Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan

[jetfool]

Aros,

The UFOs are there but we can't show the pictures or I would have to hurt you.

As far as the Aliens, they all live and operate in Washington,DC. They made an agreement that they would never live in any state.

LOL The Air Force Museum is huge and the aircraft are packed in where taking pictures can be challenging. You could spend a whole day just reading the things on the hallways. The Space shuttle is open and you can walk in it. Larger than what I thought.

Best Regards, Rex

[Aros]

Aros, The UFOs are there but we can't show the pictures or I would have to hurt you.

Yep, yep, Need To Know, Classified Ultra and all that...I need to talk the owners into a Sci-Fi class...

[davegee]

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Davegee, I thought of your museum models when I saw this, looked to see if you built it. Don't know if you know the builders but it was a very nice display.

Elbee, I hope you can use some of these to detail the scale nose gear on the P-38 and leading edge flaps/gear, ejection seat on your F-86. Waiting patiently to see your 3-D results.

If anyone travels thru Dayton, OH it is a fantastic museum. Need to spend at least a day or more to see everything. We didn't go to the restoration shop on this trip, but it is full of on-going restorations.

Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex: sorry for the late reply to your great pics. My computer went down hard with a virus and I had to take it into the computer geeks for them to exorcize the demons from the heart of the computer. Took a couple of days, but they cleaned it up best that they could. They saw a very aged computer, I've been doing upgrades and getting it fixed now and then for about 15 years or more. Time flies! They recommended it might be time to just go with a new computer built from the ground up for my needs. I think I'll probably take them up on that.

Loved all the pics. I remember seeing a very sad looking Memphis Belle on blocks out in a field at the Memphis airport for many years, only protected by a barbed wire fence. Vandals and critters did a number on the plane over the years. Eventually they moved it, still outdoors but under a protective tent like device on Mud Island. In time, the USAF had had enough and took possession of the plane again, and trucked it in sections up to Columbus OH. They worked on it for many years and it looks stunning today, and now INDOORS out of the elements! It was good seeing pics of it again, even though I did get to see it not too long after it was unveiled in its new location.

I loved seeing the 1/60 scale Saturn V and Launch Umbilical Tower all printed! Very well done. I did not see this a few years ago going through the museum the last time, so maybe it's fairly new. My flyable model that I built from 1992-94 was 1/34 scale, about 12-13 feet tall when all assembled. Plans at one time were to launch it down in Florida just one time for the 25th anniversary of the Apollo II mission, but those plans fell through for various reasons. I was able to have the NASM in Washington, DC accept it into their collection for permanent exhibit. It was on display in the Apollo To the Moon Gallery (210) for 25 years before the plan was made to basically "gut" the entire museum and redo every gallery inside it. It is still carefully crated at the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport until such day that it gets resurrected again, possibly at Hazy some time in the future.

[quitcherbitchen]

Like your Saturn. Thanks for posting

[davegee]

Like your Saturn. Thanks for posting

Thanks, it was a labor of love, to be sure!

davegee

[jetfool]

Guys I sprayed a very lite coat of clear min-wax over the top side of the plane and most of the white/ grey fading disappeared. I'm thinking if I mist a thinned lite coat of lite-grey/white paint over the fabric areas and top of fuselage it will give the faded effect. Your thoughts? The plane looks glossy in the pictures but the clear was still drying and is getting a dull look to it. Below are some pictures. Will weather the bottom once the top is where I want it.

Best Regards, Rex

[f4u ausie]

Not sure jetfool if u need any other advive,, doin just fine..... by ya self... luv the fuel stains i think the birdcage lends well to the dark oily dirty look ,,, as the btop lend well to the silver chippy look.. cant wait to c it finished

[jetfool]

Thank you f4u ausie. My first time using pastels (chalk) and I'm learning as I go. Looking at a lot of pictures to weather it. The birdcage was a pretty dirty bird in that environment. Rex

[davegee]

Guys I sprayed a very lite coat of clear min-wax over the top side of the plane and most of the white/ grey fading disappeared. I'm thinking if I mist a thinned lite coat of lite-grey/white paint over the fabric areas and top of fuselage it will give the faded effect. Your thoughts? The plane looks glossy in the pictures but the clear was still drying and is getting a dull look to it. Below are some pictures. Will weather the bottom once the top is where I want it.

Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex: that is really coming along great! I think the ultimate look desired for this plane's colors is a very flat finish. The environment that these planes operated out of in the Solomon Islands and other places in WWII were the worst for keeping some sort of finish on the airplane. I've been to some of these places myself, and it is absolutely brutal at times!

Regarding the spraying of clear flat over the chalks, I think we can agree that most of those sprays neutralize or almost remove or hide any handiwork you've applied to give it a weathered look. What I have found, that although the chalks aren't necessarily permanent, they do work themselves into the paint and foam somewhat, and so in most cases I have not found the need to preserve the weathering with a top coat. If it does fade (the chalks) after time, I simply add some new touches of chalk. I've had my Corsair over two years, and it looks pretty much the same as when I put on the first chalks. Again, referring to my Leonardo and Mona Lisa painting thoughts, that he continued to work on for the last 15 years of his life, I find that I can vary the look slightly as I see fit, literally years after I "finished" it.

The chalks are just one of the arrows in our quiver of doing a good weathering job on our warbirds. Judicious use of the airbrush, paints, a little very light sanding here and there, and you have the makings of a really fine looking flyable warbird model.

If you get a good flat finish with lots of realistic weathering as Walsh's and everyone else's planes definitely had, if you don't find a suitable flat top coat that doesn't remove your chalks handiwork, I don't think that is a problem. You'll probably find you get better at applying the chalks over time with experience. Just my two cents' worth!

Davegee

[Elbee]

I'm thinking if I mist a thinned lite coat of lite-grey/white paint over the fabric areas and top of fuselage it will give the faded effect. Your thoughts?

Rex, That is exactly the effect that Dave Platt described and did to to some of his scale aircraft. The idea that the further away an object gets, those more the colors blend into gray colors. The weathering is a similar effect. I say go for it. Best, LB

[jetfool]

Thanks Davegee,

I think I will go over the model with more chalk fading and leave it alone, The clear poly I'm using is satin so first I'll spray a flat clear over ( rusteloumn) the plane then apply my fading chalk.
Thanks Elbee,
Think I will do a test spray on a foam board to see which looks the best. Sometimes I have to step back and use the ole 001computer.
Rex

[Grossman56]

Hey guys, just my two cents worth.
I apply my Minwax to add some UV protection, to give it a gloss or flat finish and to firm up the foam, I've usually added weathering and chipping after the Minwax. In the case of chalks, I could see that a spray would blow it off and conversely, that a Matte finish would give the chalk something to grip to. If you think there's no grip to a matte finish, just try dusting one off! My Spitfire has has several coats of Minwax Matte finish and the only way to remove dust etc. is to use a big paint brush. Microfiber rags just stick to it!

Grossman56

[Elbee]

Grossman56, Great advice, Sir. Best, LB

[jetfool]

Grossman56,
I sprayed the model 3times before I applied the new paint with min-wax satin. Made the shell pretty hard. After painting I gave it a lite-coat of min-wax and that is where the fading dissappeared. The model is pretty solid, almost like fiberglass now. Trying the chalk fading again and it is looking good. I have that flat appearance all over the top of the aircraft. I think I will start on the bottom weathering and come back later to see if I need to add or remove some of the chalk. This new pastel weathering is really nice to do and you should try it if you haven't done before.
I used eye glass screws for the inspection screws.
The fading on the turtle deck and fabric surfaces has almost turned grey, looks like the pictures I have been using
Rex

[davegee]

Grossman56,
I sprayed the model 3times before I applied the new paint with min-wax satin. Made the shell pretty hard. After painting I gave it a lite-coat of min-wax and that is where the fading dissappeared. The model is pretty solid, almost like fiberglass now. Trying the chalk fading again and it is looking good. I have that flat appearance all over the top of the aircraft. I think I will start on the bottom weathering and come back later to see if I need to add or remove some of the chalk. This new pastel weathering is really nice to do and you should try it if you haven't done before.
I used eye glass screws for the inspection screws.
The fading on the turtle deck and fabric surfaces has almost turned grey, looks like the pictures I have been using
Rex

Hi Rex: that is really coming along! I think you'll find at this point the chalks will pretty much hang in there and any oils from your hands while handling it will just add to the patina of a weathered warbird of the South Pacific. Just a quick question: on the tail photo, I like the nomenclature, but I'm wondering if it should say "MARINES" instead of "NAVY? I don't know the answer to that, except that on my research for my two F4U-1A Corsairs that I painted in the colors of Lt. Bob Hanson's plane, the info I had was that it said MARINES on his tail. Maybe you have found that the early F4U-1s all said Navy, I don't know. Just a question, is all.

I assembled and painted the scissors struts just now, Thanks again for sending those screws, nuts, and the formation light that I'll add to the upper right wing tonight. The printed scissors parts were easy to route out a bit to make the screws slide through nicely and I have them installed now, along with some tubing to simulate the brake lines. I still plan on printing up the inside of the wheel once I get the STLs to print them up. No rush, I can do that any time.

I'll attach a couple of pics of the work I did this afternoon and evening. Definitely better with the scissors and brake lines, I think.

Cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,

Where have I seen that landing gear before. Looks Superb Dave, struts really dress up the bottom of the plane. Did you use the spacer I sent to go on the axle to give the clearance between wheel and strut?
The photos I have shows the word Navy on the tail. They gave them to the Marines because they didn't pass carrier landings so I guess that in a hurry to get them in combat they wern't concerned about the stencil.
Yes, the pastels have really taken on a life of there own and blend together very nice. I want to do the bottom to get the overall feel of it before I say I'm done. Still have the cockpit, Pilot, seat harness to do. Thinking of using a guitar string for the antenna wire. Details, Details Luv IT

Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

Corsair Connoisseurs, wanted to add some additional detail to the Gun Ports.

Dry fit only, so there'll be a little putty here to get these as flush as I am able.
Not bad, but once tape is added, not much to see here, but I'll know it is there. Best, LB

[davegee]

Davegee,

Where have I seen that landing gear before. Looks Superb Dave, struts really dress up the bottom of the plane. Did you use the spacer I sent to go on the axle to give the clearance between wheel and strut?
The photos I have shows the word Navy on the tail. They gave them to the Marines because they didn't pass carrier landings so I guess that in a hurry to get them in combat they wern't concerned about the stencil.
Yes, the pastels have really taken on a life of there own and blend together very nice. I want to do the bottom to get the overall feel of it before I say I'm done. Still have the cockpit, Pilot, seat harness to do. Thinking of using a guitar string for the antenna wire. Details, Details Luv IT

Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. Those scissors are very cool. I have my spacers on the desk next to all my Corsair parts ready to go, but I'll probably wait until the spring to put them on, provided my current ones that I came up with don't give me any problems. If they do, those spacers will go on earlier.

Good checking on the NAVY versus MARINE markings. A photo is all you need to prove your point in your work. When I competed, we had photos of the (P-47) plane that showed what looked to be an unusually large gap between the outboard edge of the flap and the inboard edge of the aileron. It was designed that way because at full flaps and moderate or more movement of the ailerons, if they didn't have that gap they could bind up so you couldn't get all the movement of the ailerons at a critical moment. The photo in our scale books settled the question for the judges.

Glad the chalks are working for you. They really add a subtle shading that makes the models more believable. Can you imagine the difference if you had never done this weathering and just flew it around your field in a pristine condition? This way everyone will get a lot more out of it,, and you for doing all that masterful work!

😁😁😁

Dave

[davegee]

Thanks, Rex. Those scissors are very cool. I have my spacers on the desk next to all my Corsair parts ready to go, but I'll probably wait until the spring to put them on, provided my current ones that I came up with don't give me any problems. If they do, those spacers will go on earlier.

Good checking on the NAVY versus MARINE markings. A photo is all you need to prove your point in your work. When I competed, we had photos of the (P-47) plane that showed what looked to be an unusually large gap between the outboard edge of the flap and the inboard edge of the aileron. It was designed that way because at full flaps and moderate or more movement of the ailerons, if they didn't have that gap they could bind up so you couldn't get all the movement of the ailerons at a critical moment. The photo in our scale books settled the question for the judges.

Glad the chalks are working for you. They really add a subtle shading that makes the models more believable. Can you imagine the difference if you had never done this weathering and just flew it around your field in a pristine condition? This way everyone will get a lot more out of it,, and you for doing all that masterful work!

😁😁😁

Dave

[davegee]

Corsair Connoisseurs, wanted to add some additional detail to the Gun Ports.

Dry fit only, so there'll be a little putty here to get these as flush as I am able.
Not bad, but once tape is added, not much to see here, but I'll know it is there. Best, LB

Looking Good, Steve!!

Dave