JHM's "regular" Corsair

[retro_seventies]

*applause*

always a joy to see you getting stuck in Barry - even when doing something reasonably normal, you still have that refeshingly outside the box attitude towards doing things...can't wait to see the putty experiment, and those panel lines...

great stuff, always....

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, here she is: Pacific Warbird in all her weathered, muddy glory.

I used two strands of Ms. Hitler's hair for the aerial wires (which are sort of incorrect, anyhow, but I like them like this).

The top wire kinda started doing its own wave pattern so, in these photos, that top wire is a computer edit.  But I will re-do it once my patience has been regained.

This is the one I will build a muddy diorama, c/w some palm trees and other hand-made plants (heaven help me!).  I'll post photos once that diorama-base is completed.

[John Howling Mouse]

Another view.

[John Howling Mouse]

Here is how bad that top aerial wire really looks.
Funny how that's all I can focus on, now.
Not much of a positive-thinker, I suppose.

[Captain Canada]

Pretty regular, baz............



And as for the squiggly aerial causing you consternation-

" As you go through life, no matter what your goal, keep your eye on the doughnut, and not upon the hole "

[nev]

You could do what I do Baz and leave the ariels off.  In this scale they'd be nearly invisible anyway, and when you look at photos of WW2 planes you can almost never see them.  Thats my rationale anyway!

I can't wait to see the diorama...    

[Leigh]

That's beautiful
I'm a big fan of heavy weathering on WWII Naval birds 'cos all the pictures I look at most of them barely have any paint left on at all. I'm lucky enogh to have a pic of the actual FAA Hellcat I'm doing and even the D-Day stripes have almost completely worn off. Keep 'em Grimy!!!

[John Howling Mouse]

You could do what I do Baz and leave the ariels off.  In this scale they'd be nearly invisible anyway, and when you look at photos of WW2 planes you can almost never see them.  Thats my rationale anyway!

I can't wait to see the diorama...  

In one of the British modeling mags, there had been an editorial written in by a reader re: when the wires stopped being installed on WWII fighters as they were replaced by strictly blade antennas or something (there are likely several guys here know the tech-stuff better than I do).

And, IIRC, it was even fighters from the early '40s that this guy said should not be depicted as having strung aerial wires, anyhow.

Which, to me, is strange since, to this day, you still see them on many aircraft.
And it's hard to get good close up pics of fighters in their original configuration that do show the lines because, as you say, they are nearly invisible at a distance anyhow.  I've seen grainy WWII in flight pics but I'm not always sure where the terminus of the wire is.  And the restored Warbirds seldom have authentic fittings like that since they rely on more modern, high-tech blade aerials and such.

And I never understood how some planes which appear to have a wire strung right into the canopy deal with the sliding of the canopy.

If my next attempt to string one of my wife's strands of hair as that top wire fails, I will definitely just leave the wires off.

After all, wouldn't want Ms. Hitler to end up with a bald spot now, would we?

 

[Leigh]

Dunno about that, Sigourney was bald in Aliens 3 and it worked for me!

[Ollie]

Well Barry, she's a beauty.

Did you mud up the under side of the wings too?  Those wheels will fling the muck around.

As for the wires, some aircraft had the antenna, but no aerial as they used VHF radio.

Some of the same type used HF radio with an aerial.  Gotta check the refs for that.

 

[Eddie M.]

I have heard that if you take an old pair of your pantyhose ,er..I mean your wife's pantyhose and tediously remove one strand of the elastic fiber, that works as an aerial and is taught to boot.
   Eddie

[John Howling Mouse]

Did you mud up the under side of the wings too?  Those wheels will fling the muck around.

Thanks, guys.

Yep, I carefully splattered her up from underneath, too where the wheels would spin muck up and the prop wash would spray some stuff back, too.  

And, for the diorama, I bought my "mud" today:
terra cotta version of Laguna's "Dry*Hard" self-hardening clay.

Plan is to make my usual ogee routered-edge MDF base but the inside of the base will have an "organic" shape (picture a weird golf green's shape) recessed about 1/4", into which I will pack some of this clay, making it look like a hot summer day in the Pacific after yet another heavy rainfall.

Muddy water (mud-colored clear resin) will partially fill various tire ruts including those of a 1:48 Willys Jeep (from Verlinden) which will be in the scene.
The higher points of the patch of ground will be left matt, as if they've already dried up in the intense Pacific sunlight.

I'm going to try my hand at making some foliage for the first time, too.

Have my eye on those new Preiser 1:48 figures...

Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!

[John Howling Mouse]

Finally located a good source for archival WWII pics: right from the source (Chance Vought's own website):

http://www.voughtaircraft.com/gallery/gallery.htm

Be sure to use their "Download Hi-Rez" option then supersize the photos.
Could not believe how battered up and uneven some of the working bird's surfaces really were!