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

Hey Blackdog, looks like some kind of auto-correct software kinda interfered with what you wanted to write there. Just sayin'...

Greg -- "senior member" -- (blush) -- well, I have been in kits since I was five years old, and have never been "out of the hobby" at any time, despite slow years, so I guess that's a lot of experience!

I'll try to make a start on the Ta-152 cockpit today, not sure if I'll hang around for etched belts, but I could put in an order for some generic Luft harness along with the mask set for this bird...

M/TB379

What kind of belts are you thinking about? Fabric or PE? I'm sure it's gonna be a lovely build to watch, no matte rwhat you decide on!

I'd be looking for the pre-printed self-adhesive metal type, and at 1:48 I know they'll be much simpler than the set I put together for my 1:32 Fw 190... I'm sure they're available, I seem to remember seeing them somewhere online...

M/TB379

Cockpit is entirely rlm 66 Thunderbolt. As far as the RLM colors for the Ta 152, its RLM 82 light green and rlm 81 brown violet. Just remember, that RLM 81 had a few different shades, some more green, so many companies will tell you it was painted in 82 and 83, which I guess is ok too. Does the Italeri re-box kit come with an engine plug? I built the Dragon boxing of the Ta152 H-1 2 years ago and it was a sweet kit given its old age.

Thanks, Nathan -- I was guessing it would be 81 Braunviolet, it sure looks brown in some builds! They're also describing a pale grey for the underside but my guess is either 76 or the mysterious 84 which seems to be a close match for RAF Sky... Thanks re the instrument shroud, I can crack on with the big A-8 soon and the canopy will be the next to be dealt with as soon as I have the engine seated. I'm hoping to glue it into place today. No, the Ta-152 doesn't have the plug to indicate the back of the engine, unfortunately, there's a frame brace in that area but that's it. Is there an AM resin insert, I wonder???

I have 83 in stock but have been trying to get hold of 82 for ages. I'll see if I can get 81 in the Acryl range, and I have a mixing ratio for 82.

Cheers, M/TB379

Evening gentlemen. Let the white dry just long enough to hold up to tape. I've wanted to do this scheme for years and I was excited to get to masking and taping so I could sense the satisfaction of pulling the tape off.

I decided to forgo the usual shading routine on this one. I'm going for a fairly clean build here and will keep it to a little post-shading and some modest washes just to bring out the detail.

A couple of minor touch-ups is all I'm faced with before moving topside.

AWESOME! I bought this one several years ago, and am savouring the anticipation of building it! That's some gorgeous spraying...

M/TB379

Here's a look at the shimming of the fit for the engine on the big A-8:

That's .020" x .040" microstrip laid in with superglue. A little filing and adzing to finalise the fit, and I can superglue the unit in place, hopefully bringing it close enough for putty to now do the job (though one side is 1mm or more out of lateral alignment too, which will be "interesting" to correct/hide...

And here's the Italeri boxing of the Trimaster Ta-152:

I had meant to get the cockpit whacked together today, but spent most of the afternoon grading papers and pushing along other kits... I *might* cut-sprue on this one before I turn in tonight!

M/TB379

Dflu: Those stripes look perfect! Very impressive stuff!

Mike: Your shimming looks very promising!

Awww yissss....I love the line of the Ta 152. Since I've learned that the ZM Anime boxing (the only one available anymore) is the same kit at the original release, I'm going to have to grab one.

That's looking really good so far, Thunderbolt.

dflu, excellent work on that underside.

Mike, thanks for showing what it is taking to correct the alignment problems. Educational.

dflu: Killer paint work on the undersides. Beautifully executed.

Mike: I hope the shim works out well. I do believe that that is solution #52 for mounting the engine/cowling on  an Eduard 190.

Dflu: The Zoukei-Mura 152 looks like a great kit. I have to build it yet but the parts look excellent and I only heard good things about it. The only problem seems to be with the lower wing panels - they need a bit of work to get the fit right.

Joe: May I ask what solution #51 is? I only know of #1-50 and #0. The latter would be to grab a big hammer and just beat the crap outta it. That's a last resort though (in case #1-50 don't work)...

Thanks, guys! I'll start slapping putty on the A-8 when I get home from work this afternoon, and will press on with the 152 cockpit, which I made a start on last night also.

M/TB379

Gents AWESOME work !!!!   Great info coming in also. finally splashed paint on ... a quick look at pe flaps... now a coat of future and a couple day cure,,, getting there..

Wow. Those flaps look spectacular. Just amazing. I'll have to use them on my next build for sure.

Leads me to a question though... The Hasegawa kit supplied flaps sit straight down and practically 90 degrees...clearly yours aren't that for down...and the look much better. Does anyone know if Hasegawa goofed the angel? Or that's just fully down maybe?

Handi, everything is looking GREAT. Wonderful job on those PE flaps, mate.

Be interested if anyone can answer dfu's question. I've never seen flaps extend to 90 degrees, but then again I don't know that much about fighters and high performance aircraft.

A long overdue update from me...

Got some primer shot on my A8/R2 . Being my first Eduard kit, has been quite a challenge just getting to this point.

I am very happy with the way the surface detail shows up through the Tamiya Thin primer and was hoping to show it off. Sadly, my photo techique needs work with white on white subject.

Also, my first go using Mr Surfacer. Thanks to all for the recommendation. Stuff sands like a dream IMO.

Greg: Now that's some nice work! The finish looks perfect from here and I wouldn't be able to tell that this is your first attempt at an Eduard kit!

Dflu: Hasegawa did in fact goof up the angle big time. The flaps on the 190 go down quite a bit more than those on some other fighters, bt the angle is nowhere near 90º...

Handi: I'm totally digging that paint job! Amazing stuff! Those PE flaps look gorgeous as well!

Handi:Wow! That thing is really coming to life! That camo looks awesome so far!

dflu: I'll second Clemens comment on the flaps. They come down there pretty low but not close to 90 degrees. At this stage in your build I wouldn't change "jack you-know-what" though. I would risk messing that friggin' awesome paint work you've got on the bottom side of that thing up.

Greg:Now that's what I'm talking about brother! Nice masking BTW. Say , you should check out that Stuka build on the Stuka GB. You remember...............the one you got me. lol

Looking like a great 190 Greg!  Can't wait too see color on! Thanks everyone for the kind words, as far as the flaps I just went with "what looked right" , I agree the Has kit version is a bit exaggerated.

Handiabled- your mottling looks fantastic,  is that free hand or did you use a stencil.

John

Got some time on the bench this weekend and got some more decals on the 190.  Almost done with the top side decals, can't wait to get some dull coat on her.

John

Looks fantastic Falcon !    Thanks for the kind words, I freehanded the whole plane, they always seem to look better when I just use my eye rather than putty or stencils with camo and such unless hard lines are called for ,, then the Tamiya tape comes out..  Looks like you got the snake on just right,, hard to do with the big decals

handiabled

Looks fantastic Falcon !    Thanks for the kind words, I freehanded the whole plane, they always seem to look better when I just use my eye rather than putty or stencils with camo and such unless hard lines are called for ,, then the Tamiya tape comes out..  Looks like you got the snake on just right,, hard to do with the big decals

  The decals were very fragile.  It was funny on the actual plane the red and yellow colors seem to be mismatched and slightly mis registered, i think because of the cowling to fuselage gap.  I've been using stenciling to control the amount of over spray but still give me a feathered edge on the camo

John, that scheme is really cool and you are doing a wonderful job with it.

Thanks for the comments on mine, gents. I realised the middle of last night I got all excited about priming and totally forgot to install the horizontal stabilizers and rudder on the tail. (just in case anyone was wondering)

Joe, kinda slipped my mind the Stuka GB began the build stage on 4/1. I'll head over later. Thanks, mate.

Hey Greg, don't put the stabs on yet! It makes painting a whole lot easier. Just dry-fit them to make sure they fit well in the end.

That decal looks perfect, John!

Dflu...stunning work. 

Handi...that camo looks awesome. 

Falcon....looks like your in the home stretch. 

Greg...Nice work on a challenging build.  Its should be all down hill from there.  I still have nighmares about my Eduard Dora. 

Except for an MIA pitot tube, I'm gonna go with done here.  To recap, its the 1/48 Hasegawa FW 190 A-5 in Egon Mayer's JG2 markings from the Summer of 1943.  Mayer was a 102 kill ace who was often refered to as the "father of the head on bomber attack".  Some may be familar with the June 26th 1943 incident where Mayer pumped all of his ammuntion into Robert Johnson's P-47C but it still wouldn't go down.  He then saluted Johnson and flew away.  Ironically Mayer would succumb to the guns of a Thunderbolt in March of 1944.  I've always been facinated with this incident and have wanted to do both these subjects. 

The kit was a breeze and the only extras were a True Details seat, Ultra Cast wheels, and Quickboost gun barrels.  The RLM 76 was mixed with Tamiya paint and the RLM 74, 75 is Gunze Aqueous.  Weather was done with a Flory wash and postshading all sealed with Testor's Dull coat.  I also added fine wire for brake lines and smoke colored invisible thread for the antenna.  I will fabricate a new pitot tube from brass tubing.

Thanks for having me again. You guys are some of the best modelers I've had the privilege to build with.  After several sraight Luftwaffe birds, I'm going to switch gears to one of my other favorite subjects, the P-47 and the 56th FG.    

Joe

Joe, love your 190!  Awesome paint and weathering!!

Steve

Wow, Joe. Another stunner. Amazing paint work and weathering as expected. You know your way around an airbrush for sure.

Time to updated my build.

Time to lay down some RLM 76

You could say I'm a bit obsessive about over spray

I had nightmares that would make Wes Craven wet the bed about trying to get coverage over this red over-spray...Tamiya primer to the rescue:

So I will NEVER again abandon my black base coat approach. Here is RLM 76 over the very light grey primer. The 76 is on the fuselage and the primer on the wings. It was very hard to see if I was getting coverage...worst yet...NO DEPTH...the easiest way to make a model look like a toy...

Dflu don't preshade....but the color was so light without building up over black that I had to go back and essentially do so over the first coat of 76...with a dark grey....

Like magic we now have depth and variance in hue...ya...again...it's important to leave it more pronounced that what you'd like the final result to be...top coats will blend it in

Up next...RLM whatever the number of that light green is.....81? It escapes me