Bonkin

I think you're right... so I went out and bought some Vallejo 71.105. Nice one . I think on some future builds I won't open up the covers either. It is taking a lot of extra time to complete and I know when I display it I'll have all the covers fitted anyway. Thank you Mick . Cheers Keith . Still a way to go yet.

Progress has been very slow on this... a number of factors really which I won't go into here. Positive point is that I've not lost my mo-jo for it and will definitely get to finish it before starting the next one. So here are some shots of the little progress. As you can see, the fuel lines have been added to the engine but as yet I still need to do some pipe work at the rear. I've also constructed the cooling slats and control mechanism... I've added decals to the switch/fuse boxes and prepared the gun mounts. Also added some grease and stain marks, Here is a better view of the the cooling slat control mechanism. With some help with information provided by Mattlow I could figure out how the cooling slats were operated and was able to construct my own interpretation of the control mechanism. Basically a handle mounted to cockpit dash is connected to a unit mounted between the guns and this in turn drives control rods (the two rods at 45 degrees) down to the lower end of the slats. The movement is then converted to a fore-aft movement which then opens/closes the slats. I didn't put all the detail in because it simply won't be seen. Top view of the fuse boxes. There is also a data plate on the aft of the engine mount (just visible on the left side). Finally I've started work constructing the oil filter. This will be mounted to the starboard side of the engine mount and the pipework run under the engine. I think I may need to make it a bit more orange/brown (or add some more "muck"). Difficult to tell from the different reference pictures exactly what colour it should be. As always, thanks for looking.

Thanks Volksjager. How are you getting on with your build? If I recall correctly, getting the forward bulkhead to line up with the shell ejector chutes did require some sanding and force. Cheers bissyboat.

Great job. Very impressive build.

Beautiful. Great job.

I feel very much the same. My whole career has been on military aircraft (well mostly one in particular) and I have a particular interest in military history. The technical part aside, I'm mostly interested in the personal stories though - and I suppose in a small way, model making is a way of remembering and perhaps learning.

Lovely job!

It took some time to get the remaining feeds to the engine done (lot's of trimming and cussing) but I finally got there... I then painted them gloss black. I think it is a shame that Airfix didn't do more with the tops of the cylinder heads. There is detail missing which I've been contemplating adding but I'm not sure how. Also... having looked at a number of reference pictures online it is evident how many shortcuts Airfix actually took... particularly with the engine. As an example, the oil filter is missing and much of the pipework is absent. I'd like to add some of this detail but in all honesty much of it would only be seen from above... I've no intention of opening the fuselage up further. I the above picture you can see one of the side "stays" that the exhausts rest on. I may have a go at putting these in as I suspect that getting the exhaust pipes in and flattening the ends is going to be a bit of a challenge. One of the things that caught my eye with these pictures though is the yellow fuel lines. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me would be able to confirm but I believe the Germans had a simple system of colour coding pipes, i.e. yellow = fuel, blue = water/coolant and brown = oil. Anyhoos, it struck me that adding some yellow to the engine block would be eye catching. Above you can see that the fuel lines seem to terminate in the distribution system at the rear of the engine. This is at least modelled but won't easily be seen. So... rather than paint thin wire, I found this supplier of 1/24 scale ignition cable... I also placed an order with Anyz for sparkplugs and other bits of pieces. Incidentally, these came beautifully packaged. Now, having some confidence in the overall length of the engine and that I won't need to reduce it, I attached the back plate, and then painted and weathered it up a bit. The spark plugs themselves are tiny... but I attached these with a bit of superglue. And this is where I am currently... the cable is thin enough to easily fit into the ends of the sparkplugs and I have roughly cut them to length so that I can feed them around the engine to the distribution point at the rear. I'm not doing all the fuel lines... only the ones that will be seen. I will of course paint the plugs yellow and then find away to run them around the engine. I also need to look at how to mount the "stays", fit a scratch built oil filter and add some associated pipework. I'll probably then move onto the cooling system vents before fixing the engine in permanently. As always, thanks for looking.

1/24 is my scale of choice and I soon realised I was going to have this problem as well. Looking around at the various options (IKEA etc) it seemed to me that no shop bought shelfing unit could easily be converted into a display cabinet. The shelves simply do not have enough width or depth to fit all the models. Also, when I started looking at suppliers of proper display cabinets I realised the costs were going to start to get prohibitive. On YouTube I then found that some folks were making their own cabinets out of cheap garage racking... so this is the path I'm going down. This video in particular got me started: Mine is a work in progress... the shelving unit I've selected (for good reason) has a width of 90cm and a depth of 60cm. Here it is with some of my stash on it: And here it is with the stash removed and the self-installed LED lighting strips turned on: As yet I obviously need to fit the front, back and sides. I'm also looking to replace the shelves either with Perspex or glass. I need to price up the latter because the Perspex is more expensive than I thought it was going to be. I'll probably make a build thread somewhere in due course - but a similar approach may suit your needs.

Interesting article and thanks for the kind words. I think in all fairness to the builders of this kit before me, there are issues with the instructions and a lack of guide positions in the kit itself. Their experiences led me to cast these aside and to try to figure things out differently... and if this approach works (it might not yet), I'll happily make some recommended build approaches in a summary for the builders of the kit that come after.

Thanks Johnson . Cheers Peter. Hmmm the Mossie.... I've been toying with the idea of doing that one next. It's either that or the Zero. Chees Mick .

It has been a while since I've had some time to crack on with this and I've only been steeling away the odd half an hour or so here and there. Yesterday though I managed to get a whole day to it - which was much needed therapy . So anyway, without rambling I'll share where things are up to now. First off, the top sides of the wings got added. Despite getting the dihedral going there is still a fair amount of filling at the wing joints to sort out. I've started this with some plasticard. The front edges will need some love too because there is a definite ridge. I'm not bothered about showing off the detail of the wing mounted cannons so I glued the covers in place. As you can see, neither side fitted very well at all. On the underside I've started work on the undercarriage bays. Although the model has a back wall moulded part, there is nothing for the front - so I added some detail with what little images I could glean from the internet. I'm not sure how much further to go with these undercarriage bays. From what I can tell, most of the cabling and wiring is on the undercarriage legs themselves and there isn't so much in the bays themselves. I'd like to add some piping etc. but I need some reasonable reference pictures. Given the lack of after market parts I have to make do with the awful rubber vinyl tyres provided with the kit... and so, to get some wear on them I made up this simple "jig" and spun them at high speed in my trusty Black & Decker corded drill - then held varying grades of sandpaper against them. In these next three pictures is a comparison of the out-of-the-box tyre and the sanded one. And then finally it was decision time... to include the engine or not? I reasoned that I could give it a go and if it didn't work out (or got too hard) out then I could always close up the engine compartment permanently - so apart from time, there would be reason not to have a crack at it. First off then - what I guess is the air inlet arrangement needed some re-work. Through sanding, I managed to take may 1mm depth off but the fit is so bad I thought I'd cut the pipes off as well - and make my own. Knowing about the protruding fan issue I spent some time looking for where I could lose some length. (Not something we normally try to do ). Parts 25 and 34 (the cylinder block supports) seemed like obvious candidates - but as I will come onto later, there seems to be no need. To make the pipes I'm using 2mm solder wire. First couple in... 12 more to go... Easy ones completed... the ones to the front cylinder heads will be harder to fit. So now I come onto why I'm not sure I need to lose any length off the engine. Having first built up the support frame... ... it seems like the engine will be a perfect fit, i.e. the fan will sit inside the engine cowl in exactly the right place! (?) . I'm somewhat confused why this works - when sooo many people have said there is a problem with the fan protruding around 5mm out in front. Considering I didn't have any issues with the wheel well covers either (just a light sand at the edges), then maybe I've just been lucky with my construction approach? One thing I did do was to ensure that the firewall/ammo box part 20 actually sat overhead the cartridge ejectors - so maybe that is it? Look back at the forth picture in this post and you can see where I cut the 2 rectangular holes out. Anyway, its not finished yet so maybe the problem is still yet to bite me. As always, thanks for looking.

I would love to see this but the pictures don't open?

One thing I'm paranoid about this build is the wing dihedral. I taped on the top surfaces in order to figure out if I can fit the ole legs after they are glued up. Good news is that I can - but I'm not sure if I've got the dihedral right. Sometimes I think it looks ok and other times I'm sure the port wing is slightly down. Any error will become obvious once I get the undercarriage fitted - so if it is wrong then I need to try and do something about it before fitting the top wing surfaces. Luckily for me I've found that by enlarging the ole strut hole in the spar, the undercarriage leg has a lot of flexibility - both for-and-aft and side-to-side. Hopefully then I can use a jig of some sort to get the angles right. Somewhat surprisingly the wheel wells fitted absolutely fine. They were a bit fiddly to get in, but from previous build threads I've read I was expecting a lot of sanding and trimming. I've also worked on the wing canons. I've opted for the F variant so I've only got the inboard pair to fit. As you can see from the picture, I've also added some support at the rear and side - since I don't want them shifting when I fit the barrels later (currently they are only push fitted). For info, these are from Albion Alloys and are part of the SFT8 slide fit brass tubing set... I just chose a diameter to match the plastic part of the barrel I removed. Finally a test fit of the MG cover... which fits fine with no sanding required. That said... this may all change when I fit the guns . As always, thanks for looking.

Thanks Keeff. Although I'm enjoying the challenge, I am looking forward to moving onto one of the newer kits in my stash - like the Tiffie, Hellcat or Trumpeter kits, i.e. one that I'm expecting can be built to an acceptable standard pretty much out of the box. I will finish this one before I do though. Seems like it could be a good idea actually and I've been looking at how I could do this. With regards to the SAC parts - I did find with the 109 build that being able to bend them slightly was an advantage. This is why I was thinking they may be advantageous for this build. You are right about them being copies of the kit parts - they were for the 109. I've got the Mk Vb in my stash... and was thinking of maybe building this alongside the new Mk IV so that I could make a better job of it. Hadn't considered getting hold of a new spru to mix the kits myself. That actually may be harder to do than just using plasticard. Building a jig would definitely be a good idea - although I'm not sure I'd have the patience . That is a bit worrying about the SAC legs bowing over time. I really hope that is not the case as I was planning to use metal replacements in as many of my kits as I have in my stash - and have already purchased a few. Aye - the compression needs to be looked at. If I go with the F model then there will be a whacking great big bomb on the centre line - which must compress the legs a bit. I'll see how it goes... I've already glued the forward spars in (without the ole legs) so I am now committed to going off-piste. Good links - thanks .

Lol. Excellent. This is how we all start out isn't it? I did exactly the same - and I had the matching Spitfire and Stuka too. I think its looking pretty good so far and I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Progress is slow... but tis the season for merriment and today I've finished work for the year so I have very good reason to be merry . I'm hoping this will also mean some time at the bench to continue working on this build. I have been wondering whether my approach on this build was right. I spent a fair bit of time finishing off the cockpit with levers and other twiddly bits but most of these came off when I had to use some considerable force to fit the cockpit tub and instrument panel into the right position. In hindsight I think it would have been better to have glued the fuselage together with these parts already fitted. On the plus side, you can't really see much of the cockpit detail anyway - so it would be difficult to spot if levers were even there anyway. I may come back to it later and have another go. In order to get some dihedral going I created a wing with plasticard and clamped this in place. I did ponder on the approach to this and I still don't know if it will work as I hope. I fear it may need some metal rod bonded in as well. I calculated the angle on each side to be 6 degrees... and if I can't get the wing angle right when it comes to fitting the top sides then I will probably try a different approach. The finished spar... which only afterwards did I realise was going to be too high... ... but there is the start of a dihedral. I glued the wing in at the back first - attaching the spar to the square rods I had earlier glued into the fuselage. Note in this picture the front end isn't glued in. Close up of the spar - showing that it needs to be reduced for top surface to fit. Once the back end of the wing was fully dry I glued and clamped the front... each side at a time. And then finally I fitted the firewall with ammunition box piece. My hope is that the front spars (where the oleo legs connect) will also support some dihedral. ... and then the gun base and flaps. The tail is a tight fit and only pushed in at the moment. I'm now at the point where I'm wondering how on earth to get the oleo legs to fit correctly. They seem to be out of alignment in all directions - and the wheels themselves should I believe be vertical to the ground: There are going to be several challenges all in one with these and there is no alternative after market metal part (unless I could make the Scale Aircraft Conversions ones for the Trumpeter 190D somehow fit) . As ever, thanks for looking.

I have the same dilemma with my 190 build. Most likely the standard operating procedure was to raise them after landing. Hence why you don't tend to see pictures of them down. My personal preference is however to show more of the aircraft lines and shape, so I like to see them down. I don't know whether the detail is included in the model kit, so maybe showing them down would involve a lot more work?

Useful link. Thanks Peter. It is my intention to vary tone in various parts - which may reflect what you are saying. Cheers. Matt. I took a look at that picture but to be honest I wasn't sure what I was looking at. Without having access to a 190 cockpit directly I used DCS to get an idea of how it should look. You can see from the picture below that there isn't an awful lot to it (in their model at least). Knowing that it won't really be seen I just used a bit of artistic license in my build. Ever helpful. Thanks Troy. My goodness. Wow. See there was me just mixing something up that I thought looked sort of right - and then I get support from fellow BM's that actually know stuff and are willing to help out. Thank you Casey - this is very useful. So... I sprayed up some other bits this time using Vallejo 71.044 and can most definitely agree that these look sooo much better. Below is the comparison - top and bottom parts in 71.044, middle part in my (incorrect) mix. And here is the wing - also sprayed with 71.044. You can see that I cut out the flaps (still haven't decided whether they should be up or down - there seem to be only museum pictures where they are shown down), but what the picture does illustrate is that the colours do vary a lot depending on the ambient light conditions and the camera settings. Thanks for looking.

Coming along nicely.

Amazing work. Looks beautiful. Love your work. Bravo.

Nice build.

Pulling up a chair. Mine arrived this week so looking forward to following along.

Well I'll be following along with interest on this one, not least because I live in the town of its namesake but for other reasons which I won't go into here, it is an aircraft close to my heart. I too remember seeing the Beverley at the RAF museum Hendon and being somewhat dismayed about its scrappage. The only other survivor, XB259, used to reside at the Beverley Museum of Army Transport before being transferred to Fort Paull where it sat exposed to the elements. With the closure of that museum it's future is uncertain: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/last-surviving-blackburn-beverley-taken-apart-at-fort-paull-before-move-to-new-home-in-east-yorkshire-3359578 Great start so far.

Yay! Managed some time at the bench this weekend... first off though... after market parts. I've acquired some parts... only the airscale IP upgrade and some gun parts so far. I'm still on the hunt for bits. I've also been messing around with colours. Airfix suggest using Humbrol 78 for the non-cockpit areas but it is just too dark for my liking. Using a number of internet pictures of museum restorations, plus the rather fantastic BM walkaround images (https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234927354-focke-wulf-fw-190-a-8/) I mixed up this green using a 70:30 mix of Vallejo Model Air Colours 71.010 and 71.050. I will use variations of this in different areas as I go. Following my build plan (which maybe somewhat foolish), I glued up the rear fuselage... ... and I've added some shims for assisting with getting the wings fitted, including a wing spar. You can also see in this shot that the right side of the fuselage half is a little warped . I thinned out the over-thick seat. And commenced the assembly of the cockpit instrument panel... following the airscale instructions to remove all the surface detail. The airscale replacement IP is very nicely detailed... ... and comes together nicely. On the cockpit tub I made some tweaks... adding a better throttle and including the oxygen flood elbow switch. I also used some airscale decals. There is some artistic license here... I used DCS World as a reference to understand what went where, but I realise that most of this won't be seen - so there is little point doing too much. I think I need to add some sticky-out levers in some of the various holes but by and large it is complete. Thanks for looking.