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

Matt, liking the new colors!! The contrast between the bright green and the rest is pretty sharp!

Joe-Looking good!!!

Bish-Nice! I have to keep reminding myself that yours is 72nd! Love the base and groundwork to go with it!

Not much to report here honestly as its been a pretty busy week/weekend. I did get most of the major components fit and glued. The spreader under the rear of the fuselage was a hit and left absolutely no gap at all to work with at the rear of the wing. Only a slight gap at the front. Trying to work the openings in the wing to accomodate the hatches closed for the wing mg's was a PITA though. Ended up sanding a lot of the internal ribbing detail off to get them to lay down decently. They aren't perfect but I think after some Mr. Dissolved Putty and the etch hinges they will look the part. In the first pic you can kinda see the warpage of the tail when compared to the rear of the lower wing which I will assume is straight. A pot of soft boiling water (unfortunately, tea did not follow  )and a few minutes later it was straight as it should be. 

Starting to look like a Dora anyway!! Next week there will be much quality time spent tending to seams and adding any lost panel lines. Hopefully there will be color by next weekend!!!

Outstanding save Eric. You have definitely got that Dora looking sharp.

I've managed some progress the past few days. Cockpit is in as well as the wings are on. Also got the gun sight all fitted in and after I'm done with the little bit of gap filling and sanding on the wings I will then attempt the task of fitting the very tiny lens on the sight and fit the front windscreen. I'll get some pics on here right directly.

Oh sweet job Eric. Makes me wish I was building another Dora. I got all the decals on the A-8. Feels good to get that done. I left some stencils off because I can't see any on the actual pics of the real bird, and they are some close up pics. With decals, I find after the main markings/numbers/ badges are on, its kinda anti-climatic once the tedious stenciling is done. Maybe next time I should do the stencils first?

Thanks Eric. The Dora is looking nice. Sounds like tough going but going to be worth it.

Nathan...

The one thing I dislike most is the stencils... on the last set of decals I bought from Strike Eagle they noted that usually at the time the aircraft made it to the assigned Staffle it was painted with the Group markings and stencils were usually painted over. Sounded like a good enough reason to leave em off to me. Besides, nothing (IMO) makes a beautiful 109 look worse then those numbered panels.

Take Care...Doug

Some very nice work going on here!  I have to make some time to get back to my project.

The camo is now all done and the masking is off.

As promised, the flaps. I haven't painted these yet. Going to mask them and the wheel bays off tomorrow and spray them. I would normally brush paint the wheel bays but i think trying to do that with the flaps will be a pain, so while i have the airbrush out, might as well do the rest.

I have always liked German aircraft with these yellow markings on. Ashide from the yellow Eastern Front band, this is the first one i have done. I rather like it.

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome as always. 

Pretty cool Bish. Thats a big rack!...Err ETC rack I mean..

Ye it is a bit isn't it. It seems to be accurate from what i can tell. I can only assume it was like this to spread the load.

Nice work Bish! I too like the yellow markings on these german planes.

So far so good Bish. That IS a big rack there! Like the flaps ALOT. I just couldn't bring myself to do em on mine. My showcase will be the engine and related parts.Going for broke here. Your paint looks really good too.

Bish, I be to liking what you have done. A really fine job on the camo, namely the mottling. It appears that your rack is bigger than mine.

I'm just starting to look at the postings, and I concur- nice build Bish- I love the flaps open like that.

I finally started on the MPC 1/24 kit tonight.  I'm going to try to detail as much as I can, within reason and my abilities, so I will pick and choose. I did discover that behind the port  fuselage hatch just holds the radios and assorted equipment, not an extra fuselage tank. That should decrease some scratch building. I believe it was just found in the A-8 and beyond.

I'm starting in the cockpit- will redo the lateral panels and I scraped them off. I also recreated the floor panel just in front of the control stick- in order to create that sense of space below it to allow some cables to pass here, as well as the map case, using foil from a suture package. I'll add on some rivet detail later.

Wow....there is some great work going on in here.....nice job folks.  I finally decided to jump in with the 1/48 Hasegawa A-6. Having built the Tamiya A-3 and Eduard D-9, I've been curious to see how this one will measure up.  I'm actually thinking about building the JG 1 "white 5" bird shown on the box from the Fall of 1943.  I figure I'll paint in the checkers in lieu of decals.  It doesn't look too tough (famous last words).  I have a True Details seat and Quickboost gun barrels which will be added to the project.

I actually started with the BMW 801 mill first.  This ma be a first for me.  Its fairly nice out of the box and even has separate push rods.  Since the engine will be mostly hidden by that propeller fan, I decided to keep it simple here and resist my temptation to rig up an ignition wire harness.  I paint the cylinders Alclad Dark Aluminum and the other bits in the regular Aluminum shade for contrast.  The push rod assembly was painted black and the gear box housing in Tamiya Neutral Grey XF-53.  The fan blade was then painted Alclad Magnesium with a drop of Model Master flat black added.  After a Detailer wash and a spray of Tamiya Smoke X-19, I called it done. 

I then focused my attention to the cockpit.  Again, this is fairly nice out of the box.  I sprayed it Tamiya XF-63 German Grey to simulate the RLM 66.  You have the option to either use decals for the instruments or paint them.  I did both.  I opted to hand paint the side consoles and lower section of the instrument panel, then I used the decal for the upper main gauges.  The latter just looked better than I could do by hand, especially with the red gauges and such.  Other than the True Details seat, it was done out of the box.  The whole thing was drybrushed with Floquil Old Silver, clear coated, then washed with the Detailer.  Once done, I hit it with Testors Dull Coat. 

The fuselage was sealed around the pit.  The fit was perfect.  Truthfully, much like the engine, the FW190 cockpit is hard to see once inside the fuselage so super detailing it would have been a waste of time.  I'm glad I just replaced the seat.  I test fitted the wings to the fuselage and it looks like it will be a good fit, at least at in the wing root area.  I've read there are trouble spots with fit on this kit.  I don't remember where specifically, but at a glance I suspect it will be the 800 piece cowl with assembly steps listed in the instructions.  I'll be getting to that shortly.  Well, anything will be better than that Eduard D-9 Dora nightmare......ouch. 

More to come soon....

Joe

Lawdog, you'll love this kit. Looks like you're doing an awesome job. I'm building both the A-8 and older A-4 and they both just fall together, even the cowling pieces. The only spot to watch is the lower wing to fuselage joint at the rear. It left a gap on both my kits, so I just used a small styrene strip, slopped some ca over it then sanded down, and re-scribed-it falls right on a panel line.

Maxfax- nice start on the pit. I like the added touch of the foil. Looking forward to your scratchbuilding.

Way to go lawdog!!! Love the engine and the cockpit. I pull the same trick with the clothes pin when displaying my pics. The guys at work trip out every time I show pics like that. I have one guy that always says "Theres Joe with the novelty giant clothes pin and writing pen again". It provides an excellent scale reference. Your birds looking swell.

maxfax

I finally started on the MPC 1/24 kit tonight.

Maxfax, I started on the AIrFix 1/24th FW and have read previous reviews telling how when building the engine according to kit instructions, the engine fan assembly protrudes some 6mm out past the engine cowling ring. The fix seems to be shaving down the plastic of the cylnders assemblies and the engine mounts to get it to fit right.

Scott

Archangel Shooter

maxfax

I finally started on the MPC 1/24 kit tonight.

 

Maxfax, I started on the AIrFix 1/24th FW and have read previous reviews telling how when building the engine according to kit instructions, the engine fan assembly protrudes some 6mm out past the engine cowling ring. The fix seems to be shaving down the plastic of the cylnders assemblies and the engine mounts to get it to fit right.

 

Scott

Hi Mustang!

That's a great pic of the Airfix kit. From what I gather is that it's an issue if one were to follow the instructions particularly if the engine is displayed with the cowling panels open. Otherwise the short cut was to just build the fwd portion of the engine and mount it so that the prop and fan blades sit as they should and close everything up.

I was just looking at the flap area of my kit and thinking about dropping them. Looking at pic above, I think I will now. 

Heya Archangel: This is the way I look at it....it's plastic. I can do alot with plastic. The things that bug me in life are the stupid things like how to figure out an electrical short or how to get a broken bolt out of an aluminum head. This.............if I screw up too bad theres always the option of getting another kit if I can't get the plastic to work for me to correct the issue at hand. One way or the other my goal will be acheived!!

Lawdog, lovely work on that. I really like the engine.

All this talk about large racks got me worried, so i had to go back and check. It seems the bit coming out of the back is a fairing, and the electical connections run  towards the back of that and into the aircraft.

Maxfax - Nice start to your big bird. I like the use of the foil. That is really clever. Just how old is that kit? I had the 1/24 MPC Spitfire back when I was in high school. Never finished that one unfortunately.

Lawdog - That is some truly excellent work. Magnificent attention to detail and skill to enhance your work. I particularly like your use of Alclad to bring out your engine. I am really impressed with what you have done so far.

Here is a couple of rudimentary pics of where I am so far.

Here I am filling in with Tamiya putty where the front of the wing meets the fuselage. I will then scribe lines to reflect the actual panel lines on the lower engine cowling.

Well Joe it's starting to shape up like an airplane! You are just about where I am. Good goin there.

Thanks Joe. Yeah, You would think that being 1/72 I would be further along. But limited bench time coupled with taking the time to do that little extra stuff in order to enhance the realism makes for slower going. I'm all good with it as I am rather happy with how this little guy is coming together.

Hey Rix awesome Job! Such a clean build with no seams cept for the one your working on. Looks like its just screamin for paint. I gotta get off my lazy azzz and post up some pics. I had to do some touch up painting on my A-4 due to a small paint splat I noticed just before gloss coating. But all looks good now and shes' ready for gloss, and the A-8 is ready for the second gloss to seal the decals.....Looks like I know what I'm doing tonite..

Lawdog - looking great so far.  I love the look of your BMW and the cockpit, very nice work.  One of these days my work will look that good.

Rix - your little Wurger is looking amazing.  Can't imagine working on one that small.

I have been having such an enjoyable time with my TA-152 kit that i just snagged another copy of of ebay!  Think it will look great to have a pair sitting on my shelf!!

Matt- Do you ever seen any original Trimaster boxings of the Ta 152H? I've always wondered if those have the wing warp issues as well? If it wasnt' for that, I would build more Dragon kits in a heartbeat. I know Mustang is the king of fixing warped plastic, but I just don't have the skills or paitence.

Lawdog,

That looks great! Nicely detailed. That engine looks real.

Rob

Thanks for the info. I read  that somewhere  as well. That would be a bugger to have it built only to find that you had to break it down again

Joe:  I'm not sure how old it is, has 1981 on the instructions. Bought it at a model show 2 years ago in a plastic bag. I hope all the parts are here