1/32 Tamiya F4U-1a Corsair - Boyington 17740

[Medicman71]

I'm running out of words like everyone else on how incredible you work is.

[Stuart]

I spent many an hour working on large radial engines (from AN-2's) - If I saw a picture of that out of context I'd swear it was real - fantastic work John.

That cockpit is amazing - such a shame to close it up.

[jkim]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the positive comments, especially since venturing into some new territory with this Allied fighter plane. I've been enjoying this build, especially working with a new color palette... you can only do so many RLM 66 cockpits without getting a little bored.

I've painted some of the cowling parts, including the Vector resin cowling flaps.


This will add some detail although it will be tucked away from most perspectives.


The nose cowling has also been painted. Vector provided detailed ribbing for the inside of the cowling.


As I move towards the exterior elements, I've been moving away from my Mr Hobby and Tamiya paints and using the AK Real Colors for the first time. The cowling interiors were painted the same as the exterior bottom, which is Insignia White. Results with the AK paint have been good so far and they have not only sprayed well, they've shown no adverse effects with the normal weathering techniques... pastel and enamel washes over an Alclad Aqua Gloss clear coat.

[Stuart]

Good luck with those AK paints John - I'll be interested to see what you think of them.

[jkim]

Thanks Stuart!

So far so good with the AK paints. I've tested the tri-color camo using AK paints on this mule.

[speedgraflex]

It is difficult for me to imagine you ever becoming bored with Luftwaffe cockpits, John, lol! Those 1/32 Arados and Henschels and Junkers all offer challenges. Do you like bombers? I was thinking you would build fighter bombers but I wondered about bomber bombers. You definitely seem to connect well when the type is a fighter! I do think that my model painting ideals are being shattered by this build in particular. I must vouch that because it is the real truth. There was one Finescale Modeler build of a 1/48 Tamiya Corsair I thought you may like to see. I enjoyed the quarter scale perspective quite a bit, and the way the builder was personally attached to the kit. Would you mind if I drop the link here? It may not apply to 1/32 but I think it does—his grandfather was a Corsair pilot and the research was very very interesting. In addition his skills were formidable—he soldered his pilot seat from metal then tossed it aside for Ultracast, for example. I just like when I see integrity and refinement side by side.

Long way around, this is an amazing project, John! All the best.

[jkim]

Sure... feel free to post up a link to that 1/48 Corsair build if you want. After you mentioned it, I found it via Google and read through it. Interesting how you can see the genesis of the Tamiya 1/32 Corsair kit by looking at the 1/48 model. Similar in many different areas but so much smaller!

[speedgraflex]

No worries. You already found it. I did like the way he handled the fading effects from hard sunlight! The other part of what happened to him is interesting I think, though. His initial cockpit finish had to be adjusted. What he wrote was (I paraphrase): “The cockpit was too clean for the exterior.” This is more or less what I wonder about. Obviously the planes were flown hard, with life expectancy of each aircraft a distinct third to proper maintenance and high performance, but what constitutes high usage may not be heavily weathered. Apologies I will go rap about this on my own page, but what I appreciated about your cockpit approach was the patina of “use but not abuse.” I think this is hard to judge and hard to do or easy to overdo. For me, the additions made to the headrest details followed by your weathering techniques are an outstanding achievement, but I appreciate that you created what really was there only in miniature!

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_su ... spx?page=1

[jkim]

I've been thinking about what you said about painting and I've got some thoughts but I'll jump into those later. Right now, I just want to report on a few things before bedtime. The fuselage is buttoned up now. I've added some fuselage pieces that you can't tell were separate parts because Tamiya engineering is simply unparalleled. They have the audacity to put glue joints right on panel lines, which require absolutely no clean-up. Like it's not big thang... incredible. No other model company has the huevos to do this.




I'm not going to tape the gun barrel openings so I wanted to add the barrels, which don't protrude but are visible within the openings. Or probably they are blast tubes within which the actual gun barrels reside.


This is just an unglued mock-up so the barrels are not perfectly centered within the openings yet.

[speedgraflex]

Im pretty sure I can check the Air Corps library for you if you need specifics on armament? I’m gonna turn in. Catch ya on the flip side!