1/72 Tamiya F4u-1a Corsair Part 1

Ira Kepford  

by Manuel Negri

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Ira “ike” kepford:

Ira “Ike” Kepford from Harbor Springs, Michigan and formerly of Muskegon, Michigan was one of the top naval fighter aces during World War II and was hailed as a local hero in the years following the war.  On Saturday, October 7, he was enshrined into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.  The Kepford family moved to Muskegon, Michigan shortly after Ike was born.  He was an outstanding scholar and athlete at Muskegon Sr. High School.  He was a blocking back on the championship football teams and became captain of the State Championship 1937 team and elected to the All-State Team.  He went on to Northwestern University where he repeated academic and athletic performance.  He captained the 1939-41 teams that won national ranking.  Kepford was credited with 16 confirmed and proven air-to-air combat victories.  He scored his victories in six engagements between November 11, 1943 and February 19, 1944 and was a member of the elite VF-17 “Jolly Rogers” squadron flying F4U-1A Corsair fighters.  This squadron produced more aces than any other fighter squadron in World War II—Kepford was the highest scoring of these aces.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navel Reserve on August 18, 1941 and received his flight training at Naval Air Stations in Corpus Christi, Texas and Miami, Florida.  He graduated at the top of his class.  He was assigned to VF-17 in December 1942. In his lifetime, Kepford was awarded the following: Navy Cross, Gold Star in lieu of Navy Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Ribbon for the Navy Unit Commendation VF-17, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal.

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Models:

The model is the kit Tamiya in 1/72 and is absolutely perfect, the parts fit well, the cockpit is a model in the model (only the seat seems a little off scale). For the engine I just added the wire candles as it was already very beautiful.

Assembly process:

The assembly process flowed fast and was very pleasant, as usual the cockpit was painted interior green while the consol side painted in matt black aged with' as an artist with earth Tones.  

The console and instrument panel were highlighted with dry brushing in grey and adds some touch of colour taking care to look at some pictures of the true aircraft.  The fuselage inside the cockpit is colored in interior green as is inside of the engine cowling and the wheel wells.  Once this is done, I highlighted the details with drybrushing  and washes in oil colors in the cockpit and engine wheel wells and you can then close the fuselage.  Now construction of the tail and wings was filled with few imperfections and I applied a coat of gray primer to highlight and eliminate errors.  At this point we are ready for the painting of the model.

 

In the second part of this article I will explain the painting, I hope that my advice can be of help to some pattern maker.

Manuel  

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Photos and text © by Manuel Negri