F4U-1A Corsair Tamiya 1/32

[DocRob]

10 hours ago, Peterpools said:

The Corsair looks mighty good at this stage, neat and perfectly done.

Enjoy your vacation and we'll see you when you're back home✈️

 

9 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Great work on the Corsair and enjoy your vacation.

 

1 hour ago, GazzaS said:

Everything looks great, Rob!  Have a good vacation. 

Muchas gracias amigos, it will be the first time back to my old hometown of Berlin since four years. I will feel like a tourist there, I guess. It will not be only fun though, some family business and other demanding things to do, but I will visit one or two LHS's, something, I have not on my island.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Sounds as the perfect mix of vacation and some family business. Just enjoy and enjoy.

[Bomber_County]

Rob, my bad, work has got in the way looking at WIP’s. Stunning work on the Corsair, my first 1/32 when I came back was also the Birdcage, I screwed the rear “windows” behind the cockpit and made a mess of them trying to unglue them etc, these were early days of my return. It still sits on the SOD……….yours is ping to be epic as ever……

[DocRob]

Long time no progress. I was in my old hometown of Berlin for some time and brought a dose of covid back from there, so bench time is limited through lame brainess because of the f***ing virus.
I cleaned all the engine and exhaust parts and try to figure how to paint them best. there will be a lot of masking necessary. I built the Brassin engine many moons ago and there were single cylinders to add to the core. I would have preferred that from the Tamiya kit too. I also noticed, that Tamiya skipped the black metal fairings around the cylinders, which can be seen on the pic of the real thing. The Brassin engine had the fairings present.
I'm planning to add ignition wiring and spark plugs from Anyz.

Generally, I tend to build the Corsair with one wing folded and the other in flight position, what do you think about that?

Cheers Rob

All is unglued, it's only a mockup picture. Level of detail is great for a non-resin engine.

Here is the real thing with the black fairings visible.

[telepatu]

Looking splendid! I'll follow with interest. Corsair has always been one of my favourites. Looks like I need to get there Tamiya kit after all.

We have a Berlin family trip coming up in December, what would be the best local hobby store there, if you don't mind me asking?

[GazzaS]

That is a nice looking engine, Rob.  Radial engines, they say "Do me to the limits".  So we whip out the lead wire and even little decals...   All to virtually disappear anyway.  ...Unless you have ppl who are gonna know what they are looking at have a close peep.

[DocRob]

13 hours ago, telepatu said:

Looking splendid! I'll follow with interest. Corsair has always been one of my favourites. Looks like I need to get there Tamiya kit after all.

We have a Berlin family trip coming up in December, what would be the best local hobby store there, if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you telepatu, you should give the Tamiya Corsair a chance, it's one of the best engineered and designed kits, I ever had in my hands.
Concerning hobby stores in Berlin, my old home town, I can recommend two, I have visited during my trip. I had no time to look for others or see, if old ones still exist.

Werken Spielen Schenken in Steglitz has been there forever. As a teen, I bought kits there and they are still there. The shop ( modelling is in the basement) is a bit crammed, but there are lots of plastic kits and some wooden kits. They have a special area for railroad modelling. They don't sell online.

Startseite - Werken Spielen Schenken in Berlin (werken-spielen-schenken.de)

The other one is Berliner Zinnfiguren. They do have a lot of plastic modelling but are specialized into figures, paints and literature. In the moment you can only visit the front room, where only some plastic models are, but you can ask for everything. They do sell online through their shop, which is a good orientation to see what's available. You can reserve goods via phone or mail and pick them up when you are in Berlin. That's what I did.

Berliner Zinnfiguren | Home page | Berliner Zinnfiguren - Online Shop

Hope that helps

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

12 hours ago, GazzaS said:

That is a nice looking engine, Rob.  Radial engines, they say "Do me to the limits".  So we whip out the lead wire and even little decals...   All to virtually disappear anyway.  ...Unless you have ppl who are gonna know what they are looking at have a close peep.

The designers of the Corsair made it a little easier for us modelers to show off, with recognizing, there had to be cooling involved. Most of the detail can be seen from the front side, so ignition wiring and spark plugs are not completely wasted.
The designer of the FW 190 (was it Tank?) was not so generous to us modelers with his fan cowling obscuring the front view.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Still in checking mode . I like to be prepared, when it comes to detailing, so I made a test with the Anyz spark plug and Anyz braided line. The thread is a bit on the thick side and the plugs seem a bit oversized too, but I may use them anyway, as many pictures of the real thing show the braided ignition wiring.
The butt ends of the spark plugs have a diameter of 1mm, too big to drill into the spots onto the cylinders, so I cut them flush and glued them on.

Cheers Rob

 

 

[Jbert27]

And I thought PE was challenging OMG!

[Landlubber Mike]

I'm a little late to the party Rob, but man, that cockpit work is really incredible.  Amazing job!  Love your engine work thus far as well. 

Hope you're feeling better and enjoyed your trip!

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Jbert27 said:

And I thought PE was challenging OMG!

Many moons ago, I built the Birdcage Corsair as my first plane build re-entering the hobby and added the Brassin engine with a PE wiring harness, which was not so much easier to make look right. I pre-painted it in clear orange, which had the flexibility not to break while bending, but it always looked too flat for me. The benefit is, to have the cables at the right length along their connectors for each two cables.

Cheers Rob

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

The braided ignition cable looks great. How is it attached to the harness/housing? 

 

Carl

 

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I'm a little late to the party Rob, but man, that cockpit work is really incredible.  Amazing job!  Love your engine work thus far as well. 

Hope you're feeling better and enjoyed your trip!

Thank you Mike, the bad thing about Tamiya kits, you have to deliver. They are so good, that fail is inacceptable and everybody news that . The good news, the kits are so well designed and sharply detailed, that fail is very unlikely with only a bit of effort.
Still nursing the plague, but I hope that will become better the next days.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

The braided ignition cable looks great. How is it attached to the harness/housing? 

They are only glued to each side using CA, Carl. That should hold up. First I thought about threading thin wire through the braided thread, but that would enhance the diameter too much. My Anyz thread is labeled as 0,5mm diameter. I don't know if they have thinner variants.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Meanwhile I finalized the last preparations, before painting the engine. I glued on the spark plugs, cut flush from the resin sprue and added the oil? tubing on the top front of each cylinder. These are made from folded pe, which were left from my Corsair build 15 years ago. To let them appear more tube like, I applied CA glue with a toothpick to the folded front sides, to prevent a visible gap.

Cheers Rob

[JohnB]

Looking good Rob. Love those Tamiya Corsairs!

[Irishman1]

Looking great!! I also used the anyz braided lines for spark plug wires and black braided for some oil lines on my 1/24 scale hellcat. I wish I would have used the spark plugs too!! They really pop

[DocRob]

22 hours ago, JohnB said:

Looking good Rob. Love those Tamiya Corsairs!

Thank you John, these Corsairs are pieces of beauty, as a kit and in real live. Kit wise, I think this is absolutely top notch with injected styrene.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

20 hours ago, Irishman1 said:

Looking great!! I also used the anyz braided lines for spark plug wires and black braided for some oil lines on my 1/24 scale hellcat. I wish I would have used the spark plugs too!! They really pop

 

This is a beautiful engine, you built there, Irishman. The braided line looks fantastic. On my build it seems to be a little over scaled and I still am not decided if I use it.
The spark plugs are beautiful, but also more 1/24 than 1/32, I think. For your build they should have been perfect. The ones with angled connectors are very delicate. I needed 12 for my wanted 9 .

Cheers Rob

[Bomber_County]

Looking good Rob, with my birdcage ( still on the SOD) see above, the engine is still loose, may go back in and add my details, you inspired me…….I think….

[DocRob]

I continued with engine painting and assembly. 
All metallic tones are from AK's Extreme Metallic range, matte aluminum for the cylinders, polished aluminum for the ignition ring, stainless steel for the propeller shaft.
The only exception is Alclads Exhaust manifold, which was used exactly for these parts. It's my go to base for prop plane exhausts.
The black fairings were sprayed with Tamiya's semi-gloss lacquer black and then rubbed with steel pigments from Uschi van der Rosten by hand. The same treatment received the gear casing, which was sprayed gray and then got some pigments rubbed in, which enhances the casting appearance. Details like nuts and bolts were picked up by brush, using different LP metallic colors.

The first pic shows the usefulness of panel liner, left side with, right side without.

 

And this is where I am now. I'm still undecided, whether I use the braided line, which on top of the size issues darkens through sucking the CA up. Maybe I switch to lead wire. 

Cheers Rob

 

[DocRob]

2 minutes ago, Bomber_County said:

Looking good Rob, with my birdcage ( still on the SOD) see above, the engine is still loose, may go back in and add my details, you inspired me…….I think…

Thank you Phil, how can a Tamiya Corsair being SOD-ded? Ah, the rear window issue. If I remember right, my Birdcage had overpainted back windows, which may make things easier.

Cheers Rob

[JohnB]

1 hour ago, DocRob said:

Thank you John, these Corsairs are pieces of beauty, as a kit and in real live. Kit wise, I think this is absolutely top notch with injected styrene.

Cheers Rob

I agree Rob. Thats one reason I've built so many!

[Bomber_County]

3 hours ago, DocRob said:

Thank you Phil, how can a Tamiya Corsair being SOD-ded? Ah, the rear window issue. If I remember right, my Birdcage had overpainted back windows, which may make things easier.

Cheers Rob

 

To be honest Rob, it’s so long since it went away but yes the windows. When the GB starts I intend to finish both the Corsair and the ZM 51 whilst building the PT….