Master class in airbrushing - advanced tutorial in building a Corsair kit - and it's all free!!!

Awesome build, Lawdog.  You are an artist without doubt. Your "spectacular" paint should actually be "specular" and I think it refers to the amount of sparkle and light reflectance which the paint exhibits.  Non specular would be a dead flat matt with no sheen at all. I think this is correct and hope it is of value to you.  Keep up the good work.

Decals? Lawdog doesn't need no stinkin decals.

Joe,

1st. let me say this is a stunning paint job!!!!

As for the MEK, It is the main ingredient in Testors liquid cement.

But it is usually available at your local hardware store in quarts and gallons as a type of solvent.

Hope this helps.

Love her!!! 

I suppose I have to try painting insignia someday, your results always look so fantastic. I just hate masking though. 

Joe, I am in awe of your work here.  You are a maestro with an airbrush.

Joe that's one of the nicest paint jobs I've ever seen! Those masks worked beautifully. Thanks for sharing your paint mixes also, very helpful to us. This is going to be a real beauty when all finished!

You're doing "Pappy" an extreme justice with this build as it nothing short of astounding.  This is true workmanship.  Everything looks fantastic and I'm very impressed.  You've brought out Boyington's corsair to life once again!!!

like a rabid fan of all things Corasair and VMF 214 let's not forget "Pappy" and his sometimes hairbrained tactics against the JAP's!!

toshi

toshi

Thanks all for the kind words.  

Panzer, where does one get Mek? Sounds great as Tenax is getting harder to come by and it's expensive. It's still better than Tamiya's Extra Thin in my opinion   

I was finally able to sit down and get to painting this one.  740 was in the tri-scheme which calls for Non-Spectacular Sea Blue Non-Spectacular Intermediate Blue over Non-Spectacular White.  Is "Non-Spectacular" Navy talk for dull boring paint?  Anyways, I started with the preshading of the panel lines and then painting in the wing walk and lines.  Some things I'd rather paint in then use decals.  This was an exercise in patience. (Here you can see where I was practicing on the fuel leaks.....more later)

The walks were then taped off and I switched to the white, which would be the underside and part of the "Stars and Bars markings".  I wanted it dirty so I added a touch of XF-19 Sky Grey to the XF-2 Flat White.   

Next I added the Montex masks for the Stars and Bars and covered the white areas.  I then sprayed XF-8 Flat Blue mixed with some XF-1 to darken it.  Here it is after everything is masked.  I used Tamiya tape at the mask joints as an insurance policy.  

Next I sprayed the NS intermediate blue.  I mixed XF-18 Medium Blue with XF-2 Flat White then added a touch of XF-19 Sky Grey.  I then added Blue Tac worms to prepare for the NS Sea Blue.

My formula for this was mostly XF-17 Sea Blue with a few drops of XF-8 Flat Blue, then a few drops of XF-2 Flat White.  

I took a break for a few days and poured over pictures of Corsairs on the Solomon Islands.  I wanted to get it right to the best of my ability,especially since dark colors can be challenging.  I saw that sun fading would be more appropriate than my normal streaking in these circumstances.  I added some XF-55 Deck Tan to the NS Sea Blue and got to it.

It didn't take long to get here...

Once I was reasonably happy, I removed all the masks.  Did I mention how much I love Montex masks?  I may never go back to decals if I can help it.  

I added the flaps and started the weathering post shade.  This can be tricky on dark colors.

Opps.....I almost forgot this important part.....

I did some post shading, mostly dirting up the underside.  I added exhaust streaks too.  

As I said, I studied some pics beforehand.  I saw that the area around the fuel tank was pretty weathered from fueling.  I learned that this area was notoriously leaky hence the commonly seen white tape.  I decided to try to duplicate the fading from the fuel on the paint without the often modeled "black exhaust streaks" in the area.  To me it kind of ruins the overall effect.  I initially tried this with diluted XF-64 and didn't like it.  I repainted it then added more XF-55 to the NS Sea Blue and came up with this.  I'm much more happy with it.  I may postshade the area a bit more 

I'm ready for some gloss coat I believe....

Time to start on the little stuff...  

OOOHHH BABY!!! Looking great sir!!! 

Can't wait for the finished product!!!

Very cool Joe. Makes me want to get one just to go through the motions. 

Very cool. =]

lawdog114

Believe it or not, I have still been plugging away at this turkey but I haven't had a chance to update the thread.  This thing has so many sub assemblies it seems like it has been taking forever.  I switched gears to the underside and main landing gear area.  The instuctions say paint everything Insignia White (AS-20?).  Well, my research said the gears bays and doors were normally Zinc Chromate, so I sprayed everything XF-4 Yellow Green.  I didn't weather or wash it at this point, as I will do it later with what can be seen.

I assembled the exhausts, engine cowl and chose the open cowl flaps option.  I think radial fighters look better with these open on the ground.  I then glued it in place and mated the fuselage to the lower wing.  Fit was great.  

I then skipped a few pages in the instructions and assembled the outer wings so I could see how these were gonna fit.  Although more sturdy than the 1/48 kit due to wing spars, I still didn't like the gaps at the wing leading edges, particularly the starboard side.   I ended up holding the joints tight and Tenaxing the joint line. Here we are all assembled. 

 

I'm fat dumb and happy.....all proud of my work when I discovered that grabbing this thing the wrong way would snap the Tenax bond.  I would think with a kit this pricey they could have provided a full wing for the folks who want them down.  I ended up using much more Tenax then rescribing in the panel line.  On the next one I will leave out the guts and glue styrene on the inside like I did on the little one.   Also in hindsight, I should have just blue-tacked the cowl/engine in place for ease of painting.  I shoved a rope of blue tack in there to avoid overspray, but I'll still need to be careful there.      

Fortunately the "in flight"option offers some nice premade masks...

Aside from the wing issues, It went together like a dream...almost time for paint.  

  

 

Lawdog,

1st. Nice build you got going there!

But I could not help notice the issue you are having with "bonding", Myself and my club gave up on Tenex a long time ago and went to Methel Ethel Ketone (MEK for short) as our solvent because of its superior welding capabilities over Tenex.  It is the main ingredient in most liquid and gel polystyrene glues. and is readilly available at your local hardware store for an inexpensive price.  If you look at Testors Liquid Cement you will see that it is mostly MEK.

Just my but I think you might find this helpfull...

My fave bird of all time. I love seeing them go together. This one is super cool and you got me thinking I should pick up a large scale one for myself.

BK

Now how'd I miss this one? Fantastic WIP. Pappy is one of my favorite WW2 pilots. 

Despite the contrary whether it was Lulubelle or Lucybelle, no single pilot was assigned to a particular personal aircraft during WW2 in the Pacific.

She's looking great! 

I love that companies that do give you the folded wing option but yeah I've put pins in stuff etc just to make sure the unfolded wing won't pop at the hinge joint. 

Fantastic build :-)

Theuns

Believe it or not, I have still been plugging away at this turkey but I haven't had a chance to update the thread.  This thing has so many sub assemblies it seems like it has been taking forever.  I switched gears to the underside and main landing gear area.  The instuctions say paint everything Insignia White (AS-20?).  Well, my research said the gears bays and doors were normally Zinc Chromate, so I sprayed everything XF-4 Yellow Green.  I didn't weather or wash it at this point, as I will do it later with what can be seen.

I assembled the exhausts, engine cowl and chose the open cowl flaps option.  I think radial fighters look better with these open on the ground.  I then glued it in place and mated the fuselage to the lower wing.  Fit was great.  

I then skipped a few pages in the instructions and assembled the outer wings so I could see how these were gonna fit.  Although more sturdy than the 1/48 kit due to wing spars, I still didn't like the gaps at the wing leading edges, particularly the starboard side.   I ended up holding the joints tight and Tenaxing the joint line. Here we are all assembled. 

I'm fat dumb and happy.....all proud of my work when I discovered that grabbing this thing the wrong way would snap the Tenax bond.  I would think with a kit this pricey they could have provided a full wing for the folks who want them down.  I ended up using much more Tenax then rescribing in the panel line.  On the next one I will leave out the guts and glue styrene on the inside like I did on the little one.   Also in hindsight, I should have just blue-tacked the cowl/engine in place for ease of painting.  I shoved a rope of blue tack in there to avoid overspray, but I'll still need to be careful there.      

Fortunately the "in flight"option offers some nice premade masks...

Aside from the wing issues, It went together like a dream...almost time for paint.  

M. Brindos

 

You make me feel like the small nerdy kid trying to hang out with the cool guy. LoL!

I can't wait to see how this one turns out. Is there a pilot included??

 

No way Mike, you're better than you think you are.  I would never try that with that old Monogram P-40.......no way........  

......and yes, two pilots, one seated and the other standing.  I'll probably build up the standing pilot.  If I can build the seated one without facegear, I may sit him on the edge of the wing as well.     

7474

Ladies and Gentleman, may I have your attention? Please give your attention, the master is about to show us how it's done.....once again.

 

Hardly.........but thank you.  You're very kind.  Just an average modeler with a few tricks bro.  

Thanks to all of you for your kind words.  

This is fantastic looking Joe. I get more and more jealous the large scale guys all the time.  I'm holding out though at 1:48...for my wife's sake! =]

Yeah, 1/32nd is even better here since it gives you a bigger canvas to work your art Joe! 

The cockpit and engine are looking great! 

The perfect parts fit of the kit combined with your skills is going to make this an example to follow, Joe.

You make me feel like the small nerdy kid trying to hang out with the cool guy. LoL!

I can't wait to see how this one turns out. Is there a pilot included??

Looking Great Lawdog!

This thing is looking great! There is something to be said for the 1/32 format. With my large and aging hands and having to buy larger diopters for my viewing devices, this scale is looking better everyday! I guess the only disadvantage I can think of is I'm running out of room.

Anyway, the machine is looking awesome and has been a fun one to follow. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to the rest of the build.

Max

Great to see this one progress.  Loved the show Black Sheep Squadron when I was al little kid; really sparked my WWII interest.  I have his memoir on the shelf that I need to dig into as well.

Looks great. That scale and subject suits you.

-J

Lawdog114;

 Okay , now we have another artist among us who has been hiding some of his talents .That office is well ; Stupendous ! ! Then the Engine . Oh My Gosh .You sure are doing a bang up job .Keep it up !  T.B.

First off, I got my wish....hoped you'd do a WIP on this and here it is.

Second off.......

lawdog114

Ruh roh...I'm suddenly addicted to 1/32.

Oh how that leading sentence scares me. I have two 1/32 birds in my stash (one is a Tamiya Corsair but that's not important), and have been pondering moving back up in size. I built a lot of 1/32 as a kid as I recall. Hearing your opening comments sensing your enthusisam has me scared without having even having read on yet, Joe.

Thanks for the WIP and now I'm off to read on....