Well...my first airplane in over
20yrs is finished. After assembly and minor sanding ( no filler!!! ) of the
fuselage it was time for paint. I started with a base coat of Metallic silver
then Dk. Sea Blue lightened with a little Neutral Gray then masked for the
yellow cowl band and the wing walks letting each color cure overnight.
Finally
I used Testors Dullcote tinted with a few drops of Lt. Ghost Gray concentrating
on the centers of fuselage panels and fabric surfaces to give the Sea Blue a sun
faded look. After studying reference photos it seemed that USN aircraft suffered
mainly from the tropic sun and salt air more than anything else, so I tried to
keep the paint chipping to a minimum and weathering subtle. Paint chipping was
done using a new X-Acto blade and simply flaking off the blue then I used
artist’s charcoal for exhaust stains and gunfire residue on the wings.
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Next...I coated the model with
Future and applied decals from Eagle Strike’s Corsair Collection Pt.IV
which worked well with setting solution choosing the markings for a Bunker
Hill plane. The tape on the forward fuselage was thin strips of white
decal I cut in irregular lengths to give a more realistic look. After the
decals dried overnight, I sprayed the model with one last coat of clear
Dullcote and chipped more paint to simulate two types of chips,
"new" chipping and chips that I wanted to look "old"
like tarnished metal.
After years of ship building this was an enjoyable build which brought back
many memories!!!
I used the following for this build:
- Tamiya 1/48 Corsair w/"Moto Tug" kit
- Eagle Strike Corsair Collection Pt. IV decals
- Eduard colored and detail F4U-1D p/e sets
- Eduard canopy mask
David Hill
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