F4U-1A Corsair

Here's another update on this project. I am nearing the finish line on this one. It's been fun. More pics can be seen in my gallery.

F4U-1A Corsair

I found some pictures of Danny Cunningham that were taken during his time with VF-17.

Here is a shot of Cunningham with some other members of VF-17. Cunningham is 3rd from the left.

And a shot of him in the cockpit of  Corsair Number 15. Another that he flew.

F4U-1A Corsair

Got the panel lines done and a coat of Vallejo Air Matte Varnish  laid down on this bird.

F4U-1A Corsair

Here are some new shots of my corsair. I sprayed a coat of future on and added the decals. This particular corsair will be that of Lt. Danny Cunningham's of VF17 the Jolly Rogers. I wanted to do Cunningham's Corsair because it was different than many of the Ira Kepford, Chico Freeman, Roger Hedrick and Tommy Blackburn Corsairs that I have often seen modeled. Cunningham's was rare in that it had split numbers as part of its aircraft as ID while the others I mentioned while having the larger Aircraft numbers  did not have the Split numbers which were more common on the later F4U-1D Corsairs that were painted in all Navy Blue.

F4U-1A Corsair

Here's my 1/48 Scale F4U-1A Corsair. It is the excellent Tamiya kit. I have finished base coating it and will next move on to adding the decals and doing the weathering.

Panther 214 Stoumont Dec 16, 1944

Here is an update on the Uscha. Rech's Panther 214 I was doing back in 2010 but never quite finished. I removed the original Magic Tracks and put on a new set of DS tracks and replaced the idler with the correct 655mm larger Idler that was actually on Panther 214. I had originally hand painted the camo scheme but with some new information and the new Panther book from Canfora  in hand I took a stab at spray painting the camo scheme on. In order to get the tight pattern of the camo I had to do multiple passes with my my airbrush. I did not use any masks during the painting process. For the basecoat I used my Iwata AB with a .35mm needle while for the camo I used my badger AB with a .20mm needle which gave me tighter control of my lines and minimized the over spray. The turret took 3 hours to paint and hull about 2 hours.

Here are some shots of the new paint scheme. I had originally weathered the road wheels in  my first attempt. The next step will be to add the decals and weathering of all surfaces.