1/72 Fw-190 A3... AKA I'm finally finished!

[Squibby]

Hi All,

 

After a long hiatus from modelling in which we sold up and moved to a brand new house, I've finally gotten my workbench setup again.

I'm going to start off slow and steady, with Tamiya's 1/72 scale FW190 a3 kit.

 

It's a lovely bit of plastic as would be expected from Tamiya, the parts are clean and really well detailed, and so far seem to fit together really well.

 

I've finished off the tiny but beautifully detailed cockpit, complete with some generic Eduard luftwaffe PE belts (which seemed a tad oversized to me)

 

 

 

I used Gunze RLM66 (H416) for the base colour.

 

When it came to the seatbelts I decided to flag using CA glue for sticking down the PE and tried using PVA wood glue instead, it worked really well and the slower drying time was very welcome. It'll be my glue of choice for this kind of thing going forward.

 

I also learned that Tamiya X-22 gloss is really good for creating that instrument glass effect. I applied the viscous stuff straight from the jar with a sharpened toothpick and it dried into a nice hard glassy layer (unfortunately due to my home made diffusing filter over the lamp this isn't too visible in the photos).

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2017 by Squibby

[CedB]

Very nice cockpit Squibby - I agree with you about the belts being a little oversize but oh, the detail! Great stuff  

[matteo44]

Nice cockpit 

In my opinion, a soft drybrush (with light gray) and it will be perfect

[jean]

Hi, this cockpit looks rather tasty and finely painted. I have used PE seat belts on a 1/72 Airfix Bf 109 E and I have the same problem: slightly oversized... At least the pilot will not be going anywhere on his first dogfight!

 

Keep at it

JR

[Squibby]

Cheers all,
 

I suspect the issue with the PE belts is that at 1/72 scale getting them actually true to scale is limited by the practicalities of the photoetching process.

And I imagine handling such tiny bits of PE would be a nightmare anyway

 

I did also give a soft drybrush if you're wondering. It's just really subtle and doesn't show on the photos very well.

 

 

[Squibby]

Moved this build along a bit.

 

I got up to buttoning up the fuselage. As expected all parts fit together with Tamiya precision.

 

The fuselage join though created a fairly visible seam running through the IP coaming, this had to be sorted out carefully. I really wish kit manufacturers would just provide a separate one piece coaming to prevent this fiddly filling and sanding task.

I also cut off the molded in gunsight and made a new one from a minuscule square of thin acetate sheet.

 

 

 

The test fits of the wings and top cowling piece are very good, so hopefully more stress-free progress on the horizon.

 

Cheers for watching,

[Smudge]

That's a nice looking 190. I really should get more Tamiya stuff.

[Squibby]

Some more slow progress, I managed to finish off the undercarriage bay and put the wings halves together.

 

I used Gunze H70 (RLM02) for the gear bay. It got a light drybrushing and a pin wash and some scuffs and scratches painted on with thinned paint. Still looks a bit too clean but I'll give it a going over with some dirt pigments and oil when I've finished everything.

 

Here it is test assembled, the main gear bay is a separate piece that clips into the bottom half of the wing. Looks quite nicely detailed (and quite close to the real thing) out of the box which is nice.

 

 

Surprisingly I found the wing halves weren't a flawless fit, I had to file down the back of the gear bay piece a bit and cut back some of the locating pins and nubs to get it to settle down nicely along the leading edge. It still took some coaxing and will result in a bit of cleanup and filling to get nice and smooth.

 

The general wing to fuselage joint appears to be very good though,

 

Until next time,

 

 

[Squibby]

Made some substantial progress,

 

Nothing too exciting there yet.... cleaned up the wings, fitted them to fuselage and added the tail planes. Everything pretty much fit like a glove and all it really needed was some seams to be removed and a light swipe of PPP to fill some tiny gaps. It's been a very stress free build so far, which is good because building is just keeping me from getting stuck into painting and weathering anyway...I'm really keen to tackle my first mottling paint job.

 

 

Apologies for the stingy amounts of photos. I'm putting a bit more effort into making them presentable which is a bit of a hassle really, and I don't have the photobucket app for easy uploading from my phone, so image hosting isn't quite as easy as before.

[CedB]

Very neat and tidy, good job

Have you tried Flickr? I use the app on my iPhone and it's easy and free.

[Squibby]

Thanks for the tip CedB,

 

I checked it out, and looks good so hopefully I'll be able to post up a few more photos next time.

[Squibby]

Finally made the effort to update this.

 

Progress has been slow but I've masked up everything and have cracked straight into the painting.

 

So far I've laid down a coat of RLM76 (Gunze H417) and gone through my post shading / blending process. I've also laid down the RLM04 (Gunze 413) ID panels (and the merry-go-round of touchups that usually follow this kind of thing...)

I usually loathe spraying yellow but the Gunze went down quite nicely. I sprayed directly over the RLM76 given that it's quite light and I don't want the yellow too vivid and clean.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm now poised to start laying down the upper fuselage colours and crack into some mottling, I'm planning to freehand the lot since all my photographic research suggests the Germans just winged it as well, it seems very irregular, soft edged and blends into the mottles. I've already undertaken some practice on an old hurricane wing I had lying around. I'm wondering if the wing splinter camo (which is more blobby as per the Tamiya paint instructions) was painted similarly...

 

 

I just used slightly more thinned paint (2:1 ratio I believe) and got in real close with a very light touch. Hopefully it'll all work out on the real thing, I'm going to take my time and follow the paint instructions as a guide so I don't overdo it.

 

Until next time.

 

[CedB]

Nice yellow Squibby and that mottling looks really good  

[The Spadgent]

Nice to have you back at it Squibby.

The office looks ace and the work on the outside thus far is exemplary.  

I'll tag along if you don't mind.

 

Johnny.

[Squibby]

Cheers guys!, glad to be back

 

Ok it turns out mottling on a curvy 3D 1/72 fuselage isn't as easy as flat wing, though after some careful freehand spraying I managed to get something loosely following the paint guide. No overspray either which I'm quite chuffed about

 

The mottling initially turned out quite stark, so I gave them a good blending back with heavily thinned RLM76. All said and done though, It just doesn't quite look right yet, maybe because there are large gaps where the markings go

I was also surprised at how contrast-y the RLM74 + 75 turned out initially, what you see here is also blended back a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think? too hard, too soft, too blobby, just right?

 

Hopefully the wings should be a bit easier.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks good 👌Im going to be in the same boat soon enough . I've an Eduard 72nd Bf-110 in the que. 

[Squibby]

Being a chronic perfectionist I just couldn't shake the feeling they looked off somehow.

 

After scouring the net for photos it seems as though generally the mottling was far softer, smaller and more indistinct. I took out my colours again, this time thinning heavily (3:1 to 5:1 ratios) reworked and blended, and reworked and blended and reworked... and blended... until the mottles looked more like the photos I found.

 

I'm much happier with them now, still fighting the urge to rework them further but I think I'm at a stage where I'll call this done, given some of it will be covered up by markings and weathering anyway.

Also it's 1:30 in the morning here and long past time I called it a night...

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2017 by Squibby

[CedB]

For me that looks just right Squibby - you know if you do any more it'll be too much!  

Nice work - I aspire to that sort of mottling.

[The Spadgent]

I liked it before, I like it even more now. Good stuff old bean.

 

Jont

[Squibby]

Finished off the wings, and all the paintwork in general.

 

I started by masking off the wings and laying down some RLM 75 and going through my postshade + blend processs.

 

I was a bit nervous about free handing the pattern here but it wasn't too hard once I got going. I used slightly thinner paint (2:1 ratio) to get a spatter free line and I had to get the brush in nice and close so that the edge wasn't too soft and out of scale. This made trigger control very important, I had to go slowly and gently build up the line, open the brush up slightly too much and I'd get a splatter, thankfully nothing I couldn't hide. After establishing the edge I worked inward and carefully blocked in the rest.

Some of my shading showed through the RLM 74 layer but afterwards I went through again and with a very light touch and slightly lightened RLM74 added the shading back in. I finally finished off with an all over filter of super thin RLM76 to knock back the contrast a bit.

 

I'm very happy with the finished product and my airbrush skills got a good workout too.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by Squibby

[CedB]

Very nice Squibby  

[Squibby]

Time for another update I think...

 

Got all the decals on, cut along the panel lines, blended with a thin coat of RLM76 and sealed in, only one little hiccup along the way.

 

I tried to use the decal Tamiya provide for the theatre band but no matter how I tried to orient it I just couldn't get it to fit cleanly. I ended up breaking it slightly and made up my mind to try spraying the band...

Predictably I managed to muck up the white and when trying to clean it up managed to pull off a huge lug of paint right the way through to the plastic... so off came the careful masking and out came the fine sandpaper to feather the edges and clean it up. I had to pull off a strip around the tail and respray the camo again which set me back a day or so.

 

My second attempt worked better and I carefully masked the white with a thin strip to spray the black borders...This didn't turn out that great either, varying in thickness due to my wonky masking job. I had to remask and spray them again so they ended up a bit thicker than I would have wanted. Annoyingly the masking ended up marring the white paint for some reason so the finish is less than ideal, oh and there was some easily preventable overspray to clean up to boot. What an absolute mission for such a tiny element.

 

All up though it works well enough with the rest of the decals so I guess all the trouble was worth it.

 

 

 

 

Boy are those Tamiya decals thick though, they did settle well enough with some Mr Mark Softer but still leave a bit of carrier film visible from some angles. Hopefully when matte coated and weathered it should be fine.

[rgb40]

when using Tamiya or Hasegawa decals try using fairly hot water to remove decal from backing or when the decal is down press with a hot cloth. Apparently the decals aren't thick but the glue makes them appear so. I have had good results using this method.

 cheers,

George

[Squibby]

Cheers,

 

Might give it a go, I used warmish water for most of the bigger decals might try something a bit hotter. Problem is it cools down too fast

I also roll 'em down good with a soft q-tip, never really had issues getting them settled into panel lines though, not more than any other decal I've used so far anyway.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Squibby

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I've used Tamiya & Hasegawa decals for years no problem. I use fairly hot water and replace it very often. I also use Microset and microsol. I only use microsol as an absolute last resort due to the damage it causes 😡. That being said i've never had problems with them. I've used other brands of decals (Monogram, Revell, Academy, hobbyboss, and Eduard). Though they all look good the ones ive had the most problems with over the years are Academy and Eduard's. Hobbyboss places in the middle. Monogram and to a lesser degree Revell Ive never had problems with.