After nearly 3 years of building Armor, and being a member of Armorama, I've once again got bitten by the aircraft bug. For my 1st build I decided to do a companion to my previously built Tamiya 1/48 scale F4U-1 Birdcage, Tamiya's F4U-1A Corsair. It's going to be basically an OOB build, with a little engine detailing just to make the engine look a little more realistic.

I started off with the cockpit built straight from the box, just adding tape belts and Harness. Since I'm using Tamiya Acrylic paints, I had to mix the interior green color: XF-5 green 1:1 with XF-3 flat Yellow. After the cockpit was painted, I added a few coats of a dirty black wash. But the camera flash just seems to have brightened up the Interior green too much. It's much darker and dirtier in person.







The fuselage was then glued up, and the lower main wing assembly was painted and built as well.



Next came the extremely well detailed engine. I decided to just take it one step further, and using a combination of steel and copper wire, fashioned the wiring harness, which I painted a Brownish Red.





I then completed the wings, added the windscreen, and started to prep work to get ready for painting. I still have to re-scribe a lot of the panel lines I managed to sand out.









I also decided to open up the cowl flaps for a more realistic look to them.



Hope to post the basic painting pictures within the next few weeks. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Joel

Very tidy so far Joel. What paint are you using for the green chromate?

Richard, actually, it's interior green. The paint color is a mix of Tamiya acrylic Green XF-5 1:1 withYyellow XF-3. When dry I applied a few coats of a enamel black wash.

Joel

Beautiful job Joel!

Dan,
Thanks for you more then kind words.
Joel

Finally finished the basic tri-color paint scheme. Both the Sea Blue and the Intermediate Blue were hand mixed to match their respective FS chips. Tamiya acrylic paints were used for all three exterior colors thinned 1:1 with Tamiya X-20A Acrylic thinner.

Although once the planned weathering process is applied, both shades of Blue will hopefully be faded and washed out to some degree, as the Pacific salt air and sun quickly bleached these colors.
Joel

Good work on the Corsair Joel. Looking forward to seeing it finished up. Russell

Russell, thanks for the positive feedback. Looking forward to decaling, and finally weathering for that used but not abused look.
Joel

JA
Nice work on the Big Bent Wing Bird. Air brush work looks super smooth and ready for some washing and light weathering.
Keep 'em coming
Bro

Thanks Pete. Actually, the next step is to weather the paint by light mists of Sea blue/Gray/White mixture in a uneven pattern for a fading and bleaching effect.
Joel

Was checking out the upper fuselage paint, planning out step one of the weathering process, when I finally noticed the major, and I mean major screw up in the camo paint scheme. I had painted it with the flaps off, so that the demarcation line of the dark sea blue and intermediate blue is at the trailing end of the wing. Well, that's wrong !! It should be at the end of the flaps in a neutral position. It just didn't look right, but I didn't take the time to figure out why. So now I have to go back and re-paint once again.
Joel

As I previously mentioned, I mispainted the Dark Sea blue from the fuselage to the trailing edge of the wing because I hadn't installed the flaps, & just plain screwed up. So I repainted those areas on both sides to reflect their correct position.

I started the weathering process by air brushing on a thinned mixture of Intermediate Blue, Med Gray, & White. Once again all the paints are Tamiya Acrylics. 1st an overall filter was applied to tone down the stark colors to a more natural scale appearance. Then I applied the same mixture once again with my air brush @ 12-10 psi in a random blotchy pattern to start the weathering effects of the tropical sun and salt air. The bottom wing Dark Sea Blue also received this treatment, but to a less effect, as I wanted it to be several shades darker, as those surface areas wouldn't be subjected to the sun, just the moist tropical air.

This is only the 1 step in my weathering process. Now the Corsair will be glossed, then decaled, so that they can be incorporated into the weathering for a more realistic appearance.

Here's a few pictures of the Corsair in this phase of its weathering. Hope that you can see the fading effects.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and hopefully commenting on my approach to weathering.

Joel

JA
Nice approach to some very realistic weathering. The horizontal layers seemed more bleached out as they should be and in the overhead views, the weathering appears more subtle.
Looking real good so far ...
Keep 'em coming
Bro

Not bad weathering, looking good. Russell

Thanks Pete & Russell for the kind words. Actually, I'm applying weathering techniques that I learned while building armor kits to my aircraft models. So far so good.
Joel

Hi Joel
She's looking good.
A guess as to the markings RNZAF?? or is that wishful thinking...You'd never guess I was a Kiwi would you.

Chris

Chris,
Thanks for the kind words. Nope. Never would have guessed you're a Kiwi. It's food for thought, that's for sure.
Joel

Time to gloss with a few coats of Pledge/Future air brushed on, and decal the Corsair. I applied the decals using the Microscale system of Set on the surface, decal positioned, then Set on top. Lightly rolled with a Qtip, and left to settle into the nooks & crannies. Any decal that needed additional settling in received a coat of Sol, and just left to do it's thing. The Stars & Bars are a two piece decal that I had some concerns about, but came out just fine.

After the decals had dried, I applied a coat of Dullcoat/Glosscoat mixed 50/50, and then cut 1:1 with Lacquer Thinner. Once dry, I weathered the Corsair with Flory's washes. Dark Sea Blue & Intermediate Blue were done with "Light", while the flat White was done with "Dark". After everything had dried, I applied a few liberal coats of Dullcoat airbrushed on.

All that's left is some details including the prop, and a little more weathering.

One thing that didn't come out as I would have liked is the light wash on the Intermediate Blue. The panel lines are white, I would have preferred them to be a very darkish Blue. I opted to go with the white wash as I wanted to continue the fading process. I guess what I should have done is 1st applied a pin wash of Blue/black enamel oil paint, then sealed, then applied the white wash. Really just too far along in the weathering process to back up that far.

Also just noticed that the external fuel tank isn't straight nor in the proper mounting holes. It was just quickly tacked into place to take some pictures. Already repositioned it.

Here's a few pictures of the Corsair as it at this stage.

Thanks for taking the time to look.
Joel

Joel, fabulous looking bent winged bird you have there! I really like it. The Corsair is probably my favorite Navy/Marine aircraft of WWII. My dad used to see the real thing in action in the Pacific so maybe that is why I am so fond of it. I know he was! Again, a great piece of work. Russell

Russell, thanks so much for the kind words. It's also my favorite WW11 fighter. I've already built the F4U-1 Birdcage, and hope to continual to build all the available variants in between campaign builds.
Joel

Finally finished adding the last remaining details including the prop, & canopy. So I'm calling the F4U-1A Corsair build done and in the books. Been a really fun & enjoyable build of an excellently engineered and detailed Tamiya kit.
Here's some pictures of the finished model, including 2 pictures of the F4U-1A next to my F4U-1 Birdcage that I build nearly 3 years ago.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
Joel
























Joel

Great finish Joel! Superb work. Really enjoyed following the progress of the Corsair build. A fine edition to your collection. Thanks for sharing it with us. Russell

Russell, Thanks so much for the kind words, and sticking around for the whole build.

Joel

The use of a light coloured wash in the panel lines is surprisingly effective. It's so contrary to the normal approach but the result seems very natural. A nice salty effect, so far from the grime and smoke and smog of Europe. Of course the weathering approach must be so different!

Thanks Richard for the positive comment. I've seen this technique used a few times, and like you said, it's effective and helps with the overall faded look of that dark paint. If I would have used a darker shade of blue or just straight black, you would barely see it, which is just like using the traditional approach of pre-shading with a dark color. Just doesn't work. In real life panel lines on dark cars are just about invisible, but that's not the effect that I wanted.

Joel