SPA Modeler

My first thought was also too much hairspray. Patiently awaiting round 2 or would it be 3 now?

Round 2.5 if you count the aborted MIG Heavy Chipping Effects, which I wiped off before applying any ZC. I sprayed the ZC over the reduced hairspray during my lunch break. Will try to do the chipping this evening when I get home. Another slight change I made was to revert back to thinning the Tamiya ZC with iso alcohol instead of Tamiya Lacquer Thinner. For this build and the K-4, I've been thinning my Tamiya acrylics with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner, which I believe is getting me a slightly smoother finish. But on past builds, I've been thinning with 91% iso alcohol and have reverted back to that for this ZC layer.

Looking forward to the outcome on this John. I have yet to use the hairspray method but I think what I'll be doing is practicing on a spare piece of styrene before attempting on an actual project. Initial test work/ experimentation has been the devil to me on past builds.

Base layer of chipping has been established. Not exactly the result I was envisioning but it will suffice. Hairspray chipping can cause surface irregularities between the two layers. I scrubbed the area with dry Micromesh and then sealed it with a coat of Aqua Gloss.



After the clear had dried, I sprayed another coat of hairspray. And then I pre-shaded the panel lines.




To establish a bit of tonal variation, I used a piece of brillo pad and some splatter templates to create a random mottle all over the model.




The bottom was painted with AK Real Colors Insignia White. I've decided to reduce the pre-shade effect a little bit more than normal to establish the off-color of the white. It's still there but it is VERY subtle and is hard to capture in photos.

The chipping looks good. Preshading looks good....another masterclass in building!

What he said... something I'm very afraid of trying myself. You make it look too easy. Well, done!!

Thanks guys! The painting continues... AK Real Colors Intermediate Blue is sprayed next.




The Dark Blue is next and I'm using my pre-mixed lightened AK Real Colors Sea Blue as a base and mixing lighter shades on the fly to try and reflect what I'm seeing in the archive photos of 740 and other VMF Corsairs. The engine cowl and fuselage spine receive the lightest shade while the fuselage sides are the darkest.



Because the hairspray is under a couple coats of paint, I wanted to do the chipping soon after the Sea Blue was applied on top of the wings. It took some patience, working a wet paint brush over and over on small areas but I was able to get an acceptable result.

Wow. I thought I was doing good that I remembered to put on pants today!

I do have a question, though. When you reference using a Brillo pad, is it a spent one? Don’t think you want the soap...or is it steel wool? Then, do you dab it in the paint and apply to the model?

That's a very impressive paint job did you do this all freehand? It looks like your chipping went well this time around.

LyleW wrote:
Wow. I thought I was doing good that I remembered to put on pants today!

I do have a question, though. When you reference using a Brillo pad, is it a spent one? Don’t think you want the soap...or is it steel wool? Then, do you dab it in the paint and apply to the model?

Sorry for the confusion! By Brillo pad, I mean these green scouring pads. It's plastic, not steel. I shoot paint THROUGH it and it acts like a mask. The pad is too thick for airbrush use straight out of the package so I have to thin it using scissors... kinda tedious.


quote="Floki"]That's a very impressive paint job did you do this all freehand? It looks like your chipping went well this time around.[/quote]
Yes, all of the airbrush is freehand. No masks involved in the camo demarcation lines.

But I did employ masks to paint the insignias. The Montex masks had expanded a bit in the package so I chose to cut new ones with the Silhouette cutter. The blue is painted first and then the white stars and bars.


First time the masks worked without having to do any touch-up work. And no paint pulled up when removing the masks!


The aircraft number was masked and painted afterwards.




The HGW wet transfers are yet to arrive from Europe. I still need to mask and paint the tread areas on the wings but I may have to shelve the project temporarily until the transfers get here. In the meantime, I thought I'd slide the wings and stabs on to see how the Corsair looks so far. Keep in mind that the fuselage has not been sealed in a gloss coat so the wings and stabs are naturally a shade darker.