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

Mike- Interesting... wonder if it's because of the think plastic bits?  Won't fit under a closed hood?  Sounds like some kits where a guy is supposed to leave the engine out unless leaving the cowl panels off.  Hope all fits well in the end!

One note about the USAF Museum-

Get there early if you can, and look for someone signing people up for a side trip over to Wright Patterson AFB.  They have a hangar there with the XB-70, X-15, YF-12a, etc.  There is only one bus that goes over there once per day, and when it is full there is no more until the next day.  It is on a first come, first serve basis.  They have a lot of cool stuff over there, including a number of ex- Air Force One aircraft.  I highly recommend the trip!  Since you are going onto an active base, they need your driver's license to do a back ground check on you.

I was surprised to find so many non-US aircraft displayed there.  Even had a Macchi! (This ought to get Guy's attention LOL)

Me with the YF-12a...

Glad to meet you Mike K.!!! How 'bout it? (<sound familiar?) Yes, I used to live in the peach state in Warner Robins. Was civil service for awhile before migrating over to the land down under working on F-15's. Now I work on buses (747's). Getting behind the barriers at the Museum? I hope that goes well, if you ask very politely and as long as a museum rep is with you I hope there won't be too much of a problem. I went there in the mid 80's and heard that one of the boy scout troops that was there the same day had proceded to put ketchup on something(plane)!!!!!! I was in the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) at the time and seriously wanted to hunt down this brat!!!! ANyway nother story lol. Hopefully looking forward to some sweet pics!!!!

Thanks for the kind words guys! Being a part of this group build is really great motivation for making progress on the bird.

Rich - I'm one more in the long list of Mikes; but maybe call me Mike K to differentiate. 

Guy - Your advice has been taken to heart. Right now the main task is to get everything that's going to be 02 before the wings and fuselage are assembled prepared and painted. In my mock up, everything looks pretty good - but it sure seems to look different once cement is flowing! In this case, the model is going to be closed up, but there's a funny thing about the instructions that seems to be an error. Among the things that you're supposed to leave our are the ammunition case/spent cartridge holders. That can't be right! This is what I'm talking about:

Funny that some of the pictures I've got of the Air Force Museum D9 seem to show these parts missing, but surely not when they were in service! So I just hacked off the ammunition feeds at the top and carried on as normal. Hopefully the gun hood will fit better.

Frank - Nice pictures from the museum! I'll do my best to take a bunch; and I'll put up a gallery just in case anyone's interested. My brother and I had talked about going there for years; shoot, since we were teenagers actually. Somehow it just never happened;but I guess that's what moving away does to you. He still lives in the Detroit area where we grew up, and now I live in GA. This business trip is taking me to Chicago and then Detroit, so we are going to make the most of it! Now, I wonder what the chances of getting behind the barricades to take some really close ups of the real engine plug are?!? Probably not good - but I'm going to ask!

On a personal level, it's really nice to be a part of this group build. It reveals another side of the forums that I hadn't experienced before. So, thank you to everyone - especially Frank for setting this up and doing the hard work of organization!

All the best, 

Mike K.

xradio81- Great looking work, didn't realize you had started!  Good to see those WIP pics.

Damon- Exceptional work there, looks like you are about ready to finish.  Can't wait to update page 1 with your build.

I'm with you Bill, the work displayed here is nothing short of spectacular.  So many people building, and so much info flowing.  Thank you everyone!

Mike- I am so glad you joined up, seeing your work is an absolute pleasure.  Gorgeous work so far!  Have fun at the USAF Museum, I was there back in 2007, and it is beyond description!  So many historical pieces there, I spent the whole day there and could have spent a whole week if I had the time.  Here's a couple of shots of the Dora from when I was there...

Had to get one of the spinner!

Hard to take photos there, very dark.  Wish I had a tripod with me when I went.

Dave- That's a lot of tiny dudes, are you gonna paint them up and play Army with them?  LOL.  Great choice on the markings, pretty sure I have those on a 1/48 sheet somewhere.

Guy- Already thinking about the next one?  Just say the word fella, and you've got it.  At this pace, you're gonna finish more than the rest of us combined LOL.

Benz that engine plug is looking great!!!! What would be your name Benz?

Dave, looking forward to seeing your lil Academy kit WIP shots!!!!!

jmabx

I haven't worked on my Dora in a while but as you all know... that's Dave's fault!

Right... more abuse... so glad I came back! 

I decided on a scheme for my A-8.  Just ordered this set today.  The second one down is the one.

Damon your paintwork is fantastic and your on the final leg as well. Im looking forward to seeing it finished in all its glory.

Benz, your plug is looking great. Dont do what i did and forget to paint the inside of the fuse where it goes. Got there in the end but still a schoolboy error. Those Eduard kits really take some building. The wings are the ultimate in PITA. Ive built 3 now and everyone has given my hassle. They just dont go together easily. You end up taking a shave of styrene for here and a little bit from there. Definately have your wits about you. The one im building is having the gun cover open. This is ok but you have to chop the crap out of the bulkhead support in order to get the fron cover piece to go over the guns. Another biggy is the supercharger intake. It has a bulbous bottom, that takes some serious shaving and fettling in order to get it to sit flush with the fuselage. Nightmare!!!

Ill probably do another though....im getting the hang of them, sort of.

...Guy

Hey Dave!!! Welcome... It's nice to see you here!  

Frank - That's going to be a good looking paint scheme. I have a late war 109 decal sheet with similar paint jobs on them... I think it looks cool!

Radio - Looks like you're almost there.   Your colors look fine too.

Damon - Outstanding work!!! That thing looks awesome!

Engine plug looks great Benzdoc! I'm sure it will be a treat to see a real Dora!

I haven't worked on my Dora in a while but as you all know... that's Dave's fault!

Wow!!!  There is some seriously cool work going on here.  I feel like my little kit is not worthy of the web space on this GB.   

Started my 1/72 Academy kit yesterday and the cockpit is woeful to say the least.  It's an older Academy kit so it''s not up to their current standards.  I also made a trip to the LHS and found the perfect solution to the problem.  I picked up these beautifully detailed 1/72 Revell figures set made with real polystyrene (not that yucky vinyl stuff), posable seated pilot figures, and not a single pose is duplicated in the other figures.  Not as nice as the CMK resin stuff but very close and you get 30 figures (not including the dogs - nice bonus) for just a little more than a CMK pack of 3.  I need to go back to the store and get the RAF set that they had.  

You can see the cockpit tub for the FW in the pictures.  The pilot should add a lot of interest and hide the lack of detail.

Great shot of the hobby spray area. Parts look good as well.............

Hello All! You guys' work is astounding! I love it.

Here's an update from my side; this work was done last weekend but I was traveling for work all week... 

Going back a bit, thanks for the encouragement Frank and Rich (formerly known to me a simpilot!)! You guys got me motivated to press on, so here's a few shots of the engine plug prior to paint:

As you can see, I got bit by the 'plastic pipes don't really look like pipes' bug. So I replaced some of the molded lines with brass and solder. I'm not 100% happy with how they turned out, but after about 5 tries each, the investment to reward ratio was dropping fast! 

As you can see, trying to make these pipes and still take the sub-assemblies apart required a good way to keep them connected, so I used a couple of brass pins and it worked really well. That let me get the pipes bent right (well, as close as I could get them) and still take it apart for paint. I took some liberties with the bolt heads and the large nut for the oil line - but to my eyes it looks better than nothing at all.

Funny thing, for all of the books I have, there sure weren't many pics of this area of the engine...

So, on to paint. I did a hurry up paint session with Metalizer paints. Notice that I put Micro Mask liquid on the mating parts of the engine bearers and some other points - I want to be able to weld them with liquid cement! Here's everything ready to go, and a gratuitous shot of my spray booth - the first time ever I've had it in my modeling room. 

The non-buffing aluminum has been laid down, and here's the careful masking with the non-adhesive side for the darker color:

And the main part after both colors:

And the final assembly, awaiting a coat of Future (I know the name's changed, but I like the old one better!)

The yellow was brush painted; a bit of gelb and RLM 02 mixed in to tone it down. And the lower engine bearer braces were brush painted with RLM 02. So, it still needs to be weathered, but I feel like progress has been made!

The drag is that I'm going away on business again this week, but the upside is that next Saturday I'm planning on going to the Air Force Museum and check out the Dora they have there - that's something to look forward to!

Radio, your paint looks fine, and the standing orders for the colors were just that, colors and mottles. It was up to the crews applying said colors to put them on anyway they could. So your paintwork is not out of place at all. Looks great to me!!!

Damon, your Ta is looking sweet!!!!!!! Very nicely done paintwork as well!!!

Well Frankinvisor, you've done it again. I haven't even started, and there's more "11" builds than I can have ever imagined! Whodathunk that V-12 190's could be soooo cooool.

I was just thinkin' tho Saturday might be a good day to pull out that tiny little box and start the A3a

Nomad you're killing me. That bird is to die for. And you are correct: Of course it's all Dave's fault!

Frank I cant wait to see that plane done I have never seen one like it. Very different markings.

xradio81 You did a great job mixing colors. That looks great nice work

Dave I dont know you, I am new here but for some reason I feel like it might be all your fault

Any how I am almost done . All I have left is the canopy and dullcoat and any touch ups. Had a little problem when I glued the right gear in I pushed to hard and popped the seam at the wing leading edge here are more photo's

Damon

Great work so far people, I am learning alot after my long absence from building. This is my G-3 so far, decals and flat acrylic applied a few days ago. If the colors look off its because I mixed them myself, my local hobby store did not have the colors in stock when I wanted to paint. This is the 1/48 pro-modeler kit from monogram/revell. It's my first German plane since I was a kid in the early 1960's. Kit decals were junk so these are Eagle Strike Reich Defenders #1 I think. Paint scheme is not accurate, instructions were hard to digest but I have learned alot and have several German WW2 kits waiting in my stash. This one is going alot smoother than my F4 Phantom in another groupbuild. I enjoy seeing all of your progress, tips and comments and have signed on to the NMF groupbuild also.

razordws

Thanks for the warm welcome all though I still don't know why it is all my fault? 

Funny thing you say that Dave, I was thinking the same thing the other day!  A bit comforting though I think, wiith all of the changes that have happened here in the past 7 months or so- it's good to know some things never change.

Thanks all for the votes of confidence!  I sprayed a coat of Future over the green last night, hope to spray the tail bits tomorrow after work.

vetteman42

If we aint careful I bet Dave will do it again too

OOOPS!!! 

If we aint careful I bet Dave will do it again too

Cheers for that Frank. It definately looks different thats for sure. Good choice,

...Guy

P.s Its still all Daves fault!!

Guy- Looking good, nice work on the engine plug.

Frank- That's a great scheme, typical late war 190 patchwork!

Thanks for the warm welcome all though I still don't know why it is all my fault? 

Frank, that is an interesting scheme and I look forward to seeing you pull it off to your usual perfection.

Frank, that is an interesting scheme and one you are more than capable of pulling off!!!!! Looking good buddy!!!

Should look cool Frank, especially after you rough it up a bit, I like the yellow band on the cowl.

Cheers....

Guy-

This is what I copied off of Eduard's site on this aircraft.  It was found abandoned at an airfield in Czechoslovakia in the final weeks of the war.  According to the profile, it was from the Stab flight of SG 10.  Interesting scheme, me thinks.

Oh Jeeez, Daves here. There goes the neighbourhood LOL. Dave i thought id only be here for one build and bugger me if im now on my third!!! Frank has that way about him, he manages to keep you hooked....that and he choses my favourite subject.

Frank, what a wierd colour scheme. Not seen that one at all. I even checked some of my refs. Do you have a colour plate of the bird? Who flew it/ Etc etc. You got me interested,

...Guy

back Dave, be good to see you building again. Hey maybe it's Dave's fault that so many of us had paint trouble recently?

Cheers....

Frank that is going to be a different looking bird. Definetely going to have to break up the color scheme a bit some how. Mabye some random spraying of a slightly lightened color of the same overall color? Either way I'm sure you'll have here looking just peachy before it's done.

Soulcrusher

bondoman

 

Clebode:

 

Dave---As this is my first GB I don't know you yet.  Given the builders who are thrilled by your arrival, I am looking forward to seeing your work and learning from you.

 

Clebode, just be warned. Whatever happens, it's all Dave's fault!

 

Hummmm <scratching chin> I have heard that about Frank too

Clebode

Dave---As this is my first GB I don't know you yet.  Given the builders who are thrilled by your arrival, I am looking forward to seeing your work and learning from you.

Did some painting on my build last night, adding the main upper color.  Gotta be honest- feels a bit strange painting a late war Luftwaffe A/C in a single top color.  The plane I am depicting had a rough overcoat of RLM 83 over the entire upper surface (except the tail).  I tried to give it a patchy, mottled look which is difficult to see in the photo.  Hopefully, as the weathering commences it will be more visible.  I am planning to spray a coat of Future on it this afternoon, then paint the yellow cowl band before removing the tail masks so I can finish them.  More to come!