Eduard 1:48 - Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-7

[shortCummins]

My next offering to the Gods of styrene and glue is the aptly named? (for what I’m likely to do to this kit) “Butcher Bird”, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190

The kit I’ve chosen is Eduard’s ProfiPACK Fw 190A-7, kit no. 8172.


I’ve appropriated photos of the kit contents from Eduard’s website…
















decals


photo-etch


4 scheme’s are catered for

W.Nr. 430352, 2. /JG 1, Dortmund Airfield, Germany, January, 1944


W.Nr. 340001, flown by Oblt. Waldemar Radener, CO of 7./JG 26, Cambrai-Süd Air Base, France, May, 1944


W.Nr. 431007, flown by Heinz Bär, CO of II./JG 1, Störmede Air Base, Germany, April, 1944


W.Nr. 642962, flown by Maj. Hans-Günther von Kornatzki, CO of Sturmstaffel 1, Salzwedel Air Base, Germany, February, 1944

Anyone who is lucky enough to own Aircraft Scale Modelling FAQ by Daniel Zamarbide will have seen chapter 7.2.4.2 Winter scheme details a Fw 190 F-8 in German “winter scheme”


I plan to recreate a similar scheme, so plenty of opportunities to learn some new techniques


until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Preparing the cockpit for paint.

The Eduard ProfiPACK provides photo-etch instrument panels as well as various switches and levers, to add some of these, in some cases, the existing moulded detail must first be removed. Here I’ve used a micro chisel and sanding sticks to give me a smooth surface.


Foot pedals, document/map pocket and top access panels are also part of the PE set


PE lever added to the cockpit sidewall


Fuselage/nose machine-gun subassembly 


Everything is given a base coat of Ultimate black primer, this will help create the illusion of deeper shadows later in the painting process and unifies plastic and PE.



 


pilot’s seat


I’ll let the primer cure overnight and then make a start on the black grey colours for the cockpit.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Vindicare]

have you been using the Ultimate primer for long?

good results?

i'm very curious about it.

[xSCAR45]

have you been using the Ultimate primer for long?

good results?

i'm very curious about it.

I've heard nothing but good things about Ultimate primers. I would buy Ultimate but I live in the States so its not worth the shipping cost to me.

If you can afford the international shipping, go for it!

[shortCummins]

have you been using the Ultimate primer for long?

good results?

i'm very curious about it.

its rebranded Stylenrez, its by far the best primer I've used.
The recommendation is that you use a 0.5 needle however, I only have a 0.2 and I crank-up the compressor to approx 2 bar (24 psi) and it sprays beautifully.

I've absolutely no hesitation in recommending it, get some, you really won't be disappointed

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Vindicare]

0.5?

i'm considering buying a harder & steenback just for priming and varnish use with a 0,4 needle would it do?

nice build!

[shortCummins]

0.5?

i'm considering buying a harder & steenback just for priming and varnish use with a 0,4 needle would it do?

nice build!

absolutely, I have a H&S, when I have some spare cash I'll get a 0.4 needle

[shortCummins]

Painting the cockpit.
I started by giving everything a coat of Tamiya XF-63 German grey






the shadows are deepened with highly thinned Tamiya XF-69 NATO black (80% thinner 20% paint)






highlights are added with Mr Hobby H305 grey (these aren't a stark as these photos make out)






dirt and grime simulated with very highly thinned Tamiya XF-68 NATO brown (95% thinner 5% paint)




dry brushing with Mr Hobby H305 grey


foot straps detailed with a mix of yellow & red brown (20% 80%) and the buckles with vallejo metal color 77.707 chrome



Next it’ll be the rest of the PE, instrument panels etc.
until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Vindicare]

on the build it's going great!

on the photos can you use one or two higher fstop? the focus area is too short, some parts of the pieces get out of focus.

[shortCummins]

PE for the cockpit.
I’ve added a drop of PVA to simulate glass. The lower instrument panel has non-painted levers and switches.








switches and levers painted




side panels added to the cockpit, I’m not too happy with the colour, its too blue, I’ll have to have a think about what to do about it. If/when I build this kit again I’ll not use these side panel PE


seat/lap belts


attached to the seat


the seat is a bit of a tight fit, the PE lap harness buckles made it even tighter! I’ve given the side panel PE a wash with Tamiya dark brown panel liner and this has toned them down, I’m still not 100% but they’ll have to do.




this shows the contrast with the non-washed instrument panel and the washed side panels



Thats it for the PE for the time being, next I’ll finish up the nose gun bay and rear wheel so that I can join the fuselage halves.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Machine guns painted with Mr Metal Color 212 iron.


buffed


The instructions suggest fitting the machine guns now however, I’m reasonably sure that I’d either knock them off or (more likely) break them so I’ll fit them nearer the end of the build.

A base coat of Alkan RLM:02




I ‘dirty’d’ the RLM:02 with a wash of Tamiya dark brown panel liner which I toned down with the use of a Q-Tip moistened with odourless turps






Additional scratches and general ‘wear and tear’ added with thinned XF-63, XF-64 and a HB pencil




Tail wheel, Ultimate black primer




Tamiya XF-85 rubber black


Eduard mask and Mr Masking NEO, way too gloopy


Tamiya X-18 semi-gloss black


Alkan RLM:02


vallejo acrylic metal color 77.707 chrome


The rear wheel assembly assembled




Tamiya dark brown panel liner



Now I can join the fuselage halves.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[mick]

good start

[shortCummins]

good start

thanks Mick

[shortCummins]

I first glued the rear wheel, cockpit and nose machine gun sub-assemblies to one side and tell in place while the glue dried.


I also glued the cockpit and machine gun subassemblies from the underside


In general the fit was very good however the machine gun sub-assembly needed to be ‘un-glued’ and re-aligned to fit.




close-ups of the machine gun area





Next will be wheel wells and joining the wings together.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

As I want to fit an external fuel-tank I needed to drill the holes to allow the fuel tank rack to be fitted to the underside.


Then I fitted the rear ‘main’ spar of the wheel well


additional spars were added


Ultimate black primer was used on various parts














Once the primer had fully cured everything was given a coat of Alkan RLM:02











The wheel well ‘top’ probably needs to be painted RLM:02 as I think it will be visible once the engine is installed, I plane to have the engine bay open


…so I gave it a primer of Ultimate black, after masking the lower exhaust which have been painted with vallejo model color 70.814 burnt red


and then RLM:02




Next the machine gun barrels were added


The top of the wings, at the rear of the gun bay, needs ‘metal’ colour and Eduard provide a mask for when the wing is painted


Machine guns were painted with Mr Metal Color 212 iron which was then ‘buffed’ when it dried


I had toyed with the idea of having one machine gun bay open and one closed however I decided to have both of them open, therefore the ‘top’ of the machine gun bay(s) were added to the top wing




top and bottom halves of the wings joined




the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I’ve already broken one of the wing mounted machine guns, I think I’ll have a look for some brass barrels as I’m sure the remaining one won’t last too long


Next will be nailing the wings to the fuselage.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[mick]

good work

[Vindicare]

the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I’ve already broken one of the wing mounted machine guns, I think I’ll have a look for some brass barrels as I’m sure the remaining one won’t last too long

John(shortCummins)

get these ones mate!

http://www.master-model.pl/product/am-48-019.html

that Ultimate primer sprays like a beauty!

[shortCummins]

the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I’ve already broken one of the wing mounted machine guns, I think I’ll have a look for some brass barrels as I’m sure the remaining one won’t last too long

John(shortCummins)

get these ones mate!

http://www.master-model.pl/product/am-48-019.html

that Ultimate primer sprays like a beauty!

thanks Vindicare they look just the job

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Attaching the wings to the fuselage, generally this is a very tight fit however there are a couple of voids that will need to be addressed.
The rear wing roots will need filling, perhaps with shims of plastic?


Also the join with to the rear of the fuselage, putty could be used here


The gun bays and engine compartment requires some wear and tear


Ailerons fitted, ‘interesting’ fit, you have to push them up and back into their ‘slots’, once fitted their really positive.


Rear stabilisers attached


the ‘top’ instrument panel needs to be attached







Building the engine will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Vindicare]

i would use plastic putty on all those seams.

[shortCummins]

This kit includes a detailed engine, first I needed to give everything a coat of Ultimate back primer.




Cylinders were painted with Mr Color Metal 213 stainless


Tamiya XF-16 flat aluminium was used for the manifold(?)


Push-rods, gearbox and other bits’n’bobs were painted with Tamiya XF-69 NATO black










The cylinders were then ‘weathered’ with Tamiya dark brown panel liner and the push-rod were attached




The manifold(?) subassembly was assembled




These subassemblies were then joined to make the ‘complete’ engine






NATO black parts were then dry brushed with vallejo model air 71.065 steel









Fitting the exhaust pipes will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Fitting the exhaust pipes
The kit includes a template to enable the exact position for the exhaust pipes which were then fitted after being painted with vallejo model color 70.814 burnt red








Once all eight exhaust pipes had been fitted the template was removed…


vallejo pigments 73.106 burnt sienna and 73.110 burnt umber pigments are then then used to simulate rust






…and the final (back) part of the engine fitted








Fitting the engine to the airframe will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

I’m not sure how mush of the engine bay will be visible, I’m assuming that some of it will be seen so I’ve ‘weathered’ the panels.
To start I’ve slathered Tamiya panel line dark brown


This was then wiped off with a Q-tip moistened with turps


AK engine oil was then added


The cowl, 5 pieces, was assembled






Tamiya panel line dark brown dirty’d the insides




The engine fits onto a cradle made from 4 pieces, good fun lining up
the cradle…


engine attached




the cowl is fitted and most of the engine is hidden







Adding the final bits’n’bobs to the airframe will be next and then I’ll start preparing for paint.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Vindicare]

awww pity the engine is hidden

[shortCummins]

awww pity the engine is hidden

I don't understand why Eduard didn't make the cowl with 'inside' detail so that the engine could be fully seen, still at least I know its there

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[ambientdan]

Great job on a kit that was v quickly shelved due to unfathomability around these parts...

[JifJaf]

Beautiful engine detail......pity not to show it off

[AAC]

Great job, you could always “open” the cowling up so you could see some of that fabulous work

[mick]

fine looking engine

[Stokesy44]

Looking nice John,

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the external paint job

[shortCummins]

There are a few bits’n’bobs that need to be added to the airframe before I can start to prepare for paint.
Firstly I need to attach the rudder.


The windscreen was fitted


I’ve decided to add the PE extra armour…






the larger armour pice was bent to shape with the aid of a pencil




PE ‘engine vents’ added


The external fuel tank built, I’ll fit it later





Preparing for paint will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

That PE fuselage armour looks tasty

[shortCummins]

That PE fuselage armour looks tasty

there's also some that should go on the windscreen but I couldn't work out a way of painting the inside colour and glueing on the PE. If I'd used Superglue then there is a danger of fogging + I'm not sure how the paint would react, if I'd used 'white' glue I'm not sure they'd stay stuck.

if anyones got any idea's I'd be happy to hear them, it's too late for this model but I'm sure it'll come in handy sometime

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[mick]

good prgress

[shortCummins]

good prgress

thanks Mick

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Preparing for paint.
As with all(?) builds there is a little filling, clean-up and re-scribing needed. The gap at the wing roots was tackled first.


Next some ‘perfect putty’ was used to fill the gap where the rear of the wings fitted the fuselage and then cleaned/smoothed with a moist Q-Tip.


Masking the cockpit, engine and gun bays with Tamiya masking tape, the windscreen was protected with the provided Eduard masks and Mr.Masking Sol.








JHC_5670a by John Cummins, on Flickr

Wheel wells were covered with sponge and masking tape


I’ve temporarily attached the canopy with some white glue, the windscreen and canopy was given a coat of Tamiya XF-63 German grey so that this colour will be seen from the inside once the masks have been removed.


When the windscreen dried everything was given a coat of Ultimate grey primer to check the seams and repaired areas.







When the primer has fully cured I’ll be ready to add extra rivet detail which will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Vindicare]

how did that Ultimate gray went?

is it smooth? do you need to sand it in any way?

[shortCummins]

That that was a longer weekend off than I expected, still I’m back at the bench and keen to get back on track, now where was I…

Repairs and rivets.
Making the seams ‘seamless’ invariably means that some of the detail, rivets and panel lines, will be lost.


So these need to be added and/or re-scribed


The engraver tool I used was the very nice ALEC Holly Line t0.2, available from umpretail.com in the UK I’m sure its available in Europe, North America and Australia. I used some flexible tape as a guide, I’ve find Demo tape too sticky.

Repairs made…


While I was unable to get any bench time I headed over to google and searched for “Fw 190 blueprints” and found these…


I know the blueprints are for a 190A-8, but I won’t tell anyone if you don't

These blueprints were used as a guide for adding additional rivet detail.
First I used a pencil to make the start and end of each line of rivets


Then I used some masking tape as a guide for my “Rosie the Riveter” tool




Masking tape removed


… and repeat until all additional rivet detail had been added




Now that the extra rivets have been added its time for some paint.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

The winter ‘white tiger stripes’ will be applied over ‘normal’ camouflage, according to Eduard’s instructions for this I’ll need 3 base colours.
RLM 74 - dark grey
RLM 75 - grey
RLM 76 - light blue

This gives me a problem as I don’t have these colours ready made so I’ll need to mix them.
RLM 74 - Tamiya XF24 dark grey (3) + XF27 black green (2)
RLM 75 - Tamiya XF24 dark grey (5) + XF50 field blue (1)
RLM 76 - Tamiya XF2 white (7) + XF23 light blue (1) + XF66 light grey (2)




I’m going to base the ‘normal’ camouflage on this scheme

W.Nr. 340001, flown by Oblt. Waldemar Radener, CO of 7./JG 26, Cambrai-Süd Air Base, France, May, 1944

However, ‘my’ scheme require a red nose and yellow fuselage band, as shown in the FAQ book…


The first colour to go down is the RLM 76 light blue on the underside, sides and tail.
First off was a “marble” coat of the blue and different tones for various panels




then a mist coat of highly thin’d RLM 76 to tie it all together




Before the top camo’ I wanted to add the yellow and red areas as I thought it would be easier to do before the darker colours.
The fuselage band and under wing ‘V’ areas were masked with Tamiya tape and the “V” from the Montex mask set and I first applied a white base




The yellow areas were then masked and the base of the red nose was sprayed with Alkan RLM 23…



The ’red nose’ was masked off and I then sprayed Alkan RLM 04 for the fuselage band, lower cowl and wing ‘V’



I either thinned the base white too much and/or didn’t fix the mask properly and suffered some ‘creep’ which I’ll have to address later



Once the ‘yellow areas’ had dried they were also masked and I could make a start on the camo’.


RLM 75, being the slightly lighter was the next colour, the engine bay cover was held in place with some folded over masking tape making it double-sided



Followed by RLM 74, the wings were masked with tracing paper held in place with Tamiya tape folded back on itself to slightly hold it off the wing and give me a ‘soft’ edge for the camo’








The mottling on the fuselage sides, both RLM 74 and RLM 75 were freehanded



Finally the exhaust panels were painted Tamiya XF-69 NATO black



When the ‘normal’ camo’ has fully dried it’ll be time for the ‘winter tiger stripes’.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[demarcation]

Great work so far!!

[shortCummins]

Great work so far!!

thanks, I glad I've found some time to get back to this

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Upper wing white Balkenkreuz were added with the aid of stencils from the Montex set


the red cowl and yellow fuselage band required a little touch-up



Lower wing Balkenkreuz were then painted using stencils from the Montex mask set


The winter ‘white tiger stripes’ will be applied over the ‘normal’ camouflage.

I’m going to have a go at hair-spray chipping, never tried it before, on the tiger stripes so I applied a couple of coats of aquagloss


Before I start the tiger stripes I need to mask for the upper wing Balkenkreuz


and I then ‘freehanded’ the tiger stripes with Tamiya XF-2 flat white



Next I’ll make a start on the weathering.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

This is my first attempt using the hair-spay method for chipping

Here goes, I used a mixture of paint brushes, cocktail sticks and well worn sanders/buffers.





Well I’m not too impressed but it wasn’t a complete disaster so in the spirit of “any landing you can walk away from is a success” I’m reasonably satisfied and I think I need to give it another go.

The fuselage Balkenkreuz and tail swastikas were then added, once again these stencils were from the Montex set, first a white outline…


Next the fuselage aircraft number was also added with Alkan RLM 23


I was far too impenitent getting the aircraft number done so I’ve had to touch-up the red that leaked under the masks, purely my own fault, I didn’t burnish the mask(s) and over-thinned the red!



well thats the best I can do for the moment, I’ll have to ‘fix’ whats left with the weathering, that’s my next job.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Coming along nicely mate.

The markings look really good as does the winterising camo.

[Tomcat64]

Absolutely love the winter camo on this - cracking work

[shortCummins]

Coming along nicely mate.

The markings look really good as does the winterising camo.

Absolutely love the winter camo on this - cracking work

thanks chaps it was a bit scary 'free handing' the white but I'm happy with the way it looks

[shortCummins]

When I detached the engine cover I noticed some over(under?) spray

Another coat of Alkan RLM:02


I decided that I couldn’t live with the damaged red numbers so out came the hairy stick and the pot of Alkan RLM:23




Now that thats been repaired I added the few ‘stencil’ decals

I was a little disappointed that the Eduard instructions didn’t detail how these decals should be placed however, searching the Eduard site I found a set of instructions for another Fw-190 that they had included this detail.

The spiral for the spinner


Stencil decals





Tamiya panel line (dark brown)







exhaust stains were created with Tamiya X-19 smoke and highly thinned NATO brown



Everything was given coat of vallejo Matt Acrylic Varnish.

I’ll give the matt coat a day or two to fully cure and then I’ll do some oil weathering

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

So once the matt coat had been applied



I then used some cheap (£1 shop) oil paints, dark brown, brown, orange and white spotted on with toothpicks and brushed out with a odourless turpentine dampened bush to create some subtile streaking.




At the same time I weathered the edge and tips of the propellor with a prismacolor pencil

the chrome ‘centre’ of the propellor was created using a Molotow liquid chrome pen, I know that these wouldn’t have been chromed but I wanted to tryout the pen to see how it works, I my opinion it give a really good chrome effect

I used AK leaks & stains kerosene to portray fuel leaks, I’m not too happy with the result




On the homeward stretch now

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Assembling the landing gear, tyre black and semi-gloss black for the hubs


I let some Ultimate washes evaporate and used the remaining pigment(s) to simulate dust and mud





propellor and spinner


machine guns added




external fuel-tank is a bit squewif


rear canopy unmasked

and internal support added



Now al I need to do is to add the final bits’n’pieces and she’ll be done.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Looking good John.

Really like the effect on the wheel bay doors with the evaporated Ultimate washes. Top drawer stuff