DocRob

Great choice of kit, Edward, I have the large one from Tamiya waiting to be build. Most of te Tamiya decals are relatively thick and don't lay down perfectly. I recommend gloss coating as a base layer, which helps a bit and minimizes the risk of silvering, if the surface is even and glossy. Using Future / Pledge, has it's disadvantages, because it can react with Micro Sol, when you brush it onto the area around the decal. I had cloudy effects in the past, which luckily disappeared after spraying another layer of Future / Pledge after decaling. The Micro fluids help laying the decal better onto the surface (Set) and soften it a bit for better integration (Sol). The thickness of the decals remains the same and I think the only way to integrate them a bit better, is with some layers of gloss coat. Cheers Rob

Very nice result with the Corsair, Edward. I like the color rendition of the tri tone scheme, fits perfect. Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman, the canopy is sitting too high at the backside by purpose. Tamiya supplied two different sets of fuselage parts for behind the cockpit. The one I chose is for the opened canopy, which I will build. The other supposedly less high is used for the closed canopy option. I only had hoped, I could use the canopy itself for masking the cockpit, but that is no mor an option with these gaps. Cheers Rob

Poco a poco - step by step - I'm nearing the finish line construction wise. I masked and painted the protective glass and the inside of the canopies. The rear part of the canopy got the mirrors glued in before painting. These are made from silver PE, so i masked the reflective sides with a piece of Kabuki. You have to decide while building, if the canopy should be posed open or closed and there are different fuselage parts supplied for the area behind the cockpit. I opted for open and that leads to a gap with the canopy part slightly tilting forward. Because of this, I will paint the fuselage with a Kabuki tape masked cockpit, not using the canopy part as a mask, like I planned first. Cheers Rob

Wonderful Camel and rider. It's a nice touch, the helmet has the same color like his walker. Your figure painting skills are awesome and the figure brings a lot of life into the little scenery. I fail with figures regular and that's the reason, why my little Ammo Knight dio is not finished by now. Cheers Rob

I have two firsts to report, one being only a little thing. I did an inside and outside masking job with the Corsair's canopy. The plastic was so clear, I skipped my usual bath of Pledge. The second 'first' was, the HGW kabuki masks were really fitting, something I haven't found, despite having used lots of their masks. They never fitted. Very often I was dissatisfied with HGW products, like the super fragile wet transfers, their super sets for WNW kits, in my case for the Hansa Brandenburg, which was widely unusable and yes, the never before fitting masks. I take it as a good sign and hope for the best with many other HGW products, I have in my stash. Cheers Rob

Thanks Kevin, this time here, as we are double forum users . Cheers Rob

The Camel looks really great Greg, I like the unusual color scheme. Tear and weathering fit perfectly for a workhorse under harsh conditions. Cheers Rob

Amazing work Greg, the weathering looks spot on. These 1/20 scale kits are a perfect canvas for painting and weathering techniques. Hello Richard, the metamorphosis of simple plastic into wood, metal or cloth, is what drives me in modelling. I love it, when a plastic model looks metal heavy and experimenting with techniques is pure fun. I doubt, there is the one book, which teaches weathering and material appearance comprehensively. There are too many techniques and they differ from subject to subject. 1/24 cars are different from armor or planes or ships in 1/350. Different surfaces, materials and scale effect are to consider. I read a lot about weathering and material reproduction in my early days of modelling, but don't use my reference a lot lately. I try to imagine how something, I desire to depict would look in reality and then check my learned techniques and available materials for the best solution. Imagination is, I found, the key and it truly helps to walk through the world with open eyes, to see what light does to materials, how corrosion builds up, to get a feel for how shiny materials are. I would recommend to choose a project and then ask, how to achieve the desired look. This way, you have an anchor point for your weathering process and then, guess what, it's practice, practice, practice,... Last year, I painted an 1/20 Ammo Knight and developed a, at least to me, new technique similar to Pointillismus, using millions of tiny color dots to render the paintjob. The little dio, including the Ammo Knight is not finished, but I really enjoyed the project, which was only started to test the painting method, I had created in my mind. @RGL: Greg, If you feel your thread hijacked by showing these pics, please let me know and I delete them. Cheers Rob

Phew, almost done with the build. I build and painted all the flaps and there are a lot, thanks to the bent wing design and folding wings. All flaps are up, like I've seen on pictures of parked Corsairs. I also painted all the landing gear parts and covers, but these will be attached after painting the fuselage and wings. The outer wing parts are not glued in place for now. Some more details to add and then, it will be painting stage. Cheers Rob

Silent or not, thanks for following Dan. Cheers Rob

Not much to say, but praise the engineering of the wheel struts, a sturdy construction, despite the multiple parts used. There is a steel rod inserted into the main strut and Tamiya even depicted the brake lines, phenomenal. I use Brassin wheels, as I don't like rubber tires. The resin parts fit perfectly to the plastic, with only the small hole for the break line needs to be drilled out with a 0,5 mm bit. The best, the wheel struts are removable for painting. I don't know, why I used the SAC replacement on my first Corsair build, there is absolutely no need for. Cheers Rob

A true beauty. I really like the rigging and the prop. With the little base, it makes a very fine addition in the display shelf, Chapeau! Cheers Rob

Thank you Brad, you would wonder, what you could achieve with such a great kit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken, I will dirty the whole plane during the weathering stage of the paintjob. Everything should blend in perfectly, therefore, I want to have the complete picture. These Tamiya kits are amazing. When I started the Corsair, I bought their P-51D, although I have one from ZM in my stash. With my experiences concerning ZM's TA-152 in mind, there should be a quantum leap to the Tamiya level. Oh, there is a Mosquito snoring in it's box, along a lot of extra goodies. Cheers Rob

You should do yourself the favor, it's an amazing kit and gives you the feeling, there is not a lot of headroom for improvement, at least in plastic. I think no other company would it made so easy to build such a complicated airframe with all the included details. Cockpit and engine are kits in their own. There is a reason, it's my second one albeit with nearly 15 years between the builds. That from me I really hate redundance . Cheers Rob

With the Covid and it's side effects more or less gone, it's time to get back on track and do some sports. Boy was I missing that. I'm still a bit weak, but today I thrashed my powerless bones into the Atlantic and had a good swim. A bit uncomforting were the Barracudas in huge quantity and different sizes. I don't mind the small ones, but don't like the cold stare of the larger ones. Back to the Corsair. There will not be too many updates until something interesting happens. I have to admit, building and painting of the inner and outer sections of the wings bore me a bit. I have to take care to not make mistakes, where there are so many options considering flaps up or down, wings folded or not,... @Egilman luckily pointed out, that the wings of a Corsair only fold simultaneously, so gone was the one wing up option. The wings will not be folded, as my plane is land based. I finished all the assemblies for the wheel wells and inner wing parts, after painting tons of parts. ...and glued the wing roots and fuselage bottom to the rest of the fuselage. I think only Tamiya can produce so many strangely shaped parts to fit and lock into place with a tiny little snap. On my last Tamiya build, I used Microscale's Micro Mask for the exhausts and it took hours to peel that off, horrible stuff. This time, I inserted a small piece of Kabuki tape to the inside of the fuselage to cover the exhaust opening. This can be pulled off with tweezers after painting. The wheel wells itself are very beautiful rendered oob. Cheers Rob @Egilman

Your build log is as exceptional, as your finished HMS Sphinx is. The look and decoration of your Sphinx is somewhat different from other builds and a pleasure to look at. I will store your build log for when I start my Sphinx build. It's such a great reference, well documented and the pictures are very helpful and of high quality. Thanks for that. Cheers Rob

The engine got assembled, got some touch ups and was installed into the fuselage mounts. The assembly with all the cowling rings and myriads of exhaust tubes need careful alignment to get it right. Following the manual is advised here. This is what remains visible (looks better in real life, but the picture needed to be badly exposed) Luckily the only loosely fitted side cowlings sat in their places with only minimal gaps Cheers Rob

You built a wonderful ship ECK, the detailing and finish is exceptional. I will store the link to your build in my Sphinx index, as m ine is still in the box and waits for the Duchess of Kington to be finished. Good luck with the DoK, it's a superb kit of a very beautiful ship. Cheers Rob

You will love the kit. I recently built their Kai Phantom and it was a pure pleasure build. Fit and engineering of the kit are very much Tamiya like and so much better than their 32 scale TA-152 kit, which was quirky designed in parts and had many areas where detail was very soft, almost toyish. I even used the decals for the IP and panels, which worked well and looked good for the scale. There are no seat belts in the kit. I used some from KitsWorld, but didn't like them too much. The belts itself were mediocre, but protruding parts like pull rings and levers are too soft to look right. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mark, I'm blushing. There could be done a lot more to detail the engine, but today, I added the cowlings and only little will remain to be seen of the engine, so it's sufficient for the purpose. One of my main goals and driving forces into modelling is replicate materials, being it metals, wood, cloth, leather or plastic. To me it's absolutely satisfying to let plastic look like something else and I try to hone my skills for that with every build. Cheers Rob

On a live aircraft your never going to see it, I'm sorry I brought it up. Your work is exquisite, better than I could do.... Thank you again Egilman, very interesting informations you are sharing here. I read a lot about the Corsair, but I still learn new facts through your input. The plane I depict was written off, so apparently no photos exist, which show the primer color. The photos I've seen, all black and white, doesn't reveal anything which means for me, I will build my plane without salmon primer showing. No need to feel sorry, it's always better to now facts for sure and then decide if you follow this way or if you knowingly make an interpretation. Cheers Rob

This is the stuff, I bought from Amazon some years ago. Prym 977770, it looks rectangular under a magnifier, but it has to be painted or tinted, as it's white. The material is elastic and I believe, I can thread it through micro tubes as a turnbuckle substitute. Cheers Rob

I still have to do my first flat rigging, so no experiences to share. I will go easy with that and perform it onto my soon to build Gladiator in 32 scale. I planned to use Prym elastic flat thread for the task. I read a lot about PE-wiring to be more than a bit afraid about using it. There seems to be a considerable amount of expansion with temperature changes and it will be difficult to get all the lines taught. All second hand information, surely, but I have bought the Prym thread already for my build, which will be followed by a Sopwith Camel and then a Fe2b - Cheers Rob