Showing Wear on Corsair

in article HQnzd.9332$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net, JohnLC at snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote on 12/25/04 6:45 PM:

That might vary with whether the aircraft was shore based or ship based. Check more pictures and see where the crews work to maintain the aircraft, where do they walk to arm it or refuel. Does the paint chip? Do fuel lines get dragged along the leading edge of the wing. And if the paint chips, that metal underneath won't be bright silver...not for long anyway. Is here battle damage and how has it been repaired.

Lots of things to think about. How it's depicted is up to you and whatever technique works best for you. Actually, not a lot can be done with an airbrush alone.

MB

Find another ref than "Black Sheep Squadron". It's a fun show, but hardly an accurate source for this!

JohnLC wrote:

Don't base anything on that; the aircraft were (and still are) highly cared-for warbirds, and their paint jobs are completely inaccurate for the squadron and time period the show was trying to portray. They're also MUCH cleaner than a combat aircraft, especially one in an busy theatre.

Coral sand is extremely abraisive. Leading edges of propellers, the portion of the wing in the prop wash and horizontal stabilizers will show an alomst sandblasted appearance. Older aircraft will obviously show more wear than a newer one. There would be exhaust staining (which is not black; go for a dark smoky grey {or almost white on a dark blue background}) on the fuselage and lower wing root areas. The gun soot would be very subtle if it's visible at all. Look for oil drips under the belly, and minor hydraulic leaks on the landing gear legs should be redish-brown. They should be kept very subtle since a major leak would result in the aircraft being put out of service for maintenance. Some wear on the wing roots where the pilot and maintenance crew walk should be visible, but don't go overboard.

The best thing to do is do a bit at a time and stop just before you think it should be finished (you can always go back and put more on, but taking some off is very difficult). Keep the amounts of the various types of weathering consistent so you don't end up with an extremely sandblasted aircraft with almost no exhaust staining. Study photos to get an idea of what you want to accomplish.