Jackson Duvalier

I look forward to following this double build, Erwin. You're throwing an impressive amount of aftermarket at the project. How early are you going on your "early" build? I've been meaning to get around to doing a blue grey/light grey Hellcat with bronze green cockpit, forward-canted antenna mast, and six-position cocardes. One doesn't see those very often. Be advised that Academy are not fully trustworthy when it comes to multiple variants in the same kit; the F6F kit doesn't include the proper windscreen for the -3 version.

Proud to give the first "Like." Tidy modelling there. My favourite little detail is the slightly glossier off-white fibreglass nose on the Phoenix missiles.

Enjoying this build of yours as always, Ed. I can't recall seeing the head-on photo before.-- am I seeing prop cuffs at the base of the blades? It sure looks that way to me, but I've never seen cuffed props on a P-38, nor have I noticed cuffs being painted aluminium on any aircraft. Come to think of it, the only cuffed three-blade prop I can remember was attached to a P-43 Lancer.

Oh dear. I know what happened to those poor airplanes at that nasty place. Reduced to ingots they were! 😟 😬 😪 I've seen the photos, they aren't for the faint of heart.

I stand corrected! Thanks for the additional information, Bob and Geoffrey.

Ah yes, the infamous "Hellfire Bomb" from the film Iron Eagle. 🙂

The checks look a bit rough to me, and would probably be easy enough to mask off with kabuki tape. The giant "L54" on the fuselage makes me suspect this is a stateside training aircraft. It was fairly common for Corsairs to be rotated back to CONUS after a combat tour, where they would be refurbished and used to familiarise new pilots. I have seen at least one wartime photo from a US training base depicting a glossy sea blue Birdcage F4U-1 with large white alpha-numeric codes on the fuselage sides. Interesting photos you've found, Troy. Thanks for sharing them.

The cover art on the most recent Squadron-Signal F4U Corsair In Action volume, dated 2010, depicts an F4U-1C (White 53) of Air Group 85 with the Shangri-La lightning bolt. The serial is given as "82305" but I suspect this is a typo, as the initial numeral would indicate fiscal year 1948, which in 1945 was still some time into the future. A serial of "52305" would fit better, perhaps someone misread a 5 as an 8 somewhere? On page 28 there is a photograph of White 53 much the worse for wear after a crash landing on Maui, the caption repeats the improbable "82305" serial. There's also a photo on page 29 of the first F4U-1C at the Vought factory wearing the "three colour" scheme. The book states the remainder of F4U-1C production were overall GSB. I've toyed with the idea of an F4U-1C conversion. The work required would be fairly straightforward: fill the MG ports, add the cannon barrels and fairings, reshape the ammunition bay doors and ejection chutes, add rocket stubs. In 1/72 the Academy F4U-1 or the Tamiya F4U-1A or -1D kits would be acceptable starting points.

The metal is beautiful and the rivets really add to the overall effect.

Oh, but that's nice. You had fun getting her dirty, didn't you? 😎

Hobby Boss easy-builds are great for a painter, but they don't IMHO offer much satisfaction to the modeller. If you want to practise the former, by all means consider starting there. I tend to think you'd be more satisfied with a better kit. Maybe not Arma Hobby out of the gate-- as good as they are I feel that's a "third or fourth aircraft model" sort of project. It'd be like a teenager learning to drive in a Ferrari-- you aren't ready to push it to its potential and you wouldn't yet appreciate all the subtle touches. VMA131 Marine's suggestions are all good, as are Giorgio's. If you feel you can handle lots of tiny bits that nevertheless fit splendidly, I'd suggest one of Eduard's Weekend Edition Spitfires, they're amazing little kits that fit well. Also the transparencies are minimal and easy to mask without an aftermarket set. Convincing clear bits are one of the hardest effects for a novice aeromodeller to achieve.

Gotta love a Tamiya kit for a fun build. The understated exhaust staining is a fine touch. 😉 Your concrete hardstand looks aces as well. Is it a base just for this model, or a general purpose base used for various photo ops?

Your modelling is... adequate. That's a level I aspire to. 😎

I remember when these were released, it was one of the first kits to include photo etch. It was really expensive in the day, and the Trimaster concern folded fairly quickly, consequently I never go to see an unbuilt one firsthand. You did a great job on this one. Much like the Accurate Miniatures line, these may not be the latest and greatest anymore, but they certainly still build well (as your specimen shows), and I'm pretty sure the moulds are still in use. How did you do the base, static grass and some tufts? It's sufficiently convincing without competing with the model, a look I'd like to emulate.

I've never lived near Morton Grove, but I was a fairly well-informed Monogram fan as a kid, and I don't recall any of their WWI offerings either. Richard Humm's comment reminded me Monogram acquired Aurora moulds but I was only aware of the movie monsters. Your model is looking gorgeous, Allan. Can't wait to see her done!

Looks like a decent blank canvas now. Hope your next paint application goes smoothly!

Short answer: I think for your purposes using the kit decal shouldn't cause any worry, and may not be visible in any case. (Unsolicited TMI Warning: the following rant applies to 1/72 specifically, though apostates may find useful gleanings.) For a Tier One OOTB offering, like a Tamiya kit (where you're provided both a moulded instrument panel and a kit decal, and both were designed for the same package by workaholic perfectionists from a culture with a strong honour ethic), I apply the IP decal over the painted moulded panel and trust that with the correct solvent and a bit of poking and gingerly adjustment it will come out acceptably, if not spectacularly. Post-production tidying will likely be necessary for a contest model. Maybe it will need a dry-brushing to fix the bezels, or you'll need to apply an overall matte coat; you'll likely want to gloss the instrument faces. It should look well enough that an open canopy isn't out of the question, especially in the proper scale. For something lesser, say a newish Airfix kit (a Beaufort perhaps), or a Hasegawa kit from the 1990s (maybe a Beaufighter?), which comes with a flat IP casting and a B&W IP decal, leaving bad enough alone probably won't bother you if the glassy bits will be all buttoned up. You won't see much of it once all is glued up and painted, or at least, any casual observer you might wish to impress with your modelling prowess will never notice any deficiency. If you need to trim the decal to shape to fit around moulded-in detail do that, if you prefer to trim some moulded detail, do that. In other cases, you'll need other strategies. As I type this, the IP from a Flyhawk SBD-3 is drying on the bench beside me. While it came moulded with details in 3-D relief, I decided to use the Mike Grant instrument face decals @dogsbody mentioned above; a first for me. Despite the extensive decal sheet from the kit, no IP decal is provided, presumably because the instrument faces could be painted... but I'm not good at that and I wanted the canopy opened up. I hope you have fun building and painting your Beaufort! When in doubt, build. You can always unleash any Advanced Modeller Syndrome urges on the next project.

Are you done yet?

An incoming injection moulded kit is all well and good, but you're not allowed to give up on the vac build, Dave. Once you've been noted by the all-seeing eye of MSAP you're on the hook, I'm afraid.

I mixed Tamiya colours to model the P-40K in that Life Magazine photo Troy shared above. Desert Yellow was my starting point, lightened and broken up with Deck Tan (my go-to for "scale effect" colour de-saturation), and the pinkish aspect was evoked with a judicious addition of pure Red-- enough Deck Tan pinked it out nicely. A quick trawl of the Internet yielded no "authoritative" mixing formula to match ANA 616 using Tamiya paints, and no attempt was made at matching an official colour chip (which I haven't access to in any case). No records were kept, nor were spectrometers consulted. I used my eye and my artistic judgment and lots of light layers to get something that looks right enough under normal viewing conditions here in my atelier.* Looks pretty good on the model if I do say so myself. The colour is nowhere near as deep or intense as the swatches Casey posted... because it's not actually a real P-40K aeroplane wearing fresh, in-spec paint, under full sunlight. It's a 1/72 representation of a weathered P-40K. Which, by the way, was painted in Olive Drab before the Sand was applied, which adds yet another fractal layer to the question. Many (most?) modellers want pat, just-so answers to colour questions-- myself sometimes included-- but the subject is simply too slippery for definitive answers; IMHO modelling excellence is not achieved in paint-by-numbers fashion. Others less inclined to dithering might crack the Model Master bottle, confident in the presumption the good folks at Testors got it right, and paint their kit up and be happy, and that's fine too. I have benefitted greatly by all the research more dedicated people have performed and shared. Their work has established certain accuracy parameters in that some pigment mixes are simply out of the question. But accuracy parameters are merely a starting point for getting to a painted model. * My slovenly work habits remind me sometimes of Albert Pinkham Ryder, who "used his materials liberally and with little regard for sound technical procedures. His paintings, which he often worked on for ten years or more, were built up of layers of paint, resin, and varnish applied on top of each other. He would use a wet-on-wet technique,[9] and would often paint into wet varnish, or apply a layer of fast-drying paint over a layer of slow-drying paint." These painting were visibly deteriorating within his own lifetime. Of course, he didn't have Tamiya acrylic lacquers to work with, and I doubt there will be a market for my models a hundred years hence.

Your offering was found worthy. Huzzah!

You've every right to be proud of this one, the natural light photos are amazing.

The Special Hobby P-40 kits are really fun builds, and easy to detail up. I've never used the MRP paints but the colours look pretty good to my eye. Very nice model you've made.

If ever an aircraft could be described as looking "friendly," this would be the one. I sometimes forget just how many different aircraft designs Airfix has kitted, didn't remember this one.

I'm honestly seriously impressed with the levels of autism scale modelling can evoke. The way it works for me: I'll do hours of research regarding what the Berry Brothers plant manager had for lunch on 6 January 1941 (how hung over was he really?) and whether the paint was stirred deosil or widdershins, and did the umber pigment come from the Chilean source or Alberta (as Albertan Umber is widely known to impart a more reddish cast). Then I'll say "F all this" and wind up spraying on some Tamiya Flat Earth and Deep Green and be happy enough with it. After the pre-shading, and the post-shading, and toning down for scale effect, and compensating for the display lighting, and correcting for tonal crush, and applying the washes, and the pigments, and the oil filters, not to mention the several layer of clear coats, I'll wind up with something no person still alive can honestly gainsay. Not that some bloke at the next IPMS meet won't try to, but I've yet to see anyone holding colour swatches next to my models. I guess my point is that I try to accept imperfection as that's all we get to work with on this plane of existence, but I have a certain admiration those who are seriously trying to determine just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and I do take their pronunciamentos under advisement.