Pride of the Luftwaffe GB

Great job Doug!  I love the weathering, looks like a well-used bird.

I can't wait to see what you put together Lost

Hi everybody and thumps up for all the great kits of this GB, up to now. I know I'm a bit late but I would like to join in with Eduard's FW-190 A-8 (Weekend Edition) in 1:48. I have this in the stash for a long time and it's begging to be mistreated properly.

Markings will be for a JG.27 bird, rushed to France in June 1944, in order to fight the Normandy landings (with bombs, rockets, etc)

Cheers, Kostas

I finally completed Hinrich Bar's A-8, Red 13. The kit (Academy) went together well but I had a hard time with the decals. After destroying a couple because I used thin glue instead of setting solution by mistake, I found some replacements. The decals kept coming off and were difficult to keep on until I could get a flat coat on everything. One of the landing gear broke off and I reinstalled it using a piece of wire as a pin but was still having a very difficult time getting it to dry correctly. I finally finished everything without breaking anything else long enough to take some pictures. The decals have some silvering but considering everything else this has gone through, that's minor.

Glad to have you aboard Kostas!

Steve, despite the problems you ran into that 190 came out really nice! Thanks for a great addition to the GB!

Steve, your 190 looks really good to me!  Painting and weathering are excellent! 

So real life has kept me from the bench for a while, but I finally got some time to work on the 109.  Not used to working with 1/72 scale.  Got the cockpit mostly done.  Just a little touch up here and there.  This kit comes with decal seat belts, and I like them.  Decal for the IP as well.

IMG_0860 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

IMG_0859 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

Should be able to close up the fuselage pretty soon.

Wow Steve, that looks amazing. That is a great looking AC and nice fix on the decals. I really need to build a 190. Well done.

BK

Very nice start Dwayne!

Looks great Steve! Looking at it I'd never be able to tell you had so many problems.

Dwayne, nice work on that cockpit!  The IP decal looks pretty good to me.

Life has gotten in the way and I haven't had much time to get paint on my 109.

Excellent looking 190 Steve, as always. Nice start too Dwayne.

Cheers

Tony

Steve your butcher bird looks excellent. Very nice painting and finishing. You showed grace under pressure with all those troubles.

Construction started yesterday, with a carefull study of the instruction manual and examination of the sprues. This thing looks complicated . Lots of internal parts, that seem to affect & determine the overall fit & tolerances of the next phases. My intention is all provided hatches and cowlings to be closed.

First all holes required for bomb and rocket loads, as well as the wing cannons were drilled, as per instructions.

Then I started with the wing spar and wheel wells area. Parts were glued in place and max effort was made to have everything in the correct position, plump & vertical. Then the assembly joints were  reinforced with CA glue (on the non-visible edges), so they can take some inevitable stresses in the future.

Firewall and nose gun section were also partially assembled, again with extra care to achieve the correct verticalities

One incurable modelling handicap of mine is that I always - but Always - break protruding gun barrels.  So this time, the inner wing cannons were cut, at the point of barrel diameter change. The part inside the fuselage (visible from the wheel wells) was drilled axially and will be glued in place first, before the wings are 'closed'.

The cut point of the remaining barrel was shaped as a cone so that it will be easily guided into the drilled hole of it's 'mate', after all assembly, masking, painting, etc are completed.

I test fitted and it seems to work.

Next step will be the cockpit.

Nice start on the kit.  Excellent solution to the breaking gun barrel issue.  I think lots of us will agree that protruding parts on kits get knocked off way too often.  

Nice start Zvezda, that's a good idea on the gun! I'm just finishing up is kit and will warn you that the the fit of the wing root gun covers are pretty bad when building it closed up. I glued them in place on the wing before putting the wing and fuselage together.

Well gents and ladies, I'm late but I'm here. Better late than dead I always say. I have the bench cleaned off and now to see if I can knock the Ta-152 out by the deadline.

Here's what we are working with. A HB Ta-152C-1/R-14 with a squiggly line camo upper and lower. This should be fun.

BK

Great start Zvezda!  I have that kit in the stash and I've read it can be really tricky so I'll be watching to see how you tackle it.

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I posted any progress on my 109...too much real life getting in the way.  

I finished painting, and overall I'm pretty happy with it.  This is my first attempt at mottling and I made a few mistakes, but most of them will be covered up by decals and weathering.  Any comments/critiques are welcome.

That paint work came out really well silentbob! 

Brandon, really looking forward to seeing that come together!

Hey silentbob, I think the mottling came out really well, especially considering it was your first shot.  

- Andy -

thanks for the - dead on the spot - advice, it could have saved the day, but...

I decided to fast track the build and did not follow the GB for a week, thus I got my education the hard way... .

A summary of the last days work:

Cockpit was assembled, a cushion for the seat was made out of acrylic putty and a set of PE harness was added (also by Eduard). Main parts were painted with Gunze RLM66 and a black wash was lightly applied. The cockpit was installed inside the fuselage halves, and fuselage with lower wings were test fitted.

Gun compartment and upper control panel with gunsight were then installed.

the fit up was not easy, I had to test a lot, apply various degrees of stress and secure with CA.

After test fitting, some surfaces of the wings internal structure/spar were trimmed (marked blue with a marker)

Then upper wings were installed and glued

From then on, it was gaps, plasticard shims and putty...

The cowling, nose guns and engine were also rather troublesome. I totally failed to install and align properly the exhaust tubes as per instructions (and it looked so clever and easy on paper) and eventually I left them out (don't tell Eduard). After much effort everything was put in place and I went berserk sanding with various grades of dry/wet sandpaper.

The result is regarded as not quite good and I am definitely doing something wrong.

Finally wheel wells were painted with Gunze RLM 02 (I hope I got the color right at least)

That was enough for one post. I will be back after a 2 week vacation, to proceed with the build and to make a more clear-minded and explicit error and lessons-learnt report for my FW-190 'Bernie's Weekend Edition'.

Cheers to everyone

Kostas

Hey Kostas, that kit seems to be fighting you every step of the way.  You seem to be conquering it, though.

Some progress on my 1/72 109.  Not as much as I had hoped, but the fuselage is together, the wings and cowling are on, and so are the horizontal stabilizers.  Figured that was a good time to prime.

IMG_0866 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

IMG_0868 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

and a fuzzy photo of the pit in the fuselage.

IMG_0865 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

Hope to get some paint on it soon.

Since the Ta-152 never really saw combat and was a super late entry into the war I am building this one clean with minimal weathering. The cockpit on this one is fairly simple, not much to fuss with and it went together well. This kit is well made and I am making progress fairly rapidly. I will bring up more pic soon, but here is where the cockpit ended up.

BK

Dwayne - That little 109 is looking really good! Looking forward to seeing paint go on it.

lost - The cockpit looks great. Those seatbelts are a nice touch.

Brandon - Nice work on the pit! Is that a decal on the IP? Looks really good.

Looking good Brandon!  Seeing yours makes me want to build another one! 

Very nice work there Brandon, moving along quickly!

Silent Bob, I can't say for most 190s, but it is right for the one I am doing...

Thanks Lost, I hadn't heard of that on 190s, but my knowledge is pretty limited.

Decals are on and so is the panel line wash.  The decals were great, I love Aeromaster.  A little bit of Micro Sol and they settled into the panel lines.  The wash is a thin mix of black and burnt umber acrylic paints.

Your 109 is looking really good Bob. I use the same mix for most of my aircraft washes.

Cheers

Tony

BK and LA:  Those are some great looking pits!

Bob:  Nice progress!  That 109 is looking great!

I would love to jump in on this one!   It will either be a 1/48 190D or 1/48 109G.  I'll solidify this when I get home from work.  I have been looking in from time to time and there are some great looking kits being completed on this one.

Thanks.

<Matt

That looks really great silentbob!

Matt, you are welcome any time! Just let me know which one when you decide and I'll get you added.