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

arki- Looks like you are about ready for paint, which scheme are you doing again?

Guy- Love that dense mottle, makes for the coolest looking Wulfs IMHO.  Got the stickers on yet?

OK, hit my first speed bump on this one, should have dry fitted the fuselage with the cowl on.  Here's the problem, the fuselage extension at the shoulder of the wing root does not mate up well at all with the cowl:

Some shim on the bottom of the forward fuselage would have been required to get everything to line up.  I've been using putty and Mr. Surfacer to build it up but I don't think I'll be able to completely alleviate the problem, hopefully it won't stand out too much once the paint is on.

Thanks for all the comments guys, its much appreciated. I do have a Tamiya D-9 of JV-44 in the stash and there is just something about the red and white stripes on the underside that calles to me. Plus I have so much fun on this GB so might as well build another.

Keep up the great work guys, you guys are producing some fantastic work here

Steve

Steve- Gorgeous build, now get to work on another one!

Guy- Nice work on the paint, for a minute I thought your tape on the fuselage was a yellow fuselage band.  I'm doing a JG 3 Sturmbock too, Jerry Crandall suggests that the cowl and spinner had an ever so slight blue tint to the the black, especially when it faded.  His recommendation is add 10% RLM 24 to the black for these areas.

Nomad- Great work on the engine, looks really nice

mucker

Steve, you just produced a show winner! Wow!!! that's tremendous!

Damon---I feel your pain.  Your Ta152H-1 l hope it will turn out better than mine.  I agree wholeheartedly that the GB has been a fantastic learning experience.

Mike---Used your technique for the IP on my Bf109E and it worked like a charm.    

Steve---Beautiful!!!! 

Fantastic work Steve, shes a beauty. I hope mine comes out half as good and ill be well chuffed.

You going to be tempted to do another?

...Guy

Nice progress Nomad, I have to get one of those some day.

Well fellas, Im calling this one done. Finished with all the fiddly bits tonight. Im working on a display for it and should be done with it soon so I will post pics when thats done also. So for a quick recap. This is the Eduard 1/48 A-8, its built OOB except for some brake lines added and some extra plumming for the engine. Finished with MM enamels with a panel wash and pastel chalks for weathering. Once you get past the wing fit and forward fuselage issues the rest is a breeze and the level of detail is excellent. So here she is.

and as I was taking the pics I broke off a flap so now I can reset it up to have them offset

I had a blast doing this kit, my first Eduard. Its great building with all you guys and always fun and some great work going on in here.

Thanks Frank for doing the usuall bang up job on this GB and I am already looking forward to #IV. Now where is that D-9 I have in the stash that I may build for another entry. Till then I have a Do 24 to build for the BOB build

Thanks for looking and all comments and critique are always welcome

Steve

Thanks everyone for your comments I got alot done today. The wing was very difficult to assemble. Actualy everything on this kit has been a challenge. If someone new to this hobby picked this kit up as thier fist build they might have gave up on it. Steve the belts are photoetch from the Dragon kit. I dont see a radiator screen in front of cowl behind the spinner dont know how to make that any help there would be welcome. here are more pics  Thanks

Damon

Well as was said, I have a bit of paint on the bird. Black 13 had a very heavy mottle on the thing. More tricky than i 1st thought. Anyhoo, this is all your getting for the moment lol,

...Guy

Guy, arki splendid progress chaps, cant wait to see the paint going on.

Nomad as the other have said, great office, looks fantastic.

Cheers....

And cowling is on with engine dutifully painted beyond.  As Luftwoller accurately notes, you can't see diddly once the cowling is on.  In the future if I build another 190 I may not paint the engine just to see if anyone would notice.

Hey Richie, never a truer word eh? I got the base colours on this morning LOL. Im using Lifecolour acrylics for the 1st time. The jurys still out,

...Guy

Damon great work on the office it taking shape. What did you use for the belts btw.

Guy, cool looking engine, you have to show that off

Steve

Great stuff, Damon...nicely detailed office!

Damon, Nice looking front office....Well done

Guy, Damon, Excellent progress fellas!!!! By the time you read this Guy should have color on!!! Looking good guys!!!

Mike you are more than welcome!! Thanks for the link Frank, knew I had seen pics of th eengine somewhere.

Hey everyone I have been busy but had time today to get most of the office done on the Ta152. This is a great group build I have learned soo much from you guys   I have enjoyed watching everyones work and have improved my modeling skills and learned a heck of alot about the 190s Again everyone keep up the great work

Damon

outstanding work Guy, I have the same kit lined up for this GB....I'll be watching with interest

Well Guy is almost dona agian with another one! Looks like there is going to be some paint flying real soon.

Soulcrusher

Guy that is a beautiful little engine, and great looking 190 overall. I hope Eduard is paying you for shwoing off their kit so nicely!

Guy -- that's a beautiful engine! Wow! Lots more detail than the big Hase and deserving to be seeen with all the panels open.

The mark of engine in the A-8 as depicted by Hase has a 12-blade fan, but even so there's not going to be much visible. I've put the valve pushrods into black as per the museum display, hopefully they'll be somewhat visible against the metallics behind them. But with the cowling in flight trim that's about it.

I hope mine looks half as good!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hi Richie and Frank --

Thanks, both, for the info and link, they helped a lot! I did some general surfing and found both a superdetailed model BMW 801 and a 190 undergoing complete restoration, both of which showed the frontal housing in a mid gray, plus there's the preserved museum example with the housing in black, so I guess both Tamiya and Hasegawa got it right!

I'm thinking different production blocks of the engine had different details, the unit could have even come from a dfferent subconctractor, and been gray or black accordingly... Which leaves the choice up to me, really!

I'll get it into color tomorrow, along with the spinner cones for the big Hasegawa and the Airfix D-9.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Mike if your building the Anton with the 14 bladed fan, i reckon it doesnt matter what colour you paint anything behind it as you see diddly! I just painted the lot Boltgun metal and gave iot a wash of lamp black. Looks fine to me. Here it is in all its glory. Eduard did wonders on this engin btw. Really a work of art. It just needs some plug leads and a bit of piping if you were going to show it opened up,

Eduard provide a template to get the indy exhaust pipes to fit correctly. I had big doubts as to wether this was going to work, but burger me, it worked perfectly,

Did a few other odds and sods and heres where i am,

Almost looks like a 190,

...Guy

Mike-

Check this link out, I think it will help.  Enjoy!

BMW 801 walk around

Mike, according to th ecutaway of an A-8 I have the larger thingy towards the 12 o'clock position on the front of the engine just behind the fan is indeedy a magneto. Don't know what color it is though. Google some Fw-190 engine pics and see what you can find, I know I have seen them before but can't remember where. HTH a bit!!

Quick question, which I have not been able to illuminate from my research books so far...

The assembly immediately behind the prop/fan, which I imagine is a gearbox or magneto drive, maybe a prop governor... Tamiya's instructions said satin black, which seemed fair, matching the spinner, and as so little is visible behind the fan I finished it that way without question. Hasegawa say "neutral gray" for the same unit, and as somewhat more will be visible in 1:32nd scale I thought I'd query what other builders understand as correct for this area.

I have my new gas cylinder hitched up and have given my AB needle another treatment for bent-tip syndrome, she's spraying nicely but still with a bit of  "spotty wetness" to it, though the paint seems to be willing to dry completely level. At this point I'm just going to keep working and monitor the performance as I go. I sprayed the Schwatrzgrun for three FW 190s a few minutes ago, ergo my question about prop-related hardware.

Cheers, Mike/TB379