PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

I found a little time to work on the Hellcat.  Gettin' it ready for priming which I will do shortly.

Joe Rix and flyerduke: Thanks you guys for your confindence in my abilities.

BTW flyerduke as an additional laugh, the instruction sheet copyright is 2011 and the decal sheet is copyrighted in 2007. What does that tell you???

Joe, I got a little chuckle out of the decal error.  By no means is it a slight against you.  It's a laugh at Revell.  I missed it it before you told us what the issue was.  This really goes to show how far kit design and manufacturing has come along over the years.  You've done all modelers proud with your Corsair build.

Also, thanks for the info on the pitot tube.  Unfortunately, I just glued it on square to the wing about an hour ago.  Oh well, my build is far from perfect.  Gonna primer the plane this morning.

Joe, Regardless, You need to pat yourself on the back for the fabulous progress you have made. Trust me Joe, building an excellent fitting 1/72 airplane is a cake walk compared to building an atrociously molded kit such as yours. So, needless to say, I absolutely admire your persistence and skill. As for the decal incident. well, that is something I certainly would have done myself. So, don't beat yourself up too much. Sounds as though you made a nice recovery. Your doing awesome Joe. Don't let this critter beat you down now.

Bakster: Thanks dude! Good thing that it's not a real plane given the disaster that this thing has been to build. I have to say that I like the challenge though (if we didn't like doing this stuff we wouldn't be here! lol )

flyerduke: I'll definitely feel a sense of accomplishment that's for sure. As for the pitot tube. I always go paralell to the fuselage. It may or may not be right but the angle of being with the wingline always looked awkward to me.

checkmateking:  Man, thanks. I'm tryin'

silentbob: Lemme tell you, I have words for this kit that I cannot say here. I saw some poor old guy yesterday at Hobby Lobby and he picked up this kit and was looking at it. I just couldn't restrain myself from sayin, "Look dude, you dont wanna do that............really". After I described some of the hell I was going through with mine,  he put it back at which point I directed him to a Tamiya version that he could buy online. In short, "Fellow modeler friends don't let fellow modeler friends buy Revell Corsairs!"

   And aside from all that stuff I have my latest screw up..........................er update. You know sometimes us as modelers get tunnel vision in the fact that we pay way to close of attention to the kit instructions and put our total trust in them. Wow, did I ever get a slap in the face, or should I say I slapped myself in the face. I'll explain:

  Does anybody see the problem with the instruction sheet here?

 If you don't see it , don't feel bad. It took me looking at the decal sheet stripped of most of the decals to see the one left over that belonged on this bird. Look at the number / squadron identifier on the right wing and look at the fuselage. 14 MR does not coincide with the 24 WE that is all over the SIDES!!!! You gotta be kiddin' me............! 

   I tried a couple of times to strip the decal off of the wing and chickened out. I've simply done way too much work to this thing to go backwards here. I painted over it and will gloss again to apply  the correct decal (24 WE) circled in red in the background below. The decal lays perfectly over the other one. I only hope this is my last hiccup!

Looks like you've done a lot of great work Joe!

Nice save, Joe.  That's a great looking Corsair!

Lookin' good Joe.  I'm sure you will be proud of the Corsair due to all the work that went into it.

Question to anyone.  I'm about ready to glue the pitot tube to the underside of the wing tip.  Do I glue it perpendicular to the wing or deck?  The instructions don't say.  Thanks.

Craig

Mustang--it looks great!  I want to get in and fly it.  :)

I don't make a whole lot of progress throughout the week until Friday because I just flat don't have the time. Once Friday hits I make fairly good progress. Today has been a good day for modeling. A gloss coat and decals all in a day!!!!!

  This has to be my favorite part besides paint these days because these babies just bring character to this thing.....

I suddenly find myself getting somewhat content with this build. Operative word being "somewhat".

And another pic:

Ok gang! I'm underway with the paint on this thing. The more I paint , the worse I think this kit is. Good grief! I'm really trying to do my best on this and every time I make some progress I see yet another flaw, or two, or three. It's either that or something that I overlooked. Anyhow here's the latest push:

Thanks checkmateking! Hopefully it keeps cooperating with me. lol

Now that's looking really good!

Joe Rix:Thanks dude! Really tapping into the deepest of all the skills I've learned on here for the last couple of years, that's for sure!

flyerduke:I appreciate the comments. I'm using Vallejo Intermediate Blue. I started using Vallejo Dark Sea Blue yesterday but it came out more like a Sapphire Blue so I switched to "Intermediate Blue" which is a darker blue than Vallejo's "Sea Blue".

Bakster:Lemme tell you, I'll be seeing lemons in my head for a looooong time! Thanks for the encouragement.

Mustang--it is looking good.  You are really making lemonade out of lemons.  Way to go man.

The Corsair is looking sharp.  What paint are you using?  I picked up some Mr. Color c14, c72, and c316 off of ebay to paint my Hellcat.  I've never used Gunze paints before.

Craig

Getting the paint on there Joe really emphasizes what an outstanding job you have done with the filling, straightening, and sanding. Remarkable work my friend. I believe you are over the hump and it is all gravy from here. Keep that good stuff coming.

Got some initial paint on this morning that revealed a little more body work that has to be completed. Shouldn't be too much to do but will hopefully resume painting real soon.

'Preciate it Joe!

The wing looks great Joe. You're doin' a heck of job there.

Thanks checkmateking! It does a  small boo boo here and there....................but I'll never tell.

Excellent work, mustang!

Well this isn't turning out to be the perfect build but I think I'll be able to salvage it at the very least!!!! lol . I got the wing the rest of the way dressed up at the folding point. I still have a little work to do on the leading edge at the wing tip but I puttied the affected area and moved on to pre-shading the entire model minus the port outer wing due to time restraints. Gotta get up and get breakfast ready for everybody you know.

 First off here's the wing seam at the folding point. I'm ok with this because I'll try to make the difference up in decaling and painting.

   I pre-shaded her up even though its going to be a darker shade of blue. My intent is to go really light on the blue layer to bring out the panel lines and show wear and tear and then to fade it some to give it that slight sun-bleached look. We'll get to that when we get there though. I didn't prime this one as there is only one color, I don't want to loose any of my homemade rivet detail,  and I don't have to mask any so no worries about the paint lifting when masking.

as a bonus , and still being close to my budget, I purchased some True Details resin 1000 lb. bombs for this jewel. I just couldn't build the kit bombs man. They were worse than horrible and I would have had to do the  same bodywork on those as I have the whole rest of the plane!!!  I still have to do SOME  body work on these but at least there aint no nasty seamline running right down the middle of 'em.

Hey Craig. The molds for the Corsair date back to 1963. I don't know about the  F-5 or the F-15 but the Dauntless is one of the better fitting kits. I bought a Hasegawa Dauntless about 15 years ago used at an air show for about 5 bucks and used ALOT of that kit to build a pretty decent Monogram kit. The only downfall of that Monogram kit was the severe lack of detail. The Hasegawa kit had it all almost all of it mostly in the form of cockpit detail and was a direct fit into the Mono kit. As far as the 15 goes, I know that Great Wall Hobby has a killer 1/48 scale beauty.

Hey Joe, what year was the molds made for the Corsair?  I probably would have quit modeling again if I came back to the Revell Corsair kit.  I've bought the F-5, Dauntless, and F-15E.  I will probably give the Dauntless and F-5 away.  I got high hopes for the F-15.  

On a side note, I've made some progress on my plane.  I'll post pics soon.

Craig

Joe, that Corsair really looks like an godawful kit. I would've binned it a very long time ago, so I'm truly amazed by your courage, patience and amount of skill! I'm sure you're going to finish this corsair and it's going to look bad-A for sure!

avipond

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Great work mustang-Joe!  I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago, but your perseverance and skills are very impressive!

Thanks Drew. Man I'll tell you......I installed the wing last night and I've got alot of work ahead of me. Don't count the trash can out yet. I was on ebay last night just looking at a Tamiya F4U-D with that distant "what might of been" stare.......

Sorry Schatten, hadn't been on the forum in a few days.  I used my exacto to taper off the end of a toothpick to a fine point, and dabbed and/or dragged a tiny bit of paint on the panel edges where I wanted the chipping.  I applied it after my final flat coat to make sure it stayed shiny.  Used Testors silver enamel - the ones that come in the very small bottles at any hobby store.  Normally I stay away from enamels, but I like that particular silver for paint chipping and brush painted metal finishes on small parts.  Seems easier to apply and has a better appearance than other silver/aluminum paints that I've tried with a brush.

Let's use the first completed picture that I posted for the front page.

Great work mustang-Joe!  I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago, but your perseverance and skills are very impressive!

The glue was affected but only in one area at the back of the wing where the aileron is.  I ended up re-adhering it and it was ok. It was something that was an afterthought alright. But hey, it worked!!! And I learned how to "debond" glued joints. lol

Did I not call you resourceful, Joe? Well it seems that I left out creative and brilliant. That is a marvelous approach to your issue. Yet again..You Got This!!!. There is some thing that I find interesting in your fix. That is that when you dipped you wing in boiling water the glue and putty seems unaffecetd. Even if it was for only 10 seconds.