Roden 1/48 Sea Gladiator mojo destroyer.....

[Grey Beema]

Bit more time out in the cave today but I'm finishing early so I can watch the rugby.

 

Here is what got done today.

 

Vought Corsair MkII JT537/P136 received its camouflage.

 

After painting the underside last weekend, the undersurface was masked ready for the upper work.

Tape & cling film

 

Then roughed on the lighter Extra Dark Sea Grey over the primer.

 

Followed by Blu tac sausages, fillers and Dark Slate Grey

IMG_2154 by Phil Atkinson, on Flickr

 

And after a wee bit of tidying - Robert is your Mothers brother - a Corsair..

 

 

 

Blackburn Skua L2925/F also received it's camouflage today,

 

Again the EDSG was roughed on then out with the Blu Tac and cling film and the Dark Slate Grey

 

 

And again after a wee bit of tidying..

 

 

Now both aircraft are back in the cabinet for the paint to cure.  Next weekend both will receive a coat of Klear.  The Corsair will be ready for decalling but the SKua has to have the Black/white identification markings applied to the underside of the mainplanes.

 

Hopefully then - more next week.

 

Thanks for stopping by..

[Cookenbacher]

Oooh, that's some fine camo work Beema.

[Grey Beema]

32 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

Oooh, that's some fine camo work Beema.

Cheers Cookie but looking at those pictures there is still more tidying to do.  As I say next weekend do some decalling and start on the weathering...

Edited February 4, 2018 by Grey Beema

[Grey Beema]

Bit more done at the weekend.  Prepping the Corsair for decalling.  I decided the paint work looked a little bright for a BPF Corsair...

 

url=https://flic.kr/p/23bf2o7][/url]

 

And the decalled Skua - now ready for the IFF Black White undersurfaces

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by..

 

[Grey Beema]

Carrying on at my glacial pace.  Bit more time in the Cave today.  

 

William Lucy's Skua Gets the Black/ white IFF markings, I've tried to let the roundels show through the paint that was applied whilst the squadron were at sea and I have seen a picture of a Skua being fished out of the briney and you can see the roundels.

 

I was also a bit bold and started the weathering.  Think I will fade out the upper colours in my next session..  What do you think?

url=https://flic.kr/p/24t6TpV][/url]

 

Don Sheppards Corsair is also coming on.  The RN Titleing and Serial going on today along with the BPF roundels which didn't want to conform but I beat them down in the end...

Next week will get the aircraft number on (136) and get the washes started...

 

Thanks for looking..

Edited February 18, 2018 by Grey Beema

[Grey Beema]

And this is what happens when you try to concentrate on two things at the same time...

 

 

 

I need to mask off the wing outer panels and fuselage and respray the wing roots.  ZCY Primer first then TSS over the top.  Im still going to sand it back trough o the primer but more sparingly...  Underside looks OK though apart from some minor marks..

 

 

Thanks for looking..

[tonyot]

Looking good,....I wasn`t sure about the EDSG at first but it looks perfect in the later photos. As for the weathering,......add some silver scuffs etc and you can rectify some of the more `over done' areas,...... just camouflage them up a bit and break up the outline,...add a bit of fresh paint in areas too maybe?

The Skua looks wonderful too,.....looking forward to seeing them finished,

Cheers

         Tony

[Cookenbacher]

I really like the weathering Beema, looks like the 'sanding' technique leads to realistic results. YZC and bare metal are a hallmark of Corsair wing roots.

[corsaircorp]

Really great building ! I really like it !

what did you used as a tone for the undersides of the skua ? Please ?

That's not sky type S ? is'nt it ?

Look like the so called Duck egg blue ... I search for it

Congratulations, I really like FAA birds !

Sincerely.

CC

[David H]

Depicting the worn areas on the inner wing upper surfaces is one of those things which add a lot of visual interest to the model, but its hard to do well. A lack of good colour photos of this phenomenon doesn't help. I've attempted it myself, and it ain't easy.

 

ICYMBI, The wing skin, in that area was about .080 thick, which for aircraft skin from that time frame was VERY thick. The Vought wing was seriously overbuilt.

 

-d-

[Grey Beema]

5 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Really great building ! I really like it !

what did you used as a tone for the undersides of the skua ? Please ?

That's not sky type S ? is'nt it ?

Look like the so called Duck egg blue ... I search for it

Congratulations, I really like FAA birds !

Sincerely.

CC

The Skua is in SE1a Scheme (or an anagram there of).  The Colour was I think called Sky Grey and was a different shade to Cellux(?) grey (I really should go and look it up but the book is in the cave and its snowing)..  So lets call it Sky grey for now until I can get to Stuart Lloyds book.  I understand that a close colour is Xtracrylics Barley grey but I didn't need to get a supply of Xtracrylics so I used Tamiya XF19 with about 20% white added.  It looks OK to me, I first used it on the Fairey Fulmar further up the page and a couple of people suggested it looks about right so I stuck to it.

 

The SE1a scheme was replaced by TSS with the undersides eventually being painted Sky S which is the colour on the Corsair - again Xtracrylics...

 

Hope that helps..

 

[Grey Beema]

Thanks everybody for your support and kind comments.  I will mask off the fuselage and wings and do a repaint of the upper wing inboard area over the weekend then perhaps you'll let me know what you think once its redone..

 

Thanks for stopping by..

[corsaircorp]

Hello,

Yes that help since my second Roc will have that scheme.

I'll use Barley grey, I have one for my EE Lightning Thanks a lot.

Corsairsssss I love Corsairs !

Sincerely.

CC

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, corsaircorp said:

Corsairsssss I love Corsairs !

WHO DOESN'T ? 😉

[Grey Beema]

3 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello,

Yes that help since my second Roc will have that scheme.

I'll use Barley grey, I have one for my EE Lightning Thanks a lot.

Corsairsssss I love Corsairs !

Sincerely.

CC

 

Hi CC yes the Roc should have the SE1a scheme  same as the Skua although some might have been in TLS.  Do you know which Roc your doing.  A 806 NAS Roc flown by Midshipman Day shot down a Ju88 by diving underneath and machine gunned it in the belly it as the two Skuas with it  feigned attack from above.  I'm not sure of the identity of the Roc but I'm sure someone on here has some info..  Make sure you post up your progress..

 

[corsaircorp]

5 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

 

Hi CC yes the Roc should have the SE1a scheme  same as the Skua although some might have been in TLS.  Do you know which Roc your doing.  A 806 NAS Roc flown by Midshipman Day shot down a Ju88 by diving underneath and machine gunned it in the belly it as the two Skuas with it  feigned attack from above.  I'm not sure of the identity of the Roc but I'm sure someone on here has some info..  Make sure you post up your progress..

 

Hello,

Yes I will do that one with folded wings. The first will be silver doped at Lee on Solent, used as a triple A battery...

I must make justice to the Roc with the second one ! Poor Roc !

Sincerely.

CC

[Grey Beema]

@corsaircorp I got the name of the colour scheme wrong it's the S1E scheme.  Colours being Extra Dark Sea Grey, Dark Slate Grey and Sky Grey.  As I say I used Tamiya XF19 with about 20% White in it.  

 

In Lloyds "Fleet Air Arm Camouflage Markings.  Atlantic & Med 1937-1941" there is a picture of a Roc L3075/L6R of 806NAS taken before 05.05.40 which appears to be in S1E scheme and probably carries the Black/White IFF as my Skua does above..

 

There is also a picture of a pair of Rocs of 757 NAS when based at Worthy Down early '41.  These appear to be in Dark Earth / Dark Green over Sky Grey or possibly Yellow.  The front aircraft is L3118/O but aircraft behind (can't see the Serial) appears to have a High demarcation S1E coloured cowling..

[Grey Beema]

I've been working at home today.  The beast from the East or Emma as we now know her, meant I had to wander down the cave to work.  It was a long trek, I had to "heat snow and ice to make hot beefy Bovril"......   Sorry got carried away.

 

Anyway in a break from the monotony I thought I would tackle that rather over-enthusiastic weathering...

 

 

 

 

Think it's any better?  If so I'll move onto the next stage and start the finishing..

 

Thanks for looking in...

Edited February 28, 2018 by Grey Beema
Wrong image

[Seahawk]

Very nice work.  In particular the overpainted markings for me hit exactly the right note.  I'd query the colour of the undercarriage bays, though: the Detail And Scale on the Corsair says (p.61), " the interior of the wheel wells were [sic] often the same colour as the underside of the surrounding wing" (before going on to discuss the alternative "salmon" colour).  This seems borne out both by the photos on the same page and also by a photo in D A Hobbs' The Fleet Arm In Focus showing an unidentified Corsair II "7S" in a rather undignified inverted position.  But, as long as you paint both sides of the undercarriage doors the same colour as the underside, no-one will spot it!

[Grey Beema]

11 minutes ago, Seahawk said:

Very nice work.  In particular the overpainted markings for me hit exactly the right note.  I'd query the colour of the undercarriage bays, though: the Detail And Scale on the Corsair says (p.61), " the interior of the wheel wells were [sic] often the same colour as the underside of the surrounding wing" (before going on to discuss the alternative "salmon" colour).  This seems borne out both by the photos on the same page and also by a photo in D A Hobbs' The Fleet Arm In Focus showing an unidentified Corsair II "7S" in a rather undignified inverted position.  But, as long as you paint both sides of the undercarriage doors the same colour as the underside, no-one will spot it!

Cheers Seahawk, that's not a problem to rectify.  The undercarriage legs are just popped in for the moment and can be popped out for a repaint (I can also do the bit I missed)..

[Seahawk]

The answer for undercarriage legs is not necessarily the same.  Also from D&S, p.60: "Many Corsairs had landing gear struts that were a light grey as shown here while photos show that some were a steel colour and others were painted the same colour as the underside of the aircraft."  The whole lot looks Sky in the photo of the FAA crash.

 

HTH.

[Grey Beema]

17 hours ago, Seahawk said:

The answer for undercarriage legs is not necessarily the same.  Also from D&S, p.60: "Many Corsairs had landing gear struts that were a light grey as shown here while photos show that some were a steel colour and others were painted the same colour as the underside of the aircraft."  The whole lot looks Sky in the photo of the FAA crash.

 

HTH.

Cheers Seahawk.  The undercarriage bays and legs are done now.  I scounted around a couple of books and came to the conclusion that the legs were painted as were the struts so have done mine in sky and made sure they were grubby.

 

I do have another question though.  Were the windows in the underside generally painted or plated over?  When did they stop being windows?

[Seahawk]

8 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

I do have another question though.  Were the windows in the underside generally painted or plated over?  When did they stop being windows?

According to posts in various fora by  @Dana Bell (to whom I would obviously defer - and from whom I would welcome corrections) the underside window was deleted from Vought F4U-1A 50066 and Goodyear FG-1A 13892 onward (I haven't found similar data for Brewster aircraft).  This should means that all Corsair IIs from the batch beginning with JT425 should have been without them (because the lowest Bu No for that batch was 50080) and that no Corsair IVs had them (because the first Corsair IVs (starting from KD161) were taken from a batch beginning with Bu No 14592).  Conversely it ought to mean that all Corsair Is and Corsair IIs in the first batch, JT170-JT305, would have had them.  

 

The photo in the Hobbs book is of a Corsair in European markings with code "7S" in red with a white outline.  It appears to be on a fleet carrier.  From the angle and the light it's hard to tell whether the window is present but, if forced, I would say it is.  If, as I suspect, the photo dates from operations against the Tirpitz, an aircraft from that first batch of Corsairs is not unlikely.

 

PS Correlations between Bu Nos and UK serials from United States Navy Serials 1941-1976, March 1977 edition, published by the Merseyside Aviation Society.  The validity of the data is unaffected by whether or not the serials were issued in strict Bu No order. 

[Grey Beema]

Don't tell the boss but I made a bit of progress whilst "Working" from home today.

 

over the weekend I need to move the ball forwards with the Skua but for now the Corsair is moving towards completion. Bit more to do but it's more of those finishing and touching up bits now..

 

Thanks to @Seahawk for some really useful guidance.  Hope the changes meet his approval.  So anyway I did a couple of pictures..

 

 

 

 

 

The bits I need to finish up are the ID lights in the underside of the wing.  Match the underside window with the rest of the underside.  Make some gun and ejector slot covers and string the aerial wire..

 

Thanks for taking the time to look..

 

[Cookenbacher]

The weathering looks fantastic Beema, I love the last shot of the cowling.