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

Jester75

Mustang- I have no doubts yours will easily look as good, most likely better, well before 2014 my friend!

Archangel Shooter

Have to take a few days off from the build, I have friends coming in from Ohio that I have not seen in over 25 years. All the pics of the FW's I have seen here looks outstanding! Also these birds seems to have one fit issue or another which is coming to light but for fellow builders that is good to know and learning ways of how to overcome them. More later...

 

Maybe you should impress your fiends with your modelling skills, show them what you have been doing with yourself.

Thats the great things about this sort of GB. The other people in it are clearley interested in the subject, and the swapping of info, ideas, tip and other peoples research is really useful.

lawdog114

Steel wool eh?..I never thought of that.  I usually wash the sprues with Dawn dish detergent and warm water.  Once the frame is assembled and ready for primer, I wipe it down with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol to remove any oils that may have transferred from my hands during assembly.  Except for one recent resin P-47 N cockpit, which refused to take paint, I've never had any issues with this method.   

Anyways, I'm in for an update.  I got Hubl's "White 5" decaled the other day.  I ended up using and old left over Aeromaster sheet I had on hand for the majority of the markings and stencils.  The "white 5", tail number, kill markings, and prop spiral were from the kit decals.  I have to apologize  for saying that Hasegawa decals were s#$t since I had absolutely no trouble with the prop spiral under Micro Sol...go figure. 

Last night I added a black Flory wash.  I love this product.  Its frustrating when you first apply it due to surface tension (as Nathan and Joe R pointed out...LOL).   I found that persistence helped and you just needed to slop it on.  Eventually it would break down a bit and get into those lines as it starts to dry a bit.   

I also added brakes lines to the landing gear this afternoon then attached them to the plane.  I found a set of True Details wheels at my LHS so I decided add them.  They were for an A-8 but they looked close enough to the kit parts, and better detailed to boot.   I hope to be finishing this guy up in a few days.   

Joe

 

Thats looking amazing, next time i do a scheme like this, i am deffinatly going to paint the checks rather than use decals.

Mines now finished, just getting the figures done and get some completed piccies.

Nice work Lawdog, Those resin wheels look sweet. I'm at the same stage you are but I go over things again with an oil wash and then add some post shading and exhaust stains. And yeah, once in awhile Hase decals will surprise you....Not so on my A-4, they are thick and stiff, and have a flat/rough, almost grainy finish to them. I cut off all the carrier film and separated the large decals for the chevron and bar just to get them looking half azz realistic. I shoulda painted them on like i did the rest of the fuselage but I didnt' feel like masking them out...

Dang Joe, that thing is looking amazing! Those checks are off the charts!

Was the prop on the D-9 usually a flat black color? There is no call out in the Eduard instructions and seems like I have read somewhere that this type was sometimes a black-green color?

It depends if its a metal or wooden prop. Metal props were RLM 70 Black Green. Wood ones were RLM 71 Dark Green.  I don't know off the top of my head which one the D-9 had.

VS9 or VS111 I think??

I have never been able to find any info on that prop, any search comes up with VS 11. I don't know if its wood or metal.

I have some colour plates in the back of my Squadron Walk around. It has several D-9's which say RLM 70. It does have a couple with black blades, but this isn't the norm.

The squadron book I have claims it was a wooden prop that had a cloth covering. About all it says about it though. The museum aircraft in it looks like its black in color but even the captions say its probably a reproduced piece.

Hi all,

I'd like to join this GB.  Some of you may have seen my intro post last week and that I am returning to modelling after many years away.  I have to say that the work you guys churn out here is incredible and it really motivates me.  I hope to be able to advance my skills to a respectable level after a time.

I am a huge fan of LW aircraft, but am a bit concerned about the complexity of a lot of their camouflage, so I'll be searching for a paint scheme that won't tax me too much initially. (maybe Tunisia?)

With that in mind, I will do a bunch of digging around for something and update as to what kit I will do once I decide.  In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy the fantastic work in this thread!

Regards,

Allen

Dora's had a wooden prop VDM9-112176A. All props on all Luftwaffe aircraft all throughout the war were to be painted RLM 70 black green. Spinners on the other hand varried. Usually straight black or semi-gloss black.

Thanks Bish and Nathan, that was the info I needed!!

Welcome aboard Allen!!

Allen, i am sure Mustang will be very glad to have you on board. I have found GB's a great way to learn and imrove. Welcome.

Which kit will you be building.

Welcome Allen! Whatcha gonna build?

Lawdog(Joe) - Gorgeous work!! you've done a marvelous job so far. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the finished product. I do hope you might have another 190 in ya so you can stay with us.

Allen - It's great to have you join us. I share yout trepidations over Luftwaffe camo, especially mottling. I was at first considering an MTO 190 also until I found the rather unique camo I'm doing.

Joe

Well in some kind of attempt to correct the rack and get the fuel tank mounted to it, I have accomplished something.......lol.

I think the curved brackets on it are still a bit too long and may snip them a bit more but to be honest I'm not entirely sure what they should look like. I've found a few pics online but nothing really detailed. Biggest thing is, is it passable?? You guys tell me...

I have some more fine wire that I am hoping to add to the 4 mounting points (?) once I get the brackets sized right.

Looks passible to me Jester. You could snip them shorter if you like.

I think I'll pick up a 1/48 Tamiya A3.  I may try to turn it into an A4 and look for an easier paint scheme.

That's the plan anyway.  

Jester - Can't help you with the accuracy but, it darn well looks great none the less.

Allen - An A-3 sounds like an excellent choice to me. Looking forward to it.

Chanter

I'd like to join this GB.  Some of you may have seen my intro post last week and that I am returning to modelling after many years away.  I have to say that the work you guys churn out here is incredible and it really motivates me.  I hope to be able to advance

Hello all.  I finally finished my butcher bird, the Hasegawa A-6 in 1/48th scale.  To review, I went with the kit featured markings of Rudolph Hubl's 1JG1 "White 5" from October of 1943.  Hubl was a 20 kill ace which included 17 heavies.  He already had 3 B-17's and a P-51B in this plane before he wrecked it on October 8th. Interesting research about JG 1 revealed that in this stage of the war, being defense against the onslaught of the 8th Air Force heavies, they painted checkers on the cowls of their FW 190's to distinguish the 190's from the American P-47's.  Furthermore, in 1943 they could still afford to show off a little due to the Luftwaffe's air superiority. I would imagine it would have had a psychological effect on the American bomber crews too.  

Anyways, a few things about the kit.  The Hasegawa A-6 was fantastic and I did not experience any of the fit issues reported.  It was a walk in the park compared to the Eduard D-9 I built last year.  I did spruce it up a bit with True Details tires, seat, and Quickboost gun barrels.  I scratchbuilt the Pitot tube from Albion Alloy and painted on the cowl checkers in lieu of decals.  Albeit tedious, I was pleased how the checkers turned out.  This was my first venture into the world of Gunze Aqueous, which I utilized their RLM 74 and 75 for this project.  Its the best I've ever seen for these colors and much better than anything I could mix up with Tamiya.  I will continue to use Gunze for my Luftwaffe subjects.

Thanks for having me in the group build. I really enjoyed it.  Joe R- I may come back with my Eduard A-5 in Egon Mayer's JG2 markings before the GB ends.  I just have to decide whether or not I want to subject myself to that torture.  I think I would rather get a root canal. 

Thanks again, and questions/comments are always welcome.

Joe

Joe, thats an absoloute beaut. I love the paint job on this, and those checks are amazing.

Just one minor small point. The pitot is in the wrong place for an A-6.

As always Joe, its a real joy to watch your pieces come together. That is museum quality stuff right there!!

On a side note for anyone up for more torture, todays Squadron deal is the Eduard A8 profipak for 20 bucks.....

Nice build Lawdog. Its been good to have you in on this group build. I like the final sheen on your model. What did you use for a flat coat?

Joe, that is a outstanding build!  The checks came out great and really make the model.

Now I have to make time to get back to mine.

Mike

LawDog -

Amaxing looking build, the checkers look great and so much more subtle since they are painted on.  Can you give us all some details on how you went about constructing the base it is sittiing on?  It really sets off the plane and adds another dimention of realism to your presentation. 

Your fit and finish are top knotch, great job.  I just hope that mine will one day look as nice.

Matt

Lawdog - That is absolutely fantastic. You honestly have done a superb job on your 190 Joe. The paint work. detail and weathering is just top notch. You done an excellent job on that base. It really does add immensely to your incredible Butcher Bird. It has been my pleasure to share this GB with you Joe. Thanks for your input and for sharing your amazing skills with us. I am certainly hoping you rejoin us later and at the very least keep hanging around and giving your excellent insight. Godspeed.

Ok, this is going to drive me nuts till I get some better pictures. Does anyone have and care to share any clear pictures of the rack on this Dora? Having a bit of a hard time pulling anything up. I see on Joe's build that there are 2 lateral supports/bars as well as the cross members I have added yet I don't see this in a lot of plates or pics I am finding.