1/72 Academy FW-190A-8 JG52

Well I'm sticking a fork in this one and calling it done!! Was a nice build, not too much fuss. Tried a few new things and I'm happy with it. Here's some final pics. Any comments critiques welcomed.

Thanks Bish! Was going to add a bit of that in the middle of the stain but decided just to stop where I was. Thought it was a lil too brownish. Should I do it or leave it?

It looks good. I was thinking it was tamiya smoke which is what i use.

Thanks TJ!!!

Thanks Bish! I just thinned down Tamiya XF-63 Dark Grey and a couple drops of XF-1 flat black. Bout 75% thinner and just built up the effect. Nothing special lol.

Staining looks good,what did you use for that.

Did some exhaust staining and got her dull coated. Quite happy how the staining came out, first time doing heavy exhaust stains. Came out better than I thought it would.

Hello again lol. Gotten a bit more done but as I have just been tired lately after work this progress is actually about a week old, but anyway going to get back to her here very shortly.

Armor- As Bish stated it depends on the kit really. To me, for the price and what kits they have, I do like them. I have built a few of their kits. The Me-262 is an excellent kit, managed a third place with it OOB. Their 1/72 Sopwith Camel has many fit issues and decal problems. The decals, short of putting them in front of a firing squad, just did not want to lay down in some places. The decal on the Me-262 worked like a charm though. So my advice would be to get AM decals if you have trouble, they build up nice though with out too much fuss.

Bish- Cheers much appreciated.

Toshi- Thank you kind sir

Here's where she sits right now. Got her legs on, and on her feet. Did a lil bit of oil staining as well. Had to take a pic with the prop assembly setting on just to get a feel for the finished product

I am most amazed by the scale at which the mottling done.  Just a fantastic job.

Toshi

Nicejob on those wheels sim.

Armor_Aficionado

Question: I've never built any Academy kits, but I noticed scalehobbyist's site had some really good prices on 1/72 scale aircraft kits from Academy. What's your impression of them? Worth the purchase or not?

 

Generally Academy kits are quite nice. As with any company, it will vary kit to kit, the Avenger i am doing now has some nice surface detail and fit but cockpit detail is none existant. Some of their more recent kits are very nice. Their 72nd Ju 87G is the best Stuka i have built and the Apache looks really nice.

They do tend to have a bad reputation for their decals though. Though like many others they have started useing cartograf decals in their new kits.

Thanks Mopar!

Got the wheels and struts painted. I gave AKs metal paste a go on the oleos. Like the way they turned out! Picked out the nuts on the rims with a toothpick. Here's a couple progress pics.

Nice mottling for such a small scale!

Thanks Bish!!

Looking really nice, great job on the scheme.

Thanks Toshi and Trey!! Working on th elegs at the moment, have wheels and struts painted just have to do the oleos and a lil wash to make the details pop, mount wheels then install. then the dull coat. I'm looking forward to seeing it done too trust me lol. Few more earlier pics.

Will put up more later when photobucket decides to run quicker lmao.

Looking really sharp, nice paint work!

Very nicely done, looking forward to it's completion. 

Toshi

Thanks Mississippi! Had a few contradicting resources on the scheme but found the exact same aircraft in the in action book and, well it looked better and think its a bit more accurate than what was in the instructions vague paint descripion.