International Plastic Modelers Society-Cebu

[bittel]

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messerchtmitt - can i have your first name? i might know you. been also collecting models. but more on U.S military. i knew a few man gud na mga modeler. i just never know till now. na pud diay diri sa istorya. kami before, we jst visit homes of fellow modelers. karon most of them got invovle also in different hobbies. ikaw, cge paka assemble till now? germans ka?, i assume

[Tarmac]

I'm about to spray the final airframe color on my Tamiya F4U-1A Corsair. The instructions call for the use of AS-8 Navy Blue, which is a lacquer paint in spray cans if I recall correctly. I'd rather airbrush acrylics, but it turns out Tamiya doesn't have Navy Blue on their acrylic lineup (go figure). Anyone here have a good formula for mixing navy blue using Tamiya acrylics?

[td209]

@Tamrac

I found this link Color Reference Charts -* United States Also try this The Ultimate Model Paint Conversion Chart hope it helps

[Tarmac]

@Tamrac

I found this link Color Reference Charts -* United States Also try this The Ultimate Model Paint Conversion Chart hope it helps

Thanks, downloading now.

I saw somewhere else on the internet that Navy Blue with Tamiya acrylics is 5 parts XF-17 Sea Blue, 3 parts XF-8 Flat Blue and 1 part XF-2 Flat White. I went to Stars and Stripes (Tamiya) yesterday and found they have no XF-17 Sea Blue. I might have to get it in Manila. They don't have XF-1 Flat Black either and the way things are it usually takes weeks, if not weeks for them to get new stock.

[td209]

@tamrac

It says on the referrence chart that all USN aircraft top fuselage after 1942 are coated with ANA 607 Non Specular Blue and the tamiya equivalent is the X-03 Royal Blue. I don't know if the F4U-1A belongs to that timeline. I have a 1/48 Academy F4U-4B Corsair but it's not completed yet and some parts are already missing.

[messerchtmitt]

UP.............................

[messerchtmitt]

Harold is my first name. I have been collecting model since grade school way back in 80's. I collected models from airplane (mostly military), tanks and figures, and battle ships. All of my subjects range from second world war (European and Pacific theater) to modern (Iraq conflict). I have US, British, German, Japanese and Russian model depending on the subjects that depicts the actual events. Example, I had a F4U Corsair of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington and Richard "Ira" Bong's P38 Lockheed.

I don't have friends in modeling world, I work alone and on my own. Nag model gihapon ko ron but dili na kaayo kay busy na sa work, before I used to finished 1 model a day, pagka karon mura cguro 1 year mahuman nako ni project, USS Melvin I forgot sa scale basta manufactured ni sa Lindberg. Nya airsoft napud ako gikaboangan ron.

I chose the name "Messerchtmitt" (note the correct spelling: Messerchmitt), its one of my favorite model the BF109 aircraft.

Hope to see you!

messerchtmitt - can i have your first name? i might know you. been also collecting models. but more on U.S military. i knew a few man gud na mga modeler. i just never know till now. na pud diay diri sa istorya. kami before, we jst visit homes of fellow modelers. karon most of them got invovle also in different hobbies. ikaw, cge paka assemble till now? germans ka?, i assume

[bittel]

ah ic,you should go on w/ you modeling. airsoft pud diay ka.hehehehe....i use to play a lot pud ana before. karon not so na pud. whats your group? kita kita lang nya ta sa mga airsoft games around town

[Tarmac]

After a three-month effort, I finally completed this 1/48 Tamiya Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat in the colors of VMF-223, a USMC squadron flying out of Guadalcanal.

Almost always the first thing anyone starts with is the cockpit. The completed model would show very little, so this one was mostly an exercise in self-fulfillment. Or as other modelers call it, "Building for God."



The cockpit has been dirtied up a bit, with some dry-brushed and acrylic washed wear-and-tear.

I modified the rudder to deflect the trim tab, as if set for takeoff. Since I nearly screwed it up, I decided to leave the elevator trim tabs alone.



The cockpit has been installed, the wings, fuselage and empennage glued together, and the canopy masked. I've also filled in and sanded the few unseemly gaps (this is a Tamiya kit and most everything fits great). The Cat is now ready for painting.

I first sprayed black over the panel lines. I wasn't even trying to keep it neat. Predictably, it looks like a total mess but there's method to this madness. It even has a name--pre-shading.



It's called pre-shading because the shading goes on before the final colors. The final colors for this Cat would be circa-1942 USN/USMC colors of gull grey on the undersides and blue-gray on the topside. Just enough of these colors are sprayed on the shaded panel lines that a bit of black still shows through to give a subtle hint of texture and weathering. Here I've sprayed on the final colors and applied the decals. You can see there's just enough black showing through to break up the final colors and suggest texture and a weathered paint job.



I then put in dabs of Tamiya Flat Aluminum to simulate chipped paint. Usual areas for chipped paint are the gun service panels on the wing, the walk, the cowl flaps and the area just below the cockpit sill. Because VMF-223 spent only two months on Guadalcanal, I decided not to weather the plane too much. I just needed to show that the machine has seen some action.



I then applied a black and burnt-umber water-and-dish soap acrylic wash to make the panel lines on the top side stand out.



The undersides were treated similarly, but with a lighter grey wash. Black or burnt umber would stand out too much against the gull-grey (nearly white) undersides.



I spent the final three weeks on finishing touches: Stuff like a heated and stretched sprue antenna wire (probably the most difficult part of the whole enterprise), judiciously applied Tamiya weathering pastels and paint touch-ups here and there. With a big sigh of relief, I finally declared the plane finished early August. The final touch was a display base made of kiddie play sand glued to a picture frame. Being the lazy bum that I am, I got around to photographing the finished product only last night.



What next?

[gian7675]

Nice build bro.

I like that pre-shading technique you showed

Nice cockpit too! too bad it got covered up.