USMC Douglas F4D-1 Skyray

1
July 13, 2024
What’s in the box: not that many good-looking parts. With the wings dominating the scene of course.
2
July 13, 2024
Snipping away to start sub-assembling
3
July 13, 2024
First subassemblies and first modification: cut loose the upper rudder to reinstall it at an angle.
4
July 13, 2024
Sprayed the cockpit dark gull gray
5
July 13, 2024
More surgery: cut out the slats and trimmers. Slats are fragile, trimmers will need some work to reinstall at an angle.
6
July 13, 2024
Sprayed the interior parts white, trimmer insides closed with plastic card to compensate for the cut and to provide rigidity. Installed cockpit decals.
7
July 13, 2024
An exercise in clamping a rather awkward fuselage and wing while drying …
8
July 13, 2024
Closing the slat well and continuing with modifying the trimmers while cleaning up the aft area of the fuselage.
9
July 13, 2024
Figured out the required nose weight and installed the cockpit
10
July 13, 2024
The kit’s ejection seat is an early type later replaced by MB seat. Looking at various pictures I figured I could get away with modifying the kit seat to resemble a MB Mk.5P.
11
July 13, 2024
Again I glued in a handle in the back end and we are ready for the spray booth!
12
July 13, 2024
Primer coat on, came out slightly rough so sanded back a bit
13
July 13, 2024
Pre-shading and the first bits of white
14
July 13, 2024
First round of masking after the underside coat of white.
15
July 13, 2024
Sprayed the upper sides Light Gull Gray
16
July 13, 2024
Second round of masking for the exhaust, radome and white upper airbrakes (spotted just in time on a reference pic of the subject I chose)
17
July 13, 2024
Followed by a gloss coat of HG51 to prepare for decaling
18
July 13, 2024
The decals needed a lot of softening up to conform, especially those around the intake lips. But I managed those without too much damage.
19
July 13, 2024
After decaling it was time for detail painting of the smaller bits
20
July 13, 2024
Followed by weathering. According to the reference pics I found Marine F4D’s where pretty dirty.
21
July 13, 2024
Upper side needs a little bit more grime…
22
July 13, 2024
Better! Also installed the landing gear.
23
July 13, 2024
On the home run now! Sticking on the final bits. Everything fits excellently, which is nice for a change.
24
July 13, 2024
Some final bits of plastic rod to add the canopy hold-open mechanism. Unfortunately, I goofed up and masked an upper canopy panel that was not transparent. Now I had to handpaint it with inevitable color differences. Duh..
25
July 13, 2024
And finished! Another nice addition to my collection!
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July 13, 2024
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July 13, 2024

Kommentit

10 13 July 2024, 09:03

Hans Zwetsloot kirjailija
And the other "4" I mentioned a while ago is also finished! Really a nice kit, although it would have been nice if Tamiya had designed trimmers and slats as separate items. But that is about all there is to complain about for this kit. Well recommended.

13 July 2024, 09:16