1/48 Tamiya F4U-1D #69, USS Franklin (Completed)

VN750

Terrific cockpit and a great looking engine.  How do you secure the brass wire to the plastic?

Nice work Brandon, I know you put a lot of work into it.

Terrific cockpit and a great looking engine.  How do you secure the brass wire to the plastic?

SubarooMike

How is the pilot that comes with the kit; nice?

How is the pilot that comes with the kit; nice?

lawdog114

I like it Brandon...I must admit it looks kind of creepy without the pilot.  Thanks for sharing...

Joe

I like it Brandon...I must admit it looks kind of creepy without the pilot.  Thanks for sharing...

Joe

Mike, you're not being rude. I get your point of view. I know some folks don't like the prop blur affect; that's cool, to each his own.

I know the photos just don't look right and that's due to the metal reflecting the light back. Perhaps I'll dull coat the prop next time to knock that down. The reflections you see don't look like that in person,  just in the photos. It looks much better in person. And it is not plastic, it is metal and you could use it for a strainer on the bath tub if you wanted to. As far as the "prop blur" brand, I've looked at those and almost went with them, but to my eye, these look better. I'll figure out how to get the most out of them as I go, this was my first after all.

I am not trying to be rude, but that prop-blur really ruins the look of the model and it not very convincing. You should look into on of these  PropBlur's!   Super affordable and the looks are hard to beat. They are not a plastic disk so they don't take away from the looks of the model.

Check out this link

modelingmadness.com/.../propblur.htm

Here is one being used as a tail rotor.  It looks amazing

http://www.scale-rotors.com/galerie/1-utility-helicopters/2284-sikorsky-sh-3d-sea-king-hasegawa.html

Finally getting the backlog of builds completed and out of the way. I am calling this one done. It came out pretty nice. I didn't weather it up quite to the extent of the bird it portrays, mostly because the dark color tends to hide much of what I did. You can pick up the panel line shading, done with pastels, with the naked eye but it is difficult to see it in the photos. 

I really enjoy the dynamic prop on this one. The friend I am building this for wanted it displayed with the engine running like in the photo we have. So, I gave this a shot. It is photo etch and very very delicate. One little mishandling and the prop will be deformed and look poorly. I felt like I was a snow flake the whole time I worked on it. Now before everyone jumps me for the 4 blade design rather than the correct 3 blade let me explain that it what you get on the Corsair prop. I didn't see a 3 blade for an F4U, but perhaps I missed it. Anyway, it looks great to me and it does look best when the light come from behind the prop. When it shines on the front it looks metallic. I will use more of these for birds I hang in flight, I really like the look.

Anyway, enjoy the pics fellas.

I actually prefer Tamiya paint over Gunze, but Gunze's RLM colors are dead on to my eye.  I can't get the mixture right  with Tamiya.  I also love Gunze's Olive Drab.  

Joe

I'll have to give the Tamiya Lacquer thinner a shot next time. Sounds like sage advice to me.

Looks fantastic Brandon.  I concur, Tamiya has fantastic customer service. Tamiya Lacquer thinner makes their paint lay down smooth as silk too...

Joe

Ordered the decals on Friday, had them Monday. Man, Tamiya is awesome to work with.

So, just a quick update. I have about 90% of the decals down with only a handful of stencils left to apply. I will be back with more updates soon.

Tamiya USA came through, no problem. $7.30 for a full decal sheet including the shipping. Should have it in a week or so. 

WOW !

Brandon, that's some very nice work on the cockpit!   It looks great man.

Gary

Nice paint coverage Brandon. You won't get Tamiya to spray near as nice as Gunze, but you could try thinning it with Mr. Color Leveling thinner. It makes Tamiya paints go down smoother and more transparent, so it takes a few more coats than normal.

BrandonK

I appreciate all the interest and kind words, guys. Thanks.!

I am done with the pit so here is what I did. I followed Lawdog's pit detailing as best I could. I painted the pit in MM interior green and the console in XF-1. I used a cockpit from an un-restored survivor F4 as my paint reference. So the pit walls are black as is the back and instrument panel with interior green everywhere else. I painted knobs and switches as best I could to match the real deal. I also added a few PE details like the knobs on the left console and the control levers on the forward right and a map pocket forward right. The instrument panel is Eduard PE which came unpainted but came out great. The plastic gauges gives the look of glass once it's in place, love it! 

I washed the pit in Flory Black and weathered it a bit with Tamiya's master weathering kit using silver to show some paint and panel wear. I added some small PE pieces to the side panels but they really don't add much in my opinion.  I finished the pit off with MM flat clear to seal it all in. It is hard to see the detail in the photos but I am very happy with how this pit turned out. Now to finish up on the engine wiring and that will be done also. Thanks for looking.

Beautiful .

This is a model that I hope to have.

Regards

ajcmac

I managed to botch up one of the white 69 decals and I cannot continue the build until I get a replacement. I have contacted Tamiya for a replacement. Hopefully, they will come through. If not I will have to purchase another kit so I can have the decal I need. I will post more as soon as I have something to mention. 

I gave the whole kit a good going over to look for any flaws that needed fixed and I actually didn't find any. So, once I had the Zero in the sun drying I hit the Corsair with a tack cloth and began laying down 3 coats of Mr Color 14 Navy blue. It went down without a hitch give one, I dropped one of the drop tanks and it is now all dusty. I'll let it dry and hit it with some 6000 grit, prime and shoot it again, no biggie. The paint went down exceptionally well I I have so much better luck spraying Mr Color Vs Tamiya. Perhaps I need to look at thinning Tamiya more to get it to dry more slowly, like I have to when spraying Mr Color. Hmm.

Anywho, I will give the bird a few days to cure and hit it with some clear and move on to decals.

Looking great!

Well guys, after many hours of tediously pouring over the Corsair I finally have her in primer. I used Alclad black primer and microfiller. I haven't had a chance to look for flaws yet but I didn't see anything glaring while I was laying it down. There are a lot of individual pieces on this bird and they all have to be painted separately and then installed. So, I have a ways to go, to say the least.

I've been doing a lot of nic-picky work on this bird and I decided I just don't like the fake molded in lights that the kit has for Nav lights in the wings. SO, I decided to fab up a set of my own.

I cut out the nav light in the wings and drill a small hole in the wing where I apply red and green paint. Not much, just a small drop. I then cut a piece of clear sprue and shape it to fit the notch and attach with CA. Once dry I cut, sand and polish the light to fit the wing perfectly. When done you see a clear lens from either the top or the bottom but a colored light from all other angles. It's a really neat touch that brings the wings to life. The look lit when you look at them directly.

Gotta say I am loving this kit. Such a true pleasure to assemble. Everything fits just right. 

Quick update. The wings are complete and ready to install and the flaps are done as well. Glass is masked off with Eduard mask, a real time and grief saver. For the most part the plane is very nearly ready for primer. I'll post more soon.

BrandonK

lawdog114

Excellent work so far..... looks great.  On the 2800, for a touch more realism, next time try adding the points around the ring with .10 styrene rod, then attach the wires to these.  It's easier than it seems.  Indeed, that Tamiya cockpit needs very little and yours is excellent.   I look forward to the rest..

Joe

Ya know, I really struggled with doing just that but I just couldn't quite pin down just how to pull it off. The next one I do will get those for sure. 

Its easier than it sounds really.....especially if you have Tenax or Tamiya extra thin cement.  Take two .10 rod and Tenax them together, like a double barrel shotgun.  Slice off the points an glue them around the ring.  The key is plastic-to-plastic with the Tenax which fuses it in place quickly.  Use pointed tweezers to handle the pieces.  Here's a tutorial I threw together a few years ago...

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/149327.aspx

Joe

lawdog114

Excellent work so far..... looks great.  On the 2800, for a touch more realism, next time try adding the points around the ring with .10 styrene rod, then attach the wires to these.  It's easier than it seems.  Indeed, that Tamiya cockpit needs very little and yours is excellent.   I look forward to the rest..

Joe

Excellent work so far..... looks great.  On the 2800, for a touch more realism, next time try adding the points around the ring with .10 styrene rod, then attach the wires to these.  It's easier than it seems.  Indeed, that Tamiya cockpit needs very little and yours is excellent.   I look forward to the rest..

Joe

Nice looking work there Brandon, I do like the look of that engine.