Hello
modelers!
I
want to show the first aircraft model I made since I retook the hobby the
last year, after more than ten years of absence. This little bird has its
own story: I received it from an experienced modeler in one of the
meetings of my local club. The kit was inside a bag, with no instructions,
some parts glued and half painted, but still complete. It would be my
“Guinea Pig” to practice learned techniques, but then, my goal became
to bring it to life again.
I
selected one of the most exotic Corsairs that served in
Latin America . According to the sources, this was one of the firsts Goodyear FG-1D
Corsairs transferred to the air force of El Salvador in the late 1950´s. By the start of the war in 1969 against
Honduras, some of the Salvadorean Corsairs were already out of service and left in
derelict condition at the air bases. While military technicians worked
hard to make serviceable most of the available aircraft, others were left
as spare sources or placed as decoys in the main airfields, and this is
the scheme I preferred for the “FAS-202”. It might be historically
inaccurate, but what a I wanted is to show something different.
Click on
images below to see larger images
THE
KIT
I
don’t even know the brand of this kit, but it is quite old and
obviously, it has raised panel lines. A fellow modeler suggested it could
be an old Revell (good question for a trivia!)…I’m not completely sure
if this cowling shape corresponds exactly to the F4U-1D, but at the end I
didn’t worry too much about that. The kit required much filling and
sanding, specially in wing joints. There was no detail in cockpit (no
control panel included), landing gear and wheels. I had to drill holes to
simulate where the machine guns were placed.
PAINTING
I
painted the antiglare panel with Flat Black, then wing tips, nose and tail
in Chromate Yellow. Instead of using decals, I decided to try painting the
blue-white-blue rudder by masking and using my new single-action airbrush.
Then, I masked the already painted areas and covered the whole model with
Light Ghost Gray lightened with Flat White. All the paints used were Model
Master acrylics. I followed some old pictures from Soccer War Corsairs as
reference.
DECALS
The
Salvadorean roundels came from the Aztec’s Latin Mustangs I sheet.
As
always with this brand, they went easy and showed great quality. The
remaining decals were obtained with the help of some good friends: Aldo
Flores designed for me the missing black “FAS” letters and
identification numbers, and Carlos Arvizu printed them in a clear decal
sheet using his new Testors kit. I just followed the tip of applying a
coat of Future with brush before and after decals…
WEATHERING
I
only applied an oil wash of mixed Dark Umber and Black. Finally, a coat of
Model Master Flat Clear coat to kill the gloss surface and provide
protection to the entire model.
CONCLUSION
I’m
sure it can be done MUCH better than this, but this project was a way to
practice and experiment with techniques and tips new for me. The planes I
built before as kid were painted with a brush and did not survive home
cleaning and moving. For instance, I preferred to work with an uncommon
scheme without expensive investment in aftermarket items. I apologize for
any historical flaw or lack of accuracy. I have better projects in mind
for this topic…
Thank
you all and regards from Monterrey, México.
Fernando
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