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

Well Clemens, ya just hit on the secret! You mess up, you fix it, you learn from your mistakes and every one you do gets a little better then the last! And like Reasoned said, there is always one just a little bit harder, Most of what I do has been learned from mistakes I've made over the years. Every kit I do I try to learn a new trick or do something just a bit different. Like I (and others) said earlier... Your doing just fine. Hang in there!!!

Doug (RR)

Thank you for your nice words, guys!

This is an amazing community here on this forum!

Clemens

Like Reasoned and Doug said just keep at it. Like Joe Rix and I like to say, " It's not about the mistake. It's all in the recovery. " Hang in there buddy, Joe

OK folks, I am officially calling this one done. Stick a fork in it! The Eduard kit has no shortage of problems and these problems don't seem to be isolated to one or two kits but the majority of them, but I don't have to tell any of you building them here that. I do love the amount of detail in this kit, but the open panels are a real turn off if you are wanting to zip it up. So without further adieu, and please forgive the really crappy pictures as my camera sucks, I present you all my rendition of Hans Dortenmann's Black 1.

Grr, that last pic wont show the edited one which is kind of annoying. In closing I will say that this has been the best GB that I have participated in!! Just a great atmosphere the whole time with lots of great advice and tips and just tons of wonderful 190's built!! I was really going to tear into the new Eduard Spit next but for some reason the DML 32nd 109 E-4 keeps grabbing my attention so I may have to pull it out!

Outstanding Eric!   I missed it, which Eduard kit is this because if this is what you can do with a kit that has problems, I'd like to see what a shake and build looks like.  Clean build all around and the gear bay shot is tops, she's a winner.

Jester,,,,She's a beauty! Hope I do as well with my 190.

A short update.   Been working on the cockpit panels and having to do some improvising on the dials. I was going to use the Aiscale decal sheet but it would sit too far behind the panel and wouldn't look right. Than the Eduard bezel/instrument set seems a tad too small, so I glued the clear instrument panel to the front panel and the Eduard dials glued on top to the clear part which works for me. Will post a couple of pics in a day or two.

Eric, That is simply impressive. Exquisite paint job and excellent detailing. I cannot help but be drawn to the work you did in the wheel bays. Your work there is really remarkable. I really hate to see you finish and thus leave the GB. It has indeed been great fun building with you and I hope you continue to hang around and participate with your insight and input. Cheers!

Very, very nice Eric!! Wouldn't know there's any problems with that kit after you built it. Love the detail, especially the gear and bays.

I love your Dora, Eric!

Everything is Built nice and clean and the detailing in the wheel bays (like all the others said already) ist superb!

Clemens

This old Hasegawa kit is testing me. Without paying much attention to the area under the rear of the canopy of the actual 190s, I went ahead and assembled the headrest and brace to the canopy per the kit instructions.  It's wrong. Goofy damn kit has the rear deck area attached to the canopy. See pics: 

Looks like I get to use my newfound talent for cutting plastic with thread, eh Rigid? Now, correct me if I'm wrong; the headrest should be sitting on just a bar spanning across the canopy right, and the deck part including what looks like an access panel should remain stationary behind the seat?

And, submitted for your scrutiny, some cockpit pics. Yeah, this is the kit cockpit with a few of my scratched details (harness, throttle, etc..). Instrument panel is just gooped in for pics sake.

Harnesses were made from imitation suede cord trim and the wire from inside of twisty ties.

looking really good to me, Bill! I love the seatbelts.

I hope I can get at least one cockpit finished in the next days...

Clemens

Bill, that issue of the fuselage top deck attached to the canopy assembly is strange indeed.  What if you want to have an open canopy, is there something behind the seat area to fill in? (assuming I understand the issue).  I really like the scratch seat belts and hardware.  The suede look is convincing and twisty tie wire is utilitarian, wished I'd thought of it before buying a bunch of small gauge wire.

Please put my Ta152C-0 on the front page as well, Joe. I'm almost done with painting its office and it's still not on there..

Cheers, Clemens

Thanks guys and I will defintely be checking in here with all this great work going on!

Bill, that pit looks great, love the belts!

Jester:What can I say here? Wow? Holee Smokes?? What tha??? I like D-9's to begin with and you've done a really good job with this one. Youre giving me alot of inspiration to tackle mine. Could you show me your set up with the photo booth? I've given it a shot with my 109 I built and it was dark. Again good job Eric! Got on last night and attempted to post your pic in the intro post. Photobucket...............need I say more?  Will do today.

Flyitlikeyoustoleit:Thats some nice work on those seat belts. Havent ever seen the approach with the suede and the wire twisty ties before. Really convincing on the look!

ShattenSparten:Got you entered in on the opening post........FINALLY. Been up to my neck in work and just stuff at the house, sick kid. You know......life. Got you handled there lil buddy.

No problem at all, Joe! I hought you might just have forgotten about it...

I still have the problem with my PE parts for the Eduard cockpit though... I sprayed the whole pit RLM66. When I was about to glue the PE parts in, I noticed that the color of those is much daker and it has a slight blue shade as well. I found another volor for the pit, which is almost the same shade of gray as the PE parts. Now here's my question: should I repaint it in the darker color and add a heavy drybrushing with RLM66 after the PE parts are gled in? Or should I leave the cockpit in RLM66 and just glue the PE in. I will display the canopy opened, so you can see pretty much all of it...

The darker color would be Gunze's "Dark Gray" (H401)

Clemens

Looks like I just got this thread to page 100!

Congratulations and many thanks for such a nice and busy GB, Joe!!!

Cheers, Clemens

Clemens: Usually the sides of the cockpit and floor will be a darker color and the highlighted + topsided areas will be lighter so you might want to darken the rest of the cockpit a smidgen.

I noticed the color difference in the Eduard PE in my Dora as well and I was using MM Acryl RLM66. Honestly, by the time I was done drybrushing, washing, and then a flat top coat it wasn't big enough of a difference for me to worry about.

Is the MM color roghly the same shade of gray I am using (Gunze H416)? If it is, I'll just keep the pit like it is. Clemens

I dont have any Gunze on hand but this is what the MM looks like with the kit PE installed.

This was before the flat so you can still see a pretty big difference. I will try to find the pics after.

This is the best shot I have of it installed and after flat. You can see compared to the edge of the seat and some of the panels in the floor that its really not that different, or at least it wasnt for me.

Thank you very much, Eric! I think the Gunze color is the same shade as the RLM66 you used!

Clemens

Thanks for your comments guys. The seatbelt idea is a variation on some instructions I happened upon through:    www.florymodels.co.uk/how-to-scratch-build-seat-belt . Pretty darn nifty. I tried  to replicate their idea as close as I could with what I had on hand.

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((Reasoned wrote:)))

Bill, that issue of the fuselage top deck attached to the canopy assembly is strange indeed.  What if you want to have an open canopy, is there something behind the seat area to fill in? (assuming I understand the issue).

Reasoned, yes. Behind the canopy, the fuselage comes almost together, with a slot allowing for the tab   under the canopy, seen in my pic, to slide for opening and closing. When I fix this issue I'll probably move that tab farther back on the canopy, fill in the slot immediately behind the cockpit and scratch build a rear deck (making use of the deck part I remove from the canopy. What the hell were these kit designers thinking, man?

Also, how come lately in Forums I can't use the "rich formatting" option unless I'm responding to the very last post in the thread? Wasn't always like that. Grrrr!!  In fact, I can only reply using the "reply" button of the very last post, no others. Hmmm.........

Thanks for that link to the scratch built belts Bill, I'm going to have to try that!!

Not sure why your reply and rich formatting buttons are acting up. I do see the reply button on all other posts but rich formatting only shows on the last post for me. Personally, I didnt mind the new forum software in the beginning and actually liked it because it had a mobile format. Here lately though, a lot of the little bugs are becoming really annoying.

Eric... Beautiful work man! Just Outstanding! Hope youll do another here. Really and truley this is a great group of builders, Lots of info and lots of help and just plain good fellowship. The way it should be!

FlyItLikeYouStoleIt

((Reasoned wrote:)))

Bill, that issue of the fuselage top deck attached to the canopy assembly is strange indeed.  What if you want to have an open canopy, is there something behind the seat area to fill in? (assuming I understand the issue).

Reasoned, yes. Behind the canopy, the fuselage comes almost together, with a slot allowing for the tab   under the canopy, seen in my pic, to slide for opening and closing. When I fix this issue I'll probably move that tab farther back on the canopy, fill in the slot immediately behind the cockpit and scratch build a rear deck (making use of the deck part I remove from the canopy. What the hell were these kit designers thinking, man?

Ah, I think I see.  The Tamiya kit has just the head plate attached to the canopy, so the deck area behind the seat (and level w/fuselage sides) is one piece glued into place.  I would think you could remove the head plate from the little deck piece (but then again) you could REALLY bugger it up if done wrong.

Jester75

OK folks, I am officially calling this one done. Stick a fork in it! The Eduard kit has no shortage of problems and these problems don't seem to be isolated to one or two kits but the majority of them, but I don't have to tell any of you building them here that. I do love the amount of detail in this kit, but the open panels are a real turn off if you are wanting to zip it up. So without further adieu, and please forgive the really crappy pictures as my camera sucks, I present you all my rendition of Hans Dortenmann's Black 1.

Grr, that last pic wont show the edited one which is kind of annoying. In closing I will say that this has been the best GB that I have participated in!! Just a great atmosphere the whole time with lots of great advice and tips and just tons of wonderful 190's built!! I was really going to tear into the new Eduard Spit next but for some reason the DML 32nd 109 E-4 keeps grabbing my attention so I may have to pull it out!

And, about the forum probs, if you click on the reply button at the bottom of any post, then the use rich formatting button shows up.

Jester: I'll have the pic of your completed build in the intro post today sometime. Man thats good work!

Everybody else: Currently working with getting the engine mounting rolling along. Had to trim the mounts back a little as the engine cooling fan wants to stick out of the cowl by about 2 mm or so. It's a tricky and slow process but will provide photos in the coming day or so to supplement my jabber here.

Bad news, guys...

I finished the wings and joined them with the fuselage. The gun hatch, which was a perfect fit before, is not fitting at all now... I glued it in and filled the (huge) gaps with some vallejo putty. I'll let it cure over night and sand it down tomorrow. I think some coats of microfiller after that should sort that out again. I still have the gray Alclad primer&microfiller in my paint shelf luckily (it is some really nice stuff for such tasks and also a good primer imo)

Cheers, Clemens