Cookie's Spitfire Trio(s) (also 'Tiny' the Corsair)

[rob85]

Tamiya was out of my league.... So I bought the hase 1/72 instead😊 And they arrive on the same day so no one will know!!

Rob

[Cookenbacher]

Rob - I've been picking my Tamiya Corsairs up cheap on Amazon. There seems to be a pretty good 'pipeline' from Japan to the US. It's not as direct to the UK it seems. This is all I could find.

The Hasegawa Corsair is really good too. I'm stealing its night fighter exhaust shrouds for this build. It does have raised panel lines if that sort of thing bothers you, but it goes together well and looks just like a Corsair when done. My nephew built one, but I'm still trying to get him to paint it.

Stew - Well, let's all amble together then, I can think of nothing better.

Giemme - I may be asking you and Stew for figure painting advice when the time comes for the vignette. I really like how the pilot, Capt Donald Balch, conveys such bravery and humility at the same time in the photo - I know that I will absolutely not be able to capture that much nuance in 1/72!

[Fatboydim]

Hi Cookie, I like the look of your Corsair.

[rob85]

Well.... That's cheaper than I found, cheers cookie. I must use Amazon more.

I like the title change, very fitting.... I think whoever thought of the name is a genius....

Rob

[Cookenbacher]

Thanks Joe FBD, I like the look of your Corsair too. How did you like the Hobby Boss kit?

Ced, build that Catalina! I think you're the exact man for the job.

PC, I hope that little Winston hasn't run you too ragged. Speaking as a former renowned infant racket producer (I've heard several corroborating eye(ear?)witness accounts, but have no direct memories myself), I can only thank you for your patience on little Winston's behalf.

I like the title change, very fitting.... I think whoever thought of the name is a genius....

And I hear he's a pretty good brush painter too.

A little experiment I'm trying on the Mk XVI's is to paint then mask the stencil walkway lines as I've had a myriad of problems with those decals in the past, including placing them over the wing roundels.

You can see why I don't pre-shade. The whole plane would just end up in spider webbed black. The masking tape is 0.5mm which may end up too thick for the walkway lines, and too thin to be easy to keep in a straight line.

I then sprayed the Lifecolor Ocean grey thinned with a concoction of distilled water, Future, and flow improver.

I post shaded by adding a little bit of Lifecolor Light grey and white as I went along.

Stocky's plane is going to be a little more weathered, so I did heavier post shading, and chipped down to the metalizer. Water-based acrylics don't stick to metalizer very well, so I didn't need to use hairspray.

Maybe get the Dark green on later in the weekend?

[Stew Dapple]

I like your post-shading Cookie

I just ordered a Tamiya Corsair - an F4U-1A, the best one, of course - from Korea* and in keeping with the tradition of not accepting responsibility for one's own actions, I am blaming you squarely even though I have been flirting with the idea of buying one for weeks now. Curse your pernicious influence, Cookie!

Looking forward to your progress with the Spitties and the Corsair

Cheers,

Stew

* I mean I ordered it from a trader in Korea, not that the F4U-1a type was used in the Korean War

[Cookenbacher]

I am blaming you squarely even though I have been flirting with the idea of buying one for weeks now.

Turnabout is fair play Stew, but we all know that you started it!

[Fatboydim]

Hello Cookie, I thought the Hobby Boss Corsair was very good. No fuselage seams to clean up as it comes in one bit. Your making excellent progress with you Spitfires. Joe

[CedB]

+1 for the post-shading Cookie - me likey! (one for you Modern Family fans)

Brave move on the walkway strip masking... watching with interest!

Very nice chipping... I must try it one day.

[Beard]

I just ordered a Tamiya Corsair - an F4U-1A, the best one, of course - from Korea...

Stew, the best one would be a Fleet Air Arm.

Cookie,

Walkway decals are a pain and I like your idea. I've tried to use an '01' Eddington 1880 pen, with varying degrees of success.

Simon

[Col.]

Stew, the best one would be a Fleet Air Arm.

One of life's great truisms

[Stew Dapple]

Stew, the best one would be a Fleet Air Arm...

Of course Simon, Col, there is a lot to be said for that opinion, but I don't think Tami make the clipped-wing type and also I wanted to paint the NS Sea Blue/Intermediate Blue/White scheme, if possible with the red-outlined stars and bars. I think all the FAA Corsairs were EDSG/DSG/Sky or NS Sea Blue overall?

(Cookie, apologies for the OT, please feel free to pay me back in kind on my thread )

Cheers,

Stew

[giemme]

I'll second other comments, and say that your post-shading looks brilliant!

Way to go on the walkways too , I did the same on my Spitfire build, only the other way round: that is, I had all the camouflage and roundels painted, then I masked to paint the black strips. I believe you had already seen this, but here is the link to how I did that (post #240), just in case.

How was it to spray Lifecolor with your home brewed thinner?

Ciao

[nimrod54]

Great job Cookie, I like the post shading. Your techniques visibly improve with every build you do, I just wish I had enough bottle to try some of these out - 'old dogs and new tricks' is probably my main problem.

Keep up the good work.

[rob85]

And I hear he's a pretty good brush painter too.

😳

Cheers cookie very kind.... I but he would be chuffed.... Who ever he is I mean!

That post shading is looking brilliant, need to figure out how to translate that into hairy stick!

Also walkway makings look like they should come out a treat.

I need to have a good look at options for the corsair, would like to go with FAA and may have a look at the yanks with roundles set! Hmmmm

Rob

[Cookenbacher]

Thanks for the comments everybody!

The Corsair was one of my favorites as a kid, as I remember watching the 'Baa Baa Blacksheep' TV show with my dad when I was around four, and I got 'Pappy' Boyington's autograph at the Reno Air Races a few years later. The Airfix/MPC Corsair was the first glue-together model I ever built (my first model, a snap-tite, was a Spitfire). Wow, I just realized a psychiatrist may have a field day analyzing this thread!

The FAA scheme is pretty dang great, and I'm planning one for the Corsair STGB. Dana Bell's latest has wonderful illustrations comparing the FAA 'short' and 'short short' wingtips with the 'standard' ones. I think it won't be too difficult to clip the Tamiya wing, hopefully. Another great Corsair resource is the Fundekals sheet. It's pretty amazing, they have obviously done their research on both USMC and FAA schemes.

Stew, I have more Corsair decals than I know what to do with, let me know if you need anything for your tri-color build (and future TSS build?).

Simon, pens are a really great idea. Do you mask the line or use some sort of straight edge?

Giemme - Thanks for the link to that portion of your Spitfire build. I was so interested in the roundels and lettering at the time, that I completely forgot about the walkway lines.

Rob - the decal offer goes for you too. You can do post shading with a brush. I just used matt acrylic medium as a thinner and lightened my original paint shade to varying degrees and applied it very thin over the base coat.

John - If I could could build and paint like you, I wouldn't do anything different either.

[rob85]

That cookie is a very nice tornado... The only way it could be better is if it was in gulf war get up 😜

Thanks for the tips, I should give it a bash... I will in fact, probably on my p-47 which I have coming up and my 1/48 hurricane I have on the go.

The hellcat came early (what a kit!! I has to be the most beautifully made kit I have seen so far...I am intimidated by the photo etch but also very excited! How sad) which means I have to come clean about the corsair currently fly over....oddly she was not happy for me this time

Rob

Edited December 12, 2015 by rob85

[Col.]

Of course Simon, Col, there is a lot to be said for that opinion, but I don't think Tami make the clipped-wing type and also I wanted to paint the NS Sea Blue/Intermediate Blue/White scheme, if possible with the red-outlined stars and bars. I think all the FAA Corsairs were EDSG/DSG/Sky or NS Sea Blue overall?

(Cookie, apologies for the OT, please feel free to pay me back in kind on my thread )

Cheers,

Stew

I believe what you are trying to say is, "It's my bloody model so go build your own how you want it"

[Cookenbacher]

Don't worry Col. we may be able to convince Stew to build an FAA scheme in a addition to his tri-color.

Back to Spitfires. I got the paper masks on.

Then sprayed the Dark green.

Then it was time for the big reveal.

When you're experimenting, it's hard to complain when everything doesn't go right. The water based Lifecolor acrylic was very delicate applied over metalizer, so the masking took up a lot of paint.

I've got some clean up to do, especially the walkway stencils. I think that the concept is sound though and will use it again, but will use an enamel black paint. I'll also have to redo some of the Ocean grey. I wanted to chip it, but not that much!

The bubbletop turned out a little better, as it had less metalizer as a base.

I also sprayed the white portion underneath the Corsair.

I used Model Master RLM 21 white enamel based on a recommendation by Navy Bird in his fantastic F-8 build. Thanks Bill! I just thinned it with mineral/white spirits and it sprayed very nice. Not just nice for a white paint, but nicer than most things I've ever sprayed. Stew, your loyalty to enamels is perfectly understandable, they just spray better than most acrylics in my opinion.

[CedB]

Very nice Cookie, they came out really well

[Beard]

Simon, pens are a really great idea. Do you mask the line or use some sort of straight edge?

I used a thin, flexible, ruler. What I didn't mention was that it wasn't very successful!

My next attempt will involve masking and painting.

[rob85]

Looking good cookie, shame about some of the paint lift but that can be sorted by a man like you!

The white on that corsair looks cracking, maybe I should have tried enamels.

Rob

[giemme]

Very nice job, Cookie Apart from the engine cowling, I don't see too much of paint stripping; I shall say that, when using Lifecolor, prior to masking for camouflage I spray a light Future coat to protect the paint layer. This also avoid strange marks when using blue tack (I sometimes do that also when using Tamiya colors)

Ciao

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Cookie. Great to see them with the camo on.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Tomoshenko]

Very nice. Like the stencil line technique. Reckon enamel black will do the trick. Pens work fine, but from my personal experience I've found it necessary to apply a good few coats of varnish to obtain a good seal.