Holy smokes!  That's a great job you did on that Corsair.  I have one of these in my little stash and I hope it turns out as nicely as yours.  I really like the look of the random fading you did there.  Mind if I ask how you did that?

Eric

Oh wow, you did a magnificent job on the F4U!  Everything about the build is fantastic, I love it.  Congratulations on a job extremely well done.  I wish my builds would come out like yours.

Toshi

Wow she's beautiful! I've built two of these kits but never tried the wing folding option- I can see where it would be pretty delicate.

Very nice work!  I like the subtle fading in the paint.

Nice Corsair Brandon.  It's nice to see one "come off the showroom floor" every once in a while.  Well done! =]

Excellent Corsair, Brandon!

That looks incredible Brandon.  I didn't know you were working on the Corsair.  

Joe

Thank you, everyone! I Really appreciate the kind words. Bvallot - I don't typically go for the new aircraft look, but with as dark as the blue color on these is, I think the weathering is less likely to show, so I went with the fresher look. Also, since it's 1945, I thought it would probably show less weathering, being a new aircraft when the US essentially had air supremacy and the resources to care for the aircraft.

Eric, the faded look was the result of me playing around with some of the colors and trying to vary the scheme to break up the monochromatic nature of the dark sea blue color. I base coated the whole thing in straight dark sea blue by Model Master. No priming, no pre shading, nothing.

After that, I mixed the dark sea blue 50/50 with insignia white and sprayed in patches. Some areas I lightened even further, as you can see in the pics below. I then mixed a really thin coat of dark sea blue and sprayed it over to blend it. As I was blending it, I didn't like the varied shades, so I evened it out more than I'd originally intended. I'm happy with the end result, and I'm glad you all think it's decent, too.

OH MAN, your subtle fading is stellar, what command you have of the airbrush. TY so much for sharing your painting techniques.  I'm taking notes in hopes that I can improve my painting through your valuable W.I.P.

Often times just takes me once to see something and know just what I'm looking at and I really like the approach you took here.  I think the more you play with this idea the better it will work for you.  Perhaps by keeping the changes in color somewhat closer together you'll have more control over the paint scheme/weathering you're doing.   I really like what you've come up with here...I hope you play with it some more.  =]

Fantastic build. Your assembly and weathering are just top notch. Wonderful looking -D. Thanks for taking us along.

BK