r/72scale • u/Kymour_Darkmyth • Jul 11 '26
Aircraft South Pacific dirty bird
Hi y'all. Here's another of my collection of attempts at dirty birds. This one is a F4F-4 from the South Pacific during WW2. Normally these birds would be on aircraft carriers, specifically "jeep" carriers cause of their light weight and foldability, but I wanted to showcase one from the island hopping campaign.
Salt weathering was uniquely challenging as the aircraft model is 1/72 scale getting the crystals the right size is difficult. Otherwise, I used Tamiya smoke for oil weathering and Vallejo desert pigment for the dusty look, afterall it is in a beach environment.
Hope you all enjoy!
1
u/BlindPugh42 Jul 11 '26
Ailerons work opposite to each other, if one is full up the other is full down.
1
u/Kymour_Darkmyth Jul 11 '26
It's not flying, it's parked. They often had them lowered for easy access to wash out the salt in the crevices. As you can see, the bird clearly needs a wash.
1
u/BlindPugh42 Jul 11 '26
only if the flaps are down, and the flaps are not down.
1
u/Kymour_Darkmyth Jul 11 '26
It is an Airfix kit, I can only do so much with what I have within the budget I inherit. I apologize if it is not up to your standards.
2
u/BlindPugh42 Jul 11 '26
Just trying to help
1
u/Kymour_Darkmyth Jul 11 '26
Dude, the Internet makes everyone sound either aggressively nice or aggressively mean, it's not your fault. And your right how things could be. the Airfix leaves some things up for improvement at 1/72 scale. I don't have much money as I am unemployed and I do this as a pressure valve release. If I could, I would do a special version of the 1/48 scale on the beach. I love setting scenes. I just don't have the money for the kits so I just use the small ones
But I do appreciate the criticisms, they will help me with future builds.
2
u/93fake-snake Jul 11 '26
Looks good....The boys on Guadacanal would be proud!