Meng AIR Modeller – April-May 2019

The F4U used a gigantic 13 foot (4 meter) diameter propellor which is why it required the
bent wing design. I wanted to treat this as an important part of the model because
modellers often ignore this important feature, and since this plane was going to be
heavily weathered, it had to match.

I began by scraping the minute seam lines from the edges of the 3 separate blades. This
had to be done with care because I didn’t want to accidentally run the knife tip across
any of the blade surfaces. I attached the blades to the hub, I then sanded each blade
with 300 grit through 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper to remove all glue seams, and wiped
everything down with Mr Color Paint Thinner 400. At this point in the build, I began using
Mission Models Paints. I had never used them before, but after a little experimentation
and practise, I got used to them and used them almost exclusively for the rest of the
build.

The prop was then sprayed with primer and allowed to dry overnight. The next day I
painted a base coat of AK Aluminium and let this thoroughly dry for about 2 hours. I
sprayed hairspray onto the leading edges and let that dry. I then used Mission Models
paint tire black, black, and dirty black to spray over that in a random pattern. Yellow was
used on the tips After that dried for a few minutes, I hit it with my trusty stiff brush and
water to chip the leading edges and other spots on the blades. I had to be really careful
here to make it look like air friction had caused the wear. He decals were applied and
everything got several washes of neutral gray and dark brown.

Wings

Tamiya gives the modeller the choice of building the plane with the

wings up or down. I chose the former. There are quite a few parts that

are specific to each configuration. I didn’t pay attention and ended up

using the wrong parts that required replacing later in the build. I did that

quite a bit during this build! Wheel wells, oil coolers, and various rods

and levers get installed as well during this phase. Wheel wells were

painted with Mr Paint Insignia White and various washes were applied,

primarily Mig Dark Brown to accent the surface details.

Landing Gear

Assembly was straight forward and I painted these in the usual fashion

Using the highly durable Mission Models Insignia White paint. These

were weathered using several washes combined with Mig pigments. I

used photos of Pacific islands to see what coral dust looks like and

mimicked those as best I could. I also used the Tamiya vinyl wheels

provided in the kit and sanded them down with 100 and 180 grit

sanding sticks. The were also given a wash and a slurry of pigments to

given them that well worn look.