Some
kits were just meant to test your patience and perseverance and others just seem
to fall together; this one was most definitely a test of wills. I bought
this kit as a birthday present to me back in September, thinking this would be a
quick build project. I didn’t foresee any problems upon removing parts
from the sprues and rinsing them clean.
The
kit does go together fairly well; I did have some trouble getting the wing to
meet the bottom of the fuselage properly as well as around the exhaust and
leading edge wing root. I primed it, painted and used Future in
preparation for decaling; here is where the fun REALLY begins…………..
I
had a problem with the finish and therefore decided to strip the future
with ammonia and water; it didn’t want to strip in some areas and others
it came right off so I decided to go with something stronger. Out
came the brake cleaner and I sprayed some on; oops, it decided to work on
the plastic surface as soon as it was done shedding the paint and future.
I stopped, said a few choice words and decided to rinse with water and
allowed it to dry. The next morning I sprayed the whole plane with
Easy Off oven cleaner, let it sit and began to work an old toothbrush over
the finish. Did I mention breaking off the antennas under the
fuselage and on the tip of the tail? I also lost the gun sight from
the top of the cockpit but was fortunate enough to keep the antenna on the
spine (how, I’ll never know!).
Click on
images below to see larger images
After
much sanding and polishing and cleaning I was able to obtain a
satisfactory finish, except for one area on top of the starboard (right
side) wing; enough was enough and no one but me will be able to see.
I dipped the canopy in future and painted by hand, then re-applied future
and attached to plane when dry. I applied USMC “Death Rattlers”
decals that came in the kit but they are very thick and I had some issues
getting them to conform to the wing corrugations. I cleaned the
setting solution residue off and made a final Future topcoat to seal them.
My propeller logos were badly out of register so I didn’t use them.
I attempted to do some weathering with oils but you really can’t see
them in the pictures; I did weather the tires with some chalk powder and
called it good.
I
have another 2 kits in the stash so at some point I will do another F4U-4B in
VMA 214 Korean War markings; if you couldn’t guess, I like to make USMC birds
as I was once a Marine aviation mech. Well, here it is, my first completed
project of 2007!
Max
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