The Green Angels: Redux

"Green Angels standing by."

After more than a month of on-again/off-again work, the Green Angels are finally finished! They're based off my Grandpa's old F4U Corsair squadron and the color scheme is inspired by the planes flown out of NAS Los Alamitos in the 1950s. 

 You can read about my process on these guys in previous posts (here, here, here, and here). After finishing with the decals, the X-Wings were weathered with a stipling of silver and streaks of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil. I wanted to capture the "beat up" look of the F4U Corsair pictured above. I have a coworker who's a former USMC aviation mechanic and when I showed him this photo he seemed surprised at how rough this plane looked. 

I opted to magnetize the ships, which is something I've been meaning to try out for some time now. I ordered the wrong size disc magnets and didn't discover that until about a week ago. Thankfully, though, K&J Magnetics ships their orders out super quick and I got the new magnets about two days later.

This was the first time I've repainted X-Wing miniatures since 2016 when I created the first iteration of the Green Angels. I'm honestly surprised and happy to see just how much I've improved in three years. I also got the numbers and the insignia facing the right way on the wings this time!

It's also nice to actually finish a project! Unfortunately I tend to drift in and out of projects and, as a result, have five or six that I've started over the last few years but haven't finished. The fact that it took me just over a month to finish these guys is a huge personal triumph for me.

The Green Angels, past and present. 

Thus concludes a highly personal project for me. I fully intend to fly these guys at the 2020 Campaign Against Cancer event, which is slated for May 2, 2020. I need to brush off my X-Wing templates and take them out to Curio Cavern for their weekly mini-tournament; I'd like to finish at something other than last place for a change. 

I may also create a custom pilot card to give out at tournaments. I love seeing what people come up with and it's one of the things I really love about the X-Wing community. If I end up doing it, it'll of course be Grandpa as Green Angel Leader. His call sign/nickname? "Quiet Giant" just as it was when he was in the Navy.

On the Workbench: The Green Angels, Part III

Just a quick update on the Green Angels for you all!

I started applying decals today, which is something I've been dreading. Today I confirmed something that I've long suspected: I really don't like applying decals. Yes they make the model pop, but I've found that my patience really wasn't up to it today. But I chugged along anyway as best I could.

I didn't help that I was having issues with some of the decals. I think my Navy decals are too old or something, because they kept splitting in two. After three tries I decided to go on without them. Unless I can find replacements (it took me forever to find the sheet that I ended up getting) I think they might go without. But I think it might be okay.

I do have to say that the decals look really nice! I picked up a few sets of 1/144 scale MARK 1 brand USAAF insignia and number decals for this project. So far I just have these two X-Wings done and I'll get to the other two later this evening.   

On the Workbench: The Green Angels, Part II

 Made some progress on the Green Angels today! As I’ve said in previous posts, they’re based off of  a photo of an F4U Corsair from NAS Los Alamitos in Southern California. 

I opted to paint the engine intakes orange because I thought it’d look a tad cleaner. They were then given an orange wash, while the rest of the ship was given a light grey wash. I’d intended to panel line the model but realized that it might be a bit much at that scale.

Then I realized that I hadn’t applied the decals. I’d been intending to apply them before washing or weathering the ship, but I think I can still make it work. I’m going to apply some gloss varnish before applying them and call it good.

The decals themselves are a mixture of 1/144 and 1/350 scale sets. They’re going to be the next step of this project.

On the Workbench: The Green Angels, Part I

Just just a quick update from the workbench! 

The new Green Angels squadron is progressing nicely. Just sprayed them with a gloss varnish and I think they look even better than before. Once everything’s dry it’ll be time to move on to decals and weathering. Because of my busy schedule it’s taking me a lot longer to finish these than I’d like, but I feel like I’m making steady progress overall.

The Green Angels: An X-Wing Tribute to Grandpa

Happy Veterans Day!

You might recall that I flew a squadron of T-65 X-Wings painted up as 1950s F4U Corsairs for the 2017 Campaign Against Cancer. I'd actually painted them up the 2016 event, but had misplaced some of the pilot tiles so I couldn't bring them out. I just realized, though, that I never highlighted them in them own blog post. 

My grandpa, Bob Abel, enlisted in the Navy in 1944 while World War II was still raging. He eventually became a naval aviator in 1948 and retired in 1976 as a captain in the Naval Reserve. In his lengthy career, he flew many different types of planes but really only talked about one: the F4U Corsair. My grandparents' house was decorated with photos and models of it, and whenever anyone in my family sees one we instantly think of Grandpa. I can remember talking with him once and even though he was incredibly sick, his face lit up when started talking and thinking about that plane. Even more than 50 years after he'd last flown one, Grandpa could still close his eyes and remember where every single switch and button was in the cockpit and what it did. It was incredible to see. 

So when I learned about the Campaign Against Cancer in late 2015, I knew that I wanted to paint some X-Wings up as Corsairs. I opted for a very simple design: blue hull with a yellow nose and appropriate decals. If I remember correctly, the ships were basecoated with some old GW Mordian Blue, given a bath of GW Nuln Oil, and drybrushed (a bit too heavily I recognize now) in GW Regal Blue. Not only were these my very first X-Wing repaints, but it was also the my heaviest use of decals at the time. I've traditionally avoided these like the plague and I viewed them to be too finicky and not worth the trouble. It was very much a learned experience and while my decal work isn't the greatest on these ships, I think they turned out alright.
 

After several nights of work spread out over a month, the squadron was finished! I opted to call them the Green Angels. Grandpa told me that his squadron called themselves that in contrast to the Navy's elite Blue Angels flight demonstration team.

At this point, these ships are nearly 4 years old and I think I can do a better job now. As I'm typing this, I have 4 T-65 X-Wings drying downstairs. They got a nice coat of Testors Glossy Black (I'm taking advantage of the season's low humidity and spraying paint like a madman) and should be ready for the next stage soon.
 

 

This Corsair was from Naval Air Station Los Alamitos in Los Alamitos, CA I was lucky enough to find this photo this morning and it will be the inspiration behind my new Green Angels squadron. Why? NAS Los Alamitos was where Grandpa was based out of during his Naval Reserve career That photo of him from earlier in the post was very likely taken there in the early 1950s.