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

Wait till you build a 109! Those things were tiny!!

No worries, mate. You can ask me any question you want about German names and stuff. I am also gladly offering my service regarding translations of German stuff.

Not every 1/48 fighter is small. The Thunderbolts I am working on ATM are at least 4 cm longer than a 190A. And 1/32 models of those flying milk jugs are huge buggers... Th 190 is just one of the smaller fighters of WW2...

Clemens, thanks buddy! That all makes sense now.

A bit embarrassed, I went brain dead and forgot about googling my question. But it's more fun annoying my new friends here anyway. :)

RLM stands for Reichsluftfahrtministerium. That is German for "Reich" aviation ministery. It was a ministery for everything regarding aviation in the 3rd Reich (civil and military).

"RLM-colors" are basically numbered standard-colors used to paint aircraft. RLM-66 for example, is standard-color nr. 66, which is a particular shade of dark gray.

And yes, the Avenger was a monster compared to some other planes. Don't forget the fact that it had a 3 man crew compared to the single pilot the 190s had...

I hope I could help you out!

Cheers, Clemens

Hey, thanks Doug! Didn't realise Model Master had RLM colors, I just bit the bullet and ordered some Vallejo Model Air RLM colors from Squadron.

Good advice re mixing enough. I did my first ever custom mix for the Avenger, due to mistakes mixing, thought I mixed up way too much. Ended up almost running out of one, proves how right you are!

Honestly, I didn't realise how small normal 1/48th WWII fighters are. Amazing how my sense of scale got lost over the gone years. And here I was thinking 1/32nd would be far too big. Yikes.

And regarding the three crew TBM, oddly, during my entire build, even though I saw the interior right in front of me, the obvious large size of the aircraft never really occurred to me. Odd.

I now have a rather burning desire to see a refurb in person somewhere.

Tamiya will not list (usually) RLM. Some kits recommend "blending" colors by percentage to achieve the desired color. RLM (I would also have to look up even though I've read it a thousand times) were the colors approved by the Reich war ministery. The colors I use mainly are the Model Master acrylics which are already blended to standards,(also available in enamels) I think a lot of Tamiya kits of coarse recommend their own close match paints and are very good paints. Several other kit mfgs will send along a chart showing which paint mfg blends (Mr color, Humbolt, etc...) will work best. It can be fun experimenting, but just remember to mix enough to do your project as I'm sure you know you can rarely ever blend again and get the exact color.

LOL, yes, after doing a 1/32 and an Avenger to boot, I'm sure the 48 did look a tad small! LOL I generally like the 1/32 but have done a few 48s for people recently, and find I have to re-train myself all over again due to the size diff.

Hope this helps...Take care

Doug

Don't mean to interrupt the interesting compressor discussion, but thought someone might get a kick out of this.

My 1/48th Hasegawa fw-190 arrived. Just opened the box. Bear in mind my point of scale reference is the 1/48th TBM Avenger I am finishing up. That and a 1/32nd F-15 Eagle, my last and only surviving model build.

I panicked, thought there was a mistake, Hasegawa had packaged a 1/72nd kit in the 1/48th packaging. I actually checked the physical specs of both aircraft online. I had no idea what a monster the TBM was. Or that the 190 is so small. Or whatever.

I have a question; the manual references some "RLM" colors. I've seen RLM colors tossed about here, have no idea what they mean? Also, my Academy kit called out colors from several mfgs. The Hasegawa just has the colors. Whatever RLM means, I assume they are not paint mfg specific?

TIA.

Edit: Oops, forgot about Google. Figured out RLM. D'oh! Every one is available from Gunze in their Aqueous line, which I cannot get over here. Grrrr. :) Off to check if Tamiya has any RLM colors......

When I get home tonight I'll have to look at it and make sure its not a pressure regulator.

falconmod

I've got one of those old badger type compressors with no pressure adjustment or tank.  I do have a water trap/pressure dial that I was going to add to it,  will the water trap act like a small air tank?

mustang1989

If I remember correctly I upped the pressure to about 30psi and adjusted the needle to where there was barely any paint coming out and just kept the AB moving.

If I remember correctly I upped the pressure to about 30psi and adjusted the needle to where there was barely any paint coming out and just kept the AB moving. That was done with a medium needle/tip though.

Thanks Joe and Greg,

 I wouldn't be to apprehensive, I practice on a piece of card board the way I want to paint it before i actually spray the plane.   I do have one concern the spray pattern has rather large spots of paint, is this because I'm not thinning it enough or to low air pressure?  Not sure how to reduce the size of the spots of paint,  I do have the finest needle in my paasche AB.

John

I realised what you meant, and kudos from me were based on same.

I'm still apprehensive to try freehand with the AB (but going to if my 190 arrives before this GB is over, so my hat remains tipped to you, John. No need to be embarrassed, I think.

No worries there John. I guess that is what I get for assuming. This in no way though lets you off the hook for receiving major cudos for pulling off an excellent Luftwaffe mottling for the first time. Nice!

Hey guys, I'm very embarrassed, I think my use of words was misunderstood.  I meant to say that I have never done a camo using mottling (WWII German),  mostly straight edge and masked type of air brushing, SEA and US navy stuff when I was doing it in the mid 80's. I have however not picked up a air brush for about twenty three years since shortly after I got married.(until last year that is) so I am a little rusty, 

   And I had never done any type of weathering until last year when after I went to my first show here in Minnesota.  And now a shameless plug for our web site.  I probably wouldn't have either if I didn't get on this web site.  Between 1990 and 2006 I was into scratch built R/C jets,  fiberglass molds and everything.  I did however build models from about 1966 to 1989, plastic, rockets etc etc.  It's what happens when you live 3 blocks from the best hobby store in the state (not kidding!)  most of my lawn mowing money went there!

So when do I get strung up for my 40 lashes with a solveset laced brush!

John

My hat's off to you John!  That's great work for your first AB paint job.  Very nice beginning dude!  Keep the pics comin'.

Gary

John... Very nice job for a first use of air brush... You seem to have the basics down well and you will learn many many neat tricks as you become more comfortable with it! Again, nice job!

Doug

Thanks for the cudos Clemens.Got some fit issues but will work them out.

Thanks Greg! You'll be there in no time. Just hang around these parts a while and you'll pick up a thing or two. I did!

John, if my first freehand airbrush attempt might come out 10% as well. Agree with the others, well done!!!!! It looks simply great.

Joe, awesome job on yours.

You guys are good.

John: Awesome work! I love that mottle pattern!

Joe: Very beautiful 190. Very beautiful indeed...

Joe Rix:Thanks for the comment. I'm not really happy with the front of the engine as far as how the prop hub/ cooling fan didn't act right but I have a plan in place to take care of that.

falconmod

I have a question about painting canopies on the 190.  since I will be painting the canopy in the standard 190 camo colors,  is there a base color I should paint first, ie(the one you will see form the inside before I put the RLM color on?    thanks for any help.

John

Thanks for the comment on the engine. It aint that bad though. You just have to treat it as its own model.

Holy Smokes John, For someones first shot with an AB that is down right dynamite. I men that is some excellent work. To answer your question you should first paint your canopy frame with the same color as the cockpit then spray your exterior colors. That way it gives the appearance of the interior frame being more realistic.

Way to go Joe, You the man. That looks terrific.

I have a question about painting canopies on the 190.  since I will be painting the canopy in the standard 190 camo colors,  is there a base color I should paint first, ie(the one you will see form the inside before I put the RLM color on?    thanks for any help.

John

mustang1989

Dang John. That mottle pattern looks great! Nice job on the decals too. When I get to this stage I my impulse is to hurry up and get it done and I have to settle the horses down and continue to build at the same pace as I did up to that point.

  Thanks, that's actually my first time doing that kind of painting with a AB.  I was pleased with the out come.  I know what you mean by hurry,  the decals on the starboard side had a accident with the solveset and i had to remove the decals on the port side because the replacement decals didn't quite match, what a pain getting the dried decals off so I could do it all over again so both sides would match.

  Your engine looks great,  that kind detail scares me to death, I'm glad this 190 didn't have that option,  I'm not ready for it yet.

John

Jester75

Joe, that engine looks sweet and looks like it went in with not problems. Looking forward to some pics with a

Whoa John, way to bust in here with an awesome looking 190, nice work!!!

Joe, that engine looks sweet and looks like it went in with not problems. Looking forward to some pics with a bit more lighting!!

Vacation is coming up this weekend for me and my family so probably wont be any updates from me till after the weekend. I will be peeking back in here though while gone and checking on any updates!

The pic was taken this morning so its not as clear as the one I took at lunch the other day. Will probably take another as most of the frontal detail will be covered up. The pic is just for my piece of mind that I did in fact put all of that PE on!!