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

[Aros]

I cannot confirm nor deny....

[Grossman56]

Ah you're no fun

[Grossman56]

Between swinging from T Cad and painting pilots, haven't had what you might call free free time. (Free time being non work time and free free time being those few minutes between house work, wife time, T cad time and pilot painting time, you know what I mean). But progress has been great. First of all, a new pilot for the oldest bird in the fleet and a cockpit make over as well.
BBD's new pilot is coming along...



This is NOT the finished product, but the leather jacket is, well I'd venture to say 90% there now. All the facial features are there but I need to smoothen things out a bit with some washes, the mask line still needs some work as well. The harness just has the original purple wash over it, I learned from painting portraits that a base of purple works wonders, the color of life I call it. The jacket base is burnt umber and the built up color is burnt umber with a touch of red, then altering the color using small amounts of black. Pants are washed with khaki green. The boots are painted with all the left over color from the jacket. If you use straight black, it looks like a hole in the pic. Something like mixing black and white and calling it gray. No No! There always has to be a third color. When doing portraits, I never use tube black, but mix my own with burnt umber and Prussian blue. Anyway, getting carried away here...

As for T Cad, I decided to push myself as well as just have some fun with it, so I started designing a canopy for a P51B, my thought is to get my feet wet on this project and carry it over to building a frame for the Corsair....
So far..


Just waiting for my new PC to arrive, then the fun begins..
Nothing like firing up a new PC. Just like there's nothing like bringing in a herd

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Elbee]

Grossman56

Well, well, well.....looks like you're up for the challenge, my Brother.

Let the adventure begin.

Great paint work on your new recruit.

Nicely done, SIr.

Best, Elbee

[Grossman56]

Thanks Steve, now if I could only get the dang link to work so you could peruse it in T Cad, I'd be off to the races. The problem is, I get the design laid down, then I see a picture of the real thing and see the things I could add....Does it ever end??

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Elbee]

No....

[ncflyer79]

Was looking at picking up a bubbletop corsair and was wondering if the decals now come pre-applied??? i was going to do a repaint and custom scheme. I hate removing the decals as I always seem to have trouble doing so.

[jetfool]

I believe they are pre-installed. Not hard to remove if you take your time and use some soapy water or goo-gone (check on scrap foam for compatibility). Paint will lift off but foam should be fine under decal. Best of luck.
Best Regards, Rex

[Grossman56]

My Bird cage just had the roundels on, which worked out fine. Ice applied to the decal can help with removal as well. Generally, they strip the surface down to the foam when peeled off, a bit of light sanding and you should be good.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Grossman56]

A bit off topic, but as we were going through the 3D printed pilots earlier, what the heck.
The oldest plane in the fleet gets a new pilot.

Finished him up this morning, detailed the watch, reglazed the eyes and the goggles, painted the fleece lining on the boots and glued him in.
Just amazing what a detailed pilot does to the looks.
As for BBD, I was trying to figure out just how old she is now. I figure over 1 for sure and possibly 12 years old and still going strong. She actually lasted a lot longer than the original BBD which was scrapped out at the end of the war. Such a shame.
The previous pilot was a makeshift glue job with the lower end of the stock pilot glued to an AOI pilot. Definitely not as good. I'll repaint the AOI guy after separating him and put him in reserve. Here's what she originally came with.


Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Elbee]

Danger,

Absolutely great pilot figure.

Nicely done, Sir.

Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Grossman56

Danger, your work has been incredible, pilots and your work on the Corsair and others. A pleasure to watch a Master at his Craft!

[Grossman56]

Thanks guys, as in painting, your latest painting is a sum of the knowledge gained from all the previous ones. Elbee, I'm sure you can relate as well as anyone else who has taken on a 'project' How many things can you point at and say , "Next time, I'll do such and such"
Besides, I absolutely LOVE painting pilots, don't ask me why, all I can say is that it gives me great satisfaction.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Grossman56]

Man, I'm thinking I should start a new thread dedicated to pilot painting!
Rainy day in Cody today, so I worked on a pilot bust that was in my first Avanti, he's not finished but this can give you an idea of where I'm going with him. I believe it is an AOI bust of Robin Olds.
Here's before:

And here's the 'so far'


Too much fun!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Dangerous,
Great job on Robin!
I am painting my Corsair pilot and want to understand your purple wash technique. Can you describe the wash ingredients and process. I have the basic idea just need to get it in my mind.
Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

Man, I'm thinking I should start a new thread dedicated to pilot painting!
Rainy day in Cody today, so I worked on a pilot bust that was in my first Avanti, he's not finished but this can give you an idea of where I'm going with him. I believe it is an AOI bust of Robin Olds.
Here's before:

And here's the 'so far'


Too much fun!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Danger,

Do it, Brother

You'd be crazy not to start a thread.

We've all watched the vids, now we could watch you.

I think it is a great idea, you have the technology, talent, and now some experience.

Best, LB

[Grossman56]

At present, I'm working on a few at the same time. The Robin Olds bust got a coat of black first of all, then a wash of Vallejo red, dried, then washed again with the red. I'm mixing the wash with one part paint and three parts water (approximately) in a plastic eye wash container, what you want to see is when you apply the wash to the sides of the container, you get a nice transparent effect. In this case, the face is so detailed that you can almost see it come alive even at this point. After it dried, I did one wash of blue, which helped a bit to give it a purple undercoat. In this case, with the black and red, I was getting a purplish tone anyway, so the blue wasn't all that important.
Black is a combination of colors so you'd be surprised at what comes out when mixing it with another color. Add yellow to black and you get green for instance, that's because there's a fair amount of blue in the color black.
So, then I used the Vallejo warm skin, mixed about three parts paint to one part water ( a dropper is a must) and applied it, let dry.
Now, comes the fun part. Using the Vallejo sunny skin tone, brown rose and Mahogany Brown, I painted the face, the colors must flow into each other, so you mix the two colors on the side of the tray and spend hours mapping out the face. Take a really good look at a photo of someone and forget the grass is green sky is blue stuff you learned in kindergarten and see the color for what it is. In the creases there is a SLIGHT amount of Prussian blue, beware, this color has a mind of its own! Anyway, I'll find a bust and take pics and go through it step by step, maybe the spare bust of the RAF pilot.
Meanwhile, I'll look at starting a pilot painting thread when I have enough info to create a guide.
Quick tip: oopsy paint can be removed with a dry brush, but if it doesn't take it all off, don't worry, the color is there somewhere on the face and it will blend in.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)