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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Tamiya F4U-1D Corsair: Update: 2/1019


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  • 3 weeks later...

UPDATE: 1/27/19: DISASTER STRIKES

IF IT WASN'T FOR BAD LUCK

I WOULDN'T HAVE ANY LUCK AT ALL!

 

My apologies for it being so long again between updates but it just seems the older I get, the longer it takes to bounce back from what I thought was a simple winter cold. I thought a few days and I would be feeling like new and three weeks later and I was nearly as miserable and felt horrendous. Finally, I started to feel a bit better, day by day and found the much needed energy to sit and work at the bench for how long my energy lasted. I'll leave the disaster for last.

After all the major assemblies were completed, all the glass lenses were added and masked, the armor plate added to the cowling after masking and painting the frame and then the front windscreen was installed, sanded a bit and blended in to be on the safe side. During construction sanding is accomplished with various sanding sponges, getting the offending areas close to a smooth finish. Now it was time to go the full route: all the seams and mating surfaces were wet sanded starting with 320 or 400, then 600, 1500, 2000 and 12,000. Lastly all the Corsair assemblies were wiped down with a lint free paper towel and 91% alcohol and when dry, followed up with a tac cloth. I did remove the front cowling assembly which made it a lot easier to handle the Corsair at this stage and I would paint it separately. From here, the last of the masking was done and it was priming time; finally!

Nothing new here, as my all time favorite primer for preparing a model for a lacquer based paint top coat: Mr Surfacer 1200, thinned out with Self leveling Thinner and four drops of mild retarder to keep the primer wet, allowing it to self level on the model surfaces.

A few hours later the Corsair was primed and looking good. Time to put the Corsair down to dry over night and it was here my bad luck struck full force. I accidentally banged the left vertical wing spar on the side of the spray booth and broke it in two. My heart sank – I was just mortified! This is my second Corsair and I've been so careful to avoid just this both times around, as the wing fold hinge is TERRIBLE!!!!!! It has no strength and couldn't have been designed any worse. Believe me, there is no bigger Tamiya Fan Boy then me but this is just a bad design. If ever Tamiya should have incorporated a metal hinge for strength and protection; this is it.

The Corsair sat for hours as I tried to come up with a plan I was capable of doing. For now, I glued the spar back in place with Tamiya Extra Thin. Tonight, I'll try to reinforce the weak joint with CCA Gel. There is no way to know if this will work or not until the very end when the wing is slipped over the repaired spar. I know a brace will hold the wing in place and add some strength but I have no idea if the repair will support the weight of the wing itself or is square to the right hand vertical spar. I'll keep moving on and hope for the a miracle at the end.

Next up:

It's painting time and I'm taking a break from any more building until the Dark Glossy Blue is on and done.

Thanks for checking in

Peter

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Peter-

That sucks, don't know if it helps but I've done that exact same sort of thing.  Is there a way to remove the broken spar, and somehow slip a new one in there?  It's been a while since I've had a Tamiya Corsair on my bench (too long) so I don't know if that is even an option.  I have the spare parts if you want to try that, both of mine were built with the wings extended.

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Peter,

Bad luck for sure. If you need a replacement spar let me know as I have "several". :)

One thing I learned early on in my builds was the outboard spars are very difficult to slide into the outer wing sections. I recommend using a moto-tool with a grinder attachment to thin them down then apply a little Vaseline along the edges. This will go a long way to easing their fit. Might be a little late with this advise, sorry!

John

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I hope you will find a way to repair the damaged part. Sometimes the welding effect of plastic glue can do wonders. I always felt that this effect is stronger with the white capped normal Tamiya cement, than with the green thin stuff. Is there a possibility of reinforcement with a steel rod?

Surfaces of your corsair look great and should luck perfect in Colour.

Cheers Rob

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I think I've seen a picture once where the folded wings were secured with a rod between the folded part and the top side of the wing or fuselage. If that is true (hello Corsair experts) it would be another possibility to strengthen the joint with a steel bar.

Cheers Rob

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Frank, much appreciate the offer. I have a set that John sent me and after banging my head against the wall for a good week plus, I just can't find a way to remove the broken/repaired spar at the butt glue joint, which is buried inside the center section. Every plan/idea if it didn't work perfctly would have resulted in a shelf queen for sure.I'm hoping my repair will work and I won't really know until the very end when I attach the outer wing panels

Peter

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John

Appreciate all the help, guidance and parts. I'm hoping for the best and moving forward and with a lot of luck, the repair will hold. See what happens.

Next Corsair down the road will absolutely be: wings down and locked plus it makes painting a whole lot easier without the spars getting in the way.

Peter.

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Thanks Ron and I completely agree. I've even reinforced the repaired joints with Gorilla Glue (CCA) after letting the Tamiya Extra Thi dry for a good week. I'm hoping the wing hold bar added at the end of the build will do it's thing. See what happens

Peter

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UPDATE: 2/10/19

BASIC PAINTING IS DONE

My apologies for being both absent and off line but I've been just so limited in time, yet alone finding time at the bench was a tough go.

To pick up where I left off, John's emergency set of spars showed up right on time and I started to formulate a few plans on how to remove the original spar that I broke with the new spar. Of course, that didn't go well, as every plan I came up with had serious complications and I just couldn't figure out how to get it to work. The major issue is the lap joint of both the center section spar and the outer wing spar, which is buried inside the center section and I just couldn't figure any way to actually get to it and start the surgery. Odds are, I would have destroyed the Corsair trying. So, I went with my simple back up plan: Do absolutely nothing but reinforce the repair with Gorilla Super Glue (A thick CCA) and hope for the best. Of course, there is no way of knowing is it will hold until the very end but I'm rolling the dice and moving forward.

With all the major priming done, it was time for the color coats with Mr Color.

Two full mixes were needed (Yup, I still count drops):

C326 Thunderbird Blue (50 drops) and C328 Blue Angels Blue (50 drops)

Mr Color Leveling Thinner (175-20 drops)

Mr Retarder Mild (10 drops)

All set to go and my Iwata Dual Piston Compressor started going on and off in the clear blue sky and no matter what I did, I could stop it. After a close inspection, the air hose between the compressor and the airbrush split in half and would have to be replaced. A quick call to Iwata and they pointed me in the direction of Hobby Lobby and the next day, a two hour trip to Hobby Lobby I had a new air hose.

I also decided to finish and paint the cowl as well. And of course, I couldn't find one of the two cowl halves and I went crazy ripping the Man Cave apart; all to no avail, as I thought I lost the part. I went on line, found the entire G fret with the cowls for sale and bought it. Of course, I only saw one cowl in the bag, not two but I figured I could make it work. I checked a number of build reviews and every photo of Fret G: only showed one of the two cowls was there? Some surely was wrong. I sent John another email letting him know I bought a replacement fret with the 'missing cowl half. Of course, John responded the the cowl parts are stacked on top of each other and not as shown in the instruction. Yup, sure enough, it was there. What an ass I am but who knew!

So as the photos show, the parts were primed with Mig 2002, Gray Primer my favorite acrylic primer and neither Mr Color or MRP has any effect on it at all – just works perfectly.

The fuselage, wings and flaps are painted and will be given one final very wet top coat in a few days.

The gear is ready for the paint, wheels and tires are primed. BTW, the Brassin wheel/tire fit was just fine.

So that's my story of woe but at least all the issues are hopefully resolved and the Corsair is once again moving down the line.

Thanks for checking in

Next Up: finishing the gear, drop tanks, cowl assembly and starting the rockets.rockets.

Peter

The light blue/white on the lower fuselage s just the reflection of the paper towel in the gloss finish.

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The while panel lines are rivets are just the depressions catching the light - no panel wash or filter was used

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Next up for painting:

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The Missing and found cowls:

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