Hi All,
There are a lot of really nice corsair builds on-line already, so I feel pretty humble about my entry!! [:P] But here it is anyway. I’ve finished the cockpit. . . now on to the engine.
I’ll post more pics as I progress.
No need to feel humble… looks good from where I’m sitting.
Fantastic start on your build. Excellent fine detail’
Toshi
WOW, your detailing is very crisp and well done Sir and I second Wing nut’s comment too.
Thank you everyone. There are mistakes, if you look closely [:'(] but that’s all part of the fun isn’t it 
.
Yep, what they said, Damn fine work.
BK
Looks great. Do Tamiya supply all those cockpit placards on the decal sheet?
They do not (though it’s a bloody great kit and arguably doesn’t need anything else).
I like to build as much out of the box as possible. . . (I have a tendancy to buy more detailed kits in order to achieve this - horses for courses).
But these tiny transfers were relatively inexpensive and an easy addition:
http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BC32129
I have to admit I also got the cowl upgrade (though I’m not yet clear on how to build this in - it requires some tricky fuselage cutting. . . ), and some insignias with the red border (I’m going for a fairly colourful build).
While I’m here, can any corsair experts tell me where there may have been panels ever left as exposed bare metal, due to field maintenance? (if ever). I am going for lots of contrasting colours in this build, but I’m trying to keep it inside the realm of plausibility (if not actually sourced). A couple of aluminium bits poking through here and there due to quick maintenance might look nice, but I’m still deciding.
Great to see another fanctastic build of this kit.
You’re doing a great job… I’ll keep watching this one
I’ve done some more - moving on to the engine.
I’m always on the look out for bare metal because I like to add a bit of foil here and there. I’ve done that now. The section just back from the cowl flaps is, on some restored planes at least, left bare (presumably for heat/exhaust purposes). I have no idea whether this was ever on an original, but I’ve done it because I think it looks really cool.
Likewise, I’ve put some foil under the exhaust pipes. Again, I’m not sure this is historical, but looks nice. Interestingly, I tried a new technique on this piece, and blended metal paint over the top of the foil on this bulkhead - if you look closely you’ll see that. I was surprised to find it works ok - good for working on parts which are too difficult to foil as a whole.
Along with uploading photos I will mention any new techniques I come across in this build. Some of these I’ve “invented.” I mean this in the sense that I made them up myself, but they are probably just reinventing the wheel. I’ll mention them here anyway .
- Using closed wheelbay covers as masks for open wheelbays. Most aircraft kits offer a closed wheelbay option (in flight); because I normally build with the wheels out, it’s handy to use the closed covers, if they are supplied, as masks for the wheelbays when spraying the fuselage. In the pic below I’ve done this with the rear wheel. After spraying, I’ll fit the wheels.
- Foiled sections on outer hull masked. . . Some builds I do use small amounts of foil alongside paint, for decorative purposes (I try to do it realistically). E.g., bare metal near exhaust vents. Previously I’d just foil over the top of a sprayed paint coat. This time, I’m cutting the foil, then using liquid mask fluid over that. I’ll then cut the dried mask to the exact size of the foil (not yet pictured), then I can spray my topcoat over the whole lot. When I want to expose the foil, I can pull back the masking.
- Hairspray and oil based enamel… One of the things I’m going for with this build is colourfulness. I’m trying to pull as many colours out of it as I can, while staying reasonably realistic. So the wheelbays, for example, are worn through so the original salmon colour may be seen underneath. According to my research this isn’t beyond the realms of possibility. To get the effect, I tried the hairspray technique. However, in this build I’m using only oil based enamels. Turns out, once the top coat is dry, applying water doesn’t easily get through to the hairspray. But, it has an unanticipated benefit - it seems to protect the bottom coat. So my scraping with a knife can be quite vigorous before I etch away any of the bottom coat. I have to experiment more with this technique before I commit to the outside, but here are the results so far (wheelbays):
Nice progress. good use of the HS technique. The enamel paint keeping the water form getting through is a way to control the chipping effect. Using acrylics and a heavy HS coat you can really big flakes easily. Thinner coat of HS covered with enamels and you need to work at getting it off and that makes for finer chipping and scratches. I use a piece of Scotch Brite to lightly scratch the enamel, then wet it and give the water some time to get into the HS.
Looks great
Thank you! I haven’t messed around much with enamels and hairspray, so this is very welcome advice.
Nice work on this kit. I agree the bare metal does add nice eye appeal, even if not completely period correct.
BK
More progress. . . up to the big bit now. You’ll notice little bits of foil here and there - almost all of these are getting painted over, then once I have the top coat, I like to chip around the edges of them (very subtly), for an extreme chipped metal effect (I’ll load up photos when done). This is predominently around the accessed areas - like the gun bays and other little bays. I’m about to run a coat of green/yellow over the whole lot, then hairspray. So I’ll have a layered effect - some chips will only dull the top coat, others will go down to the primed metal, and some (around access areas) will go right through to the aluminium.
You’ll notice some streakiness on the aluminium - this is because I add more glue than usual to the foil for this application - can’t afford to have it peel. The streakiness all but disappears when it gets painted. In fact, the paint almost wipes out the rivets too, even though you can see them in the foil. That’s ok though. . . if I want them visible I can “chip” them back in. Enamel over foil allows very, very small (almost microscopic) chips. You’ll have to take my word for it for now but I’ll load up pics later .
Just a little more today. . . . two undercoats. . . the primer colour, followed by a less jarring colour which I hope will be an intermediate step when weathering - I don’t want to always chip right into the contrasting yellow-green. Hair spray in between these layers, and between the next top coats.
Looking great. Neat idea with the foil.
Another great Corasir build on the Net.
All was going well. . .
My wife walked past and asked me why I was making the “back bit” out of tin foil. As they do.
Got some colour on.
Did the final coat of the sea blue. Anyone notice any issues? (hint. . . ailerons).
Anyone get a bit careless mid-build? I do. Something always happens to remind me to slow down. “Oh well, if that’s the worst mistake I make on this build that’s not so bad.”
So, just respray right? Well did that, then when cleaning the airbrush, splattered turps all over the wing (not pictured). It ate little holes into the green layer of paint, which might have been nice if I’d been doing diorama of Aliens. But not a major problem . . . just sand and respray. Done. None of this is pictured because it was just tedious.
Only just finished doing that, then I bumped my pot full of turps and it washed over my whole working area.
I almost escaped out of this without a hitch (long ago learned to keep spare parts in a sealed tin), except. . . it went all over the ailerons!! Yep, those ones I was trying to respray right-way-up in the first place, leading to this string of disasters. To answer the question “does turps melt polystyrene?” Yep, it sure does! (I already knew this of course, but I was not in a position to put this excellent knowledge to any advantage – again, not making an Aliens kit). I wiped off the turps with tissue. . . now the ailerons had fingerprints and tissue paper embedded in a now lively textured plastic surface.
In this pic, I’ve already sanded a bit (they were worse than that).
I have to count my blessings here though. First, nothing else (like, say, a canopy. . . !!) was on the bench (refer to spare parts life-saving tin). Secondly, there is very little surface detail on the corsair ailerons. Why is this? While I’m at it, how were the ailerons manufactured? Well, I’m glad there were made like that. I could sand them flat with no real trouble. An hour and a half later and I’m back to exactly where I was before. But I thought you guys would appreciate my story of calamity and redemption.
