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

Thanks Nathan! The barrels are metal.

Looks really good Joe. Nicely weathered and realistic. Are the Barrel tips resin or metal?

.....and now everything laid in place ready for the upper wing sections to be installed.

JJ:Thanks for the comments. I wasn't quite done with the gun bays yet. Stay tuned for the pics below here.

Doug:Thanks for your comments as well and for some of the suggestions you had in regards to weathering the engine. I used that in conjunction with some of my own "mix".

Everyone:Got a couple more pics concerning the gun bay. The first is afer a base coat of gunmetal on the cannon and the next one is of the different shades of 02 that I applied throughout the bay with a light MIG wash, highlighting the wiring and some silvering on the cannon for a well used gun.

Looking good  Joe... like the cowling and engine assy... very realistic!

Doug

JOE - that engine is outstanding bud - excellent work, and the gun bay is stunning....

JOHN - pumping them out the production line there - also excellent work.

...and there was one hekuva lot of sanding and grinding going on here to get this gun bay to fit between the wings so that the uppers and lowers would fit together correctly too. I cut and sanded down the rear and outside edges of the gun bay itself and then sanded the upper and lower wings on the insides to finally get everything to fit right!

The front of the wheel wells had to be totally cut and sanded away to allow proper fit of the nose/ engine module into the fuselage and wing area up front. After all of that I got the fit at the gun bay and nose that I wanted. Here's a few shots of the gun bay/ wing fit. There's a little gap at the front that's just due to my hand not holding it place while I took the picture.

Well folks with much deliberation I've decided to go ahead and open up the L/H wing root 20mm cannon gun access panel. I wasn't going to do this but after all the money that I spent on this upgrade kit  I felt that at least one panel should be open. This is, after all, a beautiful upgrade kit by the way. So we start by showing you guys the gun bay itself followed by a pic of the upper wings with the L/H side cut out appropriately:

Well I've test fitted the whole module into the basic fuselage and wing assy with both of the latter just tapped together. After a little trimming of the forward part of the inside of the landing gear wells it fit like it was made to. It's really surprising just how good the fit is.

Ah, thanks, Joe. Will it be difficult to attach the firewall or is that how the Tamiya kit is put together? Thinking about my Eduard, can't see how the assy would be attached, is why I asked. Just curious.

The aircraft kit is the Tamiya Fw190 D-9 and the update resin/ PE kit is Aires kit # 4019. Thanks bud! Going to be moving on to the rest of the plane here.

Bill, good to hear from you again. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

John, good to see your activity too. Coming right along and glad you have a break to join back in on the insanity. :)

Joe, the master of the engine strikes again. Wow that looks good.

Please refresh me, which kit is this?

Hey there John. Got some progress going I see. Check back on page 286 for my small tutorial on exhaust painting.

It may not look like it but I did get something done on my 2 190's for the snake squadron.  A little filling, a little sanding. Some more assembly on the cowling and prop.

Finially got a small brake from the 2 LHS builds I'm doing.

John

Mustang,

  I'd really like to know how and what colors you used to get your exhausts to look so good?

John

..............and by the way that gets me caught up with the recap photos. Now its off to the continuation!

Brother Greg:I kknow exactly what you mean. Nobody else I know of locally at this point would have a clue about the things we are discussing in here. It is indeed nice to be able to come here and talk "shop" about modeling with good folks who can not only understand but offer help and suggestions.

Everybody: Well I'm done with the nose module minus guns. I aint going to complain one bit about how smoothly (fingers crossed!) this build is going so far: Here goes:

and a better side view:

JJ:Man talka bout knocking a paint job outta the park!!! and that quick!! That looks totally awesome!!

Bill:Cant tell you how glad I am to see you around again. You've been missed buddy. Looking forward to building with you again in the future.

Hey Bill... Good to hear from you again, and Super to hear your back at work again. Man, Been the hernia route, (both, but many years apart) and I never panicked at the thought of a sneeze befor...Until then!. Get better!

Doug

Hello, gentlemen!! I haven't been in here for awhile. And I see y'all are still as crazy as you were then. "Curse of the Butcher Bird"?

I had been coming in here and participating alot last year while unemployed. But, I now have a job that requires most of my time so . . . . .  However, I have been off work for awhile following hernia surgery and will be returning to work next week. Hopefully I will keep coming in here regularly while maintaining my job. I've missed you guys.

Man, there's been some fantastic work done in here since my last visit. I'd like to build another 190, if for no other reason than to keep spending time with you folks, but I have a few other builds going and planned so, probably not. I'm sure I'll see most of you around in other builds too. You all are so awesome at what you do and never has there been a more friendly and helpful bunch in any Group Build.

Oh, I have a half-baked idea on how I could build models for a living. I'll keep you posted.

Joe, prop and spinner look great!

JJ, wow, had never seen those brass struts. They look amazing!

Nathan, thanks for pinpointed where the trimming needs to be done. I thought was what we were talking about, but wasn't sure. Too late for me on this one, though. Will just have to make it work as is, whatever it takes.

During test fitting, things indicated this needed to be done, but I couldn't bring myself to to do it. Should have asked sooner. FWIW, I clamped rather aggressively across the front part of that slot. If my instrument panel wasn't slightly off center, it would have possibly centered the gap, but I think there still would be a slight gap.

It's so great to be able to kick these issues around. So different from building alone in the past.

Wow JJ, Those are some righteous landing gear struts. Very nice finish with the paint and decals.

In the home stretch now!   Beautiful build! 

Used the incredible G FACTOR brass oleos and most of the painting and decals are done....

Clemens:Just wanted to send an apology your way. I corrected you mistakedly out in the open and I'll apologize the same way. Sorry 'bout that chief.

Everybody: Well I'll post a bit more progress on the nose area today....Props done! Gloss coat and dull coats applied and all!

Just almost caught up with the recap pictures guys.

And that in itself is the problem with most reviews on the web today. They are inbox reviews and parts are hardly removed from the sprues and fitted together. People can say what they want but IMO there are no better reviews than the ones by Terry Ashley on the Perth site.

Thanks all of you for the heads up on that one. I didn't do that on mine! Yikes!

Jester and Clemens are right on! The cockpit floor is too wide where it slots into the fuselage halves. I always find myself cutting off about 1mm or so on each side! That helps everything click into place and allows the fuselage to close up to the proper width. At first I thought I glued the cockpit in the wrong spot, but every Eduard 190 I built I had to trim at that spot. Funny no reviews mentioned that trimming the cockpit floor results in a much better fit.

I'd sort of wondered about that too.

Chanter, forgot to say thank you for your encouragement, mate!

Clemens, was wondering where you've been. Hope you have that internet issue resolved, miss you around here.

May just have to watch and make sure it doesnt make the wing join too narrow and create a gap but I dont think this would be a problem.

Funny, after building 3 for this group build, I can almost visualize every step in the destructions, lol....