Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1A Corsair - Final Reveal (It is about time!)

[BASlade93]

Hello again everyone, it is Ben from the Youtube Channel - Slade's Model Arcadia.

Now this has taken me about 3 months, which was a lot longer than I planned (due to working 6 days a week for the last month or so) however I enjoyed every bit of this kit which is quite rare for me. I just love how easily it went together and how well detailed it is for the price.

In terms of how it looks I have gone for the very used and abused look, which I do with the majority of my models this is for a number of reasons. Firstly as the model is fully brush painted the heavy weathering helps to hide any imperfections which are present. Secondly the weathering is probably my favourite part of building a model so I like to use a many different products as I can to lengthen the process. Third and last is personal preference. I just prefer models that have the very combat worn look as I think it helps to make them look little less toy like.

I realise that I may have gone a bit heavy in some places for a lot of peoples taste however the weathering that is present is based off pictures of real WW2 corsairs, particularly where there are areas of bare metal on the wings are showing.

To get that salt build up look in the panel lines I used the Ultimate concrete wash over a gloss coat and then wiped it off to get that streaky look and then I used a variety of metal washes, brown washes and an fuel stains wash for the other parts of weathering on the aircraft.

Just a few things to mention. I believe I may have used an intermediate blue that is slightly too dark compared to the real thing however I am not quite sure. Also the little antenna thing on the end of the left wing kept snapping off during handling and I repaired it a few times however it was eventually lost to the carpet monster so I just gave up and cut the rest of it off the wing. Lastly, I did have a little trouble with the thickness of the decals no matter how much decal softener I used so some carrier film/thick decals may be present on the model.

Considering the whole thing was done by hand with a brush I think it does not look too bad. I mean it will never be able to compare to a model that has been airbrushed because they always look much better than brush painted models however I have done my best and overall I am very happy with the result.

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Here is the original build thread:

http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 31&t=19732

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Here are the pictures of the final model. I am afraid there are rather a lot however I wanted to make sure you could see as much of the model as possible. Many thanks to everyone who has been following my build thread and has given me lots of support along the way.

This was my first ever GB however I can say for sure it will not be my last. Keep an eye out for me in the future

Many thanks and I hope you enjoy the pics!

[privatepete]

Really nice finish and weathering well done.
Pete

[Stokesy44]

Beautiful finish mate, love the use of a light colour for the panel wash, works really well.

Top drawer stuff.

[Liamcraven666]

Brilliant job!

[Lysus]

You really went to town on the little details. Impressive stuff!

[BASlade93]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone, I am glad you think it turned out okay

[pourquoi61]

Great job, and yes work does get in the way. Love the fact you brush painted.