Revell 1/32 Focke Wulf Fw190F-8 "Build Update #3" (10.12.15)

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Focke Wulf Fw190F-8 "Introduction" (9.28.15)


With three months still left to go until the end of this Build, I thought that I'd build my 5th and final one that I am entering into this GB. This is a brand new Tooling kit for this year, by Revell, and if it's as good as the 1/32 Arado AR196A-3, the Messerschmitt BF109G-10 and the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIa, then I should be in for another satisfying and enjoyable build.

Anyway, let's take a look at the box and what's inside:

The Box Art, Front and Side panels:










The assembly/painting and decaling instruction booklet is a 16 page black and white booklet, that indicates two options of build regarding the markings and the underwing stores. Either two drop tanks and a 500lb bomb can be used, or, four 50lb bombs and one 250lb bomb. The kit comes with a detailed BMW engine that can be displayed with the cowlings hinged open. The cockpit is reasonably detailed with decals for instrument panels and side consoles, along with decals for seatbelts. The undercarriage can be displayed up or down, there are two choices of canopy which can be displayed open or closed and the kit comes with a stand should you wish to display your model upon it. It would be nice if the instructions included colored painting instructions, and, conversions for alternative paint brands and shades:


Front Page 1 and rear page 16:





Pages 2 + 3:





Pages 4 + 5:





Pages 6 + 7:





Pages 8 + 9:





Pages 10 + 11:





Pages 12 + 13:





Pages 14 + 15:





The decals are cartograf, printed in Italy and are very nice, with zero carrier film, except inside the "crosses". The decals are a nice matt/satin finish, in great register and offer two marking options: "Black 2" and "Black 6" of St. Sg. 10, Czech Territory, 1945:





There are 12 light grey sprues and 3 clear sprues. All grey sprues look very nicely molded, as you would expect from a new mold. there was just one noticeable item which appears n the underside wing part; there are two raised pads which locally thicken the wall section, and because of this, more time is required to cool these areas down. Because those pads are still hot when the part is ejected from the mold, it causes two glossy spots that don't have the nice satin finish the reast of the molded part has, and, there is also sink within the raised pad areas. Other than that, the grey sprues are excellently molded, very little, if any flash, nice recessed panel lines and rivet details on the exterior surfaces.
The 3 clear sprues are again, molded very nicely, except the front windshield has some distortion when looking through. I believe that not enough packing pressure was used, but, there is a reason for this; on the same sprue are all the smaller clear parts- light lenses, gun-sight etc which have flash around them, which indicates that to prevent too much flash around the smaller parts, they back the pressure off, which inadvertently effects the large windshield part:

Sprue "A":











Sprue "B":











Sprue "C":














Sprue "D":

















Sprue "E":





Sprue "F":

















Sprue "K" (x2):











Sprue "L" (x2):








Sprue "N"- which incorrectly includes the letter "K", too:














Sprue "O":





Clear Sprue "G":








Clear Sprue "H":








Clear Sprue "J":








Well, that's the introduction of the box and it's contents done with, so let's begin the build!! But, in the meantime, if you'd like to watch my YouTube "In-Box-Review" video for this model, then here is the link:


[youtube]HWbKqrMxqsE[/youtube]


Thanks in advance for comments and watching my YouTube video, much appreciated!

Happy modeling and have fun!

Cheers
Martin

[Homerlovesbeer]

Fantastic in box review. Cheers

[JudgeDredd]

I have this kit. Picked it up at Hannants at Duxford Flying Legends earlier this year.

Looking forward to your build.

[UKguyInUSA]

Fantastic in box review. Cheers

Thanks mate, much appreciated!

[UKguyInUSA]

I have this kit. Picked it up at Hannants at Duxford Flying Legends earlier this year.

Looking forward to your build.

Thanks mate! It seems to be another great kit by Revell of Germany...just about to post my "Build Update #1" reports and so far, everything has gone together like a dream.

Cheers,
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Focke Wulf Fw190F-8 "Build Update #1" (10.2.15)


I managed to get some work done on her in the last week and I'm happy to report that so far, this kit goes together just as good as it looks! It seems to be another great product by Revell of Germany, so far.

So, what did I get done in the last week?.....

I started off by drilling the holes though the bottom wing section for locating the bombs into at a later stage, along with cutting out a slot for where the Pilot's step locates into:








I then got together all the halves of the bombs and drops tanks and glued them together, followed by all the halves of the ailerons, horizontal stabilizers, elevators and rudder and gluing those together. This helps to eliminate some of the sprues:














Next, I prepared all the sprues and parts ready for priming all the internal assemblies with Tamiya XF-1 Black. When that was dry, I then airbrushed Tamiya XF-24 toned down with XF-2 White to simulate RLM 66 onto all of the cockpit parts and fuselage side walls that are seen within the cockpit area. After that had dried, I then moved onto airbrushing the RLM 02 onto all other interior parts and surfaces. I used Model Masters 4728 Olive Drab toned down with white to simulate this:























When the paint was dry, I then moved onto assembling the cannons, the wheel wells, the machine gun locating brackets and the engine rear mounting bracket into the lower wing section. Whilst doing this it becomes apparent that part of the upper surfaces of the wheel wells will be seen within the engine compartment, but the paint instructions only inform you to paint the inside of the wheel wells. Therefore, I had to set up my airbrush again and paint a black base coat followed by RLM 02 onto the top of the wheel wells. When they were dry, I assembled everything into the lower wing section:

















I then moved onto assembling and painting the cockpit tub, decals are supplied for the instrument panels and consoles, but I chose to paint mine:

















After completing the tub, I painted and assembled the upper instrument panel console and gunsight assembly, followed by the firewall and machine gun mount:











Next was the engine assembly. First, I put all the parts together and painted them:








I then separated the separate sub-assemblies of the engine and assembled those:














I then assembled the circular exhaust manifold onto one of the 7 cylinder sub-assemblies, followed by fitting the second rotary 7 cylinder engine block to the back:








I then fitted the air intake manifold and hoses:








Followed by fitting the 4 exhaust sections to complete the engine:

















I then moved onto the propeller assembly. I got the separate components together and airbrushed the propeller, spinner and backing plate aluminum, and when dry, I airbrushed hairspray onto them so that later I can apply chipping. I then masked the center of the propeller and airbrushed RLM 70 Schwarzgrun onto the blades, followed by airbrushing RLM 71 Dunkelgrun onto the spinner:














The final thing that I did for this update was to paint and assemble the rear wheel assembly. This has to be located into position before closing up the fuselage halves:








I then laid everything out on my table to look at my progress so far...




















Well, that's it for this update. I will now move onto airbrushing everything with a gloss clear coat, applying chipping and weathering before assembling the plane.

In the meantime, if you'd like to watch my YouTube "Build Update #1" video for this report, here is the link to that:


[youtube]hwiTyVsZXvI[/youtube]


Thanks for following along and leaving comments, much appreciated, and, I'll see you at my next update!

Cheers
Martin

[Homerlovesbeer]

Wow Martin you've had an incredibly productive week haven't you!

Progress looks fantastic. Thanks for all the wonderful pics

[JudgeDredd]

What a superb build. Your painting skills are excellent. That engine and the colours you've chosen look great.

I've bookmarked the video for watching during the week.

Great work.

[UKguyInUSA]

Wow Martin you've had an incredibly productive week haven't you!

Progress looks fantastic. Thanks for all the wonderful pics

Thanks mate, much appreciated, and, you're welcome for all the pics! More to come tomorrow, if I get time to post my "Build Update #2" report!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

What a superb build. Your painting skills are excellent. That engine and the colours you've chosen look great.

I've bookmarked the video for watching during the week.

Great work.

Thanks Dredd, much appreciated mate! Enjoy the video...."Build Update #2" report and video coming tomorrow, all going well!

Cheers
Martin

[Homerlovesbeer]

Hi Martin,

I noticed you paint an AWEFUL lot of the kit still attached to the Spru. When you cut the part out, what do you do to the unpainted part where it was attached to the Spru? Do you brush paint it and does it look differently painted, can you notice?

Again, lovely work.

Cheers
Homer

[UKguyInUSA]

Hi Martin,

I noticed you paint an AWEFUL lot of the kit still attached to the Spru. When you cut the part out, what do you do to the unpainted part where it was attached to the Spru? Do you brush paint it and does it look differently painted, can you notice?

Again, lovely work.

Cheers
Homer

Most of the parts that are painted on the sprue are the internal parts and internal surfaces. The gate entry points are on the edges of the parts that are, for the most part, faces that will be glued, so no paint required on those. For the parts where those edges will be visible, yes, I just quickly touch up with a brush and very thinned paint. None of the external surfaces are painted until the plane is assembled and masked. I have a production lie approach to my builds wherein I organize it such that if I'm going to open the black base coat paint, I makes sure I have all the parts that require a black base coat ready at the same time. Then when I paint grey parts, again, I make sure the grey is used once on all the parts that are to be grey, and when I get the light olive paint out, again, I make sure I paint all the parts that require that color. This method of approach prevents me having to do more airbrush set-ups down the line to apply a color that was already used at an earlier stage. It's what you might call my "Kaizen" or "Lean Manufacturing" methodology, but I'm always looking at new ways for continuous improvement!

Cheers!
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Focke Wulf Fw190F-8 "Build Update #2" - Applying washes to the cockpit, engine and cowlings and assembling the plane(10.8.15)

Hello chaps, I'm back again to upload my "Build Update #2" report

I got quite a bit done since my last update, so here goes with what transpired....


Continuing on from where "Build Update #1" left off, I gave everything that had been airbrushed a gloss clear coat so that I could apply some weathering to the cockpit area, including the internal walls of the fuselage halves, the engine, engine bay and cowlings...





I then applied the seatbelt decals to the Pilot's seat...








Next, I mixed a dark dirt wash using black oil paint, a smidgeon of white oil paint and odorless mineral spirits and applied it liberally to all internal parts...

















I allowed the oil wash to dry for 30 minutes, then using Q-Tips/Cotton Buds, I wiped off the excess leaving on an amount that gave the desired effect that I was comfortable with...











I then moved onto the engine and added a dark oil wash to that...








Again, I allowed it to dry for 30 minutes before removing the excess...








I then applied the decal to the Pilots bullet proof rear head shield and then assembled that onto the sliding canopy actuator assembly...








I then applied another gloss clear coat onto everything to seal the decals and washes that were just applied...





I allowed the clear coat to dry overnight and the next morning, I applied a dirt wash to the cockpit tub...





Next, I mixed a reddish-brown acrylic wash and used it as a filter by applying it liberally over all the light olive painted parts, allowed it to dry for 30 minutes, then rubbed off the excess leaving on an amount that gave me the effect I was happy with. Using the same wash, I applied some streaks, too...




















Next, I assembled the Propeller parts then applied the reddish/brown wash to that, too. I then applied the spiral white decal to the spinner...














I then applied some of the same wash into the foot wells of the cockpit to simulate mud from the Pilots boots...








Lastly, I applied the reddish-brown wash to the engine, allowed it to dry for 30 minutes, then rubbed off the excess leaving on an amount that I liked the look of...








After completing that wash, I then sealed everything with a final matte/flat clear coat...





I now wanted to do some exhaust staining onto the inside of the fuselage halves where the exhaust vents are, onto the engine mount area and the tips of the exhausts themselves. I mixed XF-1 Black with a drop of XF-52 Dark Earth then thinned it down with 80% thinners. I then airbrushed fine misty applications building up the density of color until I liked how it looked...














I then wanted to simulate lead deposits on top of the exhaust stains, and so, I thinned down some XF-55 Deck tan with 80% thinners and applied a misting on the internal fuselage exhaust vents, the engine mounting area and on the tips of the exhausts...











It was almost time to start assembling the plane, but before I did, there was one other thing to do...apply some gloss clear coat into the instrument dials to simulate glass lenses...








I then assembled the rear wheel into place, followed by the upper instrument panel and console and a crank handle...

















I then glued the two fuselage halves together, followed by inserting and gluing the cockpit tub. But, before inserting the cockpit tub, I took a few images of it before it disappeared...
















I then fitted the firewall and machine gun mount in front of the cockpit. After that, the fuselage assembly was ready to glue to the lower wing assembly...











I then prepared the two upper wing sections and glued those into place...











I then moved onto assembling the ailerons, followed by the horizontal stabilizers and elevators. I didn't fit the rudder, because this has to be painted yellow, and so that will be painted separately and glued into location when the plane is completely painted. This will save me having to mask it at the painting stage...














I then moved to the front of the plane and glued the center side engine cowling into place, followed by fitting the engine. The engine fitted easily and nicely onto the engine mount which has pegs that locate into bosses on the engine. I super-glued it to ensure it was solidly fixed...














I then glued the two forward circular nose end cowlings into place which secures the engine at the front end...














I then super-glued the upper front cowling into place, and at the same time, I temporarily located the rear upper cowling to ensure that the gun ports lined up...








I then temporarily located the two upper side engine cowling and lower side engine cowlings with plasticine, so that they mask the engine during the painting stage. I'll be displaying the model with all the engine cowlings in their open positions. After locating those, I then glued the central bomb mount to the underside of the fuselage...














Next, I added some chipping to the inside faces of the undercarriage doors and the flaps...








There were small gaps at the wing to fuselage joints on both sides of the plane. These appeared at the bottom edge of the wings, so I applied some filler, let it dry, then smoothed it down ready for priming...








Next, I assembled the fins onto both the 250lb and 500lb bombs, followed by assembling the main wheels...














The last thing that I did for this update was to mask the inside of the sliding canopy and airbrush "Anthracite" onto the internal frames. I then removed the masking tape and assembled the sliding canopy actuator into it. After viewing the photos of the canopy, it became apparent that some clean-up will be necessary...











Well, that's it for this update. Next, I will mask the plane and clean her down with Isopropyly Alcohol to prepare her for the priming, painting and decaling stage.

In the meantime, if you'd like to watch my YouTube "Build Update #2" video, then here is the link to that...


[youtube]6hugFcFgpFA[/youtube]


Thanks in advance for taking a look at this build, watching my video and leaving comments, much appreciated!

Cheers
Martin

[glennfiftyfive]

Beautiful work, love that engine and looks like a very nice kit, oh no! another one for the stash
can't wait for part2, keep up the great work
Glenn

[Stokesy44]

Excellent work. Love all the weathering and washing on the interior detail. Really brings the kit to life. Looking forward to seeing the paint go on.

[UKguyInUSA]

Beautiful work, love that engine and looks like a very nice kit, oh no! another one for the stash
can't wait for part2, keep up the great work
Glenn

Thanks, Glenn, greatly appreciated! She's a nice kit....another great new 1/32 tooling from Revell of Germany! Enjoy yours when you get her!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Excellent work. Love all the weathering and washing on the interior detail. Really brings the kit to life. Looking forward to seeing the paint go on.

Thanks Stokesy, greatly appreciated!

The paint is on now, just have to start weathering her tomorrow, but will be posting my latest update very soon.

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Focke Wulf Fw190F-8 Kit #04869- "Build Update #3"- Painting and Decaling Stage (10.12.15)


Hello Chaps,

I'm back with my "Build Update #3" report that I'm just getting a chance to do, even though I was at this stage three days ago, but haven't done anything since, because the weekend was upon us and family takes over then.

So, this stage of the build was preparing the plane for painting, then decaling. I started off by gluing the four 50lb bomb pylons in place so that they get painted RLM 76 when I airbrush that onto the underside and fuselage sides:








I then masked the bullet proof windshield and sliding canopy, glued the windshield into place and temporarily located the sliding canopy into the closed position using putty. I will be displaying my model with the canopy in the open position:








Next, I masked the internal faces of the flaps then temporarily located them so that they get painted at the same time as the plane. I also temporarily located the undercarriage doors using putty so that they get painted too. When the model is completed, I will be displaying the model with the flaps and undercarriage in the down position:








I then masked the tips of the exhausts that are exposed, starting with the portside, then the starboard side and lastly the ones on the underside of the fuselage. I then masked the rear wheel assembly:














My last part of masking in preparation for priming was to put damp tissue into the exposed wheel wells, the machine gun shell ports and the front end of the fuselage to cover the engine:








The model, along with the bombs, drop tank and rudder were cleaned down with Isopropyl Alcohol, then airbrushed with Model Masters grey primer:








When the primer was dry, I then pre-shaded the plane, bombs, drop tanks and rudder with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black toned down with XF-54 Grey:








I let the pre-shade dry for a hour then I masked the nose end to leave an exposed band to paint yellow, along with the rudder that has to be yellow, too. I then airbrushed yellow onto the rudder and nose band using Tamiya XF-3 Yellow toned down with XF-2 White. I then mixed more white with what was left in the cup of my airbrush and applied highlights on top of the yellow:











I took the masking off to check how the yellow band came out and temporarily located the rudder to see how it looked:








When the yellow band was dry, I masked over it ready to begin applying the camouflage colors to the model. First, I airbrushed the RLM 76 Lichtblau onto the underside and fuselage sides. I then added some white to the RLM 76 and airbrushed some highlights:








I then airbrushed the Grauviolet camo color onto the upper side along with some mottling onto the fuselage sides. I used Model Masters RLM 75 for this which I free handed without using any masking. I then added some white to tone it down and applied some highlights:








Next was the green camo color. The painting guide calls out RLM 83 Lichtgrun, which is a very bright green that I believe isn't the correct shade. RLM 82 Dunkelgrun looked closer to the color I wanted, but needed to be lighter. Therefore, I mixed some of the RLM 83 with the RLM 82 and created a shade that I liked. Again, I used Model Masters Acrylics to do this and free-handed the camo without using masking:








I then painted the bombs. I used Model Masters 4780 RLM 70 Schwarzgrun for both the 250lb and 500lb bombs and Model Masters 4728 Olive Drab toned down with white for the four 50lb bombs:





After completing the base colors on the plane and bombs, I then added some details to the main wheels. I painted the valve location areas red and painted the wheel bolt heads aluminum:











I then checked my progress so far and took some photos to see how everything was looking- I was happy so far:




















It was now time for a gloss clear coat in preparation for decaling. I used Model Masters Gloss Clear Coat and allowed it to dry overnight. The following morning I prepared the items I needed to start decaling:








I started off the decaling by applying them to the upper wings and horizontal stabilizers first:

















I then moved onto decaling the portside fuselage followed by the starboard side fuselage:

















After that, I moved to the underside:














The last thing to decal was the 250lb bomb which had a sharks mouth, eyes and yellow stripes between the fins:





With the base painting and decals now completed, I had reached as far as I wanted to go for this update. I therefore took some photos of the progress:























Well that's it for this update, I hope you like it so far?! In the meantime, if you'd like to watch my YouTube "Build Update #3" video, then here is the link to that:


[youtube]vdPiuCH_0qo[/youtube]


Thanks in advance for following along, watching my video and leaving comments, always appreciated!

I'll see you at my next build update which will cover the weathering and final assembly stages. Until then, happy modeling and have fun!

Cheers
Martin

[Stokesy44]

Very nice indeed. that is a sweet looking bird.

[Diverrob]

Wow, I feel like I've just witnessed the creation of a masterpiece! Thank you so much for all the photos and build details - Love it!

Rob

[glennfiftyfive]

Beautiful paintwork first class! Keep up the great work martin
Glenn