downwindleg/Aros ESM 50cc F4U Corsair Build (Electric Conversion)

[Brandon Moon]

Will be glad to help out ;) Looks great!!!!

[Aros]

Thanks Brandon!! (I suckered, er, I mean asked Brandon to be the Official Canopy Slide Mod Man for me and he agreed!) And the outsourcing train rolls on! LOL

I can't wait to get Brandon's expertise on the sliding canopy!

Thanks Prowler! I am undecided if I am going to go with http://cal-grafx.com/rivetspage.php or Chad's Rivets (decal sheet)...I will likely use a combo on the entire model but for the canopy I love the way the popped up rivets look (see photo) but I don't think it's scale. Open to suggestions?

[Brandon Moon]

WOOPS...sounds like, ...I got suckered, ...I took that one... I uh... , volunteered,..uh, stick, wrapper, and ??? LOL ;)

Always glad to help out friends and the community RC folks. Hey that's what it's all about ;)

[Aros]

Amen brother! Again, thank you!

[dkalwishky]

That canopy looks great Aros! Having seen Brandon's work on the folding wings on his Tigercat I can't wait to see what he does with making the canopy able to slide.

[Aros]

Thanks my friend! I can't wait either! :)

[Aros]

Trying to figure out what Testor's/Model Master's blue I am going to go with. I can't tell if Flat Sea Blue is the right color I want or not. It would definitely work, it's traditional Corsair blue but I am trying to decide if I want to go with this dusty/blue with hints of green (first photo) or the more traditional Flat Sea Blue (second photo). Thoughts? Appreciate any input.

[dkalwishky]

I'm pretty color blind so take it for what that's worth. :)

I can see a difference in the two pictures, I like the bottom one better.

The top one doesn't look blue at all.

[RRHandy]

The top was Non-Specular Seablue FS-35043, the sides Intermediate blue FS-35164 and the bottom was white. R. :Cool:

[boomer108]

The bottom picture definitely looks better.

[Aros]

The top was Non-Specular Seablue FS-35043, the sides Intermediate blue FS-35164 and the bottom was white. R. :Cool:

Nice! Good to know!

dkalwishky I am leaning your direction. I do like that subtle, washed out blue green color with the weathering (non specular sea blue apparently) but in the end I think the flat sea blue is calling my name.

[downwindleg]

I would go with the Federal Standard colors as RRHandy mentioned and tone that down for weathering or sun fading from there. You might think about a coat of silver after primer and before color at least in key places for rubbing or chipping color down to that for heavy wear areas....more scale.;)
Brad

[Grossman56]

I was thinking the same thing, I remember a video where the fellow used a silver base and taped off chips and also used the liquid stuff for blocking (Old Guy brain won't let me think of a better way of explaining it!)
Now, if you air brush, which I'm sure you will, you can go light on the paint to create that worn look. As a final touch, go over the areas where you want color fading with an extremely light coat of white paint or a slightly yellow white maybe. Best to have a spare piece of fuselage material to spray as you go along. you can experiment at each stage without jeopardizing what you have already, a lesson hard learned with the Spitty. Fortunately I managed to recover a fair amount, but could have saved myself the hassle.

Grossman56

[OV10]

Don't know where you found that greenish example Aros but ya gotta go with the blue ;)
Here's how those Marine Corsairs got their chipped paint and weathering. Good ol' western Pacific island salt.:Cool:

[Aros]

Good stuff, thanks fellas!

[Aros]

Next up on my "Scale Nerdiness Adventure" is how to go about painting the inboard and mid flap separator piece. The full scale (arrow pointing to the full scale piece I am talking about in the photo below) has these painted to match where the ESM's is clear. The challenge is going to be how to paint this piece without causing problems in the slots where the piece slides in and out based on flap movement. I painted a custom piece I made for my FMS 1700mm and the paint predictably stuck in the slots making a real mess of things. I don't want to have to remove the flaps that could be a major PITA and not worth it. There has to be a work-around.

[Twowingtj]

Aros, you've got the "scale bug" real bad. That's going to be a scarry maiden....:)

[OV10]

Aros..........if that clear flap separator is plastic try staining it. My recommendation is to use a Sharpie in the apropos color.
They now make a myriad of colors besides just black.;)
As a matter o fact......got 2 of their grey/silver metallic pens in my Sharpie jar. :Cool:
I tell ya.........it looks close to the color your looking for.:)

[downwindleg]

I agree with OV10, hit it with a sharpie of the right color and walk away. Unless you leave the flaps fully deployed after landing, no one is going to see it. The original piece was solid, like G-10 but I found that unless there was some flex in it with the ESM flap geometry it would not work right.
Brad

[Aros]

Good idea fellas thanks! And yes Twowingtj, I do have it bad and it is going to be a very scary maiden! LOL