Well I finally finished my Corsair. It was an up and down ride of successes and things going wrong. I am really thankful to all of you who gave me advice / help throughout. I can't believe how great this site is; everyone is so giving and willing to answer questions that I am sure they have answered many, many times in the past.

As for the pictures / comments go, I am in this to learn and improve, so please give me suggestions for making the next one better.

Thanks,
Leon

Nice! I like it and I too would be proud of that bird.

Two questions
1. How did you do the panel lines?
2. Is the antenna supposed to go that low on the post?

It's looking real good !
Maybe you could dirty it up a bit !

Looks real good.
Tires appear to be glossy in the underside shot. I'd go with grimy black (Floquil or Polly-Scale) for them as a base color. There also appears to be a bit of orange peal on the under side of the wings.
You might want ot consider pastels for the exhaust stains and ejection port stains. They make a nicer fade than regular paint does.

That is a real beauty, you have the canopy masking off to a fine art there. What method did you use for the panel lines?

thats a really great kit! exceptional job!

- Chip :-)

I have never done an aircraft model, but this one looks very good to me! Nice job

Believe it or not for a first attempt there is more right with this beauty than wrong with it. The only 2 things that I can really see that pops out are:
1) The tires are too clean as before mentioned.
2) The Bomb also is too clean. Plus It may look like it is hanging off center, but that may be the illusion from the angle of the picture.
Other than that for a first time you have every right to be proud and show that lovely lady off.
Paul

nice bird cage but you should really make it a bit dirty or weather it a bit it really looks great.

Congrats. It looks great, very nice model. The only thing that I think you could do to it is some weathering.
What did you use for the antena wire and how did you fix it to the mast in the tail ? This looks very well.
Good job

Hi Private
Very, Very Nice! Your wash, from what I can see, is exceptional (panel lines). Major warlock0322,
is correct about the tires their too shinny & clean. More dirt next time! I can only hope that when I build mine it will be half as nice!
Keep up the good work.

Heya Leon, that's a great looking model of a fantastic aircraft - what kit is it?

That'll look great on your shelf!

Cheers, Cokes.

Hi Leon

She's looking really great, and you should feel rightly proud of this build! :-)

I think a little work with pastels would work wonders to dirty things up a little and really bring the model to life. :-)

Slodder's right about the forward antenna connection; it does look a bit low compared with my refs. In photos it seems to attach almost right at the top.

Hope this helps.

Rowan

wow you did a nice job..
i think we all run in to truoble when we build our stuff,
but any ways, keep up the good work

Well thanks for all of the nice comments and suggestions. I really appreciate it all and feel even better about the model after getting some complements from all of you whose models I admire all of the time.

To answer some questions...

1) The panel lines were done with a liquid soap mix. It is from a November 2001 FineScale Modeler article by Paul Boyer entitled Quick and Easy Weathering that I found pdf online somewhere. (It was actually one of the easiest parts of the whole thing) After doing the gloss coat and decals you apply a mix of five parts water, two parts water-based acrylic (I used black), and three parts of liquid dishwashing detergent (Joy or Dawn) to the panel lines. Then once it dries you use a Q-tip to wipe off the extra that didn't make it in the panel lines. It actually has the added benefit of dirtying up the model (unfortunately mine mostly came off when I brushed on too much Future for a sealing coat - next time I will airbrush this second coat on) I of course in the excitement to be done, didn't redo it and now wish I had, but I am excited to learn about the pastel weathering method.

2) The antenna wire was done with monofilament (invisible thread) threaded through a .02 mm hole drilled into the mast, etc. and then tied around itself and super glued and white glued. I was afraid to go high on the mast...from those of you who use this method, can you do it without splitting the thing?

Thanks again. I will now try to weather it a little and take the gloss of the tires. I'll search for info on weathering with pastels...any suggested sites?

If this is the one you were concerned about Future puddling on, you over reacted! :-)
That is one fine piece of work.
I love the panel line work.
Am currently fretting my panel line wash on my F15E, and am glad you mentioned how you did it so I can google for the pdf you reference.
I love the finished product.
Weathering takes practice, go in slow and add if unsatisfied because you cant "undo" it.
Do a forum search for pastels
This older forum post looked like the best so far:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/12536&page=1

What a fine Corsair, Pappy Boyington would be proud, as am I
Nice job, cant wait to see your next kit!!!
Firemann816

FWIW :
The link to the article that describes his panel line technique is below.
You may have to register with FSM to see this, (I've done this some time back, and think its necessary to read the back issues online, gotta love kalmbach/FSM, thanks for the online library thats so rich and deep )

Here's the URL to the PDF pn the panel line weathering...
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/pdf/quickeasyweathering.pdf

HTH
Firemann816

really nice work buddy , keep up like this and you lo go much better in every model of yours

:-) A very nice looking Corsair, Leon. You should be justifiably proud of this
A couple of things you might consider for your next Corsair/aircraft: Part of the flying surfaces, on a Corsair, are fabric covered. These areas would weather differently to the metal parts, I masked and sprayed them a lighter hue but dry-brushing might give a good rendition of this.

To replicate deposits from the engine, or other areas of the airframe, apply minute dabs of Warm grey or Davey Grey, artists oil paint (they have a brownish hue) then "pull back" using a finger, cloth or cotton swab. Control it but don't make it look contrived.

Just a few paint chips, particularly around hatches that are always being opened, such as for engine access, gun/ammo and re-fueling. I use a silver pencil for this, after the matt coat. Fuel spilliage would always be present, I use highly thinned oil paint for this.

For tyres I paint with Xtracolor tyre black (very good) RLM 66 works well too. Black doesn't look right. Dry brush with earth colours. Tyres aren't actually matt, so a little sheen is OK. This will always be exagerated if using a flash when photographing.

You have done well to drill through the antenna post, but to manage this necessitated drilling to low down. To get the wire on the top of the post I simply pull it across the top and apply CA. When dry cut off the surplus with a sharp knife. I use a heated pin to put the tension in the wire. I did drill through the fin post though, this provides the anchour.

I think the main thing, though, to get the most realism, IMHO, is to apply the wash over the decals. Or in other words apply the decals, apply a protective coat (I use Klear [Future]) then weather. You may have done this but it isn't showing in the pics.

You may be able to see evidence of these things in my article on the Corsair Pacific Corsair

In any event, Leon, you have a Corsair to be proud of. It took me a lot longer to get as good as you :-) I blame the internet
Lets see more of your work. What are you working on now?
Mal

i dont do aircraft,but that looks real nice

Looks great, i'd like to do a corsair someday, who makes the best one?

MIne was Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1/2 Bird Cage. I don't know if it is the best because it's the only one I've ever done, but I thought it was great and went together very well (even with my inexperience). I would highly recommend it.

Leon, I've built this same kit (pics in my gallery) and yours looks great. I like the shade of blue you have. I think everybody else has give you some great pointers and critiques. For the chipped paint around hatches that Mal mentioned, I would like to suggest either a silver colored pencil or silver gel pen. These make adding little nicks and scratches very easy.

Very nice work, you are well on your way. No suggestions for improvements, but check some photos and add some exhaust staining if you dare.

Keep going, your work looks excellent...

Scott

Good looking bird......a little touch of weathering make it perfect.