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Half 'n' Half - Corsair #1 Serving Unit RNZAF, Henderson Field, Guadalcanal


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I once had a Hasegawa AU-1 Corsair that I built when I got back into the hobby 20 odd years ago. It was relegated to being a roof hanger in my son's bedroom where it met its final doom.

 

Fast forward to last Sunday the 15th of August. A quick peruse through the shelves at Casa de Crosby and the ubiquitous 1/48th Tamiya Corsair put it's hand up with an exuberant "Pick me, pick me".

 

It was on.

 

What’s followed has been a few sessions of an hour (or two) over the last week with rapid progress ensuing. To the point where paint has even been applied, no less OUTSIDE of the cockpit.

 

Not much needs to be said about  the Tamiya Corsair. It's a simple airframe, goes together very well and the detail for a kit that's 20 years old has held up well.

 

I’m not a fan of the black-basing recipe however I’ll put a black primer down before putting any colours into the cockpit. Those colours I used are from Tamiya, Vallejo and Gunze. With some dark washes for the shadow areas and some highlights on the raised ribbing area, the detail pops nicely for a vanilla cockpit. Aftermarket is in the way of the instrument panel and etch seat belts.

 

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The same technique was applied in the rear gear well sans aftermarket though I didn't get any pics of it.

 

The only addition to the engine was some ignition leads from lead wire then painted up to look the part. Looking at it now I think I need to grime up the grey crankcase a bit.

 

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Similarly, the drop tank received some attention. A few dents and scratches have been added with a chisel and sand pads. I’ve since added more weathering to it.

 

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Almost ready for assembly

 

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Voila, ready for paint


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Painting step 1.

Primed with a custom mix of Tamiya. Came out looking like a good start for IJN grey.

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Painting step 2.

The first colour clouded on was Gunze H54 Navy blue.

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Painting step 3.

Second colour was Gunze 337 Grayish blue with ArtFX spray masks.

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painting step 4.

Previous step was wet sanded with 2000 grit sanding pad.

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Painting step 5.

Application of Gunze H55 Midnight blue.

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The colours used so far.

 

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And a few photos so I know where to pull the paint when it comes time to chip it. I've also wet sanded the midnight blue. Silver is Tamiya AS-12 which I find is quite hardy for the chipping exercise.

 

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More to come soon.

Mick.

Edited by Mick Drover
Grammar and spelling.
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Hi Mick,

 

Nice Choice for an RNZAF Corsair 👍 - look forward to where you go with this.

 

Just an FYI in the weathering/chipping, NZ5307 (front half) was a Glossy Sea Blue repaint over

the USN 4 Tone Corsair scheme, so before you see any Zinc Chromate or bare metal you would see

the original paint scheme first.

Of course NZ5272 was still in USN 4 tone camouflage when joined to NZ5307 forward section

 

It might be of interest, another joining of Corsair sections was done with a front half of a Corsair

belonging to VMF 214 (Pappy Boyington's Black Sheep Sqn) and an RNZAF Corsair rear section

(have seen a photo, so is true)

 

Thanks for sharing your build with us

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

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8 hours ago, Bell209 said:

Fast work, Mick! Looks good so far.

Thanks Rob. It's an easy one to put together so the pace has been good.

 

I'll have some more up over the weekend.

 

Cheers,

Mick.

8 hours ago, Calum said:

Nice work Mick.

Thanks Calum.

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3 hours ago, LDSModeller said:

Hi Mick,

 

Nice Choice for an RNZAF Corsair 👍 - look forward to where you go with this.

 

Just an FYI in the weathering/chipping, NZ5307 (front half) was a Glossy Sea Blue repaint over

the USN 4 Tone Corsair scheme, so before you see any Zinc Chromate or bare metal you would see

the original paint scheme first.

Of course NZ5272 was still in USN 4 tone camouflage when joined to NZ5307 forward section

 

It might be of interest, another joining of Corsair sections was done with a front half of a Corsair

belonging to VMF 214 (Pappy Boyington's Black Sheep Sqn) and an RNZAF Corsair rear section

(have seen a photo, so is true)

 

Thanks for sharing your build with us

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

G'day Alan.

 

Thanks for that excellent information. I had wondered about the chipping colour below the GSB as I knew 5307 was a repainted airframe. The blue underneath the GSB makes sense. I'll go back over those silver areas with an appropriate blue. Would it be plausible that the main gear bays would be chipped in the green primer? My line of thought here is the original four tone schemes had the green primer wheel bays however the GSB was later applied over it. So green chipped painted would make sense here, yeah?

 

And with regards to the rear half of the airframe, am I safe to assume that the primer was the green chromate as 5272 was delivered in the three tone scheme?

 

Again, thanks for the great info.

Mick

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11 hours ago, Mick Drover said:

G'day Alan.

 

Thanks for that excellent information. I had wondered about the chipping colour below the GSB as I knew 5307 was a repainted airframe. The blue underneath the GSB makes sense. I'll go back over those silver areas with an appropriate blue. Would it be plausible that the main gear bays would be chipped in the green primer? My line of thought here is the original four tone schemes had the green primer wheel bays however the GSB was later applied over it. So green chipped painted would make sense here, yeah?

 

And with regards to the rear half of the airframe, am I safe to assume that the primer was the green chromate as 5272 was delivered in the three tone scheme?

 

Again, thanks for the great info.

Mick

 

Hi Mick,

 

 

Happy to help :D

 

NZ5307 in its original  4 tone (or three tone), I believe would have had the main wheel wheels

painted in USN fashion with the lower colour (as in white), as in this photo of a rather bent RNZAF F4U-1a

e8dc0f7d-8a4e-4d5a-939d-5c3779268a20.jpg

(Probable RNZAF Official - Used for illustration purposes only)

 

Is it probable that the interior of the main wheel wells were painted GSB during its repaint?

I have this photo from the RNZAF Museum, of NZ5350 an F4U-1a ( I believe another repaint),

and the main wheel wells/doors are GSB

2014-071.54_1_1.t610ad874.m800.xLo-ggy1E

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

So, then you would have the wells per your question, having a layer of GSB, with a layer of white under

( with possible chipping/wear/tear showing), and a  layer of either Green or Yellow Zinc Chromate under the white, again possibly

showing through from chipping/wear and tear  (that would look quite spectacular actually ^_^)

 

Per your query re the tail wheel well for NZ5272, I would think it would have been Yellow Zinc Chromate,

(possible green) - Both Airframes were only operating for roughly two months when they had their

respective prangs.

The photo below is NZ5307 at Guadalcanal (third aircraft) after her repaint and before prang

PR4969.t5ea5d9d8.m600.xsveL2q30.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

Hope that's of help?

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

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12 hours ago, LDSModeller said:

 

Hi Mick,

 

 

Happy to help :D

 

NZ5307 in its original  4 tone (or three tone), I believe would have had the main wheel wheels

painted in USN fashion with the lower colour (as in white), as in this photo of a rather bent RNZAF F4U-1a

e8dc0f7d-8a4e-4d5a-939d-5c3779268a20.jpg

(Probable RNZAF Official - Used for illustration purposes only)

 

Is it probable that the interior of the main wheel wells were painted GSB during its repaint?

I have this photo from the RNZAF Museum, of NZ5350 an F4U-1a ( I believe another repaint),

and the main wheel wells/doors are GSB

2014-071.54_1_1.t610ad874.m800.xLo-ggy1E

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

So, then you would have the wells per your question, having a layer of GSB, with a layer of white under

( with possible chipping/wear/tear showing), and a  layer of either Green or Yellow Zinc Chromate under the white, again possibly

showing through from chipping/wear and tear  (that would look quite spectacular actually ^_^)

 

Per your query re the tail wheel well for NZ5272, I would think it would have been Yellow Zinc Chromate,

(possible green) - Both Airframes were only operating for roughly two months when they had their

respective prangs.

The photo below is NZ5307 at Guadalcanal (third aircraft) after her repaint and before prang

PR4969.t5ea5d9d8.m600.xsveL2q30.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

Hope that's of help?

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

Those images are really good Alan. Thanks for them.

 

The GBS main well with the white & primer chipping would be interesting combination but it makes perfect sense with the painting schedule they went through.

 

Does the primer colour of the tailwheel bay would also carry onto the fuselage. I assume that it does so I was going to use the chromate primer colour for chipping purposes.

 

I'd seen a similar photos of 307 in the same flight, however I thought that it was post prang. You can see quite a contrasting line between the forward and rear fuselages halves at the line just below the windscreen. Is this not correct? Though now looking at a different image it is visible that the line is not a neat straight edge along a panel. Perhaps a fuel stain from the leaking forward tank? This would support your comment regarding the image being prior to its prang.

 

I've seen another image of 307 on the ground looking like it was just joined together as it's looking pretty average. It's taken front the starboard side and shows the join line at the sliding canopy clearly.

 

This is really great stuff.

 

Thanks for your help with this. I've got a mental picture of how I want this to go now.

 

Mick.

 

 

 

12 hours ago, SAT69 said:

Very nice work. That cockpit is absolutely superb!

Thanks SAT.

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  • Mick Drover changed the title to Half 'n' Half - Corsair #1 Serving Unit RNZAF, Henderson Field, Guadalcanal
8 hours ago, Mick Drover said:

Does the primer colour of the tailwheel bay would also carry onto the fuselage. I assume that it does so I was going to use the chromate primer colour for chipping purposes.

 

I'd seen a similar photos of 307 in the same flight, however I thought that it was post prang. You can see quite a contrasting line between the forward and rear fuselages halves at the line just below the windscreen. Is this not correct? Though now looking at a different image it is visible that the line is not a neat straight edge along a panel. Perhaps a fuel stain from the leaking forward tank? This would support your comment regarding the image being prior to its prang.

 

I've seen another image of 307 on the ground looking like it was just joined together as it's looking pretty average. It's taken front the starboard side and shows the join line at the sliding canopy clearly.

 

I would hazard a guess, that if Vought has sprayed Zinc Chromate onto the fuselage exterior,

then most likely you may see it if the wear/tear/chipping was bad enough.

Having said that, I have seen the rear wheel well of an ex RNZAF FG-1D, and some of

the exterior paint made it into the wheel well (painted in GSB)

 

Re the photo of NZ5307 in flight with other RNZAF Corsair, the beauty of these digitized photos

is you can blow them up, and NZ5307 is certainly in overall GSB. Below is another shot with

NZ5307 as third aircraft, and you can see the overall GSB, with some staining forward of canopy

PR4972.t5e977741.m800.xqvx4tw_m.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

I know the photo you are referring to with NZ5307/NZ5272 splice

661ae087-8f99-42df-baed-fdb6ed33d24f.jpg

(Probably RNZAF Official - used for Illustrative Purposes only)

 

Hope this of help?

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

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5 hours ago, LDSModeller said:

 

I would hazard a guess, that if Vought has sprayed Zinc Chromate onto the fuselage exterior,

then most likely you may see it if the wear/tear/chipping was bad enough.

Having said that, I have seen the rear wheel well of an ex RNZAF FG-1D, and some of

the exterior paint made it into the wheel well (painted in GSB)

 

Re the photo of NZ5307 in flight with other RNZAF Corsair, the beauty of these digitized photos

is you can blow them up, and NZ5307 is certainly in overall GSB. Below is another shot with

NZ5307 as third aircraft, and you can see the overall GSB, with some staining forward of canopy

PR4972.t5e977741.m800.xqvx4tw_m.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

I know the photo you are referring to with NZ5307/NZ5272 splice

661ae087-8f99-42df-baed-fdb6ed33d24f.jpg

(Probably RNZAF Official - used for Illustrative Purposes only)

 

Hope this of help?

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

Thanks Alan. Looks like I'll go for a partly fuel stained section of the GSB and chromate for the chipping colour of the rear half. They're the photos I was looking at.

 

Cheers,

Mick

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Friday night and more progress. This time with the underlying chipping colour. The idea here is that I'll lay down some chipping fluid and then a patchwork of Sea blue. Over that will be a faded and distressed layer of the overpainted gloss sea blue. I've carried the same primer colour to the rear fuselage as it was in the original 4 tone USN scheme so the primer will be directly beneath the camo colours.

 

The primer colour is zinc chromate from the Mr Color lacquer range.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

35.jpg

 

36.jpg

 

37.jpg

 

38.jpg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
14 hours ago, Mick Drover said:

it was a day of colouring in the Corsair. Tamiya flat white, Gunze intermediate blue, Gunze Navy Blue and Gunze Midnight blue.

 

Hi Mick,

 

That's really looking great :D 👍

 

Quite like the contrast between the Glossy Sea Blue forward fuselage section, and

Non Specular Sea Blue on the rear section of fuselage

 

Regards

 

Alan

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12 minutes ago, LDSModeller said:

Hi Mick,

 

That's really looking great :D 👍

 

Quite like the contrast between the Glossy Sea Blue forward fuselage section, and

Non Specular Sea Blue on the rear section of fuselage

 

Regards

 

Alan

Thanks Alan. The mix of colours work quite well.

 

One question regarding the chipping of the forward half GSB. Am I correct assuming it is the green chromate colour and then  wearing further down to the bare metal?

 

Cheers,

Mick

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30 minutes ago, Mick Drover said:

Am I correct assuming it is the green chromate colour and then  wearing further down to the bare metal?

Hi Mick,

 

re: The forward section, GSB over sprayed over Original USN 4 Tone colour, then

which ever Zinc Chromate primer may have been, used then bare metal

 

The Zinc Chromate depending on manufacturing date could may well have had

Yellow or Green colouring.

 

Depending on when you are building your Corsair, will depend on Weathering/chipping too

 

Both NZ5272 and NZ5307 had about 6 weeks operational flying before their respective

prangs. both sections then sat in an RNZAF Bone yard for some months, so (similar to below photo,

but not necessarily the same), would have not been been as weathered as their Squadron mates.

A little further towards wars end probably so :)

DWCorsair2_1_1.t60020b6d.m800.xjKsKPzL9.

(RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions)

 

Regards

 

Alan

Edited by LDSModeller
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  • 9 months later...

G'dall all.

 

I've picked this one up after a wee break from it.

 

There's lots going on with paint on the Corsair. The original paint was wet sanded to reveal the chromate primer and metal in many areas. Now following up with lighter and darker shades of the three blues on it already. This one will tell a story. Paints so far have been Gunze acrylics. I've taken a look at the photos I have of this aircraft and it appears the split on the left side of the fuselage was one panel forward of where I have it. Neve just your decal instructions, right?

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

IMG20220612214722-01.jpg

 

IMG20220612214651-01.jpg

 

IMG20220612214607-01.jpg

 

IMG20220612214559-01.jpg

 

IMG20220612214554-01.jpg

 

IMG20220612214508-01.jpg

 

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To dial the chipping and ding'd up paint as per the previous post, I've gone back and added the dark blue over select areas to hide some the abrasive looking finish. I think I'm happy with how it has turned out. I'll turn my attention to the rear half to give it a similar appearance.

 

An of course there's all of the detail stuff to paint too - wheels, gear legs, prop, flaps...party on the bench...woohoo.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

IMG20220613204722.jpg

 

IMG20220613204756.jpg

 

IMG20220613204809.jpg

 

IMG20220613204818.jpg

 

IMG20220613204645.jpg

 

 

Edited by Mick Drover
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Looks fantastic. This is a great lesson in layering, texture and wear. I'm amazed how the surface detail doesn't seem to have suffered at all from all the paint and sanding. I really like the idea of using lacquer for chip-to layers rather than needing to protect them with varnish or something.

 

Just as a rough idea, I'm guessing you sand down your layers with very fine grit and apply paint very thin and low pressure?

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17 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Looks fantastic. This is a great lesson in layering, texture and wear. I'm amazed how the surface detail doesn't seem to have suffered at all from all the paint and sanding. I really like the idea of using lacquer for chip-to layers rather than needing to protect them with varnish or something.

 

Just as a rough idea, I'm guessing you sand down your layers with very fine grit and apply paint very thin and low pressure?

Thanks.

 

You're correct with your guess regarding the fine grit sand paper and thinned paint at low pressure. I use a beaten up old 800 grind soft back sanding pad to wear the paint away. If it's more coarse than that you can leave scratch and swirl marks in the paint when doing it. The air pressure is more by feel, I make sure that it's not too low to prevent spattering and not too hight to prevent spidering. Lots of layers paint makes for an interesting finish.

 

You're correct too regarding the lacquer as the chip to layer with the thin acrylic paint applied above it. I've used chipping fluid before but I find this is a quicker method to achieve a similar look. Plus I can do small areas rather than having to chip back the fluid in one session before it becomes difficult to remove. Once the decals is complete I'll move onto oils for some more patina and wear in the paint.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

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