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

Your two 190s look awesome, Eric! I hope I can learn some things from your build for my next A8/R2 (the best-looking Fw IMO).

Just one question: is the fuselage a different color than the wings (on the Dora) or did you tint the image wit some editing program? (i think you did that in some of your previous posts on the Dora as well?)

I can't wait to see more!

Cheers, Clemens

Thank you Eric. There is one bad mistake I could've prevented: I think you can't see it that well on the pics, but where the lower IP (the larger one) meets the side console, I managed to rip the paint of the PE off. I glued it back in place, but you can see it a bit sadly. (I'll leave the canopy open though).

Here are some pics of the bulkhead. It is not glued in perfectly atraight, but it was either the bulkhead or the cockpit tub (even after 1 hr of test-fitting and careful sanding on both of them). I chose the tub to be straight, as it is much more visible than the bulkhead (the cover will be closed, as the bird I'm trying to replicate had no MGs mounted in there)

 The canopy is just taped in place to get an idea of how it will look (the only part that fits nicely so far LOL). Just a little help for me to decide if I want to display it open or closed. Open it shall be BTW...

Cheers, Clemens

Clemens dude, that bird is coming along nicely!! I think you recovered well on the left side gun tub, should work just fine. The pit looks great as well! That bulkhead behind the mg hood almost looks like its pushed too far back in that last pic, but it looks like its in the right position in others? Can you possible get a full on side shot of it and post that?

You are right on the imagination part! I think I have came up with curse words that dont even exist yet!! This kit can bring engineers to their knees! So before crashing last night, I hit the bottle (they Nyquil bottle that is) and after a long hard sleep I think I'm on the mend!

Got some bench time in today mostly on the A8 since the PE came it, but some stuff got done on the Dora. To begin with, I decided to conquer that slight gap in the rear wing root. I accomplished this with a simple piece of sprue cut measured and cut from one of the trees

Which was strategically placed here..

Some adjustments to the width was made and in the end the gap looks like this.

I dont think that its goign to get much better!! I went ahead the and attached the wings. This was a "fun" process on my last Dora and this one contained no less "joy". The biggest problem is always getting the front of the lower wing mated and level with the lower part of the front cowling. After many adjustments and test fits, I went ahead and committed and glued it up. At that point, it was inserted into what looks like an ancient medieval torture device until it gave me the answers I was looking for the glue set up.

SO, this was set aside and let cure while work began on the A8. I skipped around a bit and went ahead and glued the firewall and mg shelf to the fuse here as this looks to be a critical alignment in order to get the engine straight and the cowlings attached. The fuse itself is not glued at all so once the pit is done, I will open the fuse from the rear and install the pit. This may come back and bit me in the rear but so far after several trial runs, everything is looking good.

Once again, I installed the ammo containers and snipped to feed chutes so the hood will clear properly since this one too will be closed up.

Next I started on the wing spar and all the detail that comes in there. A little different here since its enclosed unlike the Dora. Test fit of the guns.

At this point, the only things glued on the A8 are the firewal and mg bulkhead and the inner detail in the lower wing. Everything else in the pic is just taped up and test fitted. We shall see where this road takes us!!

Eric, Joe: The A8 is indeed fun, but I lack your amount of imagination and skill, so mine won't turn out even half as good as your builds...

That aside, I made some progress. The cockpit is now completed. There would be much more PE to add, but I don't want to ruin the whole pit by trying to add it...

I'll glue the throttle lever and the remaining seatbelts in there, but nothing more (the PE I used adds enough detail IMO)

So here are some pics:

Cockpit (with different lighting):

Don't let the blue fool you, it's just my camera...

This is how it really looks:

Wings attached (just stuck on, no glue applied yet):

There are some nasty gaps to fill on the gun-bay hatch:

I think I managed to repair the damage on the left gun-bay:

Any ideas on how to get that stupid MG-cover to fit properly?

There are much better models in this GB, but I hope you guys are not too disappointed with my try on this kit. I am in no way an experienced modeller and getting the parts of those Eduard kits to fit together properly is a real pain (and sometimes even imposssible) for me because of said lack of experience...

If you have any tips on how to get a decent A8/R2 for my display-case out of this, please let me know... Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers, Clemens

I can certainly tell you that it is.......

It certainly makes you use your imagination to the fullest. I will say this though. So far all of the work is paying off.

Thanks Joe and Reasoned! I have begun work on the A8 and I can already tell this is going to be a fun ride....

Some very impressive scratch work Eric!

Eric, Your build is looking great. I especially like how you scratched the gun barrels. Those came out excellent.

Thanks guys! Looking forward to it SS!!

That's looking really nice, Eric! I'll post some pics of my 190 tomorrow.

Excellent work Eric... Watching with interest, as this will likely be my next kit to build...Thanks for all the detail!

Doug

Well here goes another small update on the Dora. Seems I am coming down with a cold so it may be a bit before I can squeeze another one in. Been working on the internal wing structure. Eduard really put the detail in this area for sure!!

Also, since I didn't have any brass barrels for this build, I decided to make some from some brass tubing I had laying around. The kit barrels are a real drag on this one as they aren't slide molded at all. Began by hacking off the very end of the barrel and drilling a hole for a pin.

then the pin, made from some old broken pin vise drill bits.

then I slid the hollow brass barrel onto the pin and fixed it with some superglue.

Not bad if I do say so myself!!

Moving on to the wing MG bays. Since this kit will be closed up, you have to modify the opening to account for the closed hoods. Turning the wing over, you can see the area of thinner plastic that needs to be cut out. I just use a sharp blade and follow along the sides several times till the piece comes loose.

A little sanding and clean up of the cut and this is what you get.

A test fit of the hood reveals...

..not a bad fit at all. Any gaps visible now are easily filled with some Mr. Liquid Putty.

A test fit of all the components so far revealed a few areas that will need to be addressed later but by no means should pose any great problems. One area is the rear bulkhead behind the cowl mgs. As you can see in the pic, the pit spread this area out and the bulkhead is no longer a snug fit. I will have to break out the mg hood and do some test fitting to see if fuse sides will need to be trimmed or not. (The pit is still in primer by the way)

Also, a slight gap at the rear of the wing root. I found on my last build that a small spreader bar directly beneath the rear of the cockpit virtually eliminated any gap here so we will give it another shot on this one.

And one more gap that interestingly enough was not present at all on my Profipak build. This one should be easily managed with a strip styrene shim.

And that is that. One other note, and I didn't take any pictures, if you are building the wing root gun bays closed, do not use the base plates for the mg bays that the instructions call out. The weekend kit instructions omit the alternate part numbers if building these closed and I believe they are X3 and X10. They have a prominent 'tent' shaped hump on them which I believe helps keep the covers the proper height to match the wing surface. I'll try and get some pics next time I am at the bench. 

That first one is a great shot!! I have been contemplating the spinner spiral which the decal plates show it does not have one, but in that first pic near the back plate, it almost looks like the beginning of one. What do you guys think?

Jester75

Heck yeah Nate, you can never have too many refs on a plane your building, that would be awesome!!  I only have the one that comes in the decal pamphlet which is about a rear 3/4 view of it crashed with a bunch of soldiers standing around it.

Jester- All these are believed to be Werner Hohenburg's Dora Wrk. No. 210194

JOE RIX

Joe - I might suggest that you get control of your GB as it appears to be going to the dogs.

Oh Yeah, nice growth spurt going on here.

Joe - I might suggest that you get control of your GB as it appears to be going to the dogs.

Bill - Nice stuff. I knew you would be able to pull it off. I have to admit I am quite interested in seeing how your mottling technique turns out.

Eric- The dual build is a nightmare? C'mon give us a break. You absolutely love it, you desire it, you crave it.           

Coming along nicely Bill, I like  the look you achieved on the tires and wheels.

Heck yeah Nate, you can never have too many refs on a plane your building, that would be awesome!!  I only have the one that comes in the decal pamphlet which is about a rear 3/4 view of it crashed with a bunch of soldiers standing around it.

Spent the early morning hours masking my bird and hit the wing camo and bottom with the lighter gray. There will be some weathering and other abuses done to achieve my target beat-to-hell condition and help accurize the overall appearance.

Did anybody else's kit have the landing gear that required attaching before the upper wing portions could be glued on. It's been a pain working around the finished and masked landing gear struts and I hope they've fared well through all the handling. Just another oversight of this old kit's designers. I'm still leaving them masked due to more paint work. 

Good start Jester. Couldn't have chosen a better scheme on the Dora. I got some real shots of Hohenburg's bird if your interested.

Bill- Nice looking tires, and nicely weathered too.

LOL! Thanks Bill... I have 3 daughters and a son, the first two girls and son are from my first wife (American) and even though very partial, the girls are both lovely young ladies now with famlies of their own, My son is grown and is a Naval airman for 6 years now, my second wife (a Filipina) has instilled traditional values in our daughter, I had my moments though... She competed in beauty contest until she was 22' the bikini compatitions were a bit hard to be there for, and I am just glad I couldnt read minds at the time!LOLOL.

Jester... Great work and valuable info! Looking forwart to more great paint work from you! Loved your first D-9.

Doug, if that's your daughter, how can you possibly find so much time to build models. I would think you'd be guarding the door with a shotgun most of the time. Cute puppy, but don't let it fool you. Those little ones somehow grow up to think they're 10 feet tall and bullet proof.

Gettin closer to the finish with this build. Here's just a taste of how it's going to look.  Surprisingly, it really is turning out how I had envisioned it at the start. Go figure.

First up is a close up of the undercarriage wheels. Simply done in Testors enamels and artists acrylic. Tires painted in flat gray then black washed. Rims painted flat black then dry brushed with flat steel.

Next is an image of the fuselage side after scuffing with steel wool to reveal some of the black primer under the gray (my method to achieve that mottled look). The fuselage will receive further color treatments and probably a wash. 

Well, I'm off to begin masking for the fuse and the wing camo.  Ummm, and maybe look into that warehouse job (funny I did not see that while working on the plane).

Alrighty, I am off on this dual nightmare build...The bench has been cleared and the kits...

The D-9 will be done as the mount of Werner Hohenburg as seen here on the bottom,

and the A-8 will be done up in Dortenmanns red 1 to compliment the D-9 black 1 of his I just completed for this group build,

I started out with the D-9. Most likely this one will be completely buttoned up including the canopy so I am not spending a ton of time on the pit. Got it all primed and ready for some 66. I will use the kit decals for the IP's.

Also, learning from my previous build, I used the fuselage sides as a template to glue together the firewall and mg shelf. The firewall and mg shelf were glued together and immediately squeezed between the two halves which were then taped. After working the two parts into a satisfactory position, I then carefully glued the small bulkhead  behind the mg's into place. While the seams were still wet, I used a bit of pressure and snugged the bulkheads are far into their resting places as the would go. If done carefully, the pieces should be easily removed and not glued to the sidewalls yet.

Thankfully, it looks like the wings and fuselage are straight and not warped like the last kit. This is quite a relief!!

I am much more satisfied with this fit than my last D-9. On another note, the instructions tell you to leave off the ammo containers, parts W3 and W27, if you plan on closing this bird up. I strongly disagree as they are very prominent when looking inside the wheel well. The reason they have you omit them is because the feed chutes for the mg's will interfere with the closed hood. I recommend simply cutting off the chutes on top of these as marked by the red lines below and installing them anyway.

From there, I went on to quickly assemble the engine. Just going to build it, paint it, and pick out some items to highlight since most of it wont be seen anyway,

And thats where I will leave it tonight. I will probably start on the  A-8 pit and such tomorrow. Cant wait to see some more Eduard kits being built up in here!!

Oh and on another note, I do believe that Eduards molds are getting a bit rough on the Dora. The profipak kit I just built I have had in the stash for quite some time and saw hardly any flash at all. However, this weekend edition kit was just purchased and there was a surprising amount of flash on the parts as well as many of the locator holes completed filled over. Hopefully though QC just slipped a little and its not wear on the molds.

mustang1989

Ok guys. Sorry I've been out for a little bit. Things have gotten a little crazy around here but back on board.

Joe Rix: Good progress. Lots of masking for you I see!

Archangel: Man thats some good stuff going on in that engine/ gun bay!

Bill: Bill! You are the wildman! That engine looks super!

Jester: I'll get with you on the make and model and post them in the intro buddy! Good to see you back in here.

Will get back on here and check on everybody's progress. Good to be back in here amongst fellow modellers.

I think you meant "Scott" is the wildman. He's the one whose engine will need oil changes. My engine ended up getting buttoned shut. Looked pretty decent but not ready to turn over, like Scott's.

Lyle(Geezer) I have a Filipina daughter, and she has a little pooch like yours, She gets real upset when I call it "Killer" (ha!) Hers also has coloration around his eyes/mouth area and she gets real upset when I tell people that the fur is blood stained! (LOLOLOL) . Cool little dog though...When I return to the build I'm planning on an Eduard D-9 too. Welcome aboard and I don't think you could ever put together a better bunch of guys to build with! Great guys each and every one...

Doug

I will continue work on my 190 this weekend. It's very hot here in Vienna atm, so I don't felt like working on my projects at all, but it promises to cool down a bit over the weekend.

My project is Eduard's A8/R2, which should be similar to the A9. It is a nice litle kit with lots of details, but it has so much detail on the inside that it is a challenge to get the major airframe parts glued together nicely (at least my kit has those problems...)

Cheers, Clemens

I don't know about all the reviews but I can sure tell you frm watching your build and what I'm building its sure the lesser of the two evils!!

Eric,

I about croaked when I read your call for a priest and alcohol. I have two more trusty side-kicks to go along with Killer, so the dropped parts should not be around too long. Looking forward to it in a root-canal-appointment sort of way!

Lyle.

Welcome geezer!! Looks like we may be building 2 similar kits at the same time! This should get interesting!! Reading all the reviews I think the D-9 is the lesser of the 2 evils but we shall see...