1/48 Tamiya Goodyear FG-1D Corsair

Gallery Article by Busolini Massimo on Apr 15 2011

 

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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Photos and text © by Busolini Massimo