1:32 Revell FW-190F

[SoftScience]

Every now and again, a few neurons in my brain misfire, and I get the compunction to buy a 1:32 scale kit. I enjoy working in the larger scales, and I think the models tend to look great, but realistically, I don't have the space to display a collection of them. Hence, most of the ones I buy, maybe a dozen over the years, end up sitting in the attic, with one or two parts glued together. Many get resold. To date, one has been built. 

 

But I saw a build video of this kit on youtube, and after seeing this kit at my LHS for about $30, I couldn't resist. To prevent it from becoming another piece of attic insulation, I cleared off the bench as soon as I got it home, and began working. 

 

Revell gives you a lot for a low price. The kit has a full BMW engine, really nice landing gear, positionable flaps, and control surfaces, and the ability to post the engine covers open to show off that nice engine and machine guns. The cockpit is a little spartan, but so was the real thing.  

 

I began with the tub, which is pretty work-a-day, so I spiced it up with some weathering of the floor area.

The base coat is a mix of Tamiya grays, with white added for highlight coats. Details are Vallejo colors applied with a small brush. I gave everything a dark brown wash, and semi-dry-brushed some silver scuff marks on the floor and edges of the pedals. I'll be adding straps to the rudder pedals shortly.  Finally I applied a little bit of "Industrial Dirt" Mig pigment to the floor. 

 

 

I started the seat too. The leather cushion was inspired by this old belt I have. This was a lot of fun to paint, and pretty simple too. I base coated with Vallejo black primer, and then stippled on some sand, and a light yellowish-gray shade. With a fine brush, I pulled some quick streaks across, to simulate cracked wrinkles. Once dry, it was given a translucent filter coat of a much thinned light reddish brown enamel.

 

Revell provides you with some seatbelt decals, but they look pretty cheesy. This might be an excuse to try out some of those Eduard fabric harnesses, but before I pull the trigger, I'm going to see if I can come up with a home brewed solution. 

 

 

[Crossofiron1971]

Nice start sir!

[SoftScience]

And here are the instrument panels. 

 

I used a combination of Revell's instrument decals, and a few generic instrument decals I had laying around. Once the decals had dried I highlighted the rim of each bezel with a silver prismacolor pencil. Or red sharpie in the case of the two on the lower right of the lower panel. 

 

Revell's decals look oversized on the sheet, but once they settle over all the high relief detail, they look pretty good. 

 

 

A clear flat coat was sprayed on, and once dry, Future/Klear was applied onto each instrument face, to give it a glassy appearance. 

There are others who can achieve much greater results than this, but I'm fairly happy with what I have here. 

Edited May 14, 2017 by SoftScience

[mick]

good start 

[Hewy]

Good work on the cockpit ss, I'm the same as you i enjoy 1/32 for ww2 fighters and have quite a few in the stash but nowhere to put them when done,i have this kit 90% built on the shelf at the moment and it really does build up very well indeed,  I'll tag along and it may give me the inspiration to finish mine sooner 

Glynn

[The Spadgent]

Great start. I love bigger kits. I've built a 1/24 but have a 1/32 spit I'd like to put together. I've seen this kit in my LMS too. 

I'll tsg along if I may and see how you get on.  

 

all the best.

 

John.

[Jaffajake]

I'm in the same boat. Would love to build one but nowhere to put them. Nice start!

[SoftScience]

Thanks, gents! 

 

 

Today's update seems pretty small, but it required a good deal of parts cleanup, and will really make the next few steps fall together quickly. I trimmed, cleaned up and painted most (but not quite all) of the pieces that get an RLM 02 color. This included a lot of the engine access doors, flaps, tail wheel, landing gear bays, and gun deck parts. For now they're just painted. Later, they'll be getting washes, and all kinds of wear and tear. 

 

 

I have not yet painted the main landing gear leg components. I want to dress these up a little with break lines first. But also, a fellow at the LMS was going on about how these particular planes had red landing gear legs. I've heard of red legs on some late BF109s in the eastern front, but never FW-190Fs. Is it possible? 

 

I guess anything is possible, but is it likely? I didn't cross reference the guy in face to face conversation, because I'm not a pedantic jerk, but are there any references suggesting such a thing? 

 

[matteo44]

Great work !

 

Landing gear legs red?

I'm not an expert of 190s but I've never heard this...

[Martian]

This looks interesting.

 

Martian

[SoftScience]

I got the fuselage buttoned up. After reading Tom Cleaver's review on Modelingmadness.com, I was worried that the engine mounts wouldn't fit, but they went in just fine. Instead the gun deck fit funny, and will need some putty to get the bottom faired in. Sometimes models just be like they be...

 

 

A little shot of the cockpit. Not much to see without a lot of light.

 

There is some filling and sanding to do at the seams, and once the upper wings go on, the leading edges may need some work. 

 

The next stage should be fun: gluing all the big parts together.