Bent wing bird- Tamiya F4U-1A

[BlrwestSiR]

I've been thinking it's time I built a plane again. I was going to do the Tempest but have wanted to build my favourite prop plane and Ernie's hotel build sort of tipped the balance that way. 

Anyways, I dug through the stash and pulled out the most disheveled kit of the three. It disheveled as I had dumped a bunch of the leftover kit and AM buys from my other two Corsairs into the box. 

There's several sets of paint masks, some incomplete, leftover parts, Aires bits for a Trumpeter Corsair, rubber tires. One critical bit,  the main spar is assembled in the folded position. As the plane I'm planning to do was built without a folding wing I had to swap that out along with the requisite sprue for an unfolded one. 

Here's the plane I'm planning to do:

The weather beaten and touched up paint job has a certain appeal to me and will fit in nicely with my two other Corsairs. 

 

[Martinnfb]

YAY !  

[Kaireckstadt]

54 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

I've been thinking it's time I built a plane again. I was going to do the Tempest but have wanted to build my favourite prop plane and Ernie's hotel build sort of tipped the balance that way. 

Anyways, I dug through the stash and pulled out the most disheveled kit of the three. It disheveled as I had dumped a bunch of the leftover kit and AM buys from my other two Corsairs into the box. 

There's several sets of paint masks, some incomplete, leftover parts, Aires bits for a Trumpeter Corsair, rubber tires. One critical bit,  the main spar is assembled in the folded position. As the plane I'm planning to do was built without a folding wing I had to swap that out along with the requisite sprue for an unfolded one. 

Here's the plane I'm planning to do:

The weather beaten and touched up paint job has a certain appeal to me and will fit in nicely with my two other Corsairs. 

 

Another Corsair! Really a nice choice regarding the livery! 
The weathering makes a lot of fun on this beast! 

I loved building this kit. It’s one of the best I ever had on my desk!

Will follow your posts intensively!

 

[BlrwestSiR]

2 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

YAY !  

Someone's happy! Been too long I guess since I did a plane. 

1 hour ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Another Corsair! Really a nice choice regarding the livery! 
The weathering makes a lot of fun on this beast! 

I loved building this kit. It’s one of the best I ever had on my desk!

Will follow your posts intensively!

 

Thanks Kai! This will be Corsair #3 for me. It should have been a -1D so I'd have the trifecta of Tamiya's kits but the D will have to wait a bit longer. When I get to the -1D, it'll be an easy choice- Robert Hampton Gray's Corsair. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Ok, so I got started by prepping some parts for a coat of interior green. 

I used AK Real Color's interior green. I then added a drop of black and did some post shading. 

Now to start masking and doing the detail painting. 

[Peterpools]

Carl

Couldn't think of a better choice for jumping in back to an aircraft build. Looking forward to following your progress

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[BlrwestSiR]

Man, this plane has been kicking my butt. I think I finally got a handle on it and made some progress. 

I got the black sections of the cockpit painted. 

Then I started doing the little detail painting and this is where I got stymied. I kept getting paint where I didn't want it. Finally I gave up and tried some finer brushes I keep forgetting I have. Problem mostly solved, I kept going and then started the stencils. I'm using some from HGW. They're nice and thin and fairly tough. But the fold over on themselves if you look at them funny. Using Tamiya Mark Fit Strong decal solvent got them to go over those buttons I previously messed up. 

Using a Prismacolor pencil, I added some scratches to the pedal troughs, pedals and around the cockpit. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Next up, I started drilling the holes for the ignition wires. I don't know how you guys drill such tiny holes perfectly centred on your engines. 

Mine are anything but centred. Well, maybe a couple are.

Same goes for the cylinder banks. 

I've painted the cylinder banks in Extreme Metal Aluminum. Should be durable enough.

 

[Trigger]

It will be worth the effort, this engine will look fantastic when done, love the ak extreme metal range, sprays very nice with the airbrush, and looks fantastic,

I also have the Tamiya corsair in my stash, one day I'll start building it, until that time i'am watching and learning from other builds , keep going,

Frank

 

[Bill_S]

Excellent progress, Carl. I love this kit almost as much as I love the plane.

[BlrwestSiR]

Thanks Frank and Bill! 

The Tamiya Corsair is a great kit. This is my third one so far. Have a few more in the stash so definitely not the last one for me.

 

[Kaireckstadt]

4 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Man, this plane has been kicking my butt. I think I finally got a handle on it and made some progress. 

I got the black sections of the cockpit painted. 

Then I started doing the little detail painting and this is where I got stymied. I kept getting paint where I didn't want it. Finally I gave up and tried some finer brushes I keep forgetting I have. Problem mostly solved, I kept going and then started the stencils. I'm using some from HGW. They're nice and thin and fairly tough. But the fold over on themselves if you look at them funny. Using Tamiya Mark Fit Strong decal solvent got them to go over those buttons I previously messed up. 

Using a Prismacolor pencil, I added some scratches to the pedal troughs, pedals and around the cockpit. 

2.69 MB · 0 downloads

Stunning progress on your build, Carl.

The cockpit looks awesome! Nice subtle weathering! I used the Barracuda Cals for mine and remember that it took hours to apply.

Made the same experience like you with the holes for the engine harness. But how will you get them even more centered (because they are) ? The engine of the kit is great and this will add much realism to it. 
I hope that the next update will come soon!

 

 

[Peterpools]

Carl

Mighty nice progress on the Corsair .. looking so good.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[Bomber_County]

You’re motoring on this one Carl, my Corsair is residing on the SOD. This was first 32nd after returning and I think it just burnt me out, partly due to I didn’t know what the hell is was doing. Looking forward to another fine build.....

[DocRob]

The cockpit and engine eats at least half of the building and painting time with the Corsair, but it's well worth it. Your pit and engine look great and don't worry, my micro holes are never centered, but this will be unseen by most observers, specially when the cowlings are closed.
The only problem area I ran in, when I built mine was the attachment of the dropped flaps to the fuselage. I don't know, if it was my fault, which is quite possible. Al other issues I had were induced by installing the Brassin cockpit, which needed a bit of surgery, which was simple to do and mainly the engine cowling area, where I wanted to find a solution for removable engine covers, where I tried a thinned plastic variant, a soldered and bent PE variant and the resin option, with the final result, that the flaps were permanently closed . 
I'm always considering to build a late model in NZ or FAA outfit, but I have too many kits .

Cheers Rob
 

[Jeff]

Stunning build so far, Carl, and lightning speed too  

[GazzaS]

Your work looks great, Carl. 

[Axeman]

Looking good so far. Great work. 
Tim

[BlrwestSiR]

20 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Stunning progress on your build, Carl.

The cockpit looks awesome! Nice subtle weathering! I used the Barracuda Cals for mine and remember that it took hours to apply.

Made the same experience like you with the holes for the engine harness. But how will you get them even more centered (because they are) ? The engine of the kit is great and this will add much realism to it. 
I hope that the next update will come soon!

 

 

Thanks Kai! I actually had a couple where the drill bit went through the side. I had to fill the hole and start over. 

16 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Carl

Mighty nice progress on the Corsair .. looking so good.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

Thanks Peter.

[BlrwestSiR]

16 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

You’re motoring on this one Carl, my Corsair is residing on the SOD. This was first 32nd after returning and I think it just burnt me out, partly due to I didn’t know what the hell is was doing. Looking forward to another fine build.....

Thanks Phil! I find it interesting that for all the folks that say a Tamiya kit is a shake and bake model that there's enough of us with one on the SoD. Makes you wonder what it is that catches us out. 

16 hours ago, DocRob said:

The cockpit and engine eats at least half of the building and painting time with the Corsair, but it's well worth it. Your pit and engine look great and don't worry, my micro holes are never centered, but this will be unseen by most observers, specially when the cowlings are closed.
The only problem area I ran in, when I built mine was the attachment of the dropped flaps to the fuselage. I don't know, if it was my fault, which is quite possible. Al other issues I had were induced by installing the Brassin cockpit, which needed a bit of surgery, which was simple to do and mainly the engine cowling area, where I wanted to find a solution for removable engine covers, where I tried a thinned plastic variant, a soldered and bent PE variant and the resin option, with the final result, that the flaps were permanently closed . 
I'm always considering to build a late model in NZ or FAA outfit, but I have too many kits .

Cheers Rob
 

Thanks Rob! I'm trying to think if I glued the cowlings onto my other builds or not. 

As for the flaps, I didn't have any issues there. 

I've definitely got an FAA Corsair IV to do, and probably even a II as well.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

11 hours ago, Jeff said:

Stunning build so far, Carl, and lightning speed too  

Thanks Jeff! Although it's a bit slower than I had thought. 

3 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Your work looks great, Carl. 

Thanks Gaz!

35 minutes ago, Axeman said:

Looking good so far. Great work. 
Tim

Thanks Tim! Your Sherman is looking fantastic too.

[Landlubber Mike]

Some really great work there.  That cockpit is fantastic, nice job!

I'm building Tamiya's F4F-1 Wildcat, and it went together very nicely.  I hear Tamiya's Corsair is the same way.

[Kaireckstadt]

2 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Thanks Kai! I actually had a couple where the drill bit went through the side. I had to fill the hole and start over. 

Thanks Peter.

I had the same trouble Peter. But this is nothing which can‘t be fixed and is it a wonder? These parts are so tiny!

Looking forward to seeing your progress very soon! It‘s such a lovely kit! 

[BlrwestSiR]

Thanks Mike and Kai! I think I'm finally getting into a rhythm with the build.

One thing did slow me down slightly. I'm using the HGW belts for the cockpit and I ran into an interesting problem. I think HGW made an error in their belts. The shoulder belts have a buckle on the end, parts 6 and 7. They're handed so only fold one way. 

The problem is they've made the loop for the belt smaller in width than the belt itself. They did this as they made their belts have a narrower lead to make it easier to thread in. But it looks odd. 

This is the first time I've come across this problem with HGW belts so I'll have to check them in future before I get them. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Anyways, after I got the belts sorted I finished off the cockpit. 

I attached the belts to the seat and then fitted that to the rear bulkhead. 

I left the shoulder belts loose until I had the bulkhead joined to the front half. Then I draped them over the sides and glued them in place.