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

Joe - I believe you have done a fine job of detailing the gun bays. I'm just glad to see some progress and oics from you. Keep it coming as it's really good for you and us.

Eric - Beautifully applied paint job as usual. Your pre-shading really works well. 

Thanks guys!! I am happy with my pre-shading, need to work on cutting my colors a bit though.

That P-47 Group Biuld is still running? I thought it ended a while ago! I'd love to participate in that one! I have a big Thunderbolt (32nd scale, not started) entered in the NMF GB. I could do a crossover when I start working on it...

To answer your question, Joe: Nope, I'm not in that GB.

One is in the First Time GB/Longest Day GB (crossover) That is Tamiya's Bubbletop kit. I am building William Kepner's transport-Thunderbolt with full invasion stripes as it might've looked on D-Day... (I'm pretty sure that Kepner flew around at that time...) More info about that one is here.

The 2nd one is going to be something "special". It is entered in the REich defenders GB. Yes, you heard right. I managed to get a Thunderbolt in a GB exclusively for German ground-attack planes! If ya wanna know how i did that, just click here (the WIP pics are here).

Cheers, Clemens

Eric... As always guy, beautiful work! You too Joe, always enjoy your WIP.

You know Clemens, yes the "Big Beautiful Jugs" GB is still open. It was kind of left open ended after Doogs ATX departed (not entirely). So, those of us that were left hanging around just sort of agreed to leave it open as there were some folks finishing up and still getting into it. There has not been much activity there in quite some time. Although, whenever i finally get around to resurrecting "Eight Nifties" I'll post there. Figured since I started it there I might as well finish it there and at least earn the badge.

Eight Nifties? Ah, I remember it. We had a conversation about that Jug earlier!  I'll build the same bird in 1/32! I actually got my inspiration for building that particular aircraft when reading your posts in that GB!

Thanks for the comments guys. Last night I assembled the upper instrument panel and cowl fairing over the IP. This morning I installed the IP assy onto the aircraft. This was no easy trick! I managed though. I also masked the inside and outside of the windscreen and am ready to paint that.

That upper ip installation is always fun isnt it?

Simply awesome to hear your at the bench Joe. Good for you, good for the soul, better for us. Keep moving forward my brother.

It definitely feels better to be back at the bench again in full swing. Eric you are soooooo right. That assy just really sucks to install but got through it ok. A minor correction in progress here. I just got through painting the windscreen. It'll be ready for the tape to come off tonight.

Good news, Joe! Yes, that part of the assembly is really bad. I still don't know if i got it right... (at least it looks like i did)

mustang1989

Thanks for the comments guys. Last night I assembled the upper instrument panel and cowl fairing over the IP. This morning I installed the IP assy onto the aircraft. This was no easy trick! I managed though. I also masked the inside and outside of the windscreen and am ready to paint that.

Hey, great idea  .  That's a mistake I'll never make again . 

Great work Eric and Joe! Once again gentleman, I am humbled by your skills and artistry. I am truly in the presence of greatness. Well, either that or I just need to get me an airbrush. Love your work guys!

I am almost completely done with my bird. Today I am releasing some pics from a week ago or so showing some of my masking and painting steps. I wanted to make sure I was happy with my results before I showed how I did it (sneaky, huh?). Remember that I'm a rattle can sprayer, so . . . . .

Here in the gear bays I scratched my own gun barrels using half round sprue.

My aluminum tubing wing guns with heatshrink tubing for details

I decided to just use kit gun barrels for the fuselage guns

Next 2 pics show before and after of gun hood cowling alignment fix. I had to break them off and sand spots on both hoods to get a proper fit. I'm happy with it now.

Well, only a couple of nit pickin details and I'll be finished, boys. Keep in my mind that my canopy and windscreen are temporarily taped on til I get my new ones from Hasegawa. Should be posting finished pics later today.

Nice work Bill!! Def not bad rattle can finish there. You should definitely pick up an ab if the opportunity presents itself. They surely have a learning curve, but you wont regret it.  Nice save on the cowl alignment too!!

Hey Bill. Will be checking out your pictures when I get home. All I can do is read and send posts here at work. Yeah I found out about that inside masking thing early on in modeling. I have  a green house canopy somewhere in my future to do on a BV141 from Hi PM in 48th scale to mask inside and out on. I am still looking for a set of masks for that thing. A TRUE test of skills on that one even with pre cut masks.

Really nice work, Bill! I can't imagine doing such stuff with a rattle-can...

Joe: Yep, greenhouse-canopies are a pain to mask... I am dreading the ccanopy-masking on my B-25... Is it enough to just mask the outside and spray the interior color on the outside (before applying the exterior color), or would you recommend masking and spraying it from the inside? It's 1/32nd scale...

There are others that might say that painting from the outside would be ok but if it were mine I would mask inside and out, especially for 32nd scale. Larger scales need that kind of attention. 1/48th you might get by with just outside and 72nd I wouldn't bother with inside.  Plus the larger scales tend to lend the glass panels to be opened up so again masking inside is the way to go in my opinion.

I usually don't mask the inside but I think with planes like the 109 where if the canopy is open, the inside frames are easily seen, need to be masked and painted. Just doesn't look right with the glossy frames on the inside. When I get back to my 32nd 109 I will either mask the inside or might even buy the PE canopy if I can find it.

Didn't know that PE canopys were available!!

RB makes a couple. They look pretty dang cool, not sure how well they go together though.

RB Etch Canopy

I'll be checking that stuff out at home tonight! Wow. You learn something new everyday.

SchattenSpartan

Really nice work, Bill! I can't imagine doing such stuff with a rattle-can...

Joe: Yep, greenhouse-canopies are a pain to mask... I am dreading the ccanopy-masking on my B-25... Is it enough to just mask the outside and spray the interior color on the outside (before applying the exterior color), or would you recommend masking and spraying it from the inside? It's 1/32nd scale...

Clemens, you have a 1/32 scale B-25? You're lucky you don't live close to me or I'd steal it. How'd you get ahold of that in Austria? (Yer in Austria, right?) However, I did find one in Minneapolis. I just don't want to pay nearly 200 bucks for it right now.

Greenhouse canopies are fun. I've built a Stuka, so, been there .......

And speaking of canopies. On these 190 A's, have any of you ever made the antenna wire actually work? I mean, make it stay tight AND be able to open and close the canopy. If using thread for the wire, I could see maybe using an internal weight hanging on the end. Or maybe a spring in the fuselage? My canopy already has a slotted anchor on top that could act as a pulley. Just need to make a small hole ahead of that 

I have noticed that on most models with movable canopies, the wire is slack when the canopy is open. But on the actual planes, it appears to stay tight.

The later blown style canopies actually fell slack when the canopy was in the open position. Even the flat canopy on Dortenmanns A-8 did not have the pulley mechanism and would have fell slack when opened. Would be interesting to see if this could be pulled off though, but I would think not too many canopies are moved from open to closed in 48th scale, maybe the larger stuff.

Man, its 190 fever in here. Great work going on. Bill- nice job on the cowling. I love those head on shots of the wurger, they just look so mean.

Jester- sweet colors. Now hurry up and unmask that baby and weather her up!

Joe Rix- Nice work on the cammo colors. All that masking paid off for you.

Everyone else, nice job. Way to keep the GB goin strong.

Bill: Yep, I have one of those kits! They are really easy to get here in Austria! Hey, Austria may be a small country, but that doesn't mean that we can't get good stuff as well!

The owner of my LHS has pre-ordered HKs new B-17 as well! I am so going to buy that one!

Just out of curiosity how much is that big beast of a B-17 going for? I can't imagine building something of that size. I barely have room for my 1/24 scale Bf 109!

Sprue has it listed at 277 clams!!!

Way too much model for me! Price is a bit outside of my range (not by much) but the model is just way too big. I just got off of the HK website. Seems the Lancaster is soon to make its debut right along side of this one!

The wingspan of that beast is just below 1m...

SchattenSpartan

The wingspan of that beast is just below 1m...

Yeah, I have no place for it either... for now! I am going to either throw it into the NMF GB or Start a WIP thread. Either way, I'll send you a link as soon as I get started, if you are interested