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

When you say gp, do you mean Staffel's. From what i have read, JG 26 only had 4 Gruppe.

Doug. According to Jerry Crandal, White 3, Wr.No. 500572 is from 5th staffel, II group JG26. He states Pilot is unkown, and the airplane suffered a forced landing on May 5th '45 near Logumkloster, Denmark. Whats interesting about the pic you found is the Wrk. No placement is in an unusual spot, the lower vertical stabilizer. Same spot as Jerry states Wrk. no 500572 is located. So even if your pic isn't white 3, the two planes have this in common. Does your profile show the II group bar as a horizontal solid white line on the fuselage? I bet the answer can be found on the Luftwaffe experten message board site, if you're a member. I know Jerry lurks there, along with Hyperscale.

See Bish, Thats what I'm saying, there is no mention of Staffel, just Grupe... I need to read a bit more and try yo be a bit more proficant on my IDs, also the sites differ greatly on their info, and Nathan, I saw w.nr. 500572, but wasn't that an Fw190-A8?  And yes, the w.nr. is in an unusual spot, all I've ever seen were higher on the vertical. The picture I found was said to have been taken at the airfield in Celen(?) in Germany at the end of thew war. What book are you using, I'd be interested in trying to get a copy. Pilot unknown is what I first read, When I entered Fw190-D-9 Jg26 is when the latest info came up. Thanks to you both and if I dont get a chance to hear from you, I wish all my friends here and abroad a very wonderful and joyful Christmas / Holiday season!

Doug, Wrk. no 500527 was a Dora 9. References are Jerry Crandall's Dora books, which I don't have, but I do have his decal sheet for this bird, which is where I got the info from. I bet if you posted that pic on Luftwaffe experten, you'd have your answer within minutes, or hours at most. But most of the fun is taking the time to research yourself, I know!

benzdoc

Hi Guys,

Even though I’m not participating in this GB, I wanted to share my experiences with the Eduard 190 kits.

Hey guys. Just thought I would wish everybody a Merry Christmas. Just a matter of days until we get started. My new work bench will be in my garage today ready for bringing in the spare room in the following days. Hope all is well with you all, Joe

Doogs,

I'd be wary of trying to pull it all together in one shot, as the 'tips' of the fuselage sides between the canopy and rear of the gun hood actually need to be pulled together some, but not too much.

Describing this without photos is useless, so I'll take some pics and do a better description!

Best regards,

Mike

benzdoc

Doogs,

I'd be wary of trying to pull it all together in one shot, as the 'tips' of the fuselage sides between the canopy and rear of the gun hood actually need to be pulled together some, but not too much.

Describing this without photos is useless, so I'll take some pics and do a better description!

Best regards,

Mike

Hello All,

Last weekend I was over the moon when I got to visit the Flying Heritage Collection in Seatlle. Paul Allen owns both a flying, BMW 801 powered 190 A–5, and a “flyable but not worth the risk in flying it” Fw 190 D–13. I made a post with links and such here.

Have you ever seen the movie, The Jerk? If so, you probably remember that part where Steve Martin is saying something along the lines of “All I need is the lamp. That’s it. And the pen. That’s all I need, the lamp and the pen. And….” That’s me with detail photos. Anyway, there are several that might be useful to this GB; here are a couple.

First of all, as we’re all thinking, these are restored aircraft. However, if there’s anyone who has the means and patience to get all of the details right, I’m sure it’s Mr. Allen and his budget. So personally, I’ll give these examples a lot of weight. However, you can form your own opinion.

First is the padding around the D–13 instrument cover (this has been a subject of debate and confustion, at least for me):

Conversely, here is the same part of the A–5 model:

Something else that’s always bugged me is that roundish aperture on the port side of the fuselage under the canopy. In the Eduard kits, it’s just flat. After some reasearch, this is the filling port for the fuel primer line, and as you can see it’s a recessed port with a cap on it. So some extra work is in order, at least on my model!

I also find it funny how people say that the gun covers probably didn’t fit that well, however this one looks pretty darn good (yes, this is a non battle tested and maintained aircraft, but it shows how things probably started out):

Here’s one of the cowl flaps and rear part of the annular radiator; I’m thinking that despite the challenge of executing them, the Eduard etched cowl flaps are the only realistic way to go:

Anyway, check out the set and feel free to download any that you like.

I almost forgot! Here’s a link to my last visit to the USAF Museum in Dayton; I took a bunch of detail oriented phtos of the 190 D–9 (and Me 262) there. Here’s the link to the set:

National Museum of the USAF

Here’s one example of the detail type of shots you’ll find there:

Also, I have a good number of the Fw 190 F–8 in the Udvar-Hazy Center. That set is here:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

More details, although they are really strict about using tripods; the idiots even hassled me over using a 3" tripod on the floor. Real nice. Anyway, I persevered, and got a bunch of good ones, among them these:

Lastly, the reason I’m not joining the GB is that there’s no way I could ever finish a project worth embarking on in a year. The D–9 that is the subject of my personal work in progress post has two years into it, and there is still so long to go. I doubt that even if the rules let me in (although I’m too far along as the rules say) that I’d be able to finish it. I’m hoping to though. Either way, I don’t want to be a deadbeat participant. The reason is that I travel a lot, and try to keep the family together when I’m home. So those two requirements put a big dent in my hobby time…

However, if it’s OK with y’all I’d like to look in from time to time, and offer whatever experiences I’ve had with my Eduard kits. I owe more details about the gun cowling / canopy / fuselage join. That will come in the next days.

Best regards,

Mike

Hello my friends,

As promised, here is the other potential problem area to be aware of on the Eduard kits, and that’s the fit of the front part of the canopy to the fuselage / gun hood. Let me show you what can go wrong; these are from my completed A–8.

The circled areas show what you don’t want to happen to you; a massive step under the edge of the canopy to the fuselage. For review, here’s what the real thing looks like:

So what I have there is undesirable, at best. So what you have going on is the fit of the bulkhead (which is critical to in these Eduard kits) to the fuselage. My mistake was focusing only on getting the fuselage tight to the bulkhead and I didn’t even think about the canopy.

This means that you might want to leave some slack in the fuselage at the top of the bulkhead - not a lot. Here is a photo of my in progress D–9 with the canopy just sitting in place:

You can see that even now, the fit isn’t perfect. I’m prepared to shave down the sides of the canopy just a little bit if that’s what it takes.

Also, here are a couple of photos from an Eduard 190 D–13 Weekend kit showing the same area:

Funny that even in a dry run situation, this area still isn’t perfect; the starbord side is as it should be, however there’s a step on the port side.

Maybe I should explain those last two photos; since I travel so much to one of our facilities in CA, I put together a small set of tools that stays out there, and I’ll pick up a Weekend kit or similar for a project that I intend to do at some time in the future and then just assemble it with no paint - literally, out of the box. That way I can see what fit problems might arise in the future project or even places that would lend them self to detailing. An Eduard Weekend kit is about $20–25, and given that my projects go years, it seems like a sensible thing to do. And it's good practice to hone clean building skills as well.

I hope this helps those of you embarking on an Eduard 190 in this GB!

Merry Christmas!

Best regards,

Mike

Wow, these tips and photos are going to be crazy helpful when build time comes. Thanks for taking the time to post them!!

You have to make sure you're not squeezing the fuselage sides tight to the instrument panel coaming, which is its own part in the eduard kit. that part is made to narrow, but it doesn't matter as the windscreen sides fill the gap anyway. It takes a few of these Eduard kits to get used to their quirks, but after I built 2 or 3 of them, I can get through them with lightning speed, same as a Tamiygawa kit.

Thanks for the input Mike and Nathan. I'm taking notes down believe me. I've heard too many horror stories already about unwary Eduard kit builders! Thanks a mil, Joe

Are we accepting late entries.  I also have a Eduard Royal Class box that needs to be started?   I might freek out a few purists and do an A8 with the black white tiger stripes that someone pointed out was for an F8, just for fun.

For the last few years I've been trying to stay as realistic as possible, but what the hey... Sounds like a great Scheme to me! I've seen pictures of some pretty wild paint jobs that were field applied. I'm sure Mustang is happy to accept all entrys.

Doug (RR)

robertgreen94

Are we accepting late entries.  I also have a Eduard Royal Class box that needs to be started?   I might freek out a few purists and do an A8 with the black white tiger stripes that someone pointed out was for an F8, just for fun.

Well folks there's only one FRIGGIN day left until all the fun starts! I for one can't wait to get crankin on this build! Will see you guys on here shortly before the new years tomorrow night. Until then we have appr 27 hours and 30 minutes left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, it is New Years already on the other side of the world!  :)

Hutch

Yep, 33 mins past here. If only i was at my bench, i would snip off some plastic from my 190 just to say i had started.

Can I start mine on your behalf?  :)

robertgreen94

Are we accepting late entries.  I also have a Eduard Royal Class box that needs to be started?   I might freek out a few purists and do an A8 with the black white tiger stripes that someone pointed out was for an F8, just for fun.

Pretty sure you can make an F-8 out of the royal class boxing using the spare parts. Are you referring to these schemes?:

Happy New Year all!!!  (in about 4hrs).  I will be at at the bench shortly after the first cup of coffee kicks in! Cant wait to see the birds begin to develop, I will be posting the obligatory "sprue" shots shortly! Take care all...

Doug

Sweet Doug! Talk about hard core. I got some movies with the missus to watch so I won't start til tomorrow. I got some sweet ref books that are making me change my scheme for my Sturmbock.

hutchdh

Can I start mine on your behalf?  :)

Be my guest.

55 more minutes here. I'm gonna cut the cockpit flooring off of the sprue just to say I started right at the New Year!!!!!!!!!

Well that's that. I hope everyone here is having a great new year...................now lets get to building!!!!

Here are my first cuts of the "Sprue"!

Happy New Year!

And we're off. Good start.

This is how I received the kit when purchased at a local yard sale... Wings will be cut apart to install resin at a future point of build

By the way... the resin, PE and guns did not come with the kit. Those were all purchased various other vendors. The kit had been partially started and the "builder" had used tube glue and was not very careful with application. All parts  that were glued have now been cut apart and are in the process of being cleaned and prepaired for re assy... Hey, I love a challange!