"Whistling Death"
of VMF-214 Black Sheep Squadron
The kit:
Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1D Corsair
My latest addition to the display shelves. It was fun build. Straight out of the box with no aftermarket parts. Known as "Whistling death" here's my rendition of a/c no.69 from VMF-214 Black Sheep sqn onboard CV-13 USS Franklin.This is OOB except for some minor additional details and ordnance includes Mk.54 depth charges and 500 lb bomb both from Accurate Miniature 1/48 TBF. Painted using Tamiya acrylics. The first 1/48 kit in my built received polished treatment. Try to get the glossy look with depth in the color. Sanded irregular pattern for realistic effect and polished with Model Wax "the treatment". I've seen many battered up and fully weathered Corsair but I try to maintain mine pristine as possible with minor and subtle weathering affect.
The built-up
Straight forward out of the box build up. The kit is superbly detailed by itself. No major problem with the fittings. No putty required except some spot need sanding.
The cockpit
The cockpit received yellow green overall except the instrument panels painted with flat black and multi-colors on the switches and buttons. oil wash and some dry brushing to picked up the details. As usual. Tamiya provide decal for the instruments gauge etc. It sits and adhere nicely with a layer of Mr. Softener. Cockpit detail is crisps a typical Tamiya standard for all their new release kits. Somehow i'm not convinced with the striking white bezels on the decal, its just to outstanding for me. It would be more realistic if the bezel details picked up by light dry brushing of silver.
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| the cockpit has out standing details |
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| Added some colors |
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| dry fitting to the fuselage halves... perfect fit |
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| the interior got painted. the rear wheel side wall dirtied with oils |
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| only need seat belt |
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| The old Monogram P-47D cockpit (left) compared to Tamiya F4U-1D. Monogram still to me make relatively good cockpit details even the kit aged more than 20 years compared to some new aged kit. |
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| Final look before "hidden" once the fuselage halves glued together |
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| The engine. I decided not to detail the engine since it would not be so visible inside the big cowl. Monogram P-47D engine on the left. |
The main fuselage construction is much straight forward. There's no aftermarket part involved. Fitting was superb. No major gap or problems except some light sanding here and there to hide some joint lines. I skip that part just to expedite the blogging process. 😜
The painting
I must say, the tricky part to get actual paint scheme on the
Corsair with quite number of type of "blue" mentioned. Deep sea blue,
dark sea blue, dark blue green, glossy
sea blue etc. However, Tamiya with their genius marketing team has come out
with some "special paint" for some new designated color i.e. Nato
brown, Nato green, Nato black and for the Corsair they designated AS-8
"navy blue" (US Navy Blue). Unfortunately, it comes in spray can and
it cost about RM40 (about USD10). Not cheap! What holding me up to finish this
built up is only the paint. So as usual, back into the box. Collecting dust for
about 3 half years from the day it completed.
In mid-2016, I reopen the box and decided to finish this airplane
and started experiment the color by mixing few hue of blue that i have on the
paint rack. Started with XF-17 (sea blue) as main base color mixed with XF-50
(field blue) a few drops of XF-63 (german grey), and spray to a test subject.
Some tweaking and few drops of X-22 (clear) to reduce the flatness and the
result is on photo no.1 and 2. This is still unsatisfactory to me. It's more
like deep flat bluish grey.
Then i added XF-8 flat blue to bring the more bluish tone and airbrush irregular pattern on the fuselage which result the photo no.3. Still look rather dull but somehow the bluish tone build up to give the deep sea blue tone. Stuck with the result, i decided to bring glossiness to the paint I sprayed layer of X-23 (Clear blue). Suddenly the color become "bluish" as i sprayed layer by layer (with low pressure) it gets the color that i desired. The clear paint build-up upon each layer i sprayed and it get the glossy every time my airbrush nozzle pass the fuselage.
Photo 4,5 and 6 is the result of the clear blue effect. I directed the spray to some panel lines to give some tone and shades. (Take note on photo 4,5 and 6, the engine cowling didn't get the clear blue effect). However, the surface has a bit gritty than smooth glossy finished. Another problem arise.
Then i added XF-8 flat blue to bring the more bluish tone and airbrush irregular pattern on the fuselage which result the photo no.3. Still look rather dull but somehow the bluish tone build up to give the deep sea blue tone. Stuck with the result, i decided to bring glossiness to the paint I sprayed layer of X-23 (Clear blue). Suddenly the color become "bluish" as i sprayed layer by layer (with low pressure) it gets the color that i desired. The clear paint build-up upon each layer i sprayed and it get the glossy every time my airbrush nozzle pass the fuselage.
Photo 4,5 and 6 is the result of the clear blue effect. I directed the spray to some panel lines to give some tone and shades. (Take note on photo 4,5 and 6, the engine cowling didn't get the clear blue effect). However, the surface has a bit gritty than smooth glossy finished. Another problem arise.
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| photo 1 |
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| photo 2 |
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| photo 3 |
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| photo 4 |
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| photo 5 |
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| photo 6 |
Polishing the skin
With the gritty and coarse finish on the fuselage skin, I almost put the kit in the box again for another 5 years to complete. But persistence pays.the polishing compounds finally smoothen up the surface. The gloss effect on the paint start to shown. Polished with "TheTreatment" model wax (it's a petroleum base) bring life to the paint. I never polished an aircraft model before and this was the first time i'm doing so,but the result was brilliant.
Finishing touch
I didn't want to weather the a/c heavily and don't want to ruined the glossy finish. I used silver metallic paint pen and lightly dry brushed on certain area as some wear and tear. 2B pencil lead was used on flat finish and the HVAR under the wings received some fuse wire for detailing. The engine received some oil wash and the exhaust stain were airbrushed using XF-52. Even ittook me years to complete this kit, i must say it was purely satisfactory process throughout the built. Here I present the finish model of my own rendition of 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1D of VMF-214. Enjoy!
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| Originally I wanted to build a simple diorama. But couldn't find the appropriate 1/48 deck yet. So be hold! |
Here is the link to fb pages that featured this build up. Please like and share.
