1:48 Tamiya Corsair

[KennyX]

In weathering, a good rule of thumb is- when you ask yourself ‘should I do more?’, it’s time to stop.

Yeah. And I think I kind of pole vaulted right over that. Also, that NAVY blue sucked. I did a F-17:3 - XF-8:1 - XF-2:1 ... but I totally missed the mark.

[Stikpusher]

I try to stick with Humbrol or Model Master for my camo colors. They are matched to the originals. Tamiya paints are great for airbrushing, but mostly generic in their color choices, and require mixing to try to make many commonly available colors. I am no fan of Vallejo, but some of the newer acrylic lines such as Mission Models and AK Real Colors have me liking those too. They have a lot of new specific matched colors that were not previously available, or were, but were discontinued.

[KennyX]

I feel like I nailed the insignia white and intermediate blue with my Tamiya mixes, but boy oh boy did I screw the pooch big time with the NAVY blue. God damn it that was just ugly.

There are three open spaces on the lower portion of the fuselage which can act as ingresses for Windex when the frustrated modeler uses it on this particular kit. Some got in there along with a stew of eaten paint, and ruined th work I did on it.

Yeah, I’ve come to terms with th fact that, at least for the time being, I’ll always be doing so-overs on the kits I love building most.

I’m going to redo this one. From th ground-up.

It doesn’t bother me at all. Not in the slightest.

[speedgraflex]

I admire your integrity as well. Ya know, it’s summer and the fish are biting so there’s that, on top of all the other responsibilities and such, we the collective community are pulled in different directions, and sometimes that is an issue. At least it is an issue for me.

One thing I notice with your work reminds me of what I experience when I become really focused on an idea that I am able to mentally execute but not able to pull off in the plastic reality. When I started here a year ago I was focused on late Luftwaffe camouflage. I have tried to learn from all the guys here about what to do but I personally am still smarting over my failure to pull off those slightly smudgy transitions.

So I applaud your decision to chill, relax. I’ve been thinking about building a Corsair in the future as a result of your passion, and I thank you for your friendship, kindness, humor, music and your modeling work—all that is gold.

[Stikpusher]

One other point to make- color fidelity.

Once an item leaves the factory and is accepted into service, the colors will begin to shift. Depending upon the base color (some colors are notorious for shifting and fading), service environment, operational tempo, service life span, climate conditions, etc., the color(s) will change over time. Don’t beat yourself up too much on exact matches. Close enough is going to work in most cases. Those F4Us in the South Pacific served in a very harsh environment- salt air, humidity, tropical rains, dust on dry days, tropical sunshine. Nothing conducive to a pristine finish.
On your next go around on this, if one color does not look quite right, instead of stripping it off, it might just be better to remix and spray another coat.

[KennyX]

Carlos,

I actually did that. After being unhappy with it, I laid down two marble coats and then a blend coat of a mix which more heavily favored the dark sea blue. The result of that is what you saw in the photos. It was pretty bad. And, holy cow, I already had a layer of Mr. Surfacer, then Silver, then Gloss, then Yellow-Green, then more Gloss, then black, and then several marble coats of the ugly blue, followed by two more of the slightly-better one... and don’t forget the hairspray layers.

Too many coats of paint, for my liking.

On my next attempt, I’m going to use AK chipping fluid shot out of my airbrush, instead of using hairspray right out of the can, and I’m going to do it on a smaller, more localized basis. I’ll be testing this AK stuff, as well as better mixes for that Non-Specilar Sea Blue, on my Mk.I version before doing it on the Mk.II version, as I’ve learned another important lesson, too:

TEST NEW SHIT LIKE CHIPPING, AND PAINT MIXES ON A GOD DAMN PAINT MULE FIRST.

Bruce,

Thanks pal. That means a lot. I have to accept that right now, I can’t work on models on the weekends because when the babies are here and I’m not working, I like to give them a lot of attention. And I don’t want my modeling to cut into my gym time or my fishing time. So it’s gotta be slow and steady, on lunch breaks or morning breaks on days when I’ve signed-on at 5AM to get ahead on stuff, and late evenings here and there when I’m not too tired. And I can’t sweat it if a few weeks go by and I don’t do anything, because all that does is cause me to hurry on my next available opportunity to work on the project, and haste fucks things up.

Lessons learned.

[KennyX]

In the spirit of The Three “R’s”:

RECALIBRATE

RELOAD

RE-ENGAGE

I’m making the primary Mission Statement for the Mk.II “Fixing EVERYTHING I either missed last time, or just-plain couldn’t live with”.

So today I worked in the gear bays. As you can see, there’s visible ejector pin marks. I couldn’t believe I didn’t notice these until after the Mk.I’s were painted. The lesson? Examine every piece for visible ejector pin marks, vis:



I sanded the ones I knew would be visible:



After I did that, an idea occurred to me, which was “Fuck it. Scratch-build some enhancements for the gear bays, and here’s where I am with that:



Reference photo:



I’m sure somebody will point out that I can avoid a lot of financial and other hardships by making sure I do it right the first time, and that’s true. And who knows, maybe one day I won’t need to do-over a kit. But I’m not worried about that right now. Right now I’m learning a lot about how, exactly, to do things right.

[KennyX]

Cool. I made these out of paper clips and Christmas ornament hangers. This adds a little interest to those gear bays. I like it.

[speedgraflex]

Ressurection City! Looks great; but what is up with injector pin marks on supposedly beautiful Tamiya wonder-kits? You handled those well! I was gonna pick up an old Hase or Otaki Corsair to try some ideas out as well—because your enthusiasm is inspiring. Well, you certainly did not waste a moment licking wounds or lamenting the dying of the light, so good job there, sincerely. Full speed ahead.

[KennyX]

They’re all over that piece, too! It’s crazy. And there’s some inside the cockpit area in the fuselage halves too but at least they aren’t visible. Heh, you know, if Tamiya found enough room in those gear bays for so many of those pin marks, you’d think they could’ve detailed in there a little better LOL

And Nosir- no time for licking wounds. Just gotta resolve yo do better and get back at it. Glad I bought all these Corsairs before -rumor has it- the price gets jacked up!

And you should do one! And a 109 too!