1/48 Academy F4U-4 Corsair, Korean War
This kit is a very simple, easy-to-build, weekend kit. I finally had time to work on it after 7 months of no model-building. This is also my seventh kit so I'm still learning the trade. I know many people state that late model Navy aircraft with the gloss Navy blue finish prevented them from getting weathered. I found plenty of reference photos to refute this argument. VF-32 (this aircraft) was deployed in the Korean War for 4 months. I couldn't find any good reference photos of VF-32 but I have quite a few of other Corsair carrier-based squadrons that were also deployed to Korea for approximately four months and I used those as my basis for weathering.
This kit was mostly OOB minus a few minor changes such as adding the seatbelt harness, drilling out the formation lights, etc. The one complaint I do have about this kit is that the gun barrels are not pre-drilled or recessed into the wings so you literally have to guess where to drill the gun barrel ports. It was the same situation for installing the rockets on the bottom of the wings.
This was my first attempt at hairspray chipping. It didn't come out as expected. Rather, the paint chipped off in large round pieces instead of very small, gradual, and irregular shapes. I used Mr. Hobby paints for this and two coats of hairspray. Any suggestions on how to improve my hairspray chipping method?
Lovely! Engine exhaust and panel lines are perfectly done. Chipping looks pretty good to me! Can I ask how you achieved the exhaust effect? Looks maybe like pigments?
Brian, the base layer was airbrushed. Second layer was oil paint that I streaked. Third layer was watercolor pencil. This was my first time doing this method. I was experimenting to try to replicate my references photos.
Looks excellent! Love the weathering and chipping - looks like you got it pretty darn close despite the issue you had with the chipping. All I'll say about chipping is all paint chips a bit differently, and go slow and small with the brush or tools you use for the chipping - and keep practicing!
Thanks for the advice. Even a hard bristle brush wasn't making much progress with this Mr. Color paint. I'm thinking about trying Mission Models paints soon. That brand seems to get great reviews for its ability to chip.
Excellent result, Derek!
Thanks Spiros
Looks perfectly fine to me in every aspect, Derek @mrocs2000
Thanks John
That's actually the Corsair flown by Jesse Brown, which was lost on December 4, about five weeks into Leyte's Sea of Japan deployment covering the retreat from Chosin. (just for info)
Nice work on the "lesser" F4U-4 kit (dimension problems); it doesn't look very "lesser" here.
Thanks Tom. The one I built, #205, is actually Thomas Hudner's plane. Jesse Brown's plane was #211. I live in Korea so I decided to start building a Korean War collection.
I definitely need to build a more detailed Corsair kit next time. I want to build the New Zealand ones that were stationed at Guadalcanal. I have some really amazing reference photos of that squadron that I would like to replicate.
Looks just fine to me - nice job!
Thanks Chas
great work- very nice result. Weathering effects are top notch
Thanks David.
Nicely done Corsair! It might not help with weathering ,but found some videos of Vf-32 and other squadrons recovering on the Leyte on YouTube.
Robert,
I found a black and white video of VF-32 landing on the USS Leyte but the video was too dark and not close enough to use as a reference for weathering. Not sure if it is the same one you were looking at. I'll gladly take any good reference photos of Corsair weathering that you may have.
That looks really good. Hairspray chipping takes practice that’s for sure. I followed a YouTube tutorial that used water soluble AquaNet and was happy with the results.. Looks to me like your chipping effect worked very well. Fine job, Derek.
Thanks Eric. The Mr Color paint was ridiculously hard to chip and I only let it cure for perhaps an hour or two. My paint brush was actually burnishing / changing the color of the Navy blue paint instead of chipping. I'll try acrylic paint next time. It's all about experimenting to figure out what works best.
Looks like you had a fine result, practice makes perfect.
Thanks George.
Nice work, Derek (@mrocs2000). Great job getting through all of the idiosyncrasies of this kit. The mold for this kit actually goes back to the late 1980s, so I guess you can expect some surprises with the parts. If the hairspray doesn't work for you, companies like AK, Vallejo, Mig, etc all make chipping fluid in several types that will give you large chips, small chips, etc. I never had much luck with hairspray, so I use the commercial stuff.
Thanks George. How do you find out the year kits are made? I just tried the hairspray method because that is what Mike Rinaldi recommended. I'm working on two tanks right now so I'll see if the hairspray method works better this time around.
I like the way your Corsair looks. Two thumbs up, for sure!
Thanks John.
Very nice. especially the exhaust effects.
Thanks Vince. I couldn't get the exhaust to curve the way it does in my reference photos so I just make it straight. Much easier that way, lol.
very nice weathering!
Thanks Lis