1:48 Tamiya Corsair

[mustang1989]

Maybe fill and sand withFlexi-File sticks. They’ve got a skinny end on them. Possibly?

[jkim]

.Those K-4 (and D-9) blades were wooden weren't they? I was always pretty careful about the chipping as well, especially on those late war birds that weren't in service for that long of time

VS-111 blades on the Dora were wood but the Bf109G-K VDM prop blades were metal.

[KennyX]

Maybe fill and sand withFlexi-File sticks. They’ve got a skinny end on them. Possibly?

I use those. The skinny end is still too fat. Imma make me a kustom tight spaces sander using one of my cocktail umbrellas as a backbone, methinks.

[speedgraflex]

I oughta just lay a couple of pennies down on the imaginary counter in the ersatz bar where we all hang out with a long winded but I hope useful reply. My two cents is to use Milliput and smooth the smallest amount necessary to fill the depression then smooth the surface down level with the exterior edges. The first time you do this type of fill, you may see a depression form as the material settles into the hole. Once that sets - Milliput sets rather fast - I would follow it up with another pass to completely fill the opening. Wait about ten minutes to check that everything is smooth. If not, use a little water and smooth the Milliput down flush to the surface. Once the Milliput cures you can check the sides with a thin application of Surfacer 500. That’s what I would do at this stage. Eliminate sanding and sculpt with the proper putty.

[Paul]

I dont know what happened to my post that I made about an hour ago. Kenny, (I think you have one of the best war weary Corsairs that I have ever seen. Looking through the pics I see a lot of things that I need to improve on when it comes to my models. I have a friend of mine who is a pilot and also a modeler. I had a chance to go fly with him this past month. Just out of curiosity I looked at the prop real good. I had seen some articles and some weathering techniques that really went into details about weathering props. Most props,depending on where the plane flies from most, have a varying amount of wear and chipping but most of this is evident on the back of the prop blade. Granted the an old war weary Corsair flying from an island with coral air strips is way different that a Cessna 182 at a mode3rately busy airport. I am just putting my two cents worth in and maybe you might find this interesting.

[KennyX]

I oughta just lay a couple of pennies down on the imaginary counter in the ersatz bar where we all hang out with a long winded but I hope useful reply. My two cents is to use Milliput and smooth the smallest amount necessary to fill the depression then smooth the surface down level with the exterior edges. The first time you do this type of fill, you may see a depression form as the material settles into the hole. Once that sets - Milliput sets rather fast - I would follow it up with another pass to completely fill the opening. Wait about ten minutes to check that everything is smooth. If not, use a little water and smooth the Milliput down flush to the surface. Once the Milliput cures you can check the sides with a thin application of Surfacer 500. That’s what I would do at this stage. Eliminate sanding and sculpt with the proper putty.

This is a fantastic suggestion. What frustrates me, is that Milliput is the only putty I don’t have, and I haven’t got any Mr. Surfacer 500, either. Which means I’ll have to order them. But I won’t have money for that until next month. Budget is done already and the holidays hit us hard. SO, I can’t order supplies at the moment. And I hate waiting on things I need to come in the mail as well. So that’s option #1. Option #2 is I work with what I’ve got. Tamiya White and Mr. Hobby putty. Will either of those work, along with Mr. Surfacer 1500?

I am not being hyperbolic when I say that I am ready for this project to be over.

Lesson learned. Look on every piece for ejector pin marks.

[KennyX]

I dont know what happened to my post that I made about an hour ago. Kenny, (I think you have one of the best war weary Corsairs that I have ever seen. Looking through the pics I see a lot of things that I need to improve on when it comes to my models. I have a friend of mine who is a pilot and also a modeler. I had a chance to go fly with him this past month. Just out of curiosity I looked at the prop real good. I had seen some articles and some weathering techniques that really went into details about weathering props. Most props,depending on where the plane flies from most, have a varying amount of wear and chipping but most of this is evident on the back of the prop blade. Granted the an old war weary Corsair flying from an island with coral air strips is way different that a Cessna 182 at a mode3rately busy airport. I am just putting my two cents worth in and maybe you might find this interesting.

Thank you, Paul, for the compliment! Yeah, it’s a sticky wicket. Coral and salt are the main culprits. They seem to radically accelerate wear. And in my reference, the front of the prop almost looks new. And from the pics Carlos shared, the rear exhibited a rather extreme scouring type of wear. I did it in terms of the references, and for this bird, I think it’ll work well. I’ll tell you this much, itnsure got me thinking!

[jkim]

Before considering putty, I would try scraping away the ejection pin marks by running x-acto up and down the leg with the blade perpendicular to the surface. That may be enough to make the mark disappear enough to become unnoticeable. The ejection pin mark seems shallow enough to scrape it away without using putty.

[KennyX]

It’s deep enough to leave a “C” shape in the strut when viewed from the front. I’m hesitant to attempt correcting it in that manner. It would alter the strut shape too much for my liking, and would involve too much handling on an aircraft I’ve put many hours into already and have already dropped and repaired once. I’m hesitant to do anything drastic to this gear, really. I’ve had bad luck with landing gear in the past. I appreciate the suggestion, though, John. Thank you.

I am frustrated and angry at myself for missing those marks. I’ve paid so much attention during this project, I don’t know how they escaped me.

I’m to the point at the moment where I need to step back from it and stop looking at it, stop thinking of solutions for it, and leave it alone for the evening. I had a very stressful day at work, I didn’t sleep last night, and I hate it when the thing I do to decompress begins to screw with my head.

I want to hopefully get some sleep tonight, though Vance has come down with another ear infection and that may not happen. Anyway, hopefully I can sleep tonight, and look at this thing with fresh eyes tomorrow or maybe over the weekend, or next week.

[mustang1989]

I hate to add one more tactic to the good bunch of ideas that Are already here but super glue is a great filler as well. For stuff like this I use the tooth picks that have one end squared off and lightly dip it into some super glue so I only apply a small amount and let it set up. Then you can hit that with the sanding device of your choosing and you’re set for paint after it’s sanded to your liking. Super glue is my go to filler and I’ve always had good luck with it.

Graphed in using super glue as seam filler on my Willys build and this was with no primer yet: