Coming along a treat mate.I did see one done as an Argentinian one at Littleport show the other week.Looked really great along with a Buckeye.Im sure i remember in an old Military in scale magazine somebody did an article called The Football war and had honduran airforce aircradt etc.Will shut up now im rambling
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Nice progress Andrew.Comment
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Good to have you all on board chaps!
Tony - sorry, think I forgot to acknowledge your post on Revell's Brit Corsair kit. Good to know and I'm watching a couple on Fleabay at the moment!
Richard - My book actually covers the so called Football wars....in fact it was the last time Corsairs saw combat....somewhat ironically fighting other Corsairs. It's also likely to have been the last dogfights between piston engined aircraft!
Joe - Thanks for the contribution on the bombing, you got there before I did!
Ok chaps, so a bit more on the bombing front, my Warpaint series book on Corsairs has this to say on the topic from a design perspective:
"At the time a theory existed that a fighter could fly above an enemy formation on which small fragmentation bombs could be dropped. For this purpose the V-166B [prototype Corsair]. was designed to have a teardrop-shaped sighting window in the lower fuselage beneath the pilot to enable him to aim and release up to forty 5.2lb (2.36 kg) bombs stored in two small bomb bays within the wing outer section . This feature explains why the Corsair remained with a floorless cockpit throughout the production life of the F4U-1 until the F4U-4 arrived."
The book then goes say that this was changed to the square one and moved slightly aft for the production version.
Oh and for those of you that may not be aware, dropping bombs on enemy formations was something some Luftwaffe units tried....successfully....as things got desperate towards the end of the war.
One of the books I have by a German pilot who lived to tell the tale, tells of his unit experimenting with the concept. I'd need to check back how successful it was overall but I do remember reading of what I think was the first test, when they dropped either a 250kg or 500kg bomb over a US formation......with it hitting a plane. I can only imagine the impact the force of such an explosion would have had on an aircraft.
Thanks again chaps!
ATB
AndrewComment
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Hi chaps.
So the cockpit is done, along with some dry fit pics below.
Since I took these the fuselage has been joined and the wings attached. Pics to follow in due course. Just a shame that you won't see much of the detail once it's buttoned up!
Oh and that finger in one of the shots is my little finger.....
ACW as usual.
ATB
Andrew
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Ok chaps. So got the primer on last weekend but since the below shot was taken the pre-main coat mottling and main base coat have gone on - the main coat less than hour ago, so more pics to follow in due course.
ATB
Andrew
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Lovely paint job on the office Andy. In 1/72 its not an easy job to get a good result but that is really nice.SteveComment
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Nicely done mate.Comment
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OK chaps, so latest update....- Pre-main coat mottling done. Chose a darker colour than usual as I was going for a less worn effect. Forgot to take a picture though DOH!
- Main coat on next....this was a mistake as it turns out though.
Normally I do the wheels first and then 'mask' them by filling them with AK's plastic masking putty and then do the main colour. - Masked for the wheels wells but Corsairs have vey complex shapes compared to most Brit planes and despite my best efforts had a quite a bit of seepage
......which is why I normally do the wheels wells first. DOH x2!!! - Repaired the seepage but lost a lot of mottling in the process, as I needed to ensure an even coat all over....so this will have to a newer look than I had intended....
- Pre decal gloss coat has been applied but after the below shot was taken.
As for the colours....what a palaver. The destructions call for Glossy Sea Blue as per real life but AK (I have their US Navy and MC set) don't call it that. They seemingly call it Deep Sea Blue...at least according to the picture on the back of the box....but looking at the bottle I was not convinced. But having no choice I gave it a shot and having sprayed it a test piece, I think it looks ok....at least to my very untrained eye.
According to Dana Bell, wheel wells and the cowl flaps could be light grey, albeit it was not apparently the norm on the wheel wells. I've gone with that to bring a bit of variety, although in hindsight the blue is showing through a bit in places.
Pics below...but note that the blue has turned out much lighter in the pic than in real life.
ACW as usual.
ATB
Andrew
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Which paint......
Taster shots (pre-gloss coat and much darker in real life)
Very good fit....in this pic, the cowling including engine was only dry fitted.
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