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

[LSP_Kevin]

That is beyond impressive, Jay, and I don't think you have anything to be unhappy about. It's looks amazing in my opinion!

 

Kev

[CShanne]

I agree with Kevin, it looks great! For what it is worth, my vote would be to keep the dent, as you noted, no aircraft was perfect.

[Greg W]

Pure awesomeness!

 

Brain fart: I wonder if you could super glue a piece of plastic rod to the dent and pull it out? Then use sanding sticks to metal finish the damaged area. Just in case you end up with dents you don't want? 

Edited February 19, 2023 by Greg W

[geedubelyer]

Remarkable work Jay. That all looks superb and personally I'm a big fan of the occasional, accidental imperfection. It adds a level of realism and authenticity that few emulate. 

 

Keep it up.

 

Cheers.

[Greif8]

That is some of the best metal work I have ever seen Jay, it looks fantastic.

 

Ernest

[Oldbaldguy]

Just wondering over my Sunday morning coffee:  if you were to Bondo the dent, why then could you not fill in the extra seam at the same time as well?  Might be a bit risky, but also might be worth it.  The stuff is designed to stick to metal is it not?

[JayW]

48 minutes ago, Oldbaldguy said:

why then could you not fill in the extra seam at the same time as well?

 

Like minds think alike.  I thought that over too.  So that middle seam is imperfect.  If you think about it, on a humped crown, a single curvature panel wants to see-saw over the hump.  That is why I could not get both ends of the original panel to conform to contour at the same time.  When I cut the panel in half, the hump was greatly reduced.  Halve the length of the panel, and the "hump factor" (height of the hump over length of the panel) reduces by much more than half, but not zero.  Draw a circular shaped hump, take a length of the arc, measure the height of the hump, then half that length, remeasure, and you'll see what I mean.   That's why I halved the panel.  What the two panels do, essentially, is see-saw on their own only to a lesser extent.  But still a "wrestling match".  When pulled down to the crown (with CA glue!) the lower matching corners of the two panels want to jam together.  So a good bit of trimming is required to eliminate that jam.   My trims are not perfect, and the seam is not perfectly flat.  I can sand it more but already there are a couple of small places where the .005 skin is completely gone.  So I have little confidence that I can make that seam go away even if I putty it over.  I suspect it just won't be as smooth as it needs to be.  So, that being the case, leaving the seam there seems the better option.  Let us all embrace the imperfections in my skinning....   Still thinking on it though.  Thanks.

Edited February 19, 2023 by JayW

[airscale]

amazing stuff - that tail area is a real challenge and you have really pulled it off

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the panel split, maybe fill it, maybe not - under a coat of paint it will disappear I am sure - until you educated this forum, I would say there were about 12 people in the world who knew there wasnt a panel line there anyway

 

Peter

[Oldbaldguy]

6 minutes ago, airscale said:

amazing stuff - that tail area is a real challenge and you have really pulled it off

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the panel split, maybe fill it, maybe not - under a coat of paint it will disappear I am sure - until you educated this forum, I would say there were about 12 people in the world who knew there wasnt a panel line there anyway

 

Peter

And probably fewer who knew the Corsair is a bit humpbacked.  I, for one, would have sworn the spine from the cockpit back was ruler straight.

[JayW]

4 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

And probably fewer who knew the Corsair is a bit humpbacked.  I, for one, would have sworn the spine from the cockpit back was ruler straight.

 

Look and behold - from the fuselage lines drawing VS-10201:

 

 

It shows a birdcage version, but the later blown canopy types share the same panels a few frames aft of the canopy.  The belly is curved too.  I am going to have some more issues with this mid-section fuselage skinning.

[Oldbaldguy]

26 minutes ago, JayW said:

 

Look and behold - from the fuselage lines drawing VS-10201:

 

 

It shows a birdcage version, but the later blown canopy types share the same panels a few frames aft of the canopy.  The belly is curved too.  I am going to have some more issues with this mid-section fuselage skinning.

Wonder how Vought managed it?  Are those panels butt-joined or do they overlap like the much less complicated Grumman products?  Vought had to have spent a fortune to form all those panels.

[JayW]

2 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Are those panels butt-joined or do they overlap like the much less complicated Grumman products?  Vought had to have spent a fortune to form all those panels.

 

The panels are butt joined, so smooth.  And yes most if not all panels would have to be stretch formed.   It would be fun to see what the government paid for an F4U versus a F6F.  

[MOB]

Just a thought.  Since you are skinning over a plastic surface that is already questionable with accuracy to the real aircraft, one could sand down the plastic surface to allow the aluminum panel to lay better.  Take that hump out of the equation and maybe not have to slice a panel.  Maybe a strategy for the future?  

[JayW]

Moving right along - must have a good smooth surface in which to lay down fillet fairings.  So here we go - first tape off the area to be worked, and then slop on some P-38 body putty:

 

 

That was easy enough.  Next though is a ton of vigorous work sanding and filing the fillet radii, being careful not to break something or gouge something.  In a few hours you get this:

 

 

 

 

That was HARD!  

 

I developed a sequence for installing fillet fairings, and it includes installing the h/stab's.  But first I wanted to do what I could on the fin/rudder.  These farings:

 

 

 

Here is a fin leading edge fillet faring detail - the fourth try:

 

 

That was hard too, but each try got closer to correct until the fourth one got there.  The one just aft of it was easier and I got it on the first try.

 

Installed parts:

 

 

 

 

So far, so good.  

 

Next is installation of the h/stab's.  I'll not bore you with the reasons behind my sequencing.  But that's next.  Then the h/stab fillet fairings plus that little one that is missing just behind the rudder.  

 

Update soon.

 

 

[Anthony in NZ]

This is ridiculously good!!!