This
is the 21st Century Toys 1/32 Corsair done up as an F4U-1D (the
kit can also be built as a -1A and is actually a bit more accurate right
out of the box as the earlier version). As this was my first 1/32-scale
build in nearly six years, I opted for the simple all-sea-blue scheme with
a yellow cowl. The kit was built about 99 per cent out of the box with
only a few very basic resin and PE details added to dress up the cockpit.
These
kits have generated a lot of interest recently, and rightly so; 21st
Century Toys has seemingly done the impossible, giving us high-quality
injection molded kits with an excellent level of detail at a price you
might expect to pay for a very basic 1/72 model! With some creative
scratch-building and a few fairly inexpensive after-market details you can
build yourself a very credible model for a lot less than many top of the
line 1/48 kits! I spent a total of $35 on this kit (not counting paint or
glue) and worked on it for about six weeks, bringing the cost of the kit
to considerably less than 50 cents an hour!
As
there are already a number of very-detailed full build articles accessible
elsewhere on the web, I won’t go into this build at excessive length,
but offer a few highlights of my own experience in the form of an outline,
and share some of the things I’ve learned in the process of this
most-enjoyable project.
1.
Things To Watch Out For:
Screw
Holes
As
noted in all the various on-line reviews of the TFCT kits, there are some
very prominent screw holes in the starboard fuselage half and lower wing
section. Whether or not you elect to assemble the model using the
kit-supplied screws (which I didn’t), the holes need to be filled before
any painting is done, and while TFCT supplies a selection of plastic plugs
to cover the screws, these don’t always fit well and it’s essential
that the holes are filled so as to sit flush with the model surface.
Interestingly
enough, the holes in the fuselage are just the right size to receive
several discs of .010 or .015 styrene punched out on a standard paper
punch! You can fill the holes part way up with these discs, then finish
off with Tamiya Basic (or other) putty. Also, when applying the putty, you
can use the paper punch to put a perfect-sized hole in a piece of Tamiya
masking tape, put this right over the hole and you can apply the putty
with no mess or “spill over” and nothing to clean up later on!
Landing
Gears
Along
with the other TFCT kits, the Corsair has a number of working features
including retractable landing gears, position-able gear doors (with
massive toy-like hinges) and movable canopies. I’ve always felt that
such “working features” tend to compromise accuracy, but here it’s
fairly easy to correct them and with a little TLC you can greatly improve
on the kit’s OOB toy-like qualities. The
landing gears are a case in point; designed to pivot and fold (just as
they would on the real thing) they are quite wobbly and unstable as is and
need to be cemented solidly in place for a proper static model. This is
good to know BEFORE you start work on the model!
Radio
Mast
As
built-up right out of the box, the mounting hole for the radio mast sits
too far aft. I used a small file and the tip of an X-Acto #11 blade to
make a new hole farther forward (just aft of where the canopy comes to
rest when open). I puttied up the old hole and sanded it smooth when
dealing with the main fuselage seam. I drilled a #76 hole in the base of
the mast to receive antenna wire later on.
Click on
images below to see larger images
2.
After-market add-ons:
QuickBoost
# QB 32029:
resin seat with molded-in belts
This
was super-glued into the kit-supplied base, airbrushed Polly Scale US
Interior Green (with the rest of the cockpit) then detailed with PS Khaki
for the lap belts, and PS Israeli Early Tan for the main belts with
Citadel Mithril silver for the buckles and metal parts. It adds a great
deal of verité to the cockpit and is a massive improvement over
the very-basic kit-supplied seat.
QuickBoost
# QB 32014:
resin US Mk VIII gunsight
This
also makes a simple, inexpensive but highly effective improvement in the
cockpit, replacing the toy-like clear plastic piece that comes with the
kit. I painted the part overall with Polly Scale Engine Black and
highlighted the molded-in handle hardware with Citadel Mithril Silver.
Eduard
#EU 33003:
pre-colored PE Dashboard/Instrument Panel
While
TFCT’s molded-in instrument panel is OK and could be dressed up very
effectively with some instrument decals and a few scratch-built switches,
I wanted to try one of Eduard’s pre-colored sets. I was very pleased
overall, but didn’t much care for the RLM 66 (scale black/gray) color
Eduard used for this instrument panel; I re-painted the outer-most panels
with glossed Polly Scale Engine Black to match the other panels in the
cockpit.
3.
Scratch-built items:
Throttle
quandrant (starboard cockpit wall): carved from styrene strip and painted
(like all the other main instruments) with PS Engine Black and PS Clear
Gloss.
Trim
wheel (port cockpit wall): .010 styrene punched out with a paper punch (a
tad over-large, but I’m satisfied); handle made from .030 styrene rod
Forward
gear-bay doors: .010 styrene, shaped using Aires resin doors as a pattern.
The new plastic doors were mated to the appropriate kit parts, which were
then trimmed to match the proper shape.
Radio
antenna; .012 copper wire threaded through #76 holes and anchored to one
of the large locator bosses inside the fuselage. My original plan had been
to use the head of a small pin as an anchor on the outside; but this would
have been unsightly and completely out of scale; I’d already drilled the
now-too-large hole for the pin, but decided to call it good anyway and
I’ll know better next time!
Engine
wiring: TFCT’s representation of a P&W R-2800 is excellent,
especially considering the price of the kit. It lends itself beautifully
to detailing. I airbrushed the whole engine overall Citadel Mithril
Silver; the main housing for the prop hub on the front was then
hand-brushed with Tamiya Metallic Gray. The corrugations in the cooling
fins were highlighted with a wash of The Detailer, black, and I painted
the pushrod details PS Engine Black with PS Clear Gloss. I drilled a
series of small holes in the wiring harness (trying to make them as
unobtrusive as possible) and added wires (using old cable harvested from
an obsolete printer and some silver-bearing solder) to provide a
suggestion of some “busy-ness” on the engine front (not, it should be
noted, a perfectly accurate representation, but good enough to satisfy
me).
4.
Surface Preparation, Painting and Decals
It’s
very important to dip the clear-plastic parts of this kit in Future before
masking and painting them. I found that, without Future, the plastic has a
tendency to cloud up and blur quite noticeably. Upon obtaining a new set
of clear parts, I dipped them in Future, allowed them to dry overnight
under a cover (to avoid picking up dust or hair) and cure for 48 hours
before masking.
To
achieve a beautiful glassy-smooth finish on this model I first went over
the bare unpainted plastic with 1800 and 2400 grit MicroMesh abrasive
cloths. This provided an ideal “grip” for the water-based acrylic
paint I use.
Before
the main Sea Blue color was applied, I stuffed some wet paper towels into
the engine compartment as a mask and airbrushed several coats of Polly
Scale Reefer Yellow on the front of the cowl. Once this was dry, I masked
it off and proceeded to spray the main color.
I
sprayed four thin coats (without primer) of Polly Scale US Sea Blue (at
about 12 PSI) followed by four thin coats of PS Clear Gloss. I allowed the
gloss coat to cure thoroughly over night, then I wet-sanded the model with
MicroMesh abrasive cloths in a graduated series of 4000, 6000, 8000 and
12000. Decals were applied and sealed in with one additional coat of PS
Clear Gloss, hand-brushed; the surface was so smooth and even that the
well-thinned gloss coat went on without a single visible brush mark—so
there!
The
set of eight HVARs (high velocity aerial rockets) mounted under the wings
were assembled and airbrushed with two light coats of Polly Scale Olive
Drab (the warhead color); I stood each rocket upright, sticking the fin
section into a small piece of poster putty. When the OD was dry, I
hand-brushed a couple thin coats of Gunze Steel Metallic on the main body,
fuse and fin sections of each HVAR. I discovered that I can hand-brush
Gunze, Tamiya and Polly Scale acrylics quite beautifully if I thin the
paint liberally with Tamiya X-20 A thinner and always keep my brush wet
with the thinner. The paint will not clump or blemish (as it does if the
brush is too dry when it runs out of paint) and goes on with a surprising
creamy smoothness, especially (as in this case) if applied over an
airbrushed base coat.
The
decals that come in the kit are simply exceptional and are certainly far
better than many of the sheets you find in much more expensive kits (are
you listening, Tamiya, Hasegawa, Academy???) These decals go down very
easily and settle almost perfectly with one light application of Micro
Sol. The whole decaling process was pretty much trouble free and a
pleasure from beginning to end. I’d also like to acknowledge the author
of a fantastic idea that I picked up from the ARC Tools n Tips Forum
during this build; Joseph Osborn suggested using a round tooth pick
chucked into a pin vise for manipulating decals, and—WOW!!!!—what an
amazingly brilliant idea! This helps solve one of the most vexing problems
modelers face when decals “fold over on themselves;” all you have to
do is gently slide the toothpick under the decal and lightly twist. It’s
one of those ideas that so completely brilliant and yet so utterly simple
you wonder why you never thought of it before! Thank you, Joseph, for
sharing this great idea with us here on ARC!
Conclusion
I
had more fun working on this kit than I’ve had in a very long time, and
I learned something new and helpful almost every day in the process! While
it’s only the third 1/32 scale plane I’ve done since returning to
aircraft modeling back in 2001 it definitely won’t be the last! My only
problem now is; what do I build next?
Jerry
(Old Blind Dog)
|