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Russ King
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Chance Vought Corsair F4U-1 Birdcage

December 23, 2022 · in Aviation · · 11 · 592

My take on a relatively worn South Pacific Birdcage .
Built Sept. 2022. 2nd build after returning to modeling. Watched a lot of you tube video builds on this model before starting. Lots of helpful info out there.
Various mixtures of Tamiya blues. Used a double hairspray technique with Stynylrez metal primer and Tamiya zinc chromate as per Becker's models video. Flory dark dirt wash and tamiya weathermasters. First time using airbrush.
Great kit for starting back.

Reader reactions:
11  Awesome

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11 responses

  1. It is indeed a great kit for "starting back." Follow the instructions and the result is as close to "guaranteed" as anything gets. You've done good work here and gotten a very nice result. I like this Corsair a lot.

    If I might pass on a couple things about airbrushing (not a complaint or anything; I'm pointing out stuff EVERYBODY does when they first start airbrushing): the paint needs to be thinned more. A good ROT (rule of thumb) is 60% paint to 40% thinner, sometimes (for complicated things like German dapple camo) even thinning to 50-50. Put the air compressor pressure regulator at about 15-18psi. Use a fine tip and tighten down to where you're getting a line about as thick as a semi-sharp pencil. Make multiple passes with the thinned paint till you have the coverage you want (you can open it up once you have the borders created). With acrylics, you only need to wait a few minutes between passes.

    You're already well on the road to mastery of this mysterious art (I've been using one since 1972 and still learn new tricks).

    • Thanks Tom. Advice always welcome. Occasionally I get a lot of spray. Not so much splattering but excess spray. Not sure if pressure too high or too low. Been thinning the paint out more as I go on this learning curve.

  2. Well done Corsair, Russ. Welcome back!

  3. Looks good! I just started using an AB about 2 years ago, and I'm still learning/experimenting!

  4. Awesome looking Corsair, Russ. Looks great with the open cowling and lowered flaps.

  5. Really great looking Corsair, Russ @rfking
    Your airbrush skills look very decent. For me, using an airbrush, opened an entire new world of modelling, although I still need to learn a lot.

  6. Beautiful result, Russ!

  7. Great result Russ- impressive for being your 2nd kit back to the hobby! Thanks for sharing this great piece of work

  8. Great take on this classic kit.

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