Hasegawa 1/48 F4U-4 build report

[Ran]

Hi there,

 

I'm new here and also a newbie - getting back to the hobby for the last couple of years .

Our local model builder's forum, where I've posted my build reports so far have been, closed. I was looking for a new place to share my adventures in building and mainly learn from the experience of other builders. I surveyed the internet and Britmodeller came up as a good place - so here I am.

 

My build chronicles will be detailed as much as I have time - as I'm out to share my experience with the specific kit I'm building as well as learn and get feedback on new techniques. The only challenge is that building time and writing time - are part of the same zero sum game of "spare time".

 

So here goes .....

 

My next build is the Hasegawa 1/48 F4U-4 kit. Following my previous build, which lasted a while, I was looking for something simple, focused on painting and maybe weathering with limited time spent detailing. Also should be a quick build as I need to start reducing the stash....

 

The box, parts and instructions:

 

It's a simple kit, a bit old, low part count, low detail level in the cockpit and engine - should be a breeze. I really like the 'Death Rattler" scheme - also because there are some nice color photos of a/c wearing that scheme.

(This is for ref. only. I hope I'm not infringing on any one's copyright. I so - pls. contact me and I will remove the images)

 

Before starting to cut parts I've looked up my stash list and - surprise ! It turns out this one is going to be a first as I have a CMK cockpit aftermarket for it - full with resin, PE and Canopy.

 

 

This is certainly a twist as I've never dealt with a cockpit resin so far. Here goes the 'quick and easy' plan .

 

Work started with some white paint (Tamiya XF-2) for the wheel hubs and back of the instrument panel dials transparency.

 

The Instrument panel PE was covered in Flat Black, the painted transparency was glued to the back and Future drops added to the dials. After a quick dry fit I decided that the PE itself needs some solid structure to hang to so I dermel'ed the kits' instrument panel flat and glued them together.

The dremel'ing is crude - as can be evident - the tool is new here and obviously used at too high of a speed.

 

A quick dry-fit

It looks like the CMK parts do not necessary fit the kit snugly so I will have to think about which part gets glued to which and in what order. Some putting is expected too.

 

Another first - I sanded the wheels using my Dremel and then used a Platz circular cutter to cut masks for the wheel hubs, then hit the wheels with Tamiya Flat Black.

A good first - but will need some (more / a lot of ) perfecting and clearly a paint touch up.

 

Resin side panels glued, using VMS Flexy 5K CA glue, to the sides of the cockpit after dry fitting with the cockpit tub. The glue is sticky but sets slowly enough to allow adjustments. This is anther first.

 

 

That's it for now.

Comments are welcomed.

Ran

 

 

[Crossofiron1971]

Nice work sir!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Ive worked with cockpits like that before. Dont forget to sand the outside of the cockpit tub. Those that glue to the inside of the plastic. That should help with some of the gaps in the fuselage.

[gingerbob]

Welcome aboard, and a Corsair is a fine choice!

 

bob

[Paramedic]

Welcome!

 

What a nice first build! I have never seen that Corsair as far as I know, before - but I love it as well. Good choice!

Looking forward to your progress on it.

[k5054nz]

Already I'm excited to follow this build. I love your work in the cockpit so far.

[Ran]

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Ive worked with cockpits like that before. Dont forget to sand the outside of the cockpit tub. Those that glue to the inside of the plastic. That should help with some of the gaps in the fuselage.

Good point, thanks.

It looks like the tub will need some shimming - we'll see.

Ran

[Ran]

I'm amazed to see my last entry here was almost two month ago. Real life really took a toll this last quarter.
Its not that I did not progress - but sneaking a half-hour here and there leaves the updating task at the bottom of the stack.

So tonight I decided to sit down.

 

Work on the cockpit continued - glue all these tiny tiny PE parts (too old for that), painting some more, some black/brown wash, some dry-brushing, picking up some detail yielded the following:

 

On 10/12/2017 at 5:49 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Ive worked with cockpits like that before. Dont forget to sand the outside of the cockpit tub. Those that glue to the inside of the plastic. That should help with some of the gaps in the fuselage.

Fitting it all to the fuselage proved a bit tricky - the IP did not match the curvature of the hood and the cockpit is a bit smaller in width then the plastic. I managed to forget Corsairfoxfouruncle's advise and even my own comment and tried to glue (CE) the cockpit directly the one side.

 

I ended up shimming only on one side using a spruce I sawed in half :

 

Eventually all was tied up, glued and clamped:

 

There is a lot of sanding to do - glue just oozed all around and some gaps to be filled:

 

The wings were glue and filled ... NOT before the gun ports were drilled out and some a/c interior green was shot for wheel wells.

 

 

Well, that was a short little update and I even have a couple of minutes left to attend to these gaps before I'll have to sign off for today.

Ran

 

 

 

 

[Ran]

One quick addition - ignition wiring

 

 

I used my Dremel on its lowest speed but still managed to melt the plastic while drilling. I had to remove the melted stuff from the drill head using some Contacta glue.

The engine will get some wash later on. I've noticed some modellers are using Future based washes now. Any one has some tips on that?

 

Ran

 

[Ran]

Hi,

 

I had some bench time this weekend - and decided to add a quick update to the thread.

 

The fuselage was already closed up so next step was taking care of the seams.

All in all the fit was OK and beside the upper front part, which suffered from excess glue, most places needed little to no putty.

The upper front was sanded and I had to re-scribe some of the panel lines. The most challenging was the circular fuel cap panel.

Turns out I do not have a full circular scribing template so I had to improvise one. I used the circular cutter on a piece of wide Tamiya tape. I did that then spent some time on eBay to get a template - be prepared for the next Corsair

 

 

Next were the wings - brilliant engineering - complete match on the starboard side and just a very thin gap on the port one. The gap was treated with repeated application of Tamiya thin cement and some pressure. The wing root match is really something - just two plastic lips that touch snugly.

 

Horizontal stabilizer and the famous "chin" completed this stage and allow for some nice pictures:

 

 

Thats it for today

Ran

 

 

 

 

[Ran]

Managed to grab some bench time this afternoon.

 

Next step was primer. Masked what needed to be masked.

 

While starting to shoot the primer I discovered this and had to stop and fix it.

 

Used some Contacta glue to unglue the part and re-attach it.

 

I let it dry for a while and then shoot the primer. I'm using gray Stynylrez which I started to use a couple of builds ago and I really like it.

After re-visiting some seams I decided to shoot the correction layer with the White primer as the coal will have a white band.

To my surprise here's what I've got, while using the same shooting parameters used to shoot the gray one successfully:

 

Does any one have an idea or experience as to why this happened?

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Paint to thin ? 

[corsaircorp]

Hello Ran,

Nice job Ran, Especially on my favourite bird !!

I think paint too thin, did you have cleaned up the parts before painting ??

The interior is fine too but there is always some adjustment to do !

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[funguseater]

Could be a reation due to not washing parts in warm soapy water beforehand, though I do agree the paint looks very thin. 

[Ran]

Thanks for the advise.

 

I do admit I cleaned the airbrush AFTER shooting the primer BUT its a good primer that does not need thinning and was shot straight from the bottle.

The kit was thoroughly washed in soap before starting - this is kind of a ceremonial act I always start with - wash and take the first WIP pictures.

I progressed to shooting some yellow zinc chromate - as preparation for some chipping I would like to try. I used MM acrylic thinned with some Tamyia laquar thinner (a combination that worked well for me in the past). The outcome is also not that good.

 

Next is some pre-shading - I hope things will sort out.

 

48 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Ran,

Nice job Ran, Especially on my favourite bird !!

I think paint too thin, did you have cleaned up the parts before painting ??

The interior is fine too but there is always some adjustment to do !

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

Corsaircorp - thanks. What adjustments  would you advise?

 

Ran

[corsaircorp]

Hello Ran,

I frequently use Resin interiors from various origins, even my own made interiors.

But did'nt find yet an interior that fit without trimming or addings !!!

That's the price to pay for a more accurate thing !

Very good job on your bent wing bird !

I have 6 corsairs on the go

Have a good modelling time !

sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[Ran]

Crosaircorp - thanks.

 

I used MM Gloss black with Tamiya laquar thinner for the pre-shading. Probably got it thinned properly this time as the lines were much better.

This is how it looks now:

 

 

This is it for this weekend

Ran

[Ran]

Hi there

 

Way too long time since the last update - and little to report on. Life's other stuff keeps meddling. I was able to steal some bench time last weekend - but it was too late for an update. No time this weekend for actual progress -- but here's the update.

 

My main goal was to spray some dark sea blue in such a way to allow a lot of scratches.

So I grabbed the XF-17 and AK worn effects and started to prepare.

 

Turns out I still had a lot of stuff to cover before I can got on painting.

1. Cockpit

    a. Managed to clip the resin stick some how. Had to paint and install the original one.

    b. Install the gun sight  - glue, paint the lens (florescent transparent green) and the brown pad and add some piece of transparent sheet.

    c. Install the two resin switch boxes on top of the glare-shield

    d. Paint the glare-shield black

This amounts to :

 

2. Next came masking the canopies and fixing the front part - not one of my favorite tasks although the Corsair has a simple arrangement:

 

 

3. I checked the ref. and it seems that the 'deathrattlers' did have several themes as far as there paint job. The following is a good example:
    _{(I don't know who has the copyright of these images - and if he/she feels I should remove it - pls. contact me)}

  

I'm building #18 and decided to to go with the version that has a white band covering all the cowl up and including the flaps. I'm not sure the white on the flaps is the same as the white on the nose - any comments will be appreciated.
   This required putting on some more white on the nose. I had a big struggle with the airbrush - and ended up with a lot of diluted paint which I decided to use to color some patches as  a base layer, similar to the yellow zinc one.

 

4. I decided to add some yellow zinc-chrome as a base color to more places around the wings and roots.

 

5. I then noticed I neglected the drop tanks. I also thought some silver based scratches will be interesting as well. So the X-11 was pulled, purred and sprayed.

 

Then came a funny-sad part.

I started to gear up for the paint by hand-brushing the AK worn effect. I some how pushed the XF-17 away - not only from the work area of my desk but also from my memory. I was looking for the right dark sea paint and found three - the XF-17, an MM enamel and an Mr.Color lacquer. I looked around for the XF-17 and did not see it. It then strike me that I need to check weather the AK will work on an acrylic base and enamel/lacquer top layer. Turns out it won't. I checked out my excel with the database of paints I have - it said that I should have one bottle. Scanned to drawers where I keep my paints - none. Scanned to drawers where I keep the extra paints - none. Repeat - none. Repeat again - none.

I realized I have a problem and scanned the forums for answers. Came up with the understanding I will need to use some other technique. I did not have any hairspray (I'm bald ) and understood it will have to be a salt technique. I looked up the forums again, found some good explanations on that one and started to coat the entire model with Future as a protection for the base layer. All this took a lot of time and some excitement - and not even for a minute I stopped to think that if my list says I have one bottle i need to search the work table and not only the drawers.

It was clear that I have to do the salt thing in one sitting - an not separated by a month , It was too late so I started to arrange my stuff and close up. Guess what - the XF-17 surfaced !! It sure goes to show I'm working too hard - and not on at the bench!

 

So hare's were I'm at now - waiting for time to sit again - this time with the AK and XF-17!

 

 

Ran

 

P.S. - I was so frustrated - I decided to start the next kit - a trumpeter Seafang F.MK.32 - Seafang build report

[Ran]

Here I am again.

The last posting, and the last time I had bench time, was Jan 27th - What a shame. I need to get a different Boss ASAP.

 

I've being eyeing the bench for a couple of weeks now. When you skip bench time for a long time - there is some work to be done cleaning and re-arranging before you can get to the real fun. And this kind of serves as a barrier to sitting down. A real Catch-22.

 

So - the wife is on a biking trip for a couple of days - enough said.

 

Started with full disassemble, ultrasonic cleaning, fighting the carpet monster for some springs, re-installing, re-installing correctly and then shooting some cleaning agent - all with my trusted Grex XSi.

 

Tested the airbrush on the Seafang - Seafang build report

 

A reminder - I started today with the colorful pre-shaded form:

Then, shot some AK Worn Affects - first time for me.

 

After it dried - I loaded the airbrush with Tamiya XF-17 and diluted it with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner, set the pressure to about 12-14 psi - and off we went.

Had a lot of fun going over the puzzle of pre-shading I prepared.

 

The paint was shooting very smoothly and I really enjoyed filling up the spaces and practicing marbleing. I forgot to mask the cowling and decided to free-hand it.

 

Once done,  I let it dry for a while and hit it with some wet toothbrush and some wet tooth pick. This is the first I'm using this technique - it was fun, but I may have over done it here and there.

 

The final state for today:

 

That's it.

Comments are welcomed as always.
Hope to find some bench time soon.

[Azgaron]

Very nice work so far! Looks great!

 

Håkan

 

[Ran]

Surprise - I was able to get some bench time this weekend after spending time on the bench during the previous weekend as well!!.

 

Left the bench with the model painted after a layer of AK Worn Effect and some scrubbing. I was not 100% happy with the outcome - it looked a bit crude but for a first time using the technique I decided it should suffice. 

I did noticed that silver base layer should be avoided as it was hard to cover and the scrubbing yielded bigger and more rounded spots.

 

Continued with detailing the landing gear - a bit. I know the brake wire is too thin - its the only black one I had and did not have patience to paint a thicker wire. 

 

Did some detailing on the drop-able fuel tanks and painted the caps Tamiya Red X-7:

 

 

Propeller blade tips painted Tamiya Lemon Yellow X-8. Should have done that the other way around or added an interim stage of painting the tips white or some other bright color. Covering with Yellow was a pain. 

 

Following that I installed most of the bits together and put the bird on its legs, including balancing the fuel tanks while trying to get them to dry properly aligned. Removed the Canopy masking to reveal a nice paint job - IMHO.

 

I concluded with spraying Future diluted with some 70% Alcohol. 

I'm not sure but I think this caused some of the Sea Blue paint to weather away and / or the patches exposed by the AK effect to grow.

What do you think - is this a known artifact of Future / Alcohol over the AK Worn Effect filter?

 

 

Feedback is welcomed. 

BR

Ran

 

 

 

[Ran]

Decaling time this weekend.

 

Decided to waive a couple of touch-ups - left the cowling all white, skipped re-coloring the too weathered parts. Did some light sanding with high grit - to smooth the Future a bit.

 

Started with some minor details - lights.

 some Tamiya X-11 Silver as background then the colors 

 

Then - let the Micro-Set/Sol reign !!

 

 

Just a sample !

 

For next time:

- panel line washes - maybe

- Arial antenna 

- Exhaust stains - select a technique

- Matt varnish

 

BR

Ran 

[Ran]

Final stretch:

 

Panel lines:

Good old Flory Models wash, light:  

Will get you the scruffy look of Navy planes:   

 

 

Arial antenna: the last items on the list: Easy-line, fine.

 

Exhaust stains:

First I had to select a method - weathering powders or airbrushing.

Should have selected the first - but went with airbrushing. Bad mistake - as I found out I'm very far from being able to replicate the stains using my feebly airbrushing technique. 

 

After studying some pictures I started with a highly diluted MM Light Ghost Gray 4762. This produced mostly pools of light gray stuff that spooled all over the model.

Tried to vary the pressure, add some thinner, add more paint - nothing seemed to worked properly and I was also not able to produce fine lines or limit the area I'm covering not to mention creating the effect of a mist of white stain. Part of the challenge was related to the location of the stain area and the difficulty to position the airbrush close to the surface (as most of the stain is over the wing). But to be honest - its a small part with the major problem being poor airbrushing technique on my part.

After getting used to the idea I made a mistake in trying to airbrush, I continued to airbrush the darker parts of the stain - mixing Tamiya X-19 Smoke, MM Tar 4212, MM Rust 4675 and MM Leather 4674. Started with the smoke then added the Tar and then the reddish ones.

All in all it was an experience - I have much to learn and practice and I was wee weed with myself  for creating such a mess over a model I was mostly happy with how it came through.

Later on I though that maybe the problem was with the fact that I used thinner to create the diluted white and not a clear paint or some Smoke.

 

I'm looking for some advice on how to do it properly.

 

I sealed it off with the trusted Alclad II Kkear Kote Flat,  making sure this time not to cover the clear parts

 

This was such a long journey with many 'firsts' and some take-offs:

- Resin cockpit - make sure to shim properly and glue it in a symmetric manner to both halves . Also remember this CA stuff flow around like there's no tomorrow.

- Using circular masks to paint the wheels - good and repeatable way to do it right.

- Massive colorful pre-shading - skip the silver next time - very hard to cover !

- First time Chipping - used AK worn affect - Not sure I was too happy as the structure of the chipping did not look authentic - not sure if its them or me

- First time airbrushing exhaust stains - well, may need to wait until the next time I try this :(

 

After all this I was a bit too tired (lazy?) to properly take final photos - so here's a small sample of what I did take:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it!

Comment are welcomed as well as advice on airbrushing stains.

 

Ran

 

 

 

 

 

[Azgaron]

Nice work! Looking great!

 

Håkan