Tamiya F4U-1D Paint Help Needed

It's nice to see someone getting serious into the hobby. The Testors Acryl line are very similar in properties to the Pactra Acrylics. The paints have one major flaw though, and that is it has poor adhesion. It is easy to lift the paint off when masking.

Since you want to do painting inside the house, you are pretty much limited to water base acrylics. There are two other commonly available lines of paint with the needed colors, Tamiya and Polly Scale. You can find them at hobby shops. Personally, I like the Polly Scale paints the most. The instructions in the Tamiya kit uses their Spray can line numbering but I think all 3 colors are available without the need to mix in their acrylics. Polly Scale and Acryl also have the Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue and White.

Some early war Corsairs were painted in a Gray-Blue top / Light Gray bottom combination like the Wildcats. Late War Corsairs were in a Gloss Sea Blue overall color. The interior color is known as interior green which Tamiya doesn't have.

What you call color distorting in models is known as scale effect. The same color on a smaller object will appear lighter.

I really like the Navy tricolor scheme especially with the red outline for the national markings.

Blech, turns out I'm not getting the F4U. At least not this week. Hopefully next week.

Thanks for the replies though!

If the base coat is completly dry (24 to 48 hrs after application), you should be able to paint enamels over an acrylic base with out any troubles. A lot of guys who do figures actually use enamels as the base coat for that reason. The only time I've ever had any troubles with paint lifting the basecoat was one time when I tried to brush a coat of laquer over an enamel base. Might as well tried to paint on a coat of high dollar paint stripper.

QUOTE: Music, I just found this site yesterday. Quite informative!

That's a great site, thanks for passing the link along. I've already added it to my reference section

QUOTE: I suppose one last question, does it matter what kind of paint you get, by brand, I mean. Say, does one type (Tamiya vs. Testors) react badly with airguns or any stuff like that?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I normally use Tamiya acrylic but I use some Model Master as well and also a bit of Games Workshop acrylic. The only real problem I've had was with flat black, and it tends to dissolve somewhat if you paint over the top of it. I usually solve that by shooting a thin layer of Future over it.

Other than that, as long as you stay with acrylic or paint acrylic over enamel you should be OK. I have heard that enamel over acrylic isn't a good idea as the enamel will dissolve the acrylic. Haven't tried it myself because I don't want to find out that bad!

Thanks y'all!

Music, I just found this site yesterday. Quite informative!

Thanks for all the information, it's all sure to keep me from making ugly mistakes. I suppose one last question, does it matter what kind of paint you get, by brand, I mean. Say, does one type (Tamiya vs. Testors) react badly with airguns or any stuff like that?

605Scorpion:-
Fear not. I have a completed Tamiya F4U-1D sitting right in front of me on top of my CPU and it looks terrific. Tamiya kits are the best available. Correct paint colours are clearly shown in the Tamiya instructions, using their paints. I would suggest using Tamiya acylics, but it's not absolutely necessary. You should definitely lighten any colours you put on a 1/48 th scale aircraft. A couple of drops of flat white per 1/4 ounce of paint is about right. I also thin Tamiya acylics at 2:1, but I use Tamiya's X20A thinner to do so. I find it makes the paint spray smoother, but Alcohol works too.
Have fun, it's a great kit.
Rich

QUOTE: During WW II, US aircraft were painted in colors that matched an AN (Army-Navy) spec, not FS595. FS595 didn't exist until some time in the early to mid 50s. (Sometime in 1954, I think)

Thanks for correcting me, I appreciate it. That's good to know. I knew they adhered to some some standard and just assumed it was the FS. My mistake.

I'm sorry, but I don't remember what the numbers the paints were, but the colors involved were Sea Blue (both flat and semi-gloss), Intermediate Blue (flat) and White (flat). Top of fuselage was non-specular (flat) Sea Blue, sides and vertical fin were non-specular Intermediate Blue and bottom was non-specular White. Tops of wings and horizontal stab/elevators were semi-gloss Sea Blue. Underside of Stabilizer/Elevators non-specular white. Underside of wings - from tip to wingfold line, non-specular Intermediate Blue. Wingfold line to opposite wingfold line (across belly), non-specular White. You'll need to check your references to determine where the Sea Blue and Intermediate Blue meet on the fuselage, as it could differ from aircraft to aircraft.

Hope this helps a little.

PS to Scott

During WW II, US aircraft were painted in colors that matched an AN (Army-Navy) spec, not FS595. FS595 didn't exist until some time in the early to mid 50s. (Sometime in 1954, I think)

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll have a ball hanging around here and building the F4U.

I'm also presently building an F4U-1D and there are a bunch of links to reference material on my web site. The url is http://www.craigcentral.com/models.asp and click the "Reference" link on the left side.

I use acrylic paints almost exclusively now. They are just soooooo much easier to deal with than enamels (and actually they aren't "Acrylic Enamel", just acrylic). I normally use Tamiya Acrylic or Model Master Acryl. I normally thin them with isopropyl alcohol to spray through my airbrush. The ratio I use is 3:1 (3 parts paint, 1 part alky) but it may vary for you. I spray at about 15 psi from an Omni 3000 airbrush. Thin it to about the consistency of milk and adjust your pressure until it sprays well and you are good to go.

I would recommend the use of Future floor wax extensively! You can spray it right from the bottle out of your airbrush and it will give a nice finish. I sometimes use it between color layers. Flat black acrylic has a nasty habit of dissolving when other colors are painted over it, so I usually shoot a thin layer of Future over it to protect it. The stuff is great, it shoots thin and gives a good finish. There is a very good document on how to use it here: http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

The colors on the F4U did adhere to the federal standard, however I'm not sure what the FS numbers for them are. The instructions in your model should show the closest Tamiya colors. One of the reference links on my site shows the actual FS numbers, but I don't remember which one it is. I'll see if I can find them and if so will post them here. Keep in mind that warbirds were subjected to lots of sun, heat, dust, and windblast so the colors faded and abraded. Especially the F4U since most of them were shore based for use by the Marines.

There is some color differences as the scale diminishes. There is a good article about that here: http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_scaleeffect.htm