F4U-1A Corsair Tamiya 1/32

[DocRob]

Not much to say, but praise the engineering of the wheel struts, a sturdy construction, despite the multiple parts used. There is a steel rod inserted into the main strut and Tamiya even depicted the brake lines, phenomenal. I use Brassin wheels, as I don't like rubber tires. The resin parts fit perfectly to the plastic, with only the small hole for the break line needs to be drilled out with a 0,5 mm bit.
The best, the wheel struts are removable for painting. I don't know, why I used the SAC replacement on my first Corsair build, there is absolutely no ned for.

Cheers Rob

[belugawhaleman]

Those Tamiya Corsairs look like great kits, and you're doing a great job with your build.

Nice

work! I'll be following.

[DocRob]

On 11/9/2022 at 7:54 PM, belugawhaleman said:

Those Tamiya Corsairs look like great kits, and you're doing a great job with your build.

Thank you Paul, I would have thought, you have one in stash, with nearly the whole Tamiya catalogue in your possession. 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Phew, almost done with the build. I build and painted all the flaps and there are a lot, thanks to the bent wing design and folding wings. All flaps are up, like I've seen on pictures of parked Corsairs. I also painted all the landing gear parts and covers, but these will be attached after painting the fuselage and wings. The outer wing parts are not glued in place for now.
Some more details to add and then, it will be painting stage.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Just catching up and your Corsair is looking fantastic. The big P&W loos brilliants and the Big Bird looks flawless as well. As I'm now back to work on the P-40, I'm thinking of breaking out another one of my Tamiya Corsairs for the next build. You and John surely are inspiring me to get on the Corsair bandwagon.  

 

[GazzaS]

I too have fallen behind, Rob.  The LG and main photos look sweet!  Looking forward to more.

[DocRob]

14 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Just catching up and your Corsair is looking fantastic. The big P&W loos brilliants and the Big Bird looks flawless as well. As I'm now back to work on the P-40, I'm thinking of breaking out another one of my Tamiya Corsairs for the next build. You and John surely are inspiring me to get on the Corsair bandwagon.  

 

13 hours ago, GazzaS said:

I too have fallen behind, Rob.  The LG and main photos look sweet!  Looking forward to more.

Thank you Peter and Gary, indeed, the kits level of detail is amazing. As good as everything fits, you have to be attentive to the manual to not get confused. At least, it is, the way I use to build in large chunks, paint all the needed parts and then assemble. It's easy to oversee a part and then it's back to the booth .
The good thing, I'm on the verge of being bored with building, as it's a plain necessity to reach the paining stage and the complexity keeps me interested enough to continue.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

As a card-carrying Tamiya Fan Boy, just love their kits. Details and the engineering/fit is superb; for me, I couldn't ask for more. 

As always, your work is flawless and the key to how well the Corsair is going toether.

   

[DocRob]

I have two firsts to report, one being only a little thing. I did an inside and outside masking job with the Corsair's canopy. The plastic was so clear, I skipped my usual bath of Pledge.
The second 'first' was, the HGW kabuki masks were really fitting, something I haven't found, despite having used lots of their masks. They never fitted. Very often I was dissatisfied with HGW products, like the super fragile wet transfers, their super sets for WNW kits, in my case for the Hansa Brandenburg, which was widely unusable and yes, the never before fitting masks. I take it as a good sign and hope for the best with many other HGW products, I have in my stash.

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Great progress on the Corsair. Still my favourite prop plane. 

Nice to hear that the masks fit properly. I've had a few mask sets where the fit isn't quite there and you end up having to fix them. 

Carl

[Peterpools]

Rob

Glad the mask fit so well

 

[GazzaS]

6 hours ago, DocRob said:

I have two firsts to report, one being only a little thing. I did an inside and outside masking job with the Corsair's canopy. The plastic was so clear, I skipped my usual bath of Pledge.
The second 'first' was, the HGW kabuki masks were really fitting, something I haven't found, despite having used lots of their masks. They never fitted. Very often I was dissatisfied with HGW products, like the super fragile wet transfers, their super sets for WNW kits, in my case for the Hansa Brandenburg, which was widely unusable and yes, the never before fitting masks. I take it as a good sign and hope for the best with many other HGW products, I have in my stash.

Cheers Rob

Nice!  I love it when the masks fit.

[DocRob]

On 11/15/2022 at 4:29 PM, BlrwestSiR said:

Great progress on the Corsair. Still my favourite prop plane. 

Nice to hear that the masks fit properly. I've had a few mask sets where the fit isn't quite there and you end up having to fix them. 

 

On 11/15/2022 at 6:49 PM, Peterpools said:

Glad the mask fit so well

 

On 11/15/2022 at 9:53 PM, GazzaS said:

Nice!  I love it when the masks fit.

Thank you amigos, I never had fit issues with Eduard masks, but HGW's were a different breed in pastimes. Luckily this time there was nothing to complain at all. 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Poco a poco - step by step - I'm nearing the finish line construction wise. I masked and painted the protective glass and the inside of the canopies. The rear part of the canopy got the mirrors glued in before painting. These are made from silver PE, so i masked the reflective sides with a piece of Kabuki.
You have to decide while building, if the canopy should be posed open or closed and there are different fuselage parts supplied for the area behind the cockpit. I opted for open and that leads to a gap with the canopy part slightly tilting forward. Because of this, I will paint the fuselage with a Kabuki tape masked cockpit, not using the canopy part as a mask, like I planned first.

Cheers Rob

[JohnB]

Looking good Rob. Now you can see why I've built so many of them! Wish they would do a -4.

[DocRob]

25 minutes ago, JohnB said:

Looking good Rob. Now you can see why I've built so many of them! Wish they would do a -4.

Thank you John, indeed, I can see how you have built so many. It's my second Tamiya Corsair, with my detest for redundance, that equals to twenty Corsairs build by you .
They are great kits and I can see myself build a third one, possibly a British conversion or a later model as my first GSB-pain mule. Your Corsair builds are a great temptation and I ask myself how much Tamiya pays you as their Corsair ambassador .

Cheers Rob 

[JohnB]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

Thank you John, indeed, I can see how you have built so many. It's my second Tamiya Corsair, with my detest for redundance, that equals to twenty Corsairs build by you .
They are great kits and I can see myself build a third one, possibly a British conversion or a later model as my first GSB-pain mule. Your Corsair builds are a great temptation and I ask myself how much Tamiya pays you as their Corsair ambassador .

Cheers Rob 

LOL Rob! I look forward to seeing your completed model.

I wish Tamiya DID pay me, etc! I'd be rich! LOL

[BlrwestSiR]

Nice job on the canopy Rob. Can't wait to see the rest. 

Carl

[Peterpools]

Rob

Thumbs up on the canopy masking and install - looking mighty good.

 

 

[GazzaS]

How would a -4 be different than the rest?  I have always thought there was just birdcage and non birdcage. 

Rob, the office and armored glass look sweet.  I have always wondered how much the approach of the curved windshield saved on drag.  I guess when you have the luxury of building big fighters, you can do stuff like that.

[DocRob]

On 11/17/2022 at 7:46 PM, BlrwestSiR said:

Nice job on the canopy Rob. Can't wait to see the rest. 

 

On 11/18/2022 at 12:06 AM, Peterpools said:

Thumbs up on the canopy masking and install - looking mighty good.

 

On 11/18/2022 at 8:07 PM, GazzaS said:

Rob, the office and armored glass look sweet.  I have always wondered how much the approach of the curved windshield saved on drag.  I guess when you have the luxury of building big fighters, you can do stuff like that.

Muchas gracias amigos, let's hope for the best, I can't afford fogging or color bleeding onto that canopy.
@GazzaS, If you mean the difference between the Birdcage and the later bubble canopy, I think the main reason for the change would have been the poor vision the Birdcage canopy allow, especially during carrier landings. The later models like mine have the pilots position risen by eight inches, which made a different design approach necessary. The overall vision bettered too, obviously. 

On 11/18/2022 at 8:07 PM, GazzaS said:

How would a -4 be different than the rest?  I have always thought there was just birdcage and non birdcage. 

I'm not an expert, identifying the differences of the later models, but Tamiya provided some comprehensive information about the changes made to the corsair during their life span.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

I always read the historical and modeling info Tamiya and other manufactures included with their kits - just adds to the overall enjoyment for me. Afterall, I'm an airplane fanatic at heart.  

 

[DocRob]

I'm actually preparing and planning my paint sequence. In order to do so, I will apply a lot of wear to the wing roots and like in the real world, I sprayed some dark aluminum on followed by a coat of hairspray. Next will be primer color, then chipping through the primer onto the aluminum, then sealing everything under a protective gloss coat, pre shading and -mottling, hairspray again and then the tri tone camo with all the galore. That's the plan at least and I hope, I don't paint myself into a corner .

As a side project the propeller got treated similar. First dark aluminum, then hairspray, then yellow for the tips, hairspray again. Next will be masking the yellow tips off and apply some Nato black.

 

It's hard to say, but sometimes I hate the precision of Tamiya kits. Why, for example with the landing light, the fit is so tight, that my very cautiously applied Contacta Clear splashed a bit, when the clear part snapped in, bummer. Now I have to find a story, why this soiling happened with the real one.
For the multiple lights on the Corsair, I use my trusty Uschi van der Rosten chrome pigments, which give a very realistic shine for the reflectors. I also tried Molotow's chrome markers, but they failed again

 

The formation lights got the same treatment, except for the clear colors applied before.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Quite a plan and will be following closely. As a Tamiya Fan Boy, I've come to realize that I need to clean any paint off of mating surfaces or there will be tight fit issues - just use to it at this stage of the game.

Chipping sounds spot on and can't wait to see it through the paint stages.

 

[KevinM]

I saw something interesting last night Rob up to you but some props almost looking grey on this video if you don't use it no bigee butit's a really good Naval archive just came out.