Here's a post I've been wanting to share for a while now but I've been putting off for other things that become more of a priority. I'll show it as a WIP but it's been finished now for about 10 or so months. This was the build that I really improved a lot on and put some newer skills under my belt. It's far from perfect but I enjoyed the opportunity to push weathering a plane with the painting process before I sealed anything at all.
I won't spend too much time on the little things as most of you are likely to be familiar with Tamiya's Corsair. It's an easy build and comes together beautifully. I've made some changes here and there to improve the accuracy of the build and I'll highlight those. Also, I've almost finished making a light-box to photograph some of these planes with and when I get it the way I want I'll include a few more at the end. =]
2012-12-18 11.46.50 by brittvallot, on Flickr
Here is the test fitting. The intercooler pieces I've sanded down and opened up with an exacto blade. You'll see this better later.
3800_785386472744_1187751654_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
Unfortunately I couldn't find any better photos of the cockpit. It's actually one of Tamiya's better ones in my opinion. On the dash, I've started with a Flat Black and followed up with some dry brushing of Tamiya's Flat Aluminum [XF-16] I think and came back over that with some dry brushed Flat Red Brown and then more dry brushed Flat Black. This is generally the way I'll paint a heavily weather plane's visible dash.
Skipping ahead, I've cut out the piece where the kit exhaust tips go. Instead I've opted to bend some brass tubing to make individual exhausts. I've mounted them into the back of the cowl where the engine fits to. I'm less confident now that the holes I drilled to support them had part of the exhaust manifold passing through here, but as it works out I need the wiggle room to place each three in there...so...it kinda worked itself out. It's covered; so I'm fine with it. =] These exhausts are also filed down as thin as I could make them.
36500_785386612464_1436091686_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
72509_785386672344_241092928_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
I did grab this little gem. A Quickboost R-2800 and the Vector cowling ring and motor mounts to upgrade the engine area. =D
486114_785386722244_1175902941_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
This photo shows a new trick I come up with to display the landing light. I cut a very small rectangle of mylar sheet (very thing). I put two bends in it. One is for the base to glue it and the other is to show the filament which gets painted Flat Black. The housing for the light is painted in Flat Aluminum and the "glass" is placed on and masked. This was also one of those little, proud "Ah hah!" moments I had.
10262_785387016654_409663015_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
Since I've been displaying all my planes lately in flight, this required some scratch building for the flaps. There are some tabs that flip over when the flaps are in the down position. So since I'm cutting them and placing them up, they needed to be added on.
Before:
394855_785386797094_1694841448_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
After:
25972_785387031624_1127837959_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
582728_785387076534_2066892403_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-06 22.48.56 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-06 23.08.03 by brittvallot, on Flickr
Next, comes the landing gear which had to be placed up as well. When I can include them I certainly aim to. Here I had to cut and shorten the strut so it would be in the up position.
2013-01-04 12.12.15 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-04 13.13.33 by brittvallot, on Flickr
Also, I had to go back and allow the space between the doors to be seen somewhat after they'd been glued shut.
2013-01-06 22.49.14 by brittvallot, on Flickr
Next, I fixed up the rudder. Since so many of these parts come attached, I always take time to cut them out and reattach them in a position according to how the plane is flying. Also, there's often a small gap that gets left out when they are part of the mold for the fuselage taking away from the realism some. Just my two cents.
65857_785386936814_780379083_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
Here's a quick shot showing a test fit of the engine/cowl and the intercooler opened up from the original mold.
75069_785386856974_1239554466_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
Next up, I've closed the doors, preshaded the panel lines, and painted the undersurface. On Boyington's 883, there's a photo where the door on the port wheel bay is stained from something. Possibly fluid/oil from something that busted or leaked during a flight. You'll see later how I've added that on.
537155_785387121444_378564786_n by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-11 08.08.30 by brittvallot, on Flickr
I've painted on the tri-color scheme as best as I could make it from photos taken of the actual Corsair. The left side of the fuselage had to be guessed at some what as most pictures are of the right.
2013-01-11 08.08.55 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-11 08.09.20 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-11 08.09.05 by brittvallot, on Flickr
I post-shaded some panels that stood out as high trafficked and those that were fabric and always wore more quickly. I even put a little more on the right side as a certain photo showed the Corsair stowed next to a break in the trees. More light reached the right half of the plane. I've seen this same thing happen to my mother's Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra. Half the hood had oxidized more than the other as the sun dipped between our house and my neighbor's reaching into our garage. Thought I'd make my build unique and include a feature like that. Seems a little silly now. =]
Onto the Pratt & Whitney R-2800! I've added some brass rod to make up the braces for the cylinder heads and stretched some sprue to make up the ignition cables. The front here was also painted a slightly different blue from an up angle to show weathering from this seriously large engine poking through the front of the cowl.
2013-01-07 13.49.32 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-07 14.27.37 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-07 17.28.19 by brittvallot, on Flickr
2013-01-07 17.29.58 by brittvallot, on Flickr
I'll stop here for now and finish later tonight. =]