David Hansen

In a related topic, i built up and painted a 13'-4" Hamilton Standard propeller for a FG-1A Project (i was offered a deal i couldn't refuse) and i tried out the Airscale Propeller Logo/ Servicing stencils set. The "Black" once again is 50-50, Nato Black and Sea Blue. Blade tips are the "RAF Roundel Yellow" mix i discovered over on Replikator. This cowling was painted in the 4-colour 623 mix i previously mentioned. On this one, i mixed the XF-55 Deck Tan a bit more thoroughly and there's a slight difference from my earlier ANA 623 test. The propeller also got the customary treatment of the Water/Future/Tamiya Flat Black wash. Not sure if i mentioned this before, but the R-2800 is from my F4U-1 project and it just serves as a handy placeholder to display the painted cowling and propeller. The Airscale decals laid down beautifully. You can see in the above photo that the decal film is a little bit thick. This is because the stenciling and the logo are on the same decal film. At least it keeps the spacing between the two consistent. They take a while to soak, soften and it takes some coaxing to get them off the backing paper but they laid down and settled onto the surface just fine with Micro Set and Sol. After another clear coat to put them in in place, the final finish was GX-114. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that without an ignition system, a radial engine won't work. That's the next technical hurdle i'm pondering.

Final Summary: The 4 colour mix for ANA 623 is more complicated to make but it has more science behind it. The 2 colour mix requires a shade of XF-17 that isn't generally available, and is just the opinion of one man using a Mk I eyeball, calibrated though it might be.

Well, i just finished up what i think will be my last ANA 623 paint experiment. This formula uses just 2 colours, instead of four: XF-17 Sea Blue and X-16 Gloss Purple. Not a colour per se but i find that mixing in Super Clear Gloss UVCut helps a lot with the gloss and as long as you thin the mix adequately, it sprays beautifully and dries pretty quick. Taking it outside into (some) daylight serves as a more reliable validation... This project was slated to be a late Brewster F3A-1 at MCAS Cherry Point, but its unclear if the plane was painted overall 623 at the factory (the last F3As rolled off the line in 1944) or if it was re painted after an overhaul.... so i don't know if the propeller hub should be gloss sea blue or not, like the Goodyear FG-1As were. My test sample is glossier i think than the real ones were, but of course that can be controlled by adding less gloss, or none at all. Adding gloss does however, make the paint more durable and resistant to marring like it is in its natural, flat finish state. Done going down this rabbit hole. My curiosity has been satisfied.

If it were the only F4U Corsair i built then yeah, i wouldn't expend this much effort. However, in my case i build a lot of Sea Blue USN subjects and i've been on something of a never ending quest to find a sea blue that looks appropriate for each of the major scales. I used to be a big adherent/ advocate of altering colours for scale effect and i haven't given that up completely but i am dialing it back a bit...

For many years, modelers have just hosed their models down with 15042 and called it good. However, to me that seemed a little too easy...plus they never looked quite right. I'm not *exactly* a colour nazi, but to me that just seems wrong. It would be like substituting Light Aircraft Grey for Sky on a Spitfire, or Olive Drab for Slate Grey on a Fairey Barracuda. A lot of what was accepted as gospel was based on aircraft restorations or planes that went through significant mid-life overhauls. Through the efforts of people like Larry Webster, William Reece, Gerald G. Elliott, Dana Bell and the Fleet Air Arm Museum we've been able to piece together a more accurate and complete picture of the Early and mid-life of the F4U Corsair...though still with some significant gaps. Given fairly recent developments in historical research, aircraft restorations and the emergence of computer based interpretation and analysis equipment, it's never been easier to peel away the outer layers of the onion and look at these colours more closely. FS 15042 definitely has its place, but Mediocrates' philosophy of, "Meh, Close Enough" just seems to indicate a lack of curiosity. Colours on Navy subjects are more complex and involved which dovetails nicely with the wide diversity of limited-run aircraft they acquired and operated over the years. More tests are ongoing. The final chapter hasn't been written yet. -d-

Well, here we are with the Third and Final act... Replikator did not have a formula for ANA 623. In discussions over on Britmodeller, three different formulae were proposed. While this mixing formula is the most intricate, it matches very well to the Colour chip in the Elliott book and was made using the latest and greatest spectral analysis equipment. XF-55, Deck Tan. Who Knew?? Anyway... not my story. The first thing that hits you is how very dark it is, compared to ANA 606, which i originally thought was just a semi gloss version of 623, and vice versa. I was wrong about that. ANA 606, 607 and 623 are all Sea Blues, but they are all different.... which seems a little counterintuitive, doesn't it? This mix uses a lot of Tamiya XF-17, and the critical element to be aware of is, Tamiya changed their formulation. The original that came in the 23ml bottles had a definite greenish cast, whereas the later offerings in the 10ml bottles are a deep blue. I realize the colour fidelity sucks under a single incandescent desk lamp, but here is a side by side comparison of the three mixes evaluated so far... I also came up with this "brilliant" idea of piecing 3 different cowling segments together, to make the differences more evident... This all started as a test to determine how to make a semigloss sea blue (ANA 606) for my "Norfolk Scheme" F4U-1 but from there it wandered off the reservation into the quagmire of ANA 623 Gloss Sea Blue. Folks over at BM seem to think the ANA 606 suggested by Replikator is too blue. The Tamiya AS-8 is too light and too grey (though i feel its suitable for a worn and faded 4 tone scheme). Pending receipt of a suggested formula for mixing some ANA 606, i feel that what i came up with is still acceptable, and it *may* be suitable as a Gloss Sea Blue 623 for models in smaller scales, or for depicting a heavily worn 623. What hits you is how dark the 623 is, but in theory, the insignia blue is even darker. Not sure when i will put the 623 blend to the test but for right now my curiosity is largely satisfied. I am hoping to have another formula to try out for ANA 606 once the mighty birdcage comes out of the primer phase. It's worth noting that Sea Blue as a rule, photographs terribly under indoor lighting conditions that most model clubs and contest venues have. You really need to evaluate these colours outdoors in daylight to understand what your end result looks like. This whole experiment may have gone full circle.... or perhaps it represents a complete turn of a helical spiral. All i can say is i seek knowledge, and its bastard son truth. Before i forget: the 2 other suggested mixes for ANA 623 were: XF-50, Field Blue (straight from the Bottle) and 1 part XF-17 Sea Blue 1 part X-16 Gloss Purple Both of these will dry flat. Modelers may choose to go the conventional route and apply a gloss coat last. However, i think i've acquired enough experience to say with confidence that you can dump Mr Super Clear GX112 into the paint and it blends just great, but be prepared to also dump in a lot of thinner to compensate. This means the paint will be less concentrated and it will take longer to build up the requisite coverage, but it is very fast drying. That's all for now, kids!

And now, Part 2... I painted the cowling upper and lower segments with more Replikator ANA 606, and then fit the parts on my F4U-1 Engine and put the Birdcage Prop on. Dark Sea Blue is hard to photograph under the best of indoor lighting conditions, much less mine. The next thing i did was pant up another set of cowling parts the same way, only this time i decanted Tamiya AS-8 from the can, mixed it with Mr Leveling Thinner and shot it through my trusty Iwata... The upshot is, the Tamiya AS-8 is lighter and greyer in tone than the mix derived from the Replikator formula. In other words, it seems to resemble Non Spec Sea Blue quite well. I think it would be very suitable for the fuselage and leading edges of wing and tails for 4 tone paint schemes, but not suitable for an overall glossy sea blue aircraft. Tamiya specifies AS-8 overall for their F4U-1D kit, which in my view looks a bit too light. None of the photos are great, but perhaps this one shows the contrast, best... For an additional test i think i will re-apply AS-8 to the leading edges of the Corsair stabilizers to see how it looks. There will be one more sea blue formula to test but that will be in a couple of weeks. Until then- Party On, Wayne....

Doing some more experimentation, to determine the best Glossy Sea Blue for an FG-1A. This experimentation is an outgrowth of preliminary testing done on El Corsair Grande Numero Tres, Electric Boogaloo. There are a couple of options i want to evaluate for a suitable Glossy Sea Blue. This is the first. I've mixed a batch of Glossy Sea Blue (which is ANA 623 if i'm not Mistaken), but starting with the formula for ANA 606 Semigloss Sea Blue and making it glossy by dumping a bunch of GX-114 Super Clear UV Cut into the mix. My lighting is terrible, so i wrote down the formula for those of you that wanna duplicate my tests. It's the whole "Scientific Method" thing, i guess... As something of a control, i prime the grey Tamiya pieces with my customary mix of decanted white surface primer, tinted with yellow green and thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner. One of the neat things is you can use those clear, gimmicky cowling parts to experiment with colours on. The paints had zero trouble mixing well with each other, and once i added enough thinner, they sprayed beautifully. The first discovery was dumping in the Super Clear gave the paint a beautiful, semigloss finish that i had trouble attaining by spraying a clear semigloss over flat Tamiya paint. It was as if the Tamiya paint was laughing at me as i applied coat after coat of semigloss on. i will paint the rest of the cowling with this mix.... maybe the Cowling Flaps. Next, i will run a similar test using decanted Tamiya AS-8. Finally, another mix for ANA 623 has been suggested over on Britmodeller so i will test that one as well. All in the name of Science!* *interpretations will vary.... -d-

Today was Propeller finishing day (i hope!) Up next: Troubleshooting the windscreen...

Bonus points for not painting the stainless steel dishpan interior green..... something i've been seeing on a lot of Airfix F6F Hellcat builds.

OK folks, here's an update. Today was Propeller Day... once the clear coat is dry, decals will come next. -d-

There are a lot of ways you could go about it, to include the Mig AMMO Brand walkway stuff. I definitely think it would work in 24th scale and *probably* 32nd. I saw it on a 48th scale Tomcat once, and it looked a bit too coarse for my tastes. It *does* however look like it was applied directly to either the bare metal, or whatever zinc chromate primer was applied to the center wing section, before the camouflage colours were applied. With my models, i've always done it with paint.

Is it just me or do both crew appear to be saying, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"?

I'm thinking it will add a lot for my Birdgage. At a minimum it certainly amplifies the claustrophobic effect you could get from flying one of these early ones.

it mainly serves as a venue to try out my comedy material.....