1/48 Douglas F4D-1 Skyray

[pourquoi61]

I've had this kit a long while, having previously built the 1/72 version. I only wished in real life it saw combat during its service, because I am going to give it the "in action" look.

[pourquoi61]

This is a Tamiya kit and I see no build problems, if I hit one I will let you know.
First job wash the plastic in warm soapy waters. Once dry I broke out the Tamiya white to spray door interiors, air intakes and under carriage.

Break out Tamiya black and spray cockpit walls, tub, instrument panels, pedals and stick. Paint ejector seat Tamiya XF-63 German Grey, assemble and pick out switches and add instrument decal.


That's all folks.

[pourquoi61]

On with the build. I brought out the cockpit detail by dry brushing light grey.( Tamiya XF-12 J.N. Grey)

The instrument panel cover was added and given the same dry brushing.

Ok at this point I will draw your attention to this part.

It is an air scoop which has an injection pin release stub in it which needs to be removed. Also do not forget to add it to the upper fuselage before both halves go together.
Next up is the interior of the air frame, which consists of wheel well doors and a bulkhead with a fan on.

A word of warning here make sure that you fit the fan bulkhead in correctly, ie. low enough because if you do not then you will have to do a lot of sanding and clamping.
LIKE SO.

This is the part in question.

I glued the tub into the cockpit halves taped together and added some nose weight. Wheel balancing weights from my local tyre place.
10 grams, I like to use these as the have a self adhesive backing on them.

Do not forget to drill out the holes for the ordinance/fuel tanks before gluing together.

I then added the front fuselage section which needed some filler.


The bottom was ok.

I then made the outer wings and added to the model, a little filler was needed on just one wing.

I THINK SHE LOOKS LIKE A BABY VULCAN AT THIS MOMENT IN THE BUILD.

That's all for today folks.

[Willem]

Lovely stuff mate. Love early naval jets.

Looking good so far.

[pourquoi61]

Yes there is something nice about then,probably no CAD?
Thank you for your comment.

[Lysus]

Well there's one you don't see often, excellent choice! Off to a great start there.

[pourquoi61]

Tail section on, wings sanded and air intakes on.

Now then for older people this can be tricky, due to the fact the parts are small and you may have poor eye sight or a tremor.
That is old age for you.
Flap actuators, they are small and tricky to place but take your time.

And here they are on the model, I have masked the tail section as I will be spraying Tamiya flat white XF-2.



TODAY WAS NOT A GOOD DAY FOR SPRAYING, TOO HOT.

Tamiya clear.
Painting tyres, I use Tamiya rubber black XF-85.
First I place a small amount of thinners in a container and then soak the brush in it. Then i just dip the end of the brush in the paint lid.(First shake the paint.)
Then the capillary action of the very thin paint will run around the rim of the tyre leaving the centre white. Come back and fill the rest of the tyre with normal paint from the tin.


Well that's my plastic therapy for today, hope you have had yours.

[pourquoi61]

Well, I have made a return to my plastic therapy today and I am having a good time.
I do not think it is my eyes, as old as they are, I had trouble masking the canopy as the edges of the frames are (I think) a little bit soft now and hard to define, so this took some time. I could have bought a masking set, but for me anyway models these days are dear enough. Out came the Tamiya tape.


Once masked I sprayed the frame matte black and then it was given a coat of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey.

Once dry I glued it to the plane and left it to dry overnight.
This morning I added the demarcation line on the front section (a worm of Blu Tac) and a little bit of tape to stop over-spray at the front along with some foam in the air intakes.

It then had its first coat of paint.

Afterwards I added a small amount of white paint to the original colour and sprayed some highlights.

Sorry for poor picture but I could see the difference.
Then some more white paint was combined to what was left from the first mix of paint, the new mixture thinned then sprayed.

Still not happy, I added yet more white to the mix and sprayed again.
Finally happy with this result I gave the model a coat of clear and left it to dry.

[pourquoi61]

I came home from work tonight and sat looking at the Skyray.
Got the decals out and placed a few on the model, brushed with micro sol and voila!



Have some...

[pourquoi61]

I was thinking "Do I spray the walkways on the plane or use the decals ?". The decals won. I knew that I would have to make these look worn to make them fit with the worn appearance of the aircraft. So I cut them out, placed rolls of old masking tape on the back and sprayed with the original colour.



While waiting for the painted decals to dry I set about masking and brush painting the silver strip on the leading edge of the wing. This was done with Tamiya tape cut thin and fitted to the curvature of the wing then painted Citadel Silver.




As I wanted to make the aircraft look like it had come back from a sortie, I decided to drill out the rocket pods to make it appear that the rockets had been fired. To do this I got my knife and made small holes in the centre of the rocket pods and then drilled them out with a 0.85mm drill bit.
Before:

After:

The underside of the model was given a black wash, then once dry I wiped the excess off.


I also gave the wheel well doors a wash and glued to them to the plane, the leading edge slats were also added.
Next the weathered decals were added and sprayed with a clear coat.


That is all for today, thanks for looking.

[SkyPainter303]

That looks awesome. I've got the old 1/72 Airfix kit in my stash. I'm sure the Tamiya kit is 100% better.

[pourquoi61]

That looks awesome. I've got the old 1/72 Airfix kit in my stash. I'm sure the Tamiya kit is 100% better.

Thank you for your comment.
If the decals are good I can not see why a lovely model would not be the outcome of your build.

[pourquoi61]

The model was given a clear coat and once dry given a black wash.


Once dry the wash was wiped off with a damp piece of kitchen towel.


The wash was sealed with a matte coat, once dry I added a small amount of matte white to Tamiya matte clear coat.
This was then sprayed all over the model slowly, concentrating on the blue of the "stars and bars", the black nose area and the aircraft panel centres to give them a worn, faded look.

In the next blog the ordinance will go on and a little bit more weathering will be added.
Thanks for passing by and having a look.