1/48 Tamiya F-4U1 Birdcage Corsair

by Le Thanh Tung

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This is my F-4U1 from Tamiya. This kit is best fit and details are awesome, especially a cockpit. 

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It was built straight from box with no modification, except for small basic stencils from kit, I had to paint the national insignia on the wings and both sides of fuselage as the decals are spoiled during assembly.

Painting: As per instructions, paints are from Tamiya with AS code, which are unavailable in Vietnam, so in order to have the right colors, I had to mix Enamel Paint with ratio as follows:

Navy Blue: XF-17:5 + XF-8:3 + XF-2:2
Intermediate Blue: XF-18:5 + XF-2:4
As for Insignia White on the underside of this bird, I used Model Master enamel paint.

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I applied weathering by drybrushing, pastel chalk, oil wash and also air-brushing. To simulate missing and scuffed paint on the metal surface, I painted this area overall with Chrome Silver from Model Master and left it overnight to completely dry. Then I applied other colors as instructed. When these colors were dry, I scratched slightly with toothpick onto the relevant places.

Tung

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Photos and text © by  Le Thanh Tung