giemme Posted March 10 Author Share Posted March 10 Hi everybody, here's a bit of progress on the gunsight/reflector area. I decided to scratch build a new armored glass with its built-in gunsight reflector, cutting in out from the clear plastic of an old CD case. Here it is, on the right, compared to the kit offering: I used a Dremel cutting disc and a cylindrical sanding tool to rough out the overall shape, which I then refined using micro-files. Then I added the side brackets that hold the reflector in place, cutting them out from 0.1mm brass sheet and gluing them with CA, and the reflector itself from 0.3mm clear PET and glued with Gator's Grip The black frame was brush painted with Lifecolor Matt Black. A bit of a dry fit: As it happens, at this point I noticed that I had angled the reflector the wrong way round, meaning that it should sit at a flatter angle on the horizontal compared to the armored glass So I removed the brackets, scratch built a new pair with the correct angle and glued them back: Kit gunsight painted and weathered (Molotov Chrome as base, then Lifecolor Matt Black fore the main body and a mix of browns for the leather cushion) The IP coaming was airbrushed with Tamiya Flat Black, then I stippled some Lifecolor Dark grey over it and drybrushed the "eyebrow" with Lifecolor Light Gull Grey - all sealed with W&N Galeria Flat Clear Here's another dry fit It's all quite crude, but still better than the kit part, I think. Nothing glued in yet, I still have to decide if I want to glue these and the windshield in before I mate the wings to the fuselage or afterwards.... I'm also considering using the kit second canopy as a mask for the cockpit, but this would leave the area immediately behind the bulkhead unpainted, since the canopy overlaps it, so I should paint it beforehand if I go down that route... decisions, decisions Meanwhile, all comments welcome Ciao 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Excellent work Giorgio, just finishes the office off well. As for the canopy? your call. Simon. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Beautiful work on the armored glass/reflector. Ive done the same and sacrificed a second canopy as a mask. I paint what needs to be done prior to fitting of the sacrificial canopy. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Well done for adding the actual gunsight reflector, something that usually gets missed even in 1/32. I like it when manufacturers supply more than one canopy with a kit and often use the closed option as a canopy mask. I have a box full of canopies ( mostly 1/48 Spitfire ) for just that purpose. John 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 On 3/10/2024 at 3:23 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Beautiful work on the armored glass/reflector. Ive done the same and sacrificed a second canopy as a mask. I paint what needs to be done prior to fitting of the sacrificial canopy. Agreed, agreed and agreed (but in 1/72 of course). That looks amazing Giorgio. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Loving the new sight parts. I think everything you have added looks wonderful and will make this build a real stunner. I keep picking up Corsair kits at the LHS then putting them down again as I can’t remember which ones are meant to have the cloth wings. I’m such a plum. Johnny 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 (edited) On 3/13/2024 at 4:56 PM, The Spadgent said: Loving the new sight parts. I think everything you have added looks wonderful and will make this build a real stunner. I keep picking up Corsair kits at the LHS then putting them down again as I can’t remember which ones are meant to have the cloth wings. I’m such a plum. Johnny Which variant do you want the fabric or metal skinned wings. Everything from the -1 birdcage to the early -4’s used during world war two were fabric. Late -4’s/4B’s, -5’s, -7’s and AU-1’s had metal skinned wings among a few other defining changes ? Edited March 14 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 On 10/03/2024 at 23:17, Spookytooth said: Excellent work Giorgio, just finishes the office off well. As for the canopy? your call. Simon. Cheers Simon, thank you! See below for the canopy On 10/03/2024 at 23:23, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Beautiful work on the armored glass/reflector. Ive done the same and sacrificed a second canopy as a mask. I paint what needs to be done prior to fitting of the sacrificial canopy. On 11/03/2024 at 09:41, Biggles87 said: Well done for adding the actual gunsight reflector, something that usually gets missed even in 1/32. I like it when manufacturers supply more than one canopy with a kit and often use the closed option as a canopy mask. I have a box full of canopies ( mostly 1/48 Spitfire ) for just that purpose. John On 12/03/2024 at 01:46, Cookenbacher said: Agreed, agreed and agreed (but in 1/72 of course). That looks amazing Giorgio. Thank you Dennis, John and Cookie I'll go as you say, and use the spare canopy as mask On 13/03/2024 at 22:56, The Spadgent said: Loving the new sight parts. I think everything you have added looks wonderful and will make this build a real stunner. I keep picking up Corsair kits at the LHS then putting them down again as I can’t remember which ones are meant to have the cloth wings. I’m such a plum. Johnny I shall set a notorious Alain @corsaircorp on your tail, to convince you to build a Corsair... Thanks! I hope you all had a nice Easter - I actually did, and ate a lot of food! Still, I managed some bench time between last and this WE, so here goes: as I mentioned above, I decided to use the spare canopy as a mask, so I brush painted with the relevant camo color the fuselage part right aft of the bulkhead (this is Lifecolor Non Specular Sea Blue) I then masked the canopy (the good one) and the windshield, and airbrushed a Tamiya Flat Black coat on them I then glued the gun sight and (after a substantial number of attempts) the armoured glass in place - I wish I had marked its correct position, as you'll find out in a moment CA was the glue of choice, after a few attempts with Gator's Grip.... Anuway, I then glued the windshield in place using TeT and obviously the armored glass fouled the windshield, so when I pressed the latter in position, the former got dislocated, the reflector pushed against the gun sight and debonded from one side See? I'll have to wait till the very end, when I remove the windshield masking, to see if I can fix this - in the meantime, I'll just leave it as it is. Outer wings: I filled in the wrongly positioned fuel tank caps, with CA, and rescribed them in the correct location, inboard-bound: I then glued the main spars to the fixed portion of the wings: and set the piping in place, through the holes I had previously drilled in said spars I glued the flaps halves together, mainly to dry fit them to the wings and see if there was any adjustment needed before I committed to gluing the wings to the fuselage The starboard inner flap, for this version, has no climbing step, so I filed it in with a mix of CA+flour. No adjustments needed on the wings so I glued them in: The front side of the bottom fuselage needed some persuasion, as you can see. Outer wings: The tail planes are only dry fitted; they are a pretty tight fit, so I'm thinking about leaving them off till the end, to facilitate the masking in that area. There's one minor issue, though: their mounting tabs are designed to intersect each other inside the fuselage, and they are visible from the tail wheel well, so I need to paint them. I will check with the tail wheel strut in place and see if it hides them or not, then I'll decide. That's it for this update, all comments welcome. Ciao 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Coming along nicely Giorgio. As for the tail plane/wheel area, maybe acard bulkhead? Simon. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Some great work happening Giorgio. I especially like those wheel bays. The whole airframe is looking good .......... very Corsair like!! T. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Excellent work 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 3/13/2024 at 10:56 PM, The Spadgent said: Loving the new sight parts. I think everything you have added looks wonderful and will make this build a real stunner. I keep picking up Corsair kits at the LHS then putting them down again as I can’t remember which ones are meant to have the cloth wings. I’m such a plum. Johnny Easy my Dear Spad.... Fabric wings for all but the -5 and AU-1.... Since most of the pics I saw about the -7 show fabric wings too.... But be careful, if you choose a -5 from Hobby boss, they issued a fabric wing for that one, which is a huge mistake and a lot of work to correct it.... Guess how I know it.... Sincerely. CC 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Really fine work Maestro G Especially the armored glass... See... I told it... You'll push a huge further in details !! About the tail assembly, painting the peg is enough to me because, it is still visible with the tailhook/wheel assembly posed.... No eyebrow panel for Big Hog at all .... Even when they tried to hang bombs on her... Are you going to patch her up ? I can look for the day of the friendly fire incident.... On 3/13/2024 at 11:27 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Which variant do you want the fabric or metal skinned wings. Everything from the -1 birdcage to the early -4’s used during world war two were fabric. Late -4’s/4B’s, -5’s, -7’s and AU-1’s had metal skinned wings among a few other defining changes ? Sorry cousin, but I didn't saw pics of -4 Corsairs with metal skinned wings... As for the -7, I think they used stocks of -4 fabric wings on the -7.... -5 and AU-1 have metal skin, no problems... But for the rest, I'm eager to learn. Sincerely. CC 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Masterful work once again Giorgio. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 11 hours ago, corsaircorp said: Really fine work Maestro G Especially the armored glass... See... I told it... You'll push a huge further in details !! About the tail assembly, painting the peg is enough to me because, it is still visible with the tailhook/wheel assembly posed.... No eyebrow panel for Big Hog at all .... Even when they tried to hang bombs on her... Are you going to patch her up ? I can look for the day of the friendly fire incident.... Sorry cousin, but I didn't saw pics of -4 Corsairs with metal skinned wings... As for the -7, I think they used stocks of -4 fabric wings on the -7.... -5 and AU-1 have metal skin, no problems... But for the rest, I'm eager to learn. Sincerely. CC Will need to review my files but I’m pretty sure Ive seen a few. If I’m wrong I will happily admit it though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Will need to review my files but I’m pretty sure Ive seen a few. If I’m wrong I will happily admit it though. Similarities does exists in the pylons pattern... The -5 used the same pylon pattern as used in the -4B, the cannon armed one. Now, I'm always eager to learn about. Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 Just playing catch up Giorgio - as usual some really neat detailing and clean building going on, really good work again! Keith 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 That's looking great Giorgio, and the wear on the main gear bay looks amazing 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Wow! That clamp on the nose looks pretty severe, you sure it was designed for use on plastic? 😁 Beginning to look like a Corsair now. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Red Sox Fan Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 G, amazing work--just catching up--I really like the work on the armored glass. In this scale, that an important element and I think you nailed it. Best, Erwin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted 20 hours ago Share Posted 20 hours ago Beautiful work Giorgio. I’m very much enjoying seeing what’s been going on while I’ve been away from BM for a while. I deffo need a Corsair in my collection. 🤩 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted 20 hours ago Share Posted 20 hours ago 20 minutes ago, The Spadgent said: Beautiful work Giorgio. I’m very much enjoying seeing what’s been going on while I’ve been away from BM for a while. I deffo need a Corsair in my collection. 🤩 That's obvious my Dear Spad... But wait only one Corsair ?? Well time to talk about that.. Huh... Scottish game ?? Sincerely. CC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted 1 hour ago Author Share Posted 1 hour ago On 01/04/2024 at 23:15, Spookytooth said: Coming along nicely Giorgio. As for the tail plane/wheel area, maybe acard bulkhead? Simon. Cheers Simon, thanks! I took you up on the card bulkhead advise, see below On 01/04/2024 at 23:30, Terry1954 said: Some great work happening Giorgio. I especially like those wheel bays. The whole airframe is looking good .......... very Corsair like!! T. Thanks Terry, glad you approve of! On 01/04/2024 at 23:35, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Excellent work Thanks Dennis, much appreciated! On 02/04/2024 at 10:15, corsaircorp said: Really fine work Maestro G Especially the armored glass... See... I told it... You'll push a huge further in details !! About the tail assembly, painting the peg is enough to me because, it is still visible with the tailhook/wheel assembly posed.... No eyebrow panel for Big Hog at all .... Even when they tried to hang bombs on her... Are you going to patch her up ? I can look for the day of the friendly fire incident.... Thanks for the info and the praise, Alain! I will patch her up, using the decal provided in the kit and "weathering it in", if you know what I mean On 02/04/2024 at 16:16, hendie said: Masterful work once again Giorgio. Cheers Alan, thank you! On 03/04/2024 at 20:45, keefr22 said: Just playing catch up Giorgio - as usual some really neat detailing and clean building going on, really good work again! Keith Glad you like it, K! On 04/04/2024 at 02:59, Cookenbacher said: That's looking great Giorgio, and the wear on the main gear bay looks amazing Thanks Cookie, quite happy with it myself! On 09/04/2024 at 08:42, Biggles87 said: Wow! That clamp on the nose looks pretty severe, you sure it was designed for use on plastic? 😁 Beginning to look like a Corsair now. John Not really, but sometimes one needs to take out the big guns... On 21/04/2024 at 18:19, VT Red Sox Fan said: G, amazing work--just catching up--I really like the work on the armored glass. In this scale, that an important element and I think you nailed it. Best, Erwin Cheers Erwin, let's hope it actually survived the windshield gluing 18 hours ago, The Spadgent said: Beautiful work Giorgio. I’m very much enjoying seeing what’s been going on while I’ve been away from BM for a while. I deffo need a Corsair in my collection. 🤩 Yep, you definitely need one. Knowing you, it's gonna be the Tamiya 1:32..... Thanks for the praise Been a while, uh? Let's see what I did, mostly during last (long) WE, seeing that last Thursday was Bank Holiday in Italy, and it included Friday to make for a 4 days week end Tail planes pegs: I went with Simon @Spookytooth idea, and scratch built a sort of bulkhead form plastic card. But first, here's the view without it and with the rear wheel and strut dry fit in place: Pegs are very visible - provided that one wants to look down there, once the model is done... Here's the bulkhead, from a scrap piece of styrene sheet with some attempt at riveting with my Curio cutter on it Painted and weathered: It was then time to start dealing with the engine cowling and the engine itself, which is basically the last stage before painting. Now, the interior of said cowling shows two distinctive features, please look at next picture: Inside the yellow dotted line, a ring, sitting right on front of the cylinders; the orange dotted line shows the frames that attaches to the cylinder heads (two each). Scratch building the ring was pretty straightforward: once determined the diameter of the cowling in the approximate location of the ring (it's 26mm, if anyone is interested) I used my Curio to cut it out (the inner circle is a 24mm diameter), then refined the inside with various Dremel sanding bits. I also copied the inner profile of where the frames are supposed to be, using some 0.6mm solder wire and bending it into place. This was transferred on plastic sheet (0.5mm thick), hand cut and refined to get this (at the bottom of the ring): I needed 18 of the small blighters, so after some thinking I decided to try and use my Curio here as well. I tried to reproduce the shape and size, and after a few attempts, mostly due to the need of re-scaling the design, I got a viable piece. Here's a dry fit: Serial cutting: I cut stripes from it for better handling during the holes drilling (this was done manually, these pieces are very much at the bottom limit of the cut for the Curio and it was impossible to reproduce such detail with it) and here are the 18 of them plus some spares You may have noticed from the pic of the real subject I posted above that those frames are supposed to have four holes in them, but with that kind of material and at this scale, I deemed it impossible to achieve (cutter or not), so I had to compromise on accuracy. Anyway, I taped in the engine as reference and glued them in with TeT Here they are without the engine: and with the ring, again glued in with TeT Some refining has already been done, mainly brushing over some TeT to remove the obvious debris and smooth some edges, but a base paint coat will tell if there's more to do. Next tasks: scratch building the cowling flaps opening mechanism and tart up the engine - next time, though All comments welcome Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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