Dirk's Matchbox F4FU 4 Corsair - Nostalgia Build

[Dirkpitt289]

That's a kind of fresh madness...watching with interest.

If you could see these brushes in person you would know this is insanity.

[Dirkpitt289]

Cool idea and project also 1977 would be alittle late for me as that was the time, when girls did get much more interesting then plastic models ...

In all fairness at the time the girls were much more important...

[Dirkpitt289]

Great idea.

Just a comment: I still only use the tools and other items that I was using when I started conversions in c.1970, and like Iggie I still have some of the Humbrol pants from the late 1970's (camouflage colours)!. Prior to that I can relate to every other part of your story

You are a brave man. I do not think I would be continuing this hobby if these tools were the only ones I could use for every build. it goes to show how we take for granted some things like good quality (Not necessarily GREAT) brushes, primers, decal solvent and paints other then just primary colors...

[Dirkpitt289]

One of the things that is bothering me the most about this build is the painting. How is the paint going to lay down on this without any primer? So as a test I tried some paint on the inside of the wings as a test. To be fair its not as bad as I thought



The problem (Problem? That makes it sound like the only problem. No I don't want to mislead you. This is only one of many problems) is the fuselage halves are molded in dark blue and so is our pilot. If I assemble as it is it would look like a black hole is flying our Corsair and we can't have that. Black holes can't fly. So the challenge is making the cockpit look occupied and busy. So to do this we are going to turn our attention to our pilot. We are calling him, Fred. Meet Fred. Normally painting someone like Fred would be an easy thing when you are equipped with all the colors of the rainbow and every combination in between but in this case we are ill equipped. Hell, we don't even have all the primary colors but it is what it is and this IS what we signed up for so... We will do the best with what we have.

We started by giving Fred a coat of silver paint and then added some yellow



As you can see the yellow covered Fred in a not so good way but that's okay. We really don't want Fred to be all Yellow. This is actually good because it brings out the details of Fred's flight suit.



Next we applied a black wash to tone down the yellow. Then we detailed out his flight gloves, flight helmet and boots with black paint. He won't win any fashion shows but but its good enough for this project.



With Fred ready and waiting for his test flight we turned our attention to the engine. For this we painted the engine cylinders black and left the reduction gearbox unpainted to give it some added detail. Then we dry-brushed some silver over the cylinders





Stay tuned for more

[Dirkpitt289]

Its a self imposed restriction but I didn't have access to fillers and putty back in the day so that stuff is off limits for this build. But I have an idea. I chopped up bits of the sprue and put it in a glass jar. Now I know what you are probably thinking. "Yeah, you are going to add some liquid glue and make sprue glue." Yes, but no. I can't use liquid glue as its another item that was not available to me back in 1977. But what I decided to do was try using the orange tube glue and wouldn't you know it worked just as well. I did not expect that to work. Now I have some filler if needed.





Now its time to do some painting. Their is no need to paint the cockpit since its already dark blue. So we will just mount Fred in here with no real fanfare



The forward most cowling needs to be painted white but with the base color a dark blue and no primer I decided to lay down a base of silver first. But its ugly to start with these Testor brushes. This will require several coats



Painting the propeller





Assembling the wings



Fuselage assembled and adding the wings





Thanks for taking the time to look at my silly project

[Clashcityrocker]

I like how you're sticking to the self imposed rules

Nigel

[iggie]

A very enjoyable watch it is as well
Keep up the good work

[Dirkpitt289]

I like how you're sticking to the self imposed rules

Nigel

What is life without rules???

[Dirkpitt289]

A very enjoyable watch it is as well
Keep up the good work

Thanks, Iggie

[ShaunW]

Good on you for sticking to your guns with this nostalgia build, Dirk and avoiding the temptation to use modern products or techniques - I would have probably cracked by now and cheated! The build is really looking good.

[72modeler]

Of course, on this side of the pond, it would be Testors tube glue or liquid cement, and either Testors or Pactra enamels. Will be watching with interest, as I never built this one, but I do have one on the shelf gathering dust!
Mike

[B4en]

This is looking much better than it should. Nice trick with the sprue filler!

[general rocket]

Lots of nostalgia with this one.

[Crashpilot]

Any updates on your build? I have a soft spot for this kit, so Im really curious... I think it's one of MBs better kits- last time I built it, I was about 18 of age, and I liked the end result (til it fell from the cubboard )

[Dirkpitt289]

I'm sorry Crashpilot. I finished this off months ago but with life and other projects I forgot to update the thread. And since then I did a clean up of my computer files and these were tossed. HOWEVER! I did make a video series of this build and you can check that out from beginning to end if videos are your thing.

Part 1