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

Thanks, Mustang and Greg! Well, I made some progress before going out to work earlier. I completed the decals (54 items in total, there might be one or two stencils I missed), washed the surface to remove the decal fluids, then sealed with a final clearcoat. I also airbrushed the prop in a mixed RLM 70, touched up the spinner and clear coated both. Here she is:

And with the wheel wells unmasked:

This is my first time using Superscales in some years and I could not be happier, they performed a lot better than the Aeromasters I cannibalised on the last one.

Targets for tomorrow, assemble the prop, get the landing gear underway (final touch-ups, remove parts from the trees and tidy up) assemble the bombs (possibly paint them) and take a shot at the fine detail painting. Hopefully the details will be done and the final assembly either complete or nearly so. Whichever way, this one is closing in on the finish line now.

Cheers, M/TB379

That is looking extremely good, Mike.

That sure is a purdy paint job!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really nice!!

Not really, Nathan -- one photo, very indistinct, then I'm using the interpretations others have gone with. It seems there are two major interpretations of the scheme, this is Superscale's, while there is another that has been done as a digital model, featuring the camo reversed dark to light, plus RLM 84 on the fuselage sides. It may be the plane was repainted at some time and the scheme varied, or perhaps the old orthochromic B&W film's handling of shades and hues is being interpreted more than one way. It would certainly be interesting to do the other interpretation at some point.

Cheers, M/TB379

Wow. Paint and decals came out great Mike. You have pics of Rudels bird to go off of?

Update -- the decals are pretty much done other than the upper wings, and I need to decide if I'm using the wing walk stripes, I've seen this plane finished both ways. The decals have behaved well, the only silvering observed so far is on the open crosses on the underside, so I'm not too fussed.

I'll get some more decals done tonight, including the white crosses so they have until tomorrow to dry and show up any silvering so I can attempt to do something about it before sealing the decals.

Target for tomorrow -- decals completed and sealed, detail painting underway, final assembly underway, including the prop and bombs.

M/TB379

Man I know what that's like Clemens! I skipped over a couple of days myself and that sucks! I'm on a roll with my current project and hate to miss build days!

Okay, half a dozen decals into the job and the Superscales are behaving very nicely. Fingers crossed there's no silvering!

M/TB379

Thanks, my friend!

Today I've already completed the panel accents and sealed them with clear, and am about to begin the decals, here's hoping they behave! Photos tonight, hopefully!

M/TB379

Mike, I'm sorry to hear about you having airbrush troubles again. The camo turned out great though!

Unfortunately I didn't get an great amount of bench time this weekend, so I don't have anything worth showing to you.

Thanks, Mustang, that helps a lot! I'll go with a metallic and a Florey wash to make the detail pop. I'm doing the panel wash right now before turning in, the underside is almost done and looks pretty good. I'm confident I'll be into decals tomorrow, and from there it's downhill to the finish. I'll put the bombs together for the wing racks. I saw a museum display with bombs and they were painted a kind of dark yellow with a greenish tint, which is most unusual... There's been a lot of discussion in the Stuka GB about bomb colours for German planes, which I'll have to review.

Cheers, and thanks again, M/TB379

These are out of the Aero Detail #2 book that I have for the Dora. Hope this helps as they are the only true color ref's that I have. There is a bit of 76 on the lower part of the fins in one pic it looks like but one can never tell if that's not a mistake on the museums part for not masking properly.........

Hope this helps you out Mike.........

So far so good on your painting Mike!! I will say that on mine I used a metailic with a heavy wash to tone the sheen down considerably. From what I can tell (and I'll see if I can dig up photo reference) some of them were 76. Lemme do some research and I'll get back to you here.

Thanks, Greg, no worries -- the AB  woes have certainly cropped up lately. I seem to have it traced to my fineline tip and nozzle, so they're soaking in the new cleaner right now.

I tried the fine tip first thing today but it was not going to perform, so I worked today with the #3 medium tip, which is running fine. Problems make one mistrust the AB altogether, which is not really sensible. Anyway, I spent much of today doing touch-ups, basically chasing around, one colour after the other, fixing overspray and splatter, which is a frustrating job. the mottle ended up done with the #3 instead of #1 setup, so it's a bit coarser than I had hoped for, and it's also in RLM 82 instead of 82, as that paint was willing to play the game and the other wasn't.

I also did some brush touch-ups, then completed the oil staining on the underside and laid on the first clear -- so the colours are officially done. Not as precise as I had hoped for, but good enough to run with. Here she is:

And the underside:

The next task is panel accents and I might get to that tonight. I should be into decals tomorrow, and aiming for completion in a few days -- basically as soon as possible (if they cooperate!).

One question for the Dora experts -- the area behind the spinner cone is detailed to look like radiator vanes -- should these be put into a metallic? The instructions call for 76, which is easily done, but is it right?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Mike, looking good. You do a nice job with the soft masks. I notice how nicely your pre-shade shows through the 83. I wish I could learn the patience to lay down a nice thin coat like that.

You are having more than your share of a/b woes, mate. I hate splatter and don't have enough experience to offer any useful advice.

Clemens, those are some nice looking goodies, mate. Hope you are feeling better.

Thanks, Mustang! I just wish I could tame the AB a bit more, it can still surprise me! Well, I unmasked, did two rounds of 82 touch-up, a round of 76 touch-up, and when I cleaned the AB one last time before switching to the 83 to do the last touch-ups and the mottle, the spatter monster returned. It was either something to do with the cleaning or with the way I mixed the paint, so right now I have it stripped and cleaned again, and I have a new acrylic cleaner to try as well.

I can do the oil stains on the underside, but until I can figure out how to get around this and get the mottle done, I'm stuck! Tomorrow is a new day, I'll clean it within an inch of its life and try again, I could also mix a new batch of paint and stick tightly to formula. I'll try soaking the air cap in the new cleanser as well, there might have been some contamination of the fine flow holes, but that's just a guess. It was flowing fine, if off to one side due to a buildup in the aircap/external nozzle, and after I cleaned that out, the spatter was back...

It makes me really look forward to some monocoloured subjects, like a mjdnight blue Corsair...

Cheers, M/TB379

Clemens:Man I almost nabbed a  1/48 scale V-19 resin kit for this GB (ask Joe Rix ..LOL) but I had D-9 fever! These are beautiful machines no doubt and nice score on that kit. Man what a SL of goodies you've got there!!! Wow! Look at all that stuff will ya?

Mike:Your paint work is magnificent man! I just love those kooky colors on the D-9's. "Celery green" ......REALLY standin' out there! Good job!

Thanks, Clemens! That's a formidable haul you've just got there, it's terrifying to think of the work involved, but I can't wait to see the results!

Okay PB is back up, so here's the update from yesterday. I got the softmasks done over the 83:

And applied the 82:

Note one place where the cutting of the mask was just too fiddly, so I freehanded the demarcation.

Target for today -- progressive unmasking and touchups with the AB and brushes, get the flaps and gear bay doors into 76, do the mottle, underside oil stains, and hopefully get along to the first clearcoat.

More later!

M/TB379

Well this week has been kinda good overall with one exception. I've been sick since Monday and today is the first day I'm really feeling well again. So what's good about that week then?

Well, MY GOODIE-BOX ARRIVED!!!

The mailman actually brought me two boxes today: The aforementioned box and this beauty here:

Now don't get me wrong, I love Doras and I think they are damn sexy machines, but this baby easily tops them all in my book! What's not to like about a Dora with a more brutal looking nose, a 4-bladed prop and a big honkin' supercharger housing on it's belly that is connected to the engines via exhaust pipes on the outside of the fuselage? The kit itself appears to be cast quite nicely with no bubbles or other flaws visible. There's just some resin flash to be removed on some of the larger parts, but I didn't notice any significant warpage either. It also comes with 2 vacu-formed canopies in case you break one (it has several supporting frames, so you can't use the normal canopy. The only thing missing now is a Hasegawa A-8 to use this conversion on. As luck would have it I stopped by at my LHS today and guess what, they just got a 2nd-hand A-8 kit in perfect condition for 50€ (standard price for those kits seems to be 70-80€).

Now on to the goodie-box contents (it's quite a lot so I was really happy when it finally got here).

This is my little collection of AM goodies for my assembly line (all of them, the ones I got earlier as well):

From left to right, top to bottom: New stuff from the box is written in bold text:

• Eduard D-13 PE set
• Eduard A-8 PE set
• Quickboost D-11 air intake (x2)
• Quickboost D-9 exhausts (x4)
• Fusion Models D-11 prop and spinner (x4)
• Ultracast A-model prop and spinner (x3)
• Ultracast A-model prop and spinner w/ external weights
• Master MG 131 barrels
• Master A-6 gun barrel set
• Master A-7/A-8 gun barrel set (x5)
• Eduard Luftwaffe spinner masks
• Eduard Dora spinner masks
• Eduard A-5/A-8 canopy masks for Hasegawa (x2)
• Eduard Dora masks
• Montex F-8 canopy and insignia masks for Tamiya
• EagleCals Fw 190 Dora decals
• EagleCals Fw 190 A-8/A-9 decals

I'm still waiting on some Ultracast wheels (those are going to take some time) and a mystery item for the Eduard A-8 to arrive.

I hope I'll get some bench time in this weekend.

Cheers, Clemens

Mike your Dora is coming along very nicely! I have to try that soft masking technique myself at some point (I'm freehanding everything ATM)

Thanks, Mustang. I have another update but PB is "down for maintenance," so I can't upload at the moment. The softmasks for the main camo are cut and applied, and the RLM 82 is on. Now comes the fiddly process of demasking and touching up as needed, including the 83 mottle.

Pics asap,

M/TB379

It's lookin' good from this angle buddy!!! I like the soft mask technique.

Progress report -- yesterday was busy, I only managed to get the soft masks cut for the 76, but today I applied them and went ahead and applied the RLM 83 (MM Acryl). here she is with the masks in place:

And with the 83 on:

Next up, cut soft masks for the wings and tail, apply them with blutac and spray the 82. Then unmask and change to the fine tip and needle to touch up as necessary and do the 83 mottle.

M/TB379

I must say the first spiral I did was on a Hasegawa 109 K-4 and it went on probably the best of the ones I've done to date. The decal has to be willing to absorb a fair bit of pushing and pulling, then pull into the surface tightly. It has to be willing to respond to ample wetting without grabbing too soon. If it'll do these things it's not too bad. Also, the incidence of the spiral should really be designed for the kit, it not you get all kinds of rucks and folds...

I was working the last couple of days and didn't get much done on the D-9 except to mask the 76, which includes cutting some soft masks. My plan is to apply them and get the 83 onto her tomorrow.

Cheers, M/TB379

SchattenSpartan

braver than I am for using those bloody spinner decals. I got some sort of a plan to avoid that frightening experience,

Thanks guys!

Joe: I came up with this paint mix by looking at the bottom of my Titanium Gold jar after giving it a good shake. The silver pigment at the bottom was only slightly colored by the solvent at the top and I thought it looked quite good...

Mike: Your Dora looks great! You (and most of the other fellas in here) sure are way, way braver than I am for using those bloody spinner decals. I got some sort of a plan to avoid that frightening experience, but more on that when my SprueBrothers order finally turns up...

Thunderbolt379

Greg, they're a forbidding challenge, to be sure!

  Great progress Mike. I just love seeing these things in primer!!

Thanks, Greg, they're a forbidding challenge, to be sure!

Progress today, I thoroughly cleaned the AB this morning, then got the 76 on. I gave it plenty of drying time, then made up some 75 and did the mottle on the replacement rudder of Rudel's bird with the fineline tip. To be sure of it staying where it should be, I put a couple of clear coats over it too:

The rudder is now masked and I'm working up the rest of the masking. The 76 showed up some imperfections in the leading edge that will get dressed before I move on, but my target for tomorrow is to get the 83 onto her.

I've looked at renditions of Rudel's plane and there seems to be a fair bit of interpretation in the markings, some folks are using the somewhat mysterious RLM 84 for the fuselage sides. I'm probably not going to go that way, but stay with a three-colour scheme -- we'll see!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Mike, you don't mess around, man. Looking good!

Hat's off to you, that spinner looks really good. Decals or masks, those spirals are not among my favorite things.

7-10 coats -- yep, that sounds about right. I was wondering if my chemistry was getting a bit old and losing its "oomph" but it sounds like that's normal!

Cheers, M/TB379