F4U-1A Corsair Tamiya 1/32

[BlrwestSiR]

I've found using masks for Stars and Bars to be more challenging than RAF roundels. There's a lot more elements and they're generally smaller so easier to get mis-aligned. 

Using the frosted tape that you did to hold things together worked out for you nicely. I have a roll of transfer film that I bought off Amazon. It was fairly inexpensive and will last a long time. 

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, BlrwestSiR said:

I've found using masks for Stars and Bars to be more challenging than RAF roundels. There's a lot more elements and they're generally smaller so easier to get mis-aligned. 

Using the frosted tape that you did to hold things together worked out for you nicely. I have a roll of transfer film that I bought off Amazon. It was fairly inexpensive and will last a long time. 

How true, the first insignia, I tried to get the star aligned properly into the outline mask and gave up after a while and used the tape method, as I never have gotten it on along the bars mask. It's only fractions of a millimeter, but with parallel lines or stars inside circles, you see every fault..
I will buy some of this transfer film for future projects. I had a roll back in Berlin, where I started to airbrush on paper and made my own masks out of it.

Cheers Rob

[JohnB]

Well done Rob!!! Outstanding work.

[DocRob]

19 hours ago, JohnB said:

Well done Rob!!! Outstanding work.

Thank you John, it's a great compliment to hear it from his Corsairness himself . The kit is of so great quality, that you can fully concentrate on painting and weathering.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Yesterday, I finished to apply all the stencils on the wings, that were covered by other masks before. 

...and while having the Nato black in the airbrush, I added the stencils on the wheel covers.

... and then I realised, my god, I had completely forgotten to apply the 883's to the side of the fuselage. No big deal, except for covering the whole plane again, with different materials, in case of some white color bubbling somewhere unwanted. 
I also made the corrections to the stars and bars, while being on it. I think, the airbrushing phase is done so far, except for clear coats.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Brilliant work. Normally I'm not a fan of macro/close up build photographs but here they work perfectly. The painted stencil details just blow me away.  

Your paint and airbrush work is perfection

 

 

[Citadelgrad]

More of a lurker here, i’ve only completed 1 AC after my return to the hobby.  This kit and those stencils are in my stash.  I have to say, ive always hated decals and this looks like a not painless but very rewarding alternative.  Your Corsair is beautiful.  

[GazzaS]

More nice painting and stenciling, Rob.  I found aligning the stencils was the most painful part.  Actually had to repaint one of them on my 109.

[DocRob]

On 12/9/2022 at 1:18 PM, Peterpools said:

Brilliant work. Normally I'm not a fan of macro/close up build photographs but here they work perfectly. The painted stencil details just blow me away.  

Your paint and airbrush work is perfection

 

On 12/10/2022 at 5:38 PM, Citadelgrad said:

More of a lurker here, i’ve only completed 1 AC after my return to the hobby.  This kit and those stencils are in my stash.  I have to say, ive always hated decals and this looks like a not painless but very rewarding alternative.  Your Corsair is beautiful.  

 

On 12/10/2022 at 7:44 PM, GazzaS said:

More nice painting and stenciling, Rob.  I found aligning the stencils was the most painful part.  Actually had to repaint one of them on my 109.

Thank you guys, stenciling with masks is a lot of work, but as you mentioned, rewarding and free of the typical decal issues. If you thin the color properly and spray thin layers, to prevent bleeding, after pushing on the masks, you will have decent results. 
Placement needs some patience. On most of the stencils I used my odd eyeballs for placement. It helps to keep some distance to the plane, to see the alignment better. Where placement proved difficult, I used some tape as reference.

Cheers Rob 

[DocRob]

Do you remember the hairspray? I covered the chipped primer with a coat of clear and applied hairspray onto it, before I airbrushed the wing color, walkways, insignia and stencils.
Now was the exiting moment to see, if it still works after so many layers of paint. I dampened the areas with water and a drop of soap and let it soak for half an hour. The paint was a bit more resistant, than the primer chipping, but it worked. Using different tools, like toothpicks, a stiff brushes and some tweezers, I got what I wanted.
Now the whole plane was covered with a clear coat as preparation for further weathering.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Nice going on the chipping and the various layers of paint under the topcoat comes through with flying colors.  

 

[DocRob]

17 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Nice going on the chipping and the various layers of paint under the topcoat comes through with flying colors. 

Thanks Peter, it might look a bit too harsh now, but that will be blended with washes and further weathering. The good thing with masking is, you can weather through the walkways, insignia and stencils. That's more difficult with decals.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Another excellent point about masking

 

[nmayhew]

On 12/13/2022 at 8:35 AM, DocRob said:

Thanks Peter, it might look a bit too harsh now, but that will be blended with washes and further weathering. The good thing with masking is, you can weather through the walkways, insignia and stencils. That's more difficult with decals.

Cheers Rob

Looking good!

i don't think it looks harsh at all, but if it's not too late i do think you need quite a bit more closer to wing root and further forward; this is both relative to what you have further back and on the flaps, but also just generally from what i have seen in pics - these machines got beat to sh*t

 

[BlrwestSiR]

It looks good Rob. @nmayhew has a point. The Corsair wing roots got heavily worn even towards to front as that was the easiest way to access the engine covers. There were work stands that attached to the front of the wings. Also, the oil tank in front of the pilot was notorious for leaking which meant ground crews were frequently replacing the white tape that you often see in pics. 

[DocRob]

22 hours ago, nmayhew said:

Looking good!

i don't think it looks harsh at all, but if it's not too late i do think you need quite a bit more closer to wing root and further forward; this is both relative to what you have further back and on the flaps, but also just generally from what i have seen in pics - these machines got beat to sh*t

 

20 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

It looks good Rob. @nmayhew has a point. The Corsair wing roots got heavily worn even towards to front as that was the easiest way to access the engine covers. There were work stands that attached to the front of the wings. Also, the oil tank in front of the pilot was notorious for leaking which meant ground crews were frequently replacing the white tape that you often see in pics. 

Thanks guys, I was considering to do more chipping but made a compromise, as I didn't want to use the same hairspray technique on the fuselage, I have to do the chipping there by brush and it has to fit the wing chipping, not so easy to do. Obviously these land based Corsairs were heavily weathered, giving the conditions they flew in. I want to have a worn look, but not too heavy. In 32 scale overboarding weathering can look a bit strange, when there is no denting or oil canning or whatever superficial damages would appear to go with the chipping. 
@BlrwestSiR, Carl, do you know what the white tape is applied for? All pictures of my crate don't show any, but others have them applied.

Cheers Rob 

[BlrwestSiR]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

Carl, do you know what the white tape is applied for? All pictures of my crate don't show any, but others have them applied

Rob, ground crews applied the tape to seal the panels in front of the pilot to prevent oil from leaking onto the canopy. They would change the tape as needed so the shape would often change. Some show an octagonal pattern around the circular panel and others would also seal the larger panel around it. It depends on the Corsair. 

Hope that helps. 

[Bomber_County]

On 12/12/2022 at 2:26 PM, DocRob said:

Do you remember the hairspray? I covered the chipped primer with a coat of clear and applied hairspray onto it, before I airbrushed the wing color, walkways, insignia and 

Rob, just catching up again, this has wetted my appetite to finish my Corsair. Absolutely stunning weathering this is going to be a stunner….

[Martinnfb]

Meticulous and clean, what not to love? 

[DocRob]

21 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Rob, ground crews applied the tape to seal the panels in front of the pilot to prevent oil from leaking onto the canopy. They would change the tape as needed so the shape would often change. Some show an octagonal pattern around the circular panel and others would also seal the larger panel around it. It depends on the Corsair. 

Hope that helps. 

Thanks Carl, that helps indeed. I wouldn't have thought, that the ingenious American engineers where in need of high tech solutions, like applying tape, to get their crates sealed . Sounds that the Corsairs where leaking like British motorcycles of the sixties. 
It's interesting though, why it's only the Corsair, where the tape is so often applied, but that's maybe caused by the positioning of the oil tank.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

20 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Rob, just catching up again, this has wetted my appetite to finish my Corsair. Absolutely stunning weathering this is going to be a stunner….

 

18 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Meticulous and clean, what not to love? 

Muchas gracias amigos, but the next step will be not so clean, in some minutes, I will apply Flory's clay wash onto it, a messy affair, hopefully with a convincing outcome.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Today, I muddied my Corsair up with Flory's dark grime wash, a clay based liquid, which I applied over the whole airframe, after adding a drop of soap for better distribution, with a flat brush and let dry for about half an hour. The stuff is dried by then and looks totally grimy and dead flat.
Then, I wiped the excess away with a dry piece of cotton cloth in the direction of the airflow and the very fine clay stays in all the panel lines and other crevices. The best part about this wash, you determine the grade of dirt or you can remove it completely wiped down with water, if something went wrong.

It's clearly more visible on the lighter underside, but also noticeable on the darker upper side. The good think, my pre shading is still full visible.

As a break, I made some detail painting on the landing gear, adding the brake lines and other tiny bits and pieces (not shown) and chromed the cylinders with AK's chrome tape for the first time. It worked ok, a bit more adhesion would have been great on these parts with small diameters, but it looks chrome to me, so thumbs up.

Cheers Rob

 

[Peterpools]

Rob

Nice work on the panel lines using Flory washes. I've used them for years and they work great and like you said, 100% removable if need be.

Tail wheel assembly looks spot on the money as well.

 

 

[GazzaS]

That looks very fine, Rob!  Those washes really did a nice job. 

[HubertB]

She is really looking the part, Rob 👍

Hubert