current predicament, as my painting/finishing skills definitely leave a lot to be desired, but I'm learning a lot through your experiences and experimentation!  Your work is certainly stimulating some excellent discussion with some great suggestions from a lot of talented people, so I'm appreciating the learning opportunity too!  

 

As I've said before, it's quite uncanny how our two builds seem to go through similar phases at the same time  

 

Keep up the great work mate, I'm sure a suitable fix will present itself soon.

 

Craig

[JayW]

The games have begun on the aft fuselage - it's going to be a long project.  The Rhino digital layout has been started:

 

 

First though, I made a somewhat crude repair of that lifted paint:

 

 

How 'bout that Imgur "huge thumbnail".  Ugh.  I don't mind that much though.  As these pictures will show - this warbird is a mess, intentionally so.  I have done about all the weathering I intend to do on this part of the aircraft.  I show you pictures, and then it gets put away until the aft fuselage is done and ready to be joined.  

 

Please comment if you have some suggestions for improvement (as long as it doesn't constitute a big re-do).

 

The prop - recall this prop (hub and blades) are 3D printed from my own Rhino models, designed from Hamilton Standard data:

 

 

 

The part number decal is my own making, the Hamilton Standard emblem came from Airscale's 1/18 Lope's Hope decal set (he sent me a few sheets). 

 

Fuselage panels and sealing tape:

 

 

 

Yup - Lt. Commander Hedrick, 9 victories, March of '44.

 

 

 

 

The "dead flap" panel is still just laid on there - it will look better when it is time to glue it down.  The decals (most of them) were provided by Peter (Airscale) Castle.  Thanks again Peter!  That RH side engine accessories panel lost alot of its dark blue (the LH panel didn't).  It wasn't that way prior to the Flory wash.    I may just leave it that way, but I'd like some of your opinions.  Perhaps I can shoot a bit of blue onto it....  And, I know some of you don't like that tape very much.  I may rip it off and do some sort of paint job instead; any residue might just enhance the realism.  Or I may leave it as is - I kinda like it.

 

A couple more:

 

 

 

The bottom (the trained eye will see the LG door hanging by a thread  : )

 

 

I might augment the exhaust stains and oil streaks with some dry brushed black.  I have seen pictures of wartime Corsairs with horrible looking exhaust stains and oil streaks.  Why not?  And those wheels and tires - even after repeated Flory washes they still look too clean IMO.  Maybe I dry brush some filth on them too.  Accepting ideas.

 

OK, say good bye to the forward fuselage; next post you can say hello to the aft fuselage (or at least it's digital model).  I am looking forward to the work.  Later alligators.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by JayW

[chrish]

amazing!

[geedubelyer]

Jay,  this is superb. 

I repeat that if you took these images in front of a suitable backdrop they would look 1:1. 

Now,  you asked for comments and observations so I do have just the one.  

Remember that I know nothing about Corsairs so forgive me if I'm off base.  

The only element that seemed out of character is the stencilling around the fuel filler and upper fuselage.  There appears to be some silvering on the decals? 

Is there any way of getting actual stencils made in this scale and painting the data on? With all of the dirt and weathering you've applied painted stencils could look so much better.  

This is not meant as a criticism,  purely an observation.  

I'm very eager to see the next phase of this remarkable build.  

Keep it up. 

[Oldbaldguy]

I know you are putting this end of the airplane to bed for a while, but there are a couple of things to consider in your off hours: Tires - if the airplane you are modeling operated off a dirt or coral strip, then the rolling surfaces would be a lighter color than the rest of the tire, maybe by quite a bit.  The side of the wheel adjacent to the brakes will show a lot of brake dust staining.  Tank filler - any fuel spilled over at the tank filler will run down the fuselage sides and will clean off some of the exhaust and oil stains wherever it goes.  It will also bleach out the paint a bit as well.  Fuel spills are additive, so there will be several layers of it.  Because avgas is as liquid as water, the leading edge of the spill will be pretty sharp and straight, and will leave the most significant mark.  The spill will fade to the rear because the gas wicks away as it runs down hill and toward the rear of the airplane.  Because a gas evaporates quickly, it doesn’t smear like oil or exhaust residue.  POL stains - there is a lot of high speed air pushing oil and other viscous goo aft in the slip stream. These too are additive in that they happen every time the airplane is flown and tend to run much farther aft than you would expect.  When my last Cessna 182 sprung a tiny leak, the oil covered the belly from the firewall to the rudder but there was no noticeable loss on the dipstick, the point being it doesn’t take much to make an ugly mess when the goo is accelerated to 300 mph in the slipstream.  Not all grunge is hydraulic.  People leave foot and handprints all over the place so places that are handled a lot will show dirt.  Surfaces where guys had to walk to load ammo, work on stuff or whatever will show the color of the local dirt from their shoes ground into the paint.  Otherwise, you’ve nailed it.

[Zorro]

How did you upload the photos?  It does not allow me, it says I must insert image from URL?

 

[geedubelyer]

4 hours ago, Zorro said:

How did you upload the photos?  It does not allow me, it says I must insert image from URL?

 

Hi Zorro. It's necessary to upload the image to a hosting site before adding it here. These forums do not permit direct uploads for safety and security reasons. The forums have been hacked in the distant past which caused mayhem and a huge headache for the mods.

 

HTH

 

[JayW]

15 hours ago, geedubelyer said:

The only element that seemed out of character is the stencilling around the fuel filler and upper fuselage.  There appears to be some silvering on the decals? 

Is there any way of getting actual stencils made in this scale and painting the data on? With all of the dirt and weathering you've applied painted stencils could look so much better.  

 

Thank you so much for the complements!   Well it isn't silvering; the decals were applied over a semi-gloss finish which worked just fine.  And then sealed with another coat of semi-gloss.  The next step was to apply the Flory wash, which shaded the decal surfaces differently than to the basic surfaces.  For reasons unknown.  The result was that the decal backgrounds are a bit lighter in shade than the rest of the surfaces.  I just couldn't find a way to fix that, so I left it as is.  I might still try to add some wash to see if I can lessen the effect.  Stenciling - I suspect the lettering is too small, based on the problems I encountered with the fine detail of the skull & crossbones stencils.  Yes - it would look so much better....      

[JayW]

10 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Tires - if the airplane you are modeling operated off a dirt or coral strip, then the rolling surfaces would be a lighter color than the rest of the tire, maybe by quite a bit.  The side of the wheel adjacent to the brakes will show a lot of brake dust staining.

 

Yup - I have more work to do on the tires and wheels.  They really want to look clean! 

 

As for the fuel spills and various leakage of other effluents - I'll do a bit more here and there, but I want to guard against overdoing it - something I have done in the past.  Thanks for the suggestions.  BTW - were I to try to bleach a surface, how would I do that?   

 

 

[JayW]

16 hours ago, Zorro said:

How did you upload the photos?  

 

Zorro - I currently use Imgur.  I don't have to pay for it, at least not the level I have.  Once the digital pics are uploaded to Imgur, they can be copy/pated to LSP.

[Zorro]

Thank you for the info.  BTW your Corsair looks awesome!