Tamiya F4U-1D Corsair, 1/48. A Folded Bird.
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Afternoon folks, here's another older build and another Corsair, this time it was my first attempt at trying to handle the ANA 623 Sea Blue.
This Corsair was built alongside my previous post, the Birdcage F4U-1, and was started early April last year and took about 3 weeks to do, and 1 week was spent waiting for paints! I sure miss all that freetime lockdown gave me.
The build was really like any other Corsair, but this particular kit also comes with a nice little moto-tug that can be attached to the plane to either the main undercarriage or the tailwheel depending on what parts you choose, no aftermarket was used apart from an Eduard mask set. One interesting tidbit is that this is the only 1/48 Corsair out of the 5 Tamiya releases that has a clear-backed instrument decal, the other 4 all have instrument decals with a black backing which I find to be the worst option for dealing with a cockpit as it prevents you from painting the panel itself how you'd like.
Decals and such was all out of box, though I substituted the white bands for paint. The kit comes with 3 decals but as it's an US F4U-1D there won't be anything other than the single-tone ANA623 Sea Blue, as such the choice is pretty limited and all look very similar. I ended up painting the Sea Blue as the instructions said, and to attempt to weather it I faded the centre slightly lighter, however I clearly didn't do it enough as none of it shows through the Vallejo Satin clear coat. I think my more recent attempts at Sea Blue have come across a lot better (for a pre-1948 Corsair). I also tried salt weathering on this build which also wasn't done heavy enough to be too noticeable, though you can see it a little on the wings. The chipping was handled by painting the entire aircraft in AK Extreme metallic paint, followed by a chipping fluid coat, then XF-4 for Zinc Chromite, followed by another chipping fluid layer and then the final blue. The effect came out quite nicely on this one, perhaps a little too weathered in some areas but it is nice and shiny.
Overall a fun build, can't wait to build another Corsair!
A good looking Corsair! I like the weathering. Great job!
Thank you! Its probably my best success with chipping fluid so far, hopefully the next one goes as smoothly as this one did.
Beautiful. The dark background really enhances it.
Thank you!
What blue paint did you use? Thanks.
In my notes I have NS Sea Blue listed as XF-17:5, XF-8:3, XF-2:2, I'd assume thats the same mix as I used here. Its not a bad colour but I think it could be a little darker as a base colour to give more room to fade brighter where needed. I highly recommend MRP ANA 623 for this colour if you can get it which is the paint I now use for any WWII sea blue going forward.
Love it too, Harvey!
Thank you Spiros!
Beautiful build and excellent photography.
That is a beautiful Corsair! I haven't tried my hand at chipping fluid (barely experimented with hairspray), but I may have to do so soon.
My main issue with chipping fluid is that it for some reason leads to a bubbling effect on the end paint, you can see this somewhat on the wings of my previous N1K2 post. To date I haven't had chipping fluid go as smoothly as I did on this and the Birdcage corsair. Either I'm doing something wrong now or had some beginners luck!
Your first attempt on the Sea Blue turned out very well, Harvey.
This is a beautiful Corsair.
That dark background is very nice.
Thank you! It's definitely a challenge to fade Sea Blue in a good way, I don't think I achieved it here but it was a good lesson in how much extra fading is required to make a noticeable dent with this colour.
My sentiments echo the others, great looking finish, and the chipping works quite well to my taste. Also, the background, lighting, or (again) perhaps the paint seems to take away the scale element and adds a realistic look that is hard to achieve. Well done and thanks for sharing.
Thank you kindly! I think it's the angle and lightbox that helps put a sense of scale, the little pilot also helps show just how massive a Corsair is against a person.
Very nicely done Corsair. Good selection of markings too of VBF-6 aboard USS Hancock.
Thank you, impressive knowledge on getting the markings right!
Great looking Corsair.
Very nice Harvey. I love it!
Very nice