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VMF-512 F4U-ID - Tamiya 1/48 ***FINISHED***


Ray_W

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1 hour ago, Dana Bell said:

There was a 2-degree angle to the left designed to counter the engine's torque - it should feature in all those early Corsairs, though most never notice it.

Thank you Dana for the clarification. If I level the kit tailplane it seems a little more than 2 degrees, but maybe Tamiya, even in 1/48, represented this subtlety. Very interesting. Ray  

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1 hour ago, Dana Bell said:

Hi Ray,

 

Sorry that I wasn't paying attention to your question about the vertical tail.  There was a 2-degree angle to the left designed to counter the engine's torque - it should feature in all those early Corsairs, though most never notice it.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

 

Hi  Dana,  Ray's question was about the horizontal tail being angled down,  when you talk about the Vertical tail being angled to the left,  do you mean it is 2 degrees from vertical,  or 2 degrees offset from the centreline?

 

I know various ww2 types had offset tailplanes to counter engine torque (Hurricane, Mustang) and the Bf109 tail was an aerofoil.  

 

Back to Insignia Blue, I just compared the Tamiya decals to the Monogram chip, they are a bit 'blacker' than the chip. 

cheers

T

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13 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

when you talk about the Vertical tail being angled to the left,  do you mean it is 2 degrees from vertical,  or 2 degrees offset from the centreline

You can see in plan view that Tamiya have intentionally and I expect correctly offset the leading edge of the fin to the left. 

 

Corsair_Construction_22

 

Although I was questioning this view:

 

Corsair_Construction_15

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

Back to Insignia Blue, I just compared the Tamiya decals to the Monogram chip, they are a bit 'blacker' than the chip.

Thanks Troy, still seems the usual Tamiya Blue/Black mix will work suitably faded.

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1 minute ago, Ray_W said:

You can see in plan view that Tamiya have intentionally and I expect correctly offset the leading edge of the fin to the left. 

 

look closely, the entire fin is offset to the left, looking at the kit, the fin looks to be an aerofoil, the flat side( lower on a wing)  to port, and the curved (upper on a wing) to starboard,  as is the Bf109 fin.(aerofoil the other way IIRC)

 

I've not run across an angled tailplane, I suspect it should be flat in relation to the wing, Ive never seen this detail mentioned.

 

@Tailspin Turtle maybe able to add in on this? 

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13 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

look closely, the entire fin is offset to the left, looking at the kit, the fin looks to be an aerofoil, the flat side( lower on a wing)  to port, and the curved (upper on a wing) to starboard,  as is the Bf109 fin.(aerofoil the other way IIRC)

Troy,  you are correct that the kit's fin is an aerofoil shape with a more flat side on the port side and longer curved face to starboard providing lift to swing the tail anti-clockwise.  Strangely, it also seems to have a reversed angle of attack to the aircraft centre line. Leading edge to left of centre and trailing edge to right of centre.

 

13 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

 

I've not run across an angled tailplane, I suspect it should be flat in relation to the wing, Ive never seen this detail mentioned.

This was the reason I asked the question. The kit's tailplane engagement is so positive you cannot inadvertently angle it unless Tamiya intended it to be. Just like the subtle fin aerofoil shape they have captured. It seems to be with intent.  

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Ah, I really wasn't paying attention!  So the vertical tail was angled 2 degrees to the left along the centerline.  But the real question was the horizontal tails.  OK, I'm awake now...

 

The Corsair horizontal tails were identical - the left hand stab and elevator were simply flipped over and installed on the right side.  This could pose a problem with colors on replacement panels, and a few early Birdcage photos actually show the camouflage colors reversed.  When properly installed, the horizontals had zero degrees of dihedral along the leading edges.  The entire horizontal tail had a 1-1/4-degree pitch up in relation to the thrust line, but that wouldn't affect the dihedral.

 

One last note about the Glossy Sea Blue scheme - watch for the N/S Sea Blue antiglare panel on the forward fuselage - it will be a bit grayer even when weathered.  It shows up pretty well in some of the previous color photos.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

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7 minutes ago, Dana Bell said:

One last note about the Glossy Sea Blue scheme - watch for the N/S Sea Blue antiglare panel on the forward fuselage - it will be a bit grayer even when weathered.  It shows up pretty well in some of the previous color photos.

Thank you Dana and also thanks for highlighting the N/S Sea Blue requirement.

Ray

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13 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

look closely, the entire fin is offset to the left, looking at the kit, the fin looks to be an aerofoil, the flat side( lower on a wing)  to port, and the curved (upper on a wing) to starboard,  as is the Bf109 fin.(aerofoil the other way IIRC)

 

I've not run across an angled tailplane, I suspect it should be flat in relation to the wing, Ive never seen this detail mentioned.

 

@Tailspin Turtle maybe able to add in on this? 

For what it’s worth: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/08/relying-on-museum-pieces-for-accuracy.html

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Some more progress.

 

We now have a R-2800-8W for an F4U-1D or, at least, Tamiya and my interpretation of it.

 

Corsair_Construction_25

 

I did a little bit of extra work on the Tamiya rendition.

 

Corsair_Construction_26

 

1. I had Eduard's PE harness so I thought I'd use it. Generally I prefer round to flat for something that is round like a spark plug lead. A couple of things changed my mind; firstly, I did not feel like drilling 36 holes and secondly the spark plug leads come off the back of the square cast ignition wire assembly so Eduard's rendition will not be too bad. I did not worry about where the second lead finished on each cylinder. The top cannot be seen.

 

2. I removed some material at the rear to make the distributor cans more rounded, made the covers more a hexagonal shape, added some representation of the casting locations for the cover studs, added a triangle on top to take the high tension lead and added a wire to the magnetos and , finally, fitted a wire at the front to represent the distributor air intake tube. While doing this I thought forget Glossy Sea Blue renditions you could write a book just on F4U distributor types.

 

3. I cut-off the Tamiya propeller governor that is located at the front and moulded as part of the magnetos and fabricated one tilting forward, it's base following the reduction gearbox housing taper to the nose. Quite a pronounced feature as shown circled below. 

 

Corsair_Construction_29

 

4. I removed the moulding under the bottom of the reduction gearbox housing that represents the oil scavenging arrangement and added a little more detail and pipework.

 

I suppose this is the view that counts.

 

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The aircraft itself received a little work. Here it is with just some light grey undercoat in the critical locations to check for defects.

 

Corsair_Construction_28

 

I did square the horizontal stabiliser (based on the excellent feedback received in the prior posts), removed the leading edge wing tank details (top filler cap and underside drain details) as is appropriate for a -1D and removed the vent on the front right side of the nose. 

 

I filled the port wing underside approach light although I am still not clear what happens with the rib taping. Any clear photos? You can also see I did the usual, cut-out the wing tip navigation lights an glue in and shape some clear sprue pre-drilled and coloured to represent the light bulb.

 

20200713_135853

 

Now to check that grey undercoat and fix any minor problems before going to my favorite black undercoat.

 

Hopefully, back soon with more, 

 

Ray

Edited by Ray_W
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2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

something like subversions on Sherman tanks

Had to smile. I'm reading Steven Zaloga's book on the Sherman now and really enjoying it.

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5 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Looks like there are no defects so should be in the paint shop before too long.

There's always something although being Tamiya it does make life easier. 

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I was able to spend some solid time at the work bench over the weekend although there was little to show for all the effort - the little things. 

 

I was not happy with the appearance of the painted Tamiya underside clear panel so decided to fill it and sand it. Much better. I have that small blister and protrusion just following the filled panel that I will replace after checking how the panel fill looks under some undercoat.

 

 

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I drilled out and shaped the approach light and gun camera ports on the wing leading edge. I filled them with Loctite Super Attack "Original" CA. I find this will give you a clear "light" good enough for this application. It works well for small clear lenses particularly when I want to sand it to a shape like a leading edge. Other CA's may fog. For me, this stuff seems to stay clear. You might need a few applications. You just need patience. Do not touch it until it is at the desired size. In my impatience, I started to sand fractionally early. Darn.  :banghead: Recovery is then impossible without full removal which I plan not to do.  Oh well, gloss black and Future required now at the end of the build if it's look is not passable. At least I will have a nice smooth surface. Tip: I squeeze some of this very thin CA out and apply it when it starts to set in maybe 15-20 minutes. 

 

I have the port approach light in the lower half of the leading edge (you can see in the above image). Starboard gun camera side I moved up slightly fractionally bigger. I do not have a clear image of that starboard side. EDIT: I found the necessary images on BM here. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234966237-vought-corsair-f4u-fleet-air-arm-kd431/ all seems ok. Hopefully a Goodyear Royal Navy aircraft is the same as a Vought US Marines.

 

 

Corsair_Construction_32

 

 

 

The ribbing inside the cowling is quite visible on the F4U. Vortex make a delightful resin aftermarket set for 1/48 and 1/32. For this build, I thought I would represent it with some rectangular styrene stock. If ever there was a great application for PE it would be here yet Eduard provide PE for other areas which in most cases I do not use. More about that soon. 

 

Corsair_Construction_33

 

I spent a good deal of time on the undercarriage removing seam lines, filling some visible ejector pin marks with CA/talc and drilling out and shaping the lightening holes in the torque links. A simple job that, I think, adds quite something to the appearance. Mind you, my success on this job is usually measured by not so much how good it looks, but, rather, the amount of blood lost. No blood satins on this one 👍 

 

I rarely use PE for torque links, even though supplied, again too two dimensional unless representative of the actual aircraft. In this case, Tamiya's featureless surface was a good start.

 

I will be using Quickboost gear doors with some PE. 

 

Corsair_Construction_34

 

I used some Eduard PE on the tail wheel assembly after drilling and thinning the respective members.

 

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So I'll keep going on the "little things". Next preparation ordnance - Eight "Holy Moses" and one 500 Pounder required.  http://www.adamsplanes.com/vmf-512.htm says a load out of the fuel tank, one 500 lb bomb and 4 rockets. Whether this meant 4 rockets per wing or 4 total I do not know.  Possibly someone on this site has more info. 

 

Corsair_Construction_37

 

 

Ray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Edited by Ray_W
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45 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

The little things always seem to take so much longer than the big assembly stages, at least they do for me anyway.

Thanks Craig, it's quite nice to have a slower build after the Lock-Down Spitfire frenzy. I am actually looking forward to building and finishing those bombs and rockets. This makes quite a change as ordnance is one of my least favourite parts of modelling. 

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2 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Mine too, but at least with your aftermarket stuff you shouldn't have the problems I had with the kit stuff for my Hasegawa F4U-5N, the rockets were a right PITA.

And the best part, no gluing bomb halves together.

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Looks great to me, as for the load-out I've done the same on a ww2 bird. It was an extremely common load in Korea as I can find boatloads of -4’s, -4B’s, -5’s, and AU-1’s using the load-out. I cant think Navy load outs would have changed in five years all that much. I will find photo’s if you need them, but may be later today. To many domestic like chores to do and SWMBO is a bit miffed right now. 

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8 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looks great to me, as for the load-out I've done the same on a ww2 bird. It was an extremely common load in Korea as I can find boatloads of -4’s, -4B’s, -5’s, and AU-1’s using the load-out. I cant think Navy load outs would have changed in five years all that much. I will find photo’s if you need them, but may be later today. To many domestic like chores to do and SWMBO is a bit miffed right now. 

Thanks Dennis, I will go with the 8 rockets. Ray

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1 hour ago, Cookenbacher said:

Fantastic details on this one Ray.

Thanks Cookie for the kind words. Slowly coming together. Ray

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Reached that great stage - black undercoat done. Gunze's Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black, thinned with Mr Levelling Thinners and sprayed 20 psi from my Iwata HP-CS (0.35 mm).  Silky smooth and ready for some fun and games in trying to replicate that VMF-512 Glossy Sea Blue. 

 

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I left off the outer zero length rocket rails on the starboard wing and will fit them after I mask and spray the National Insignia to avoid any mask interference.

 

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I really like the colour of Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. It's a dirty black out of the pot. I think good for propeller blades and tyres. A good basis for any weathering treatment you want to apply. I'll let it dry overnight and then start masking for prop hub and tips and wheels hubs. 

 

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I am building the ordnance - Eduard HVAR's and Brengun 500 lb bomb. Should finish their PE tonight and then on to some paint.

 

Corsair_Construction_46

 

Ray

 

 

 

 

Edited by Ray_W
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