FW-190 Reich Defender III 5/10-2/11

Great detail on the instrument panel Clebode!

Looking good there Karl, you're really zipping along with this one! 

Clebode- Great work on the office, especially that IP!

Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

Soulcrusher - You are now my official coach.  Thanks for the great tip for mating the fuselage halves.  Seams are not my forte but I am getting better with practice.  Your advice should be just the ticket for this project.  As practice for tackling the fuselage I glued the halves of the big right side air scoop last night and after about 30 min had a seemless beauty.  I am using a new glue that is thin and lightening fast as opposed to the Testors I had always used before.  It really softens and thoroughly welds the styrene making an initial scrape of the seam much more effective.  That allows minimal use of gap filling CA which I have always had trouble sanding down completely.  I have also switched to wet sanding from dry.  Big diference.  I should get the fuselage toghether today and start on the seams..  The actual fit is not too bad.  The major problems seem to be around the openings to the pit, tail wheel and lower wing.

Frank - Thanks for the link to the other site.

Clebode

Clebode - that pit looks great!

Hoping to have something to look at for you fellas tomorrow.

Clebode I only use super glue to fill a seem that it going to need to be rescribed later or to repair and accidental scratch when rescribing. It dries much to hard and is very resistant to sanding. Have you tried Squadron putty. It dries fast and sands nicely. Wet sanding is the way to go no doubt even when you are doing rough sanding. It has sveral advantages. The first is less dust all over your bench and the second is you sanding sticks will not clog up and will usally last longer too. Glad to hear the fuselage is almost ready to get glued. I'm going to be glueing mine up tonight.

Frank I did see the first pictures you posted I just wanted more!

                                                                                                                         Soulcrusher

Glad to see some progress, I am not going to start soon, because I am working on a Monogram Monster, but I thought I would post some pics from my model contest trip.

Whoops Blurry

These are other builds I saw at the contest-- not mine.  I hope this is not too off topic, but I thought it was interesting.

How can pics of the guestbe off topic????? Beutiful shots!!! Love the decal/paint work on them!!!!

Very nice Builds......

Well i have my Eduard A-5 and i'm impressed, it has everything so i'm showing everything, engine cowls open and gunbay panels open.....

Thanks for those pics Andrew, great inspiration!

Nice start, Karl! You're moving along at a pace Guy would be proud of!

Andrew..great inspirational pics!!!

Soulcrusher,

Where are your photos?  

I am going to prime the fuselage now.  Seams look good after a silver Sharpie drag.  Stuck with the CA fill as your tip on gluing tabs made the fit quite good.    Only tiny gaps to fill.  I have the Squadron putty but I have only used it for big gaps.

Frank,

I am in contact with Jerry Rutman.   His upgrade parts look beyond anything I have tackled so far but I am giving it a go on the main wheel wells. 

Karl,

I wish I had gone your route on a 1:72.  Looks good so far.

Sorry Clebode. I was a bit under the weather yeasterday so I did not get the fuselage closed up I'm heading to the bench right now to finish up the IP and close her up.

I also got my EagleCals decals today. Man its going to be hard to pick on scheme. One late war bird even has a non standard  Blue green underside with NMF wing panel on tne bottom of the wings.

Off to the bench I go!

                                                          Soulcrusher

Ok Clebode here are the pics I promised. I told you I was heading off to the bench! Did'nt believe me did ya!  I decided to wait until tomorrow to close everything up because some of the glue is no dry and some paint is still a bit tacky. I also tacked in the main wing spar. and glued some wheel havles together.

Where is our fearless leader? Oh my he's been in the rum agian! I'm gonna have to tell Capt. Bondo to cut back on your rum rations Frank!

Soulcrusher

Great looking progress pics Crusher!  Looks like you're a mile ahead of me already.

soulcrusher

Where is our fearless leader?

Promise you won't tell? 

M1A2 Abrams

Oh I'm telling everyone! Seriuosly I checked out your work and it is top notch. I love WWII armor and I hava about 20 1/35 scale WWII armor subjects stashed away. I have a good idea Frank for the next GB. Wingnuts building armor! Any scale any subject goes. Mabye this fall?

Soulcrusher

Soulcrusher, nice work on the interior and engine plug, looks great

Frank, Some armour eh.....Too many wheels buddy....

Soulcrusher,

Your office and engine plug look fantastic.  Your dials look real crisp.    What was your technique for painting them?

I didn't get to prime last night as there were a few small seam imperfections and sanding scratches to fix.  I have also decided to install the pit before priming.  That may push things back a bit.  The IP fit is a bit dodgy.

Thanks Julez I'm pretty happy with the IP and plug.

Clebode the IP is the kit piece sanded flat with a film for the dials and then a photo-etch peice over the top in a sandwich type of arangement. It is not perfect but it looks ok. The real instument panel had some of the guages actually prodrude quite a bit so the flat look ot this type arrangment is not 100% accurate but it will look ok hidden deep under the cockpit dash.

I am sure you IP needs a bit of fiddling to get a good fit. Thats just the nature of the beast. Looking foward to your next pictures.

Soulcrusher

Soulcrusher....looking good on the 'pit!

I'm begining to think Opti-visors create internal cranial hemorrhaging...look what it's done to Frank...he's building targets!!!

Clebode, nice work on the IP.

SC, that engine plug and pit look spot on.

Looking forward to seeing that one finished.

Progress

Not a lot on the lil' 190, as the big 262 is back on the bench.

Karl

Thanks mucker. I am pretty happy with my efforts though as always I think I could have done better.

Actually mucker I think it is Franks key to his super powers. A closely guarded secret though he did let me in on the exact powers of his optivisor during a secret phone conversation as long as I agreed to keep the exact detail a secret.

Soulcrusher

Frank I'm in of course.  I have an A-5 and an A-6 in the stash both Hasegawa 48th.  I am going to have to finish the Mistel first.  JOHN

Ok I checked out the decals I bought from EagalCal closely and I found one option that is really cool. "Black 10" the third from the top is painted in a non standard blue green on the fuselage with NMF panels on the bottom of the wings. This one is really screaming out to me build me! The first two choices are actually the same plane and the third production model of the D-9 series. It somehow managed to survive the war till the end. Here is a better scan of the color plates.

Soulcrusher

Wowzers !!!! You guys are all doing beautiful work Its making me want to get a move on so I can start mine.

So come on Randy! Clebode and me are the only two right now going full steam ahead on our builds. Frank said he is giving out free Me 109 kits to the first two people that finish their builds 1/72 scale not included sorry Karl!

I glued up the two fuselage halves tonight and everything fit very nice in between the two halves. I also finished glueing in the wheel well-wing spar assemble to the lower wing. The lower wing is a little flimsy due to the way it is broken down so the spar is needed. I glued it in sections for the best fit. I have not decided what to tacke next.

Soulcrusher

soulcrusher

I have a good idea Frank for the next GB. Wingnuts building armor! Any scale any subject goes. Mabye this fall?

Oh boy... I can just see it now!  The mantlet of a Sherman with a spiral on the end of it, a mottled Abrams and a Tiger II in NMF!   LOL... still- sounds very intriguing!  Yeah, and you better keep that optivisor thing a secret!  Otherwise, no more 109's in the mail for you!  I like the idea of the third plane on that sheet, after you mentioned the blue-green and NMF undersides!  I have always liked the looks of those very late war A/C, with the patched together appearance.  Go for it! 

Free 109 kits in the mail, YIKES!

Charles- Good plan!  I'll blame it on the optivisor!  Don't worry, I shall always stay true to aircraft, just need to build something different once in a while.  One of these days, I am even going to try building a ship!

John- You got it my friend, both kits added to the list!

Soulcrusher, nice choice that one, black 10 should come up real nice...Keep it coming

SC that looks great mate!! The IP came out very well!!! Nice choice on the decals too!!!!!!!

Frank that M1 looks awesome!!!

Thanks Richie!

Small update on my F-8...

Opened up the shell ejection ports on the bottom of the wings, and boxed in the chutes with some scrap styrene.

I also cleaned up the fuselage, and painted the dash a very dark gray...

The kit came with a bomb loading cart and two figures, thinking about adding them to a small dio.  Here's the loading cart i have been working on as a side project just in case-

Looking good Frank!!! Looking forward to seeing color!!!!