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

If nobody beats me to it I'll get back to you on the wheels.

Cool stuff Shooter!! Interested in seeing how the Airfix kit goes together! Have you decided which scheme on that sheet you will be doing?

I have used Eagle Strike decals in the past and like them. I was just lucky to have ordered one for the 190 when I did otherwise I would have been out of luck. I'm pretty certain I also picked up a set for the 1/24th JU-87 but will have to do a search around the house when the time comes to start that monster.

BTW Anyone knows who makes a 1/24th FW-190 wheel set?

So much going on in this group, I can't keep up!

Archangel, I just used a set of Eagle Strike decals and they went down with no problem, but the letter codes on the diagram for the stencils didn't match the decal sheet, i.e., it might say to use decal "R" when it should have been "C." Very confusing until I figured that out. Fortunately, I was able to cross-reference the Tamiya instructions and get the stenciling in the right places. But the quality of the decals was excellent.

I finally received my Ultacast wheels today, some three weeks after ordering them from 90 miles away, sigh. So I hope to finish my A3 shortly, with pics to follow.

A few progress pics as I'm waiting for my detail stuff to come in the mail. Also had to order MM RLM paints today since what I had have disappeared in the move.

Just getting some of the sub assemblies together here. I know if I were to close up the engine cowling I can save a lot of time not having to detail the engine and not worry about the fit issue. But...I seen some great pics of the engine and I may give it a shot.

Just a before pic on the cockpit. This ought to be fun to do.

Before: Looking at R&R the wiring on the gun housing deck.

Here AirFix made an error on the instructions by labeling the wrong parts and steps of the ailerons.

large seam on the external tank.

Using the Flex sander help took care of it.

Will be using decals from Eagle Strike. Was relieved that the sheet had the stencil markings for the drop tank since AirFix didn't have them on their sheet.

Jester75

Nice work there Matt. Looks like you are fighting your way through the issues with the Eduard kit. I gotta say, I had higher expectations for this kit as far as fit goes. Most of it seems to be fixable with modest modeling skills but I thought it would be better. I have the A-8/R-2 weekend kit as well as one of their Hellcat kits that I am hoping is a much better fit than this one but oh well, that is modelling I reckon!!

Jester, and all,

I also have the D11 weekend kit, the D11-13 combo kit, a D-9 profipac on the way and the Royal Class a8/r2 kit.  Hope that one of them fits better, or that i figure out the secret soon on the fit!!!

I had read somewhere that the kits were not the shake and bake type, so I have been expecting to see some challenges.  I think that it might have helped if I had also followed the instructions to the letter and attached the upper wing surfaces to the lower and then the whole assembly to the fuselage.  Oh well, live and learn right?

My plan for the leading edges is to sand them flush, polish and then rescribe the panel lines.  I will also be measuring the brass rod that I have, and if compatable in size will be replacing the MG barrels in the wings.  This will help in two ways, 1) added realism and 2) (more importantly) make it easier to fix the edge.  I have the cockpit glass coated in future and masked, just need to complete a couple more steps and then the D will be ready for the paint booth.  Must mask and attach the glass on the Ta152 be fore proceeding with the top camo painting.

(Hopefully with a winter storm approaching I will be able to get to this this week! )

Matt - Looks to me that your birds are coming along nicely despite the fit issues on the D. Very sharp detailing and painting. I am anxious to see how you deal with the step in your wings.

Jester75

Nice work there Matt. Looks like you are fighting your way through the issues with the Eduard kit. I gotta say, I had higher expectations for this kit as far as fit goes. Most of it seems to be fixable with modest modeling skills but I thought it would be better. I have the A-8/R-2 weekend kit as well as one of their Hellcat kits that I am hoping is a much better fit than this one but oh well, that is modelling I reckon!!

Nice work there Matt. Looks like you are fighting your way through the issues with the Eduard kit. I gotta say, I had higher expectations for this kit as far as fit goes. Most of it seems to be fixable with modest modeling skills but I thought it would be better. I have the A-8/R-2 weekend kit as well as one of their Hellcat kits that I am hoping is a much better fit than this one but oh well, that is modelling I reckon!!

Nathan T

Mustang, are you sick of PE yet?

Nice shots Matt. I like seeing the two long-noses side by side. Makes me want to build another Dragon kit. How bad were the wingtips warped on the Ta 152? It looks from the photos that the bottom wing half on the Dora needed to slide back just a tad? Or wasn't' this possible? You got the important part(the wing roots) sorted out though. Nice job.

Mustang, are you sick of PE yet?

I got the A-8 gloss coated and I found a paint touch up I need to do on the A-4. So with each step forward I take a small one backwards...

Good work Matt! Really good. Holy Shmokes on the wing lip! I didn't have that fit issue! I had the exact same situation happening at the rear of the lower wing to fuselage joint where the lower wing is actually part of the fuselage. A few backwards strokes from the back of the ol Xacto blade and some sandpaper and it was gone. Both of yours are coming along nicely.

This morning I'm still working on the engine cover build up. Hopefully I'll have it built by tonight or early tomorrow morning ready to install then its off to the landing gear panels to cover up the landing gear bay. Hopefully I'll be laying primer by the last part of the week!

Excellent work there Matt - i sure am enjoying this GB even though I haven't even started yet.

Here are some of the WIP pictures that I have snapped.  First you will see the Ta 152 with the wings and stabilizers on. Only minor fit issues on this, mainly around the leading edge root.

Not sure why but I never took any shots of the underside of the bird.

Next is the Fw 190D-9 (with the large tail) that I am building along side the 152, On this one I ran into some fit issues.  Although I had been using the fuselage sides as guides in fitting the mg mounts and engine bay details, I still ended up with a slight mis alligment at the top. 

 I also am going to have the wing root MG bays open, and I believe that those are slightly misalligned as I had to file the front walls almost to the thickness of paper.  Even with this I needed to trim the tabs that slid under the leading edge root

Here is a shot that shows the overhang that I will have to fix next.  I have no idea why this happened, but at least it was uniform on each wing. And I have no gaps at the wing fuselage joint.

Here is an overhead shot of the two birds side by side. The photos of the Ta 152 that we have all seen on the internet dont do any justice to the size.  It truely is Dora's big brother.

thanks for looking.\\

Matt

Matt, are you building the 1 48 dragon kit? I have those pics of white 11 for the d-9, but you changed your scheme didn't you? Just PM me if you still want them.

Eric,

Looks like you are coming along nicely.  I think that the misallignment is a theme with the eudard kits.  I have ran into almost the exact same problem.  Unfortunately, i falied to snap any pics like you did to show the what and how.

Good job fixing those pesky wing root seams.  How are you planning on trueing up the fuselage?  (I haven't had the guts to look at mine yet).

I reallly am enjoying seeing and learning from all these builds!!!  Pics will follow soon from me, but I can report that the wings are on the Ta-152 they went on without much difficulty.  My Eduard D9 however, has been showing me each and every minor mis-allignment along the way, and it took the better part of three hours of sanding, trimming, sanding, test fitting to get the upper wings placed on.  I chose to ensure allingment along the wing root in favor of the leading edge (there is about a .5 to 1mm overhang from the wing bottom that I will have to blend in.), but there is little to no visible seam at the wing root.  This is good since I am planning on showing the wing gun bays open and didnt want to fight with putty around there.

I have also preshaded the panel lines on both, and applied the RLM 84 to the inderside of the 152.  Will attempt to snap a couple of pictures and post them up.

Matt

Archangel: Lookin forward to seeing this big beast being built. I built a Trumpy 24th scale 109 last year and it turned out decent. Good thing about those big kits is they already have alot of extra detail and usually the AM world capitalizes on that. This fan issue I have to see though. There's definetely a way around that.

Jester75

mustang1989

Ya like tea???

Ok, I quite literally lol'd at that one!!

I thought about building the Airfix kit OOB but decided to go with some aftermarket sets which I just placed an order with Sprue Brothers. Been researching detailed photos of the FW on line, will be a coin toss if I want to put in the time and effort to detail the engine but it's tempting. Still need to figure out how to overcome the reported kit issue of the 5mm protusion of the fan from the cowling. Been putting together a few of the sub-assemblies and cleaning up the excessive flash.

Scott

jugjunkie

Is there place for another entry? If so I would like to enter with Special Hobby's 1/48 A-6. I can only start building in May however.

NIce work there Doug. Sometimes it takes a little imagination and "presto" the problem is solved.

Wow,  what a shim! Looks like you kicked it in the rear though.

mustang1989

Ya like tea???

Ok, I quite literally lol'd at that one!!

Man... You guys talking about your malfitting parts, and warpage... I gotta show you this... It has nothing what soever to do with this build, But I have to finish this befor I can start another 190. I have a Bf109E-3 (Matchbox) and by the molding stamp it apears to be 37 yrs old. I have been bragging about how well detailed and what little trouble I've had with fit. The only thing I've had to do is use some BIC correction fluid (white out) to fill some very slight gaps.... UNTIL... The canopy. I dont know if the desiginer or the tool maker or both were drunk or high, but talk about a mess! There was a 3/32 gap between the back section (all 3 pieces assy), and from the base (top of fuselage) and the top of canopy. I had to add in a 3/32 spacer to the gun cowling to the face of the front section (wildscreen) and at the area you might think of as the arm rest area of the fuselage. A bit of file work on the rear canopy mount and some at the base of the center section and now it fits like a glove. Every where you see the white is the styrene strips I had to add in. Like I said, it had to  be raised up and shifted back that far to get it to fit. At first I thought maybe the wrong canopy shot had been added, so I bought a vac-u-formed canopy at the LHS, but it fit the same! Oh well, problem solved and the build continues. I'm glad you all are finding solutions to your woes too. Take care...

Doug

Jester75

I reckon I've had the kit for about a year or so but its always been in a climate controlled environment so I am pretty sure it came from the factory this way.

Welcome to the GB  jugjunkie, Another Butcher Bird is certainly welcome. Especially a Special Hobby as I'm rather unfamiliar with their kits and I'm curious to see how the quality of those are.

Eric - you're looking good so far. Certainly some nice detail work. Alright, you and Joe have got me about curious enough to break into my Eduard 1/48 FW 190 A-8 and give it the once over for warpage. I've had mine for just about 2 yrs but, I've kept it inside the house neatly stacked. i'll get back to you on that. 

I reckon I've had the kit for about a year or so but its always been in a climate controlled environment so I am pretty sure it came from the factory this way.

Whew!!! The tail fin is as straight as an arrow. Thanks for the heads up anyhow on that Jester!!

Jester75

Also, after gluing the fuse havles together, it seems there is a bit of a twist back towards the narrow part of the fuse. You can kind see it here in this pic. Not sure if its my eyes playing tricks on me or what but looks like it bends to the left in the pic a bit.