DocRob

Thank you Ken, I always try to learn something new with every build and like to share my experiences as much, as I like to read these of fellow modellers, which very often helped me during my builds. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias, I'm indeed seeing the finish line with this very entertaining build. I will apply a matte coat next and see, if more has to be done. Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman, I'm blushing, but am also pleased, you like my efforts. With every build, I have a certain goal in mind and in this case it was all about painting and weathering. I was bored a little about the construction phase and was looking forward to the final stages and to get he looks, like I had them imagined. The airbrushing sequence plan was made long before I even started cutting plastic from the sprues. The finishing weathering touches were developed accordingly. I find it very difficult to give dark coatings a good depth and believable weathering. When I start a project, I try to absorb as many informations and pictures as possible to get a feel for the subject. Historical pictures are sometimes difficult to read, with strange color renditions and are often retouched (one of the first uses of airbrushes) . Actual pictures of restored builds are not better, the restauration process altered the appearance of the subject often. What helps me, forming a picture is what I call 'enhanced imagination'. I use all these sources, try to evaluate their correctness and analyze where they could fail. Then I add a dose of gathered experience with materials in real live, like how paint flakes, how wear shows on different material, how corrosion effects material,... When I was young, I made 3D animations on my 486 PC and was always on the hunt to collect surface textures with an early digital camera, to let the 3D Models look realistic. I kept that open mind and 'brain collect' looks of materials and textures, which I visualize, when I start a project. As you can see, the creative process is more or less finished with the how-to plan and the rest is applied techniques. Thanks again for your encouraging words, as I'm living in a remote spot of the world with no other modelers around and only the forums for bein connected to like minded fellow modelers. Cheers Rob

Some more weathering done. I've seen many corsair builds, where the whingroots were weathered and chipped like hell and the fuselage, nada, not a bit. I did some brush chipping with interior green and then added a variety of other stuff, to let especially the top color look a bit more interesting. I used AK's pencils in different grey and blue shades, creating chips and various dots everywhere. I used an old brush and dry brushed some of the intermediate blue for highlighting onto the darker blue. Then I used Tamiya's weathering pastels in different light colors and dabbed these onto the rivet lines and then brushed them smooth. This simulates an oil canning effect a bit and can best be seen in the spine section of the plane. I dabbed more pastels onto the upper parts of the fuselage to resemble sun bleached parts. Fine sandpaper was carefully used for some abrasion effects. I like the result now and will wait for a day or two and decide then, if I find something is left out. Weathering has to be logical and well believable distributed, where it helps to lean back and evaluate a bit. The results show better to the real eye than on the photos, but I will show some anyway. Cheers Rob

Thank you OC, it's a fun project and I like to build up paint and weathering in a layered fashion. The key for doing that, is work in very thin layers, not to destroy the superficial detail, which pleases the eye so much. On the wing roots, I applied, aluminum, pre shading, hairspray, interior yellow, clear, hairspray again, sea blue, black for the markings and clear coat, nine coats in all and all the detail is still there. Multiple layers create depth, which is the goal of the process. I'm thinking about adding another layer onto the sea blue, to enhance the depth furthermore with some oil color post shading. Cheers Rob

Today, I muddied my Corsair up with Flory's dark grime wash, a clay based liquid, which I applied over the whole airframe, after adding a drop of soap for better distribution, with a flat brush and let dry for about half an hour. The stuff is dried by then and looks totally grimy and dead flat. Then, I wiped the excess away with a dry piece of cotton cloth in the direction of the airflow and the very fine clay stays in all the panel lines and other crevices. The best part about this wash, you determine the grade of dirt or you can remove it completely wiped down with water, if something went wrong. It's clearly more visible on the lighter underside, but also noticeable on the darker upper side. The good think, my pre shading is still full visible. As a break, I made some detail painting on the landing gear, adding the brake lines and other tiny bits and pieces (not shown) and chromed the cylinders with AK's chrome tape for the first time. It worked ok, a bit more adhesion would have been great on these parts with small diameters, but it looks chrome to me, so thumbs up. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, right now, the chipping looks a bit harsh too my eye, but that's on purpose, because washes, filters and further weathering will tune it down a bit. The benefit in using masks for the walkways, insignia and stencils is, you can chip through them with the hairspray beneath. I always liked chipping best, when simulating the real thing, like tear and abrasion, instead of painting something on. I will have to do so in some spots of the fuselage, only to match the wing chipping. Cheers Rob

Do you remember the hairspray? I covered the chipped primer with a coat of clear and applied hairspray onto it, before I airbrushed the wing color, walkways, insignia and stencils. Now was the exiting moment to see, if it still works after so many layers of paint. I dampened the areas with water and a drop of soap and let it soak for half an hour. The paint was a bit more resistant, than the primer chipping, but it worked. Using different tools, like toothpicks, a stiff brushes and some tweezers, I got what I wanted. Now the whole plane was covered with a clear coat as preparation for further weathering. Cheers Rob

Yesterday, I finished to apply all the stencils on the wings, that were covered by other masks before. ...and while having the Nato black in the airbrush, I added the stencils on the wheel covers. ... and then I realised, my god, I had completely forgotten to apply the 883's to the side of the fuselage. No big deal, except for covering the whole plane again, with different materials, in case of some white color bubbling somewhere unwanted. I also made the corrections to the stars and bars, while being on it. I think, the airbrushing phase is done so far, except for clear coats. Cheers Rob

I cut masks myself from different materials often but couldn't find it so easy Mike. Only cutting edges sharply with no 'overcut' is no gimmie. I used different brands of masks like Eduard, HGW, Maketar and now 1ManArmy. I used Montex masks only once and didn't like them too much. Vinyl to me is subpar material for proper masking. It stretches and even worse, it shrinks. For me that means, if there are quality masks available, I will use them. As I said with decals, It's normally very late in a build, when it comes ti insignia and stencils. Not a good time to fail, with all the work that went into the project. Cheers Rob

Thank you Chris, it's not that hard to do. The kit builds up easily with a certain bit of discipline. The painting is mostly a question of dedication and thoroughly planning of the process. For me it helps to have a kind of detailed picture in my head, about what I want to achieve. Then I plan the sequences, first the building in subassemblies, like engine and cockpit and last, the exterior paintjob. According to my visualized finish thing, I develop my plan, how to get there in detail. There it helps, to have some experience with the processes, to be sure, that technically, nothing goes wrong. I'm relatively astonished, how small the advancement is, between my two Corsair builds. The first one, a Birdcage, I built more than 10years ago and it was not much worse than this one and I used about the same techniques. The Birdcage was my first airplane build after reentering the hobby and I wanted to go all out to test myself. I assume, that except from the experience, which makes things easier, it's all about, what you are prepared to throw into a build and what your goals are with it. Cheers Rob

I agree with Egilman, decals will maintain the mainstay, when it comes to insignia and stencils. To my knowledge 1ManArmy is the only producer of stencil masks and they cover about 30 different planes only in 32 scale. There are HGW' transfers, which also look very convincing, without the typical decal issues. I used them on many different occasions and found them difficult to apply on a constant base. Some didn't adhere well and flaked off partly, ... High quality decals do look good on a model, when applied correctly and there seem to be developments too, which make them appear more natural. I haven't tested Eduards newer decals, where they claim, you can remove the carrier film after application. If this works, it's the way to go. Masking isn't for everyone. The casual modeler will be overwhelmed with the needed effort and discipline. It's so easy to make errors during the process. Guess how I know, having to make corrections on the stars and bars, due to not having followed the process entirely. I hate corrections and try to prepare everything in order to commit none. Errors to me are a show stopper, as the hinder my smooth work flow. Thanks to you all for your interest in this important topic. Decaling or whatever technique to apply markings and stencils is one of the last steps in building a model and it's heart breaking to fail that late. Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman and you are absolutely right, working with masks is a challenging, time consuming process, but very rewarding in the end. I started airbrushing in the 80's, but on paper or foil, cutting all my masks for myself from frisket film. By this time, the only 'plastic thingies, I sprayed were motorcycle helmets. There was a challenge between airbrushers, being able to cut masks from frisket film on a blown up balloon, without destroying it. I never made it . Cheers Rob

I sprayed the insignia on, not without issues. As said in the last post, I applied the outline masks first and then covered all the surrounding areas properly. I did this without first to put some transparent adhesive foil onto the masks, like the manual suggests. An idea, I should have followed, as the masks on the fuselage sides stretched a bit, which was not noticeable to my blind eye. After spraying, I had two bad spots, which need to be corrected, because of this. I tried to place the stars by hand and found it nearly impossible, so I took out my transparent Tesa film (Scotch tape) and applied strips over the masks to fill into the outline mask. Now placement was a lot easier, means not only RTFM, but also follow it . Scotch tape on inner masks. Applied onto the plane into the outside masks. After removing the unnecessary ones. The background color was AK's Real Color Insignia White and for the blue, I used Vallejo's Model Air Insignia Blue, which I luckily found in my stash. The blue seems to be very fragile, so I will save the markings with a clear coat, before I mask of the corrections and some stencils, which go onto the insignia. Cheers Rob

That's an interesting looking vehicle, like an elongated version of a Tatra car with that fin and aerodynamic design. Will be interesting to see, if it builds equally streamlined. Cheers Rob

Today, I managed to airbrush all the stencils on the underside and started with the stars and bars. 1ManArmy supplies these as masks in their set. They recommend to apply them with the help of transparent low tack frisk foil, to make placement easier. I didn't have this type of foil at hand, so I placed the outside masks by hand and hope the star and bar masks fit, after the white color has dried. I used Insignia white, which is a bit off white and sprayed it a tiny bit translucent, to not look too uniform. Cheers Rob

Thank you, CDW, it looks indeed very real, as it's the same process like in reality. You can't beat the real thing . This is the stuff. I have the narrower variants and they are similar to Tamiya Kabuki tape. A bit thinner, but also with minimal stretch and a bit more tackiness, which I found not too much, except for areas, where I applied hairspray for chipping. On these places, I underarm de tacked the tape a bit. I can't claim the idea as mine, as I read it first in a Vanguard manual, where @James H James recommended it. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken and Edward, these masks are easily the best thing, I had for stencils. Better than decals for different reasons, better than the HGW transfers, which look equally good, but are a bit of hit and miss, no matter how good the surface is prepared, some of them don't adhere. Unfortunately only 1/32 for planes and some generic sets for 1/35 armor. I don't think, it's technically possible to cut them finer than that. As much as I like them, the process is exhausting and you have to be very careful, to avoid mistakes. I will use them on other builds, but will use decals, when I want quicker results. Cheers Rob

The walking areas got sprayed along with the black stencils on the top side of the wings and the fuselage. I used Tamiya NATO black acrylic mixed with Mr. Leveling thinner and carefully applied the very thin mix with low pressure and in thin layers onto the masks. The manual suggest not to use pure black, which I never considered and spray the layers until you can't see the yellow of the masks anymore. That was exactly what I did and I was fearless enough, to make the first try directly on the tail wing. I have to say, I'm really amazed, how the results look. The masking is tedious and consumes lots of Kabuki tape, but the stencils look like tattooed into the surface color. I still cannot believe, how fine they are cut. That's the Corsair with the walkways and stencils, which are hard to spot in this view. This is the area from the previous post after spraying, even heavier macroed. Some more on the tail I didn't want to mask all of the stencils completely and cut some templates from 40mm wide Tesa Professional (much cheaper than Tamiya Kabuki tape and nearly as good) onto my cutting template with differently sized cutoffs. I de tacked the template, because I didn't want them to lift the masks when removing them. I'm very pleased with the outcome and the results make the tedious masking work nearly forgotten. Hasta la vista silvering . Cheers Rob

OneManArmy is a relatively new company from Belgium, if I'm not mistaken. They cover different planes with their stencils and the sets include the basic markings, like in my case the stars and bars. Obviously they only make masks for 1/32 kits. The manuals are very thoroughly made and really help during placement and application. Cheers Rob

My Corsair got the mad stenciling disease . I applied fitted strips of tape for the wing walk areas and then added all the black stencil masks, which are not covered in these areas. The OneManArmy masks are very sharply cut into Kabuki tape and the manual shows very well, where to place them. There are differences to the decal placing suggested by Tamiya, but I decided to ignore these. I gave some thought, about how to spray the stencils, without having to mask the entire plane. I will try to use a template cut into 40mm wide de tacked Kabuki tape for masking off every single stencil, one after the other, lets see, how this works. I used a rubber brush, to push down the masks around the letters properly and will use NATO black for the stenciling. Cheers Rob

I had an itch of remembering and searched for my MikroMir instructions and found a red post war Fokker D.VIII, flewn by Ernst Udet in air shows. That might be interesting for you, as it doesn't carry the double Spandau MG's. Cheers Rob

Man Popeye, that's some interesting stuff. So entirely different from plastic scale modelling. It has to fly in the end, that makes all the difference. I really like the woodwork and scratching you are doing on my favorite WWI plane. I would really like to see you applying lozenge camo instead of the completely wrong Richthofen Rot. There were some yellow black diamond colored navy birds made for a change and as an eye catcher. I've only built a plastic Fokker D.VIII from MikroMir in 32 scale, which needed some serious scratch work, including brass soldering for the struts, that was pure fun. GasPatch of Greece makes very fine resin MG's in different scales. Their largest are some 08/15 in 1/16, at least a bit closer to your birds scale than the 1/48 ones . https://www.gaspatchmodels.com/machine-guns-1-16/ Somehow you triggered something in me with your build. I may visit the only LHS on my deserted island, which carries about 10 plastic models, but one wooden flying plane, I think it was a P-40. Maybe I will have a closer look. Cheers Rob

Please be patient Egilman, there is hairspray dozing under the paint on the upper wings, only waiting to be activated. Cheers Rob

I reworked all the camo colors, until I liked the effect and color rendition, starting with the intermediate blue, then white and then sea blue. I enhanced some panel contrasts, using some drops of white in the mix. Plane 883 has a distinctive streak on the front side area of the fuselage, which I slightly painted on. I also modulated the sea blue, to let it look a bit sun bleached on the top areas. This is all preliminary and will be enhanced in the weathering stage. The first walkway markings where masked and airbrushed, using Nato black. The propeller was also sprayed with Nato black, after receiving a dose of hairspray over an aluminum base coat, which will allow some chipping, later. Cheers Rob