JHM's "regular" Corsair

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, wasn't going to post this for fear of breaking the non-What If rule but then I realized, except for the roundels, none of the markings are "real" anyhow.  Even the "Miss Texas" lettering is a hybrid from two other kits.

So, as any JMN would be quick to point out (if he could pull away from the accompaniment of his mum long enough to do so), "Hey, that's not authentic or accurate!"

Which makes it a "What If" by default.

At this point, the decals have been applied to a fresh clearcoat.
Lots of work left: dullcoating, weathering and exhaust stains, etc.

[cthulhu77]

Nice finish on that bird!!!!  You have to admit, the corsair is one of the prettiest out there...

            greg

[noxioux]

Nice.  That's a sweet job on the paint and decals.  If you feel guilty about posting a non-whiffer here, you're definitely not alone!

[Gary]

Oh my... a non WIF...

Geeze guys, excellent work is always appreciated here so who cares? I mean really Baz, it's both excellent and inspirational. Your work always gets me going.

And if any one sats anythng bad about it... I'll give them such a hard look, they'll know they've been looked at.

[John Howling Mouse]

Thanks, IMWFO.  It was just out of respect for the prior discussions/threads about bandwidth usage, etc.

At any rate, I linked it to my own photo album site so I don't *think* it uses up a lot of this site's bandwidth...but I'm probably wrong.

I put all the dullcoat on it today.  Have a look at the two photos for contrast b/w the gloss and final dull finish.

That Testors Acryl matte clear is fantastic stuff (when airbrushed) if anybody needs to really dull down a subject.  Great for matt clothing on diorama figures, too.  You often see fantastic dioramas with shiny clothing which you just know should have been perfectly matt (not including something that is leather, wet or otherwise supposed to be dull).

This Pacific bird's going to be quite weathered and faded.

[nev]

That matt coat makes a world of difference to how it looks  B)  

[Ollie]

Good show Barry!

You ain't that shabby with an airbrush, eh!

 

[dragon]

What?!  A non-What-If?!  Heresy!  Bring out the comfy chair!  


Seriously, beautiful build.  When do we get to see the completed Corsair? B)  

[John Howling Mouse]

Good show Barry!

You ain't that shabby with an airbrush, eh!

Thanks.  I ain't no Ollie yet, either.  

But, I'm working on it!  

Should be done this "regular" Corsair by the weekend.  I always get real nervous after the decals are done even though all that's left is usually the gear and the fiddley bits.  Weird, huh?    

[Patrick H]

great stuff Barry, looks fabulous



Patrick

[Ollie]

Oh, I ain't that good Barry!

 

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh, I ain't that good Barry!

Yeah, right.
Now, everybody do a site search on this forum under Ollie's name (and/or CFWOL) with the search terms "airbrush" and "fantastic" .... to see the proof!

[Captain Canada]

Beauty, Baz ! And I agree with Ollie.....great airbrush work there, buddy !

 

[John Howling Mouse]

Thanks, Cap'n.

I did the initial panel line weathering with a Berol Prismacolor ™ silver pencil yesterday.  Don't know if it's overdone or too subtle to show up in most pics.

Suddenly realized that I was supposed to leave the clear coat on the underside to assist with the panel line wash but I had gotten ahead of myself and dull-coated the whole thing.  The capillary action of the wash sure won't work as well on a matte finish.

D'Oh!   :dum:  

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, took some pics of the weathered panel lines to ask you guys if it was too much versus too subtle-----couldn't SEE the weathering in the photo!  Looked fairly visible in person but only if the lighting was reflecting off the surface just right.

Wanted a very Pacific-sun faded look and tried something new:
Instead of using the usual dry pastel dust, I saw that all the water had evaporated out of the water bowl I use for wetsanding, leaving a thick film of sanded Tamiya puttly silt at the bottom.

Stuff works like a charm!  Instant fade on the dark upper surfaces.  Nice and dry-dusty looking.  Of course, the subtle panel-line weathering with the silver pencil completely disappeared so that's being re-done today as well.  

Oh, you may recall, I had tried out my "non-compatible paint" technique by handbrushing Testor's silver enamel in strategic leading edges that would normally peel off.  Then, because my overcoat finish is a non-compatible Testor's Acryl, I knew the paint would come off over those silver-painted leading edges with a little pull from some tape.  It sure worked but a little too well in some spots as oversized hunks of paint came away.  

So, those over-exposed bits are getting re-painted today, too.  

This is taking longer than I expected but I'm trying to be patient.  I screwed up the underside panel wash since it's all in matte finish now so I repainted some of that as well.  

End result: this bird really will look like the complete and total mess that some of those poor Corsairs became during the Pacific war.  Here I was starting to worry that it looked too pristine like one of the restored Warbirds you see at airshows these days...