Academys A-F4 Corsair - First attempt in 20 years :)

[dangerousdave]

Hi! Surfed the youtube-site and found this Asian guy sitting in his modelroom and just doing wonderful work. I think you know who he is

Haven´t finished a model in 20 years (I´m turning 37 soon) so I thought: I got all these kits, all them compressors, airbrushes, brushes, colors and so on, sitting around the house. Lets do this!

Got started, found that a local store sells vallejo model colors but found a problem: Im doing a single color version from 1945 that´s supposed to be painted in glossy navy blue. But there was only Royal Blue (70809) in the store. The glossy part aint important since that wore of the real planes in the pacific but the navy blue part: Anyone got an idea how to get navy blue from a Royal blue using white, black, and black grey using ratio? (they are the only vallejo paints I got). Im ordering some more paint online from ebay but it will take weeks to get here. Any thoughts on this are welcome!

Thanks you and thanks for a great forum!

Dave

[wyoroy]

Can't help on the paint since I have never used them.  But how do you like the Academy Corsair?

[dangerousdave]

Can't help on the paint since I have never used them.  But how do you like the Academy Corsair?

Im not great at reviewing kits, but my feel for this kit is that it was easy and fast to build. The fit was overall really good exept from: the undercarrige/wingsection needed some filler and sanding where it met the back part of the body. The engine/oil coolers on the wings, close to the engine, was not lining up well, alittle work and it came out ok. I´m really impressed with how the plastic hood fit to the body, flawless! The build went smooth and the instructions are well made.

Over the years I have bought a couple of kits and most of them have been academy. I dont think they compare to Tamiya but cost about half so a "beginner" like me like them

Dave

[wyoroy]

With care and some good basic skills I think they can look as good as a Tamiya kit.

[dangerousdave]

Sounds good!

Done with the pre-shade. My airbrush really suxs.. But since it´s just been x-mas and new years I have to wait

A little picture included!

[glennonrp]

I was under the impression that Academy kits were a bit below the Hasegawa/Tamiyas but a step above the Revells.  Maybe that's just the pricing?

Is the green on the canopy and wing for Olive Drab?
(edit)

Oh, I see you painted over that...  Will the preshading show through the blue?  I'm new to airbrushing.  Thanks to those same videos, I just bought a new airbrush and compressor.  I have an Iwata HP-C on the way.  So, I will be trying preshading soon.

[dangerousdave]

I was under the impression that Academy kits were a bit below the Hasegawa/Tamiyas but a step above the Revells.  Maybe that's just the pricing?

Is the green on the canopy and wing for Olive Drab?
(edit)

Oh, I see you painted over that...  Will the preshading show through the blue?  I'm new to airbrushing.  Thanks to those same videos, I just bought a new airbrush and compressor.  I have an Iwata HP-C on the way.  So, I will be trying preshading soon.

The green is "interior green" that I´ve painted the outside of the canopy with = the green is seen from the inside! And the other green all over the place is just me practicing!

I do agree that the Academy kits are below Hasegawa/Tamiya! I´ve have a couple of older revell-kits with raised panel lines that I´m saving for when Im so good I can rescribe them myself

The pre-shading will show! You just dont go over with a thick layer, you gotta be kinda carefull (so Im told) so I hope this will work. Truth told, its my first pre-shading!

[glennonrp]

I see, thank you for the clarification.  I had forgotten about the interior color for the canopy.

Have you rescribed before?  I keep hearing people talk about that but I don't know how it's done.  Have you seen any videos on that?

[dangerousdave]

I see, thank you for the clarification.  I had forgotten about the interior color for the canopy.

Have you rescribed before?  I keep hearing people talk about that but I don't know how it's done.  Have you seen any videos on that?

Now Worries Mate! I´ve tried re-scribing in my youth and it ended with bad words a kit that went to "heaven"

This "Asian guy" Im referring is this guy http://www.youtube.com/user/SMConsortium
he´s on this forum and has a tone of great stuff on there. He re-scribes a bit after sanding in one of his videos.

[glennonrp]

Oh, yeah, I knew you were referring to Dream Knight.  I watched his great videos on airbrushes already, but I haven't seen all of them yet, so I didn't know he did any rescribing.  Thanks for that head's up!

Also, thanks, DK, for the videos.  I appreciate the airbrush info!

[Quaralane]

Looking good so far, Dave.

[dangerousdave]

Looking good so far, Dave.

Thanks Brother! You got any modelbuilds going yourself?

[Myke]

Welcome back to the hobby. Preshading looks pretty sound man.
Good luck on the build

[dangerousdave]

Thanks Myke!

Got the plane painted today, mixed my own color, at least trying. You be the judge, I´m kinda unsure if came out ok. First went well with just royal blue and black and it looked great. As I put some white in it, that´s when everything went to poop and I struggled for a bit.

Here´s some pics!

Dave

[trainman]

Hi dangerousdave, seems to me that a lot of us eventually come back to the hobby, I’ve been in model railroading for the last 20 plus years and quit enjoyed it; but now days it’s mostly RTR that’s available. For me, there’s no satisfaction in buying “build-up” models. Pierre