Fw 190 Butcher Bird 2013 (extended to June 2014) Group Build

mustang1989

Lookin forward to seein' the action buddy!

Ditto that!

I got the other gun bay opening reshaped as well, but I caused some slight damage to the gun bays themselves. I'll fix that tomorrow (or try to at least) and repaint them. Then it's just a matter of giving it all the usual oil wash treatment and once that is dry I'll post a few pics for you to nitpick on!

I didn't like the way the oil wash turned out so I removed most of it and gave it another try. I don't think it's gonna be dry today, so I have to delay the pics another day. The A-8 is more or less the star of the show this time 'round so I want her to look nice

OK gang, I finally got those pics taken and uploaded for ya'll! I'm not too sure if it all really turned out that good though...

No news regarding my Tamiya F-8 yet 'cause it's causing nothing but goddamn problems. The details are lacking compared to other kits (especially in the cockpit and gear bays) and the accuraacy isn't all that great either (what's really bothering me are the short gear legs and way too small wheels). Well at least it's a Tamiya kit so the great fit is going to save it, right? Right? WRONG! The overall fit of this kit is way worse than what Tamiya kits are known for. The Hasegawa 190s are a walk in the park compared to this kit. Even the goddamn Eduard kits most modellers find ill-fitting were a whole lot more fun to assemble so far...

I will of course finish the Tamiya F-8, but I'm going to model her all closed up and hope the winter camo does its job in making it look comparable to the other 190s in my Staffel...

Enough rambling for now. How about I show you some pics? I think that's not too bad of an idea...

Hasegawa 190s:

It really is a shame that only this little of the beautifully molded cockpit detail is going to be seen (actually even less once the canopy and windscreen are in place):

And now it's time for my personal favorite: Eduard's beauty of an A-8 with all sorts of little goodies thrown in here and there:

Gear bay PE:

Gun bays:

Yes those are PE. 100% PE... Kind of a pain in the rear to assemble and fill gaps after permanently trapping them between the wing halves, but well worth it IMO... They didn't turn out looking perfect, but I think it's good enough for my standards. There's still a few bits and wiring to be added as well as the guns themselves, so they should look a bit busier in the future. The shell ejection holes were kinda tricky to align as the set was designed for the D-13 which has slightly different wings and the correct gun bay openings.

And some pics of the painted gear bays with the normal A-8 ones at the bottom for comparison. My apologies for the bad-ish pics. The lightbulb of my normal desk lamp reached the end of its lifespan yesterday so I had to use 2 nomal lightbulbs which aren't all that great for photographing models:

I'm not sure if you can tell from the pics, but the PE parts are a huge improvement over the already nice Eduard gear bays.

Fun-fact: All the PE and resin involved actually improved the fit of this kit.

So far I've used Eduard's A-8 PE set, the gun bays from their D-13 Pe set and the Brassin nose gun set they make for their 190 kits.

Now call me all sorts of crazy, but I plan on improving the Brassin set with a few selected PE bits and I'm also going to replace the resin gun barrels with metal ones. building a kit with aftermarket stuff only to add further AM goodies to those sets. Ain't AMS funny.... 

All of this doesn't even come close to I've seen you guys pull off, but I hope you like it nonetheless... 

Cheers, Clemens

Great to see your progress, Clemens! I'm in awe of your persistence and knowledge of subject! I doubt I could ever run such a production-line, though I'm going to try to open a Messerschmitt plant in 2015...

I'm amazed at the problems you're having with the Tamiya F-8. I built that one several years ago and don't remember the issues being that bad. I have another I'll be doing next year and will be looking out for the fit problems. I build closed up anyway, so light detail in the cockpit does not concern me, and I must say that the 190s I built this year seem way too tall compared to the Tamiya bird -- notably because their shock struts are all moulded fully open, as if there is no weight on them. It creates what seems an inappropriate nose-high attitude, though if the Tamiya legs are too short it could be a cycle of assumptions at work instead... Hmmm!

M/TB379

Nice production Clemens! That pe work looks real nice. Well worth the look. Looks like you got all the seam work done and looking great on the Eduard kits as well.

...and regarding the Tamiya kit. Yes, it is one of Tamiya's worst 1/48 kits imo. Even the old, old Dragon 190 kits are way better in every regard.

Good to see your latest progress, Clemens.

Sorry about all the Tamiya trouble. A surprise to me. Didn't realise Tamiya makes bad kits.

Thanks guys!

I was a bit surprised by the quality of the Tamiya kit. It really is the worst of their aircraft kits I've seen so far and a far cry from the excellent Tamiya Jugs (my all time favorite 1/48 kit).

You have certainly done some wonderful work on your 190's Clemens. No doubt that the vast array of PE you have applied enhances the detail. And kudos to you on the degree of patience you are exhibiting in attaching all that AM. Keep on it. You're doing awesome.

I too picked up a Tamiya F-8 last year with the thought of completing it for the Butcher Bird GB but, ran out of time. Certainly disturbing to hear that that particular kit has such issues. I at least picked up a CMK cockpit , Aires gear bay set and other AM for it. So maybe I'll be able to polish that turd after all.

Man those pics WERE worth the wait. What a job you are doing on that bird Clemens. I'll have to say that I built the Tamiya D-9 and I never had such an in depth build (after I got through with it anyways) go so easy. Its out of the ordinary for a Tamiya kit to have such poor fit especially in the 190 line up. I will have to agree with you that Tamiyas landing gear sucks in the fact that the legs are way to short and the wheels way to small, which is why I used an all Eduard landing gear and modified it to fit the Tamiya offering. Keep plugging away man, these machines you are building are looking great so far.

Thanks for the kind words! Hearing that from modellers as skilled as you are really means a lot to me!

Those AM goodies should polish up the Tamiya kit nicely, Joe!

I did a bit more drifitting on the Tamiya 190 today and it really is a mess. The cowling is too short which results in a 1mm (!) gap at the back end! this is gonna be fun to fix...

On the bright side, I got some really nice birthday presents today :

The mailman brought me two boxes this morning:

And one of my friends called me to tell me he got this beauty for me:

I'm not really into Italian aviation, but the SM.79 is an exception. I really like the ugly-duckling look of this bomber and it looks like  there are quite a few great looking camo schemes to choose from! The kit shouldn't be small either with it bein in 1/48th scale... 

More kits? Your stash must fill up a room! Cool presents and Happy Birthday Clemens!

Thanks! It actually really does (well, half of it anyway)...

I can't imagine a stash like that. For starters my wife and kid would kill me. lol

I didn't get a whole lot of work done lately (was out of town), but I'm making slow progress on the engines. Especially the A-8 takes a lot of time with the 20+ Eduard kit parts and all the additional PE work involved.

Come on with it dude! lol

Folks I'm going to have to call this thing quits at the end of November. It's been a great run and a group build that I've been happy to host for as long as this thing has been going. Thank all of you who have participated in this build and have contributed to its success. I think Clemens has the last of the builds so with that I'll officially end this at the end of this month to give him a couple more weeks to wrap up and start focusing all of my efforts on the upcoming 109 GB for 2015. It's been a great run guys and I'll post a  wrap up thread in  the Aircraft section soon.

Joe, thank you for an outstanding group build. I had a ball, learned a lot of stuff, and came out of it with my best camo scheme to date, thanks to all the excellent help, advice and support.

A GB to be proud of for sure, buddy.

yes indeed Joe, thanks for a totally awesome GB. And thanks to all for all those great builds some great info sharing and some good times along the way.

And now to the 109's, can we better this GB I wonder.

Had a few problems with my internet security software not liking this website the last couple of days...

I completely understnad your decision, Joe! I can't promise you that I'll get my 190s done untill the end of this month, but I'm sure as hell going to try. I probably won't get all of them done untill then, but at least the Hasegawa birds should be doable (not a whole lot of weathering to do on those and the paint jobs aren't that hard either).

I can continue posting in here after November 31st or start a new thread in the aircraft section if you'd prefer that. It's your call, buddy...

Thatnks you very much for hosting this awesome GB! I learned loads of things since joining and also made some friends along the way! Hell, I know more than half of my buddies here from this GB!

I'm looking forward to the next 190 GB after the 109 GB finishes sometime in 2020!

hogfanfs

I'm looking forward to the next 190 GB after the 109 GB finishes sometime in 2020!

Being a bit optimistic ain't we.

Bish

 

Being a bit optimistic ain't we.

Haha, just a little!

May I add my thanks and congratulations too -- this was a GB to remember, and the first time I've ever turned in multiple subjects. I'll be even more ambitious on the 109s next year!

Learned lots, had a great time, and that's what the hobby is all about!

M/TB379

Well thank you Joe for having me on this it was my  first GB and I got to meet some great people and just as great  moddlers and I hope to work with you all in the  future.   and I  did pick up edwards fw-109g for the GB coming up so if I'm not on the list count me in.

I'm finishing off my new pc build so I hope that helps my pic. Download  issues.

One problem I did develop is I can't seem to stop buying FW-190 I'm a addict..!!!!!..:D

You guys are all da bomb. Thanks to everybody for making it the GB that it was. It was a true honor to be your host.

Well gentlemen, I got a problem.

Today started off great with me getting home early and sitting down at my bench. I was happily sitting there, sanding the wing seams on my 190s to make them look prefect and things were going well, right untill the point where they suddently weren't anymore.

After getting a good-looking leading edge seam on my Eduard A-8 (the one with all the AM goodies) and rescribing all the panel lines I sanded away, I started to polish her with some fine-grit sanding sticks and sand paper to get her ready for a primer coat. And that's where it all went horribly wrong:

What you see here is a big chunk of the lower wing part that snapped off while I polished the model. To make things worse both wing leading edges (the areas that didn't break off) are split right down their join lines with only the very tips of the wings and the trailing edges still being in one piece. I don't know how that happenend, but I suppose I put a wee bit too much pressure on that area...

I think it's pretty obvious that I'm both shocked and extremely demotivated right now.

I will try to fix it, but I doubt it'll come close to how it all looked before I screwed it up. There's a lot of glueing and even more filling and sanding to do, not to mention the rescribing afterwards. I'll probably also have to repaint half of the gear bays and weather them again (good thing I still have some of the oil wash I used pre-mixed in a paint jar)

What tha??? How'd THAT happen?

Believe me, I'd love to know that myself... I got it all glued together now. And oh boy, what a fight that was. Took me almost two hours, a lot of superglue, even more plastic cament and all the clamps I have to get the damn thing in place. The left gear bay is shaped a bit differently now (a bit larger at the front) so I guess I'll just reshape the right one accordigly to make it look symmetric again. There is a noticable difference to my other Eduard 190s, but I should be fine as long as I don't pick up two of them and hold them side-by-side...

Crazy that would happen.

I'm sure with your skills you'll make it look fine, Clemens.