Lt. Gerald Anderson RCNVR’s FG-1 Corsair. +++++ Finished +++++

[VT Red Sox Fan]

The weathering on the GSB Corsair will be a great tribute to the aviator you are honoring and also have no doubt that many of us will learn a lot—following with interest—best, Erwin 

[Grey Beema]

Another technique to try is to abrade your way through the GSB to the ZYC and also to go through the ZYC to the aluminium (I usually prime with an aluminium spray can just for that purpose.  Use fine wet & dry.  The sides of the wear will be less sharp than a scratch...

 

See around the cowling leading edge and wing leading edges..

 

[TheBaron]

Very nice progress with colour Mark. Very insightful to look over your shoulder at the weathering process.

[Cookenbacher]

Wonderful project Mark, and the wear on the flap looks incredibly realistic. I'm planning my first foray into 1/48 (shut your mouth Cookie!) to attempt KD431 and will be bookmarking this thread for reference.

[mark.au]

20 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

The weathering on the GSB Corsair will be a great tribute to the aviator you are honoring

Thanks Erwin, I chose this airframe specifically because Anderson gave no less than Gray, yet only one of them is widely remembered.

 

17 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

Another technique to try is to abrade your way through the GSB to the ZYC and also to go through the ZYC to the aluminium (I usually prime with an aluminium spray can just for that purpose.  Use fine wet & dry.  The sides of the wear will be less sharp than a scratch...

Indeed, thanks for that Grey.  I’ve ended up using multiple techniques, see below…

 

16 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Very nice progress with colour Mark. Very insightful to look over your shoulder at the weathering process.

 

Then at times you would have seen some less than stellar workmanship!  But, I got there in the end.

 

6 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Wonderful project Mark, and the wear on the flap looks incredibly realistic. I'm planning my first foray into 1/48 (shut your mouth Cookie!) to attempt KD431 and will be bookmarking this thread for reference.

 

I actually painted over that flap, the finish was contaminated with some silver pencil dust.  Good luck with your KD431 - you have about as good a reference as you’ll ever find, I shall expect to see every scratch faithfully reproduced! 😉
 

So, today was proof-of-concept day.  I started with the starboard wing.  In the three steps illustrated below it shows the bare painted wing (bottom left), the area to be chipped wetted with water applied with a brush (bottom right) and the result of a few minutes randomly scratching away with a bamboo toothpick.

 

 

Overall it came out very well.  I had trouble knowing where/when to stop.  In a couple of places I went to the plastic and repaired with blue, yellow or silver paint or pencil.  Some instances I left as plastic.

 

Next, I painted the fabric sections a very slightly lighter shade of the base GSB and when I removed the masking found the tape had lifted some of the still damp paint. I should definitely have anticipated that.  I made repairs with blue, yellow or silver paint or pencil as applicable.  I further supplemented the actual chipping with a little coloured pencil virtual chipping; yellow and silver to blend it all in as much as anything.  
 

Last, I made the fabric sections a dull semigloss and the metal sections a gloss finish and arrived at this.

 

 

 

I think it passes muster.  I’m a little uncomfortable with it, but only because it’s such an unusual weathering pattern.  It’s not my norm…

 

Next I turned my attention to the cowling. Same process with probably a bit more pencil work as a proportion of the whole.  I was restrained on this, as stated previously I think this airframe would have had less weathering than KD431 so I’m trying to finish at ~50% of what I see on that airframe.

 

 

And finally, merely as a catch up to show what lease I’ve been up to, over the last few sessions I’ve also made up some of the other bits and pieces.

 

 

That’s all for now and likely until the weekend as I am working over in Perth for the remainder of the week.  
 

My next task is to design the markings and cut the masks; I’ve actually been a bit premature on that wing as I still need to paint a roundel on the underside, plus a few stencil decals.  In my defence I did want to complete the proof of the weathering and finish before going too far along, so a simple fix to the surface finish post-roundel is a small price for that.

 

Cheers.

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Mark, a benchmark Gloss Sea Blue—I will be shamelessly referring to this build on both F6F-5 & F4U-1D.  Well done!  Best, Erwin 

[shortCummins]

looking very nice so far, the beauty of Corsairs is that however you weather them you're correct 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[bigbadbadge]

Great to see the weathering effects going on Mark. Great job 

Chris

[AliGauld]

There is some very nice finicky work there.

Looking Braw.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Scooby]

Nice to see you back at it, I make a point of it to always follow FAA Corsair builds!

[Fritag]

21 hours ago, mark.au said:

I think it passes muster.  I’m a little uncomfortable with it, but only because it’s such an unusual weathering pattern.  It’s not my norm…

 

Me too (first sentence).  I empathise (second sentence).  It was outside my comfort zone when I tried chipping on a Spitfire, but having reference photo’s to hold onto (like with you) was key.

 

I like the varying sheen on the wings.

 

 

[mark.au]

On 10/4/2022 at 11:29 PM, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Mark, a benchmark Gloss Sea Blue—I will be shamelessly referring to this build on both F6F-5 & F4U-1D.  Well done!  Best, Erwin 

Thank you Erwin, but bear in mind that I mix all my colours to looks-about-right standard!

 

On 10/5/2022 at 3:43 AM, shortCummins said:

looking very nice so far, the beauty of Corsairs is that however you weather them you're correct 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

Cheers John, I shall lean into that comment throughout the rest of the build.

 

On 10/5/2022 at 4:33 AM, bigbadbadge said:

Great to see the weathering effects going on Mark. Great job 

Chris

 

It is growing on me.

 

On 10/5/2022 at 5:48 AM, AliGauld said:

There is some very nice finicky work there.

Looking Braw.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

 

Great description, one false move with the toothpick and it’s a repaint.

 

On 10/5/2022 at 2:18 PM, Scooby said:

Nice to see you back at it, I make a point of it to always follow FAA Corsair builds!

 

To quote my good friend Alistair, no pressure then.

 

On 10/5/2022 at 5:59 PM, Fritag said:

 

Me too (first sentence).  I empathise (second sentence).  It was outside my comfort zone when I tried chipping on a Spitfire, but having reference photo’s to hold onto (like with you) was key.

 

I like the varying sheen on the wings.

 

 

 

Thanks Steve, it’s growing on me and I almost like it now.

 

Upon returning from Perth I spent Saturday morning designing the masks.  
 

 

I’ve chosen to mark Anderson’s aircraft as 127.  This is based on a lengthy conversation with @iang on what number it might have been, and I’m guided by Ian’s research on this.  We can’t know for sure it was 127, but it seems the most likely based on the available info.

 

With the masks cut I set about finishing the wings.  Unfortunately I didn’t take any in progress pics but I’m sure the mask process is familiar.  I painted the white first, then masked it and painted the blue.

 

 

I needed a little touch up on one of them when the mask lifted a little bit of the white but otherwise all good, the masks worked.  While I was at it, I painted the s/n and ROYAL NAVY 

 

 

I still have to paint the voids in the R, A, O, etc., that’ll be some fancy brushwork later on.

 

After the roundels were set I weathered the port wing and finished both off bar the nav and ID lights.  I’m calling the outer wings finished.

 

 

I was quite happy with that.  Notice how the white paint layer is visible under the blue from side-on view.  That’s not a masking fail, it’s just the paint layers visible from the side.  I’ll run a little blue wash alongside the roundel to disguise that.

 

Next I painted the fuselage roundels.

 

 

 

It was quite tricky getting the mask on around the compound curves without it distorting.  I got there in the end but I can’t claim they’re perfect.  Unfortunately, I also can’t claim the aren’t undersized just a tad.  Actually, a tad in this case is about 1.5mm on the roundel OD as it turns out.  Most won’t notice - some of you experts will though - but in any case I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

There’s still a ways to go on this one.  Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by mark.au

[Dunny]

Mark,

 

1.5mm on OD - noted. I would have said superb work, but now it is merely exceptional. Consider your sleep undisturbed mate, as the rest of us marvel,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Grey Beema]

Lovely job Mark.

 

[AliGauld]

Oh wow that is fantastic work.

All this masking stuff is making me think about a cutter.

Don't have room and probably would have trouble sneaking the cost by certain people.

Looking forward to some progress.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Scooby]

Nice work on the markings. And yes, Ian is the expert to trust!

[bigbadbadge]

Looks lovely Mark, I would not have noticed the smaller diameter if you hadn't of said anything!!!

Great work,  the weathering on the wings and gun ports looks ace.

 

Chris

[mark.au]

8 hours ago, AliGauld said:

All this masking stuff is making me think about a cutter.

Don't have room and probably would have trouble sneaking the cost by certain people.

 

You won't regret it, Alistair.  There may be some short term pain, perhaps a quiet day or two, but it really doesn't cost more than two or three ladies haircuts (I advise that you pick your moment to drop this little nugget into the discussion, it could go either way afterwards; perhaps be near a door...).

 

Thanks for the comments Gents.

 

 

[Grey Beema]

11 hours ago, mark.au said:

 

You won't regret it, Alistair.  There may be some short term pain, perhaps a quiet day or two, but it really doesn't cost more than two or three ladies haircuts (I advise that you pick your moment to drop this little nugget into the discussion, it could go either way afterwards; perhaps be near a door...).

 

Thanks for the comments Gents.

 

 

I really like those Masks Mark and the ability to cut the ROYAL NAVY titling and serial number is remarkable.  Do you mind be asking - what cutter do you use, I've toyed with the Idea but never really committed.

[mark.au]

40 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

I really like those Masks Mark and the ability to cut the ROYAL NAVY titling and serial number is remarkable.  Do you mind be asking - what cutter do you use, I've toyed with the Idea but never really committed.

 

Hi Grey, I use the Silhouette Portrait 3 with the default [free] design software.  I haven't felt the need to upgrade the software yet, it's perfectly adequate [so far] for the kinds of masks I have needed.  If/when I need some art work masks, then I think I'll reach the limits of the free software.  The cutter itself has performed faultlessly for me so far. I've experimented with cutting thin sheet plastic too, it will also do that so opportunities to create parts that would otherwise be PE or scratch built are also there.

 

Today I made the airframe truly Gerald Anderson's by adding the aircraft number, the "X" and painting in the S/N and ROYAL NAVY.

 

 

Then, I set to on weathering the wing roots to see how that would go.  First, I painted the wing walks and weathered them down.  Next I masked them and used a green/yellow pencil to gradually build up the the paint wear around them and across the traffic areas.  When I was happy with the extent of paint wear down to the YZC, I added some further wear and tear with silver pencil chipping.  

 

"But Mark, why didn't you chip through the GSB with a toothpick to the YZC you already painted, like you did on the wings?" I hear you ask.  Well, because I didn't like the lack of control and the finished look just didn't work for me.  I can't explain it, but it's not my cup of tea.

 

 

 

I'm not completely happy with the scuffing/chipping in the forward port wing root but otherwise it came out more or less how I wanted it to.  I may yet redo that area - pretty sure I will actually - all it will take is a quick squirt of GSB and then tap, tap, tap away with the pencils.  

 

I then attached the flaps (also chipped but not very clear in the photos) and applied the finish coat to the wings only.  I still need to mask and flatten the wing walks some more, they still have a little too much sheen for my liking.  The rest of the fuselage is still as painted with only a very light protective coat of Future.

 

 

 

Next, I'm going to flip it over and finish the underside completely.  I'm still wavering on whether to pose it wings folded or not so the wings stay off for now.

 

This week I'm in Sydney for three days so no more progress until later in the week.  Cheers.

 

 

[AliGauld]

Beautiful work as always,

I have been delving around for a cutter and may just have to pick one up.

You, Sir are a bad influence. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Grey Beema]

Thanks for the info on the cutter - I'm definitely going to look into one of those.  I have a few (non-modelling) projects I can use it for too...

 

I like the way the Corsair is coming out.  I'm not sure about parking with Flaps down but that's another thing.  I think the weathering is coming on well.  Little by little is the key.  I have a Corsair in the pipeline (TSS though) so all of this is going into the "how to weather" memory bank...

[Dunny]

3 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

You, Sir are a bad influence. 

Isn't he just. I've been doing the same...

[mark.au]

14 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

I have been delving around for a cutter and may just have to pick one up.

You, Sir are a bad influence. 

 

10 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Isn't he just. I've been doing the same...

 

Cutter group build! 
 

11 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

I  like the way the Corsair is coming out.  I'm not sure about parking with Flaps down but that's another thing.  I think the weathering is coming on well.  Little by little is the key.  I have a Corsair in the pipeline (TSS though) so all of this is going into the "how to weather" memory bank...

Thanks!  You’re completely correct (and too polite to say it bluntly) about the flaps but the Tamiya kit’s engineering makes it a much more involved proposition to pose them raised than I wanted to take on.

[heloman1]

Bit late to this build Mark, I think I must have been lollygagging somewhere! Bottom of page two and you're at the markings stage! It's looking excellent.

 

Colin