Goodyear FG-1D Corsair
Fuerza Aerea Salvadorena
The model I'm going to introduce is
an F-4U Corsair, of Tamiya, scale 1/48. I wanted to represent it as a copy of
the Fuerza Aerea Salvadorena, a very colorful Corsair, built by Goodyear, hence
the name Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, but as a plane with many signs of wear. The
camouflage is very unusual!!! Indeed, in general, the FAS aircraft wore national
markings on wings only, plus a small flag and the serial on the fin; yellow
bands were applied at the end of the war, and fuselage roundels should have been
applied only after the end of hostilities. The first batch of FG-1Ds supplied to
El Salvador was painted in gull grey over and white bellow; the second batch in
mid-nite blue overall. When the war with Honduras began, the surviving five
aircraft were camouflaged with locally-mixed paints in shades of green, sand and
brown, of very poor quality. The Corsairs still left in original colours –
especially those with large “FAS” title on the rear fuselage – were parked
as decoys at Ilopango and other airfields.
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Having said that we start
with the description of the construction of the model: You have to start
by saying that the Tamiya kit is very precise and correct in form, so I
used very little filler. The interior was painted in light green interior,
applied some drybrush, and its washing with black tempera, and then closed
the two parts of the fuselage. The engine has been detailed, with cables,
and only decided to build this model from the box, I added photo etch seat belts only. I left with all the color model with the Model-Master
Aluminium Metalizer, and polished with the Drill, and yield is coming very
well. The next step was to re-paint the whole model in Tan color, that is
the clearest of camouflage, so I continued to apply the camouflage
freehand with the Medium Green, and then with the Dark Green added a few
drops of Flat Black. This done with a wire brush, and seeing the various
pictures, I have started "hitting" a perpendicular model where
the wear was more pronounced, putting into place of peeling paint very
realistic.
The
next step was to do a light wash with brown tempera always and then I applied
the paint clear gloss to be used as a base for the decals. The decals are from
the pages of the Latin Eagles AZTEC Pt 6, very nice and precise with its
softening are adhere perfectly to the model. Council to all of you this leaflet
by the number of representative models, but also quality and very complete
instructions. After waiting for the drying of other decals I applied clear gloss
varnish, and after 24 hours, I applied the clear coat finish. Finished
everything I mounted the wings folded and added wiring to undercarriage.
I
hope you enjoyed my work.
Busolini Massimo
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