Airfix 1/24th Fw-190

[Bonkin]

Hello all. Having recently completed my Airfix 1/24 scale Bf109E I thought it only right to build its fighting companion - the Fw-190. I know a lot of bad things have been written about this kit... in all the pre-build reading I've been doing I'm aware of the issues with the engine (fan) being too long, fit issues with the wheel wells and cowlings, plus the tailwheel not sitting correctly. I'm also aware of the current lack of after market parts - which is a shame because I would really like to add some metal legs and resin wheels at the very least. 

 

I've not decided which variant to do yet, or what approach I'm going to take to overcome the issues... but will decide along the way. As an example, I may decide not to show the engine and just close it all in instead.

 

 

This was an auction site purchase - and important to me that the original bag was still sealed. Thankfully it was as described.

 

Not clear from this picture but the decals have yellowed quite a bit. I've hung them up in a south facing window to see if the yellowing reduces over the build time.

 

The instructions seem reasonably clear...

 

 

Obligatory sprue shots...

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway... as always I would welcome any advice or sources of after market parts which could be considered.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Bonkin]

I've been puzzling over some of the parts in the kit... in particular parts 43, 44, 45 and 46 which don't feature in the build instructions - not my version at least.

 

 

 

But after a while I think I've figured it out...

 

I've probably put part 45 the wrong way around but I'm guessing it is so that you could fit one of those little Airfix motors and then half the front cylinder block to the front of the circular part (hence the offset pins)...

 

... in any case, it gives me an option if I decide not to bother with the engine. I will need to check whether this would also result in the fan being 5mm too far out though.

 

[Victor K2]

The earlier boxing of this kit indeed did show those parts as an option to motorise the kit. the battery pack was located in the stand along with an on/off switch. I made the Bf 109 20 odd years ago with an operating prop, I fed the wires through the tail wheel to connect to 2 (pos/neg) female pin sockets. these were hidden in a grass base. I did something similar to the Hurricane made around the same time and I used the ground power socket to feed the power cables via a trolley accumulator ( used to power the real aircraft as an aid to the aircraft battery during starting).

Looking forward to this build as I meant to add this model all those years ago along with the Stuka, but circumstances and life style changes got in the way. I still intend to build them as I am fast approaching retirement from my real life job ( if they don't change the retirement age again, I think the government intend to make us carry on working until we succumb to the inevitable, then we will have to be cremated  as an alterative source of fuel, then have our ashes put into egg timers so that we can carry on working)😄

So, what's it to be, powered or open engine cowlings?

Bob.

[Johnson]

If it's anything like the 109E you just completed, we're in for another treat!

 

Cheers,

[Troy Smith]

8 hours ago, Bonkin said:

in all the pre-build reading I've been doing I'm aware of the issues with the engine (fan) being too long,

One I never did.   I recall that there was a suggestion the engine bearers were too long.   Could just be cack handed modellers blaming a tricky kit for their lack of care.... Perhaps combined with poor instructions,  I have seen various kits which with some modellers assemble fine, and other have major problems,  and cross referencing them it's making a mistake early on that then causes a chain of problems. 

 

The pragmatic way would be to spend an evening with tape and blu tack and see where the problems lie, and adjust the build sequence accordingly, and having seen your work I think the problem will be found to be an early alignment error.

 

My only other comment was a it was a weird version top pick...   it's not the one with the most schemes available,  an A-8 would have made more sense.

I think the Wilde Sau marking are fictitious as well.  see here 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235080383-fw-190a-6-i-knew-it-was-wrong-but-i-built-it-anyway/

 

Jg 1 flew A-6's with striped and checked cowlings

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235113621-the-fw-190-and-its-rather-unusual-paintjobs/#elControls_4468183_menu

 

and JG54 flew some A-5 in an unusual scheme

 

 

 

as well as this warbird which was based on the original paint,.

 

 

 

Look forward to seeing who this one goes

 

cheers

T

 

 

 

[Mattlow]

Eduard and Airscale do Instrument panels/bezels for this kit I think.

 

Grey Matter used to do a whole load of resin aftermarket for this kit, conversions, cockpit, undercarriage, wheels etc. - all mastered by Jerry Rutman However, they aren't to be seen on eBay, which was where I used to see their stuff. It may be that Grey Matter have ceased trading. Here's a link to what they did 

 

https://hyperscale.com/2014/reviews/accessories/greymattergmajr2405reviewbf_1.htm

 

Maybe you could ask on the 'wanted' section here on BM..?

 

I recall thinking it looked a bit 'bloated' around the engine cowling and always wondered if they did the engine to scale and had to make the cowl overscale to fit it all in?

 

Matt

[jumbojock]

I have had this in my stash for ages. Following with interest. Similar engine parts issue on the Stuka, by the way. Didn't notice the part to hold the engine till it was glued together 

[Ratch]

I found the fit very poor

[FalkeEins]

 ..good luck building this,  I'm sure you'll do a great job. I've got two that have been in and out of the loft over the years - not got anywhere much with either of them!  There are some good builds out there. One of the best I've seen is PaveShadow's on the ATF forum. 

And jacksdad64 here, with his A-8 conversion 

 

 

 .. leaving out part 36  may be a 'simple' solution to the fan 'problem'

 

 

 

[Bonkin]

On 26/10/2022 at 19:47, Victor K2 said:

I still intend to build them as I am fast approaching retirement from my real life job ( if they don't change the retirement age again, I think the government intend to make us carry on working until we succumb to the inevitable, then we will have to be cremated  as an alterative source of fuel, then have our ashes put into egg timers so that we can carry on working)😄

So, what's it to be, powered or open engine cowlings?

Bob.

Cheers Bob. At the moment I'm thinking I'd like to have the engine cowlings open - but we'll see how it goes. With you on the work thing... it would just be nice to get to retirement with a pension still intact. 

 

On 26/10/2022 at 21:33, Johnson said:

If it's anything like the 109E you just completed, we're in for another treat!

Thanks Johnson. Kind words.

 

On 26/10/2022 at 21:47, Troy Smith said:

One I never did.   I recall that there was a suggestion the engine bearers were too long.   Could just be cack handed modellers blaming a tricky kit for their lack of care.... Perhaps combined with poor instructions,  I have seen various kits which with some modellers assemble fine, and other have major problems,  and cross referencing them it's making a mistake early on that then causes a chain of problems. 

 

The pragmatic way would be to spend an evening with tape and blu tack and see where the problems lie, and adjust the build sequence accordingly, and having seen your work I think the problem will be found to be an early alignment error.

 

My only other comment was a it was a weird version top pick...   it's not the one with the most schemes available,  an A-8 would have made more sense.

I think the Wilde Sau marking are fictitious as well.  see here 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235080383-fw-190a-6-i-knew-it-was-wrong-but-i-built-it-anyway/

 

Jg 1 flew A-6's with striped and checked cowlings

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235113621-the-fw-190-and-its-rather-unusual-paintjobs/#elControls_4468183_menu

Some great info there Troy. Thank you. You'll see in follow on posts that I've done just this (tape and white glue though). To be honest, my gut feeling is that this is a bad fitting kit and not necessarily cack handed modellers. I'm saying this now of course so that if I make a pigs bottom of it then I have an excuse .

 

On 26/10/2022 at 21:59, Mattlow said:

Eduard and Airscale do Instrument panels/bezels for this kit I think.

 

Grey Matter used to do a whole load of resin aftermarket for this kit, conversions, cockpit, undercarriage, wheels etc. - all mastered by Jerry Rutman However, they aren't to be seen on eBay, which was where I used to see their stuff. It may be that Grey Matter have ceased trading. Here's a link to what they did 

 

https://hyperscale.com/2014/reviews/accessories/greymattergmajr2405reviewbf_1.htm

 

Maybe you could ask on the 'wanted' section here on BM..?

Cheers Matt. I've purchased the Airscale instrument panel... and following your suggestion made a post on the wanted section.

 

On 28/10/2022 at 12:26, Ratch said:

I found the fit very poor

Lovely build Ratch. Is there a build or RFI thread anywhere?

 

On 28/10/2022 at 21:49, FalkeEins said:

 ..good luck building this,  I'm sure you'll do a great job. I've got two that have been in and out of the loft over the years - not got anywhere much with either of them!  There are some good builds out there. One of the best I've seen is PaveShadow's on the ATF forum. 

And jacksdad64 here, with his A-8 conversion 

 .. leaving out part 36  may be a 'simple' solution to the fan 'problem'

 

 

Cheers. Indeed I've seen that part 36 post before. I believe it is the carburettor though... so if I do have the hatches open I think it would be an important part to retain.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Bonkin
Typo correction

[Bonkin]

Haven't had much time on the bench but I did think I needed to see what all the fuss was about with the engine being too long on this kit. So first up, I did a very rough clean up of the engine parts and then stuck them together with white glue. The idea being that I could later separate them and glue them properly once I decided on the course of action:

 

Using tape to pull the fuselage together I measured the distance to the back of the engine bay to the front...

 

... and found it to be 75mm.

 

Now the engine, if assembled as per the instructions, seems to be 70mm from the front of the fan blade to the rear of the engine.

 

Meaning that there should be a 5mm gap between the firewall and engine rear...

 

 

However, when the engine is mounted as per the build instructions, this gap (on my model) is more like 8mm. I think there will be plenty enough places to reduce the width... and ultimately, I think the most obvious place will be in the support arms joining it to the firewall.

 

Looking at the wings I'm thinking that they may pull into shape with a correct dihedral when they are glued in, but to play it safe I may need to add my own wing spar.

 

In actual build work I've corrected the height of the tail wheel. The model has it sitting like this:

 

... but all photo references show that the assembly sits much lower... so I added some mounting points...

 

... and have adjusted the tail wheel to sit like this:

 

 

The rest of the work has been hacking stuff away... the radiator flaps were opened up...

 

 

... and I've started cutting away the moulded in exhausts - which I hope to replace with some metal tubing.

 

Build wise I'm thinking that I'm going to take the rather unorthodox approach of casting the instructions to the side and assembling it from the tail forwards. I'm fairly convinced that there are some other issues to resolve - like the instrument panel being too far forward and the wheel well covers which should not be fitted up to the firewall. If I build it this way then I have a reasonable chance of correcting the fit issues as I go.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

[Ratch]

4 hours ago, Bonkin said:

Lovely build Ratch. Is there a build or RFI thread anywhere?

Thanks, it was built long before BM existed and any WIP images were lost when Picturetrail closed 😪

I had to have the panels open because the fit was so bad (on mine) 

[Flintstone]

I built one of these many years ago and found the fit was ok, but it did need some care with checking and adjusting.

One thing to remember with these 1/24 kits that have retractable undercarriage is that when extended they are at the unloaded length to fit back into the wing. If you want to model an aircraft on the ground the main legs will be too long.

[dov]

Well done so far. 

I built all 1/24 from Airfix.

It was my entry in modelling. 

You are doing well, so far. Intetested in your upgrades, whatever detail. 

Happy modelling 

[georgeusa]

I built the Heller version of this kit years ago (https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973304-heller-fw-190-124-cracking-me-up-finished/).  The plastic was very brittle and cause a bunch of problems.  Also there was a truly large amount of flash on the parts.  This may only be due to it is a Heller boxing and the Airfix boxing does not have these problems.  The engine fit was so bad, I just didn't even attempt to finish it and just put it in so there was something to attach the propeller.  Your engine does look like it went together better than mine.  I never discount my ability to screw up a build as it seems filler, sanding, refilling and more sanding will always be my lifelong partner.  So far you are doing great.  Even though the Heller kit was a bear to make, the finished product does look pretty menacing and like a butcher bird.  Look forward to more of your installments.

 

And, looking over my build, the problem with the engine being too long to fit the plan did bite me a bit.  I chose to manhandle the issue and just loped off plastic until it fit.  I believe there might be a better way to finesse this.  Good luck.

[k5054nz]

I'm very excited to follow along with this, an excellent start! And thank you for the sprue shots.

[Bonkin]

On 14/11/2022 at 22:22, Flintstone said:

One thing to remember with these 1/24 kits that have retractable undercarriage is that when extended they are at the unloaded length to fit back into the wing. If you want to model an aircraft on the ground the main legs will be too long.

That is a good point... I did think about this when building the 109 but it seemed to be OK. I recall when building the P51 years ago though that it never looked right on its legs... this was probably why.

 

On 15/11/2022 at 16:40, dov said:

Well done so far. 

I built all 1/24 from Airfix.

It was my entry in modelling. 

You are doing well, so far. Intetested in your upgrades, whatever detail. 

Happy modelling 

Thank you Dov. I'm enjoying it so far.

 

On 15/11/2022 at 19:35, georgeusa said:

I built the Heller version of this kit years ago... .

 

And, looking over my build, the problem with the engine being too long to fit the plan did bite me a bit.  I chose to manhandle the issue and just loped off plastic until it fit.  I believe there might be a better way to finesse this.  Good luck.

@!%# George!?!! You have amazing perseverance. I would have never have gotten that far with such brittle plastic. You did an amazing job. Thanks for sharing that... whenever things go wrong in my plastic adventures I will be reminded of your tenacity and dedication it getting that model finished. .

 

On 15/11/2022 at 21:45, k5054nz said:

I'm very excited to follow along with this, an excellent start! And thank you for the sprue shots.

Cheers. Your welcome.

[Bonkin]

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.

 

[Johnson]

Very nice work in the cockpit.

 

Airscale panels are excellent, I used theirs in my 1/24 Spitfire Mk.1a.

[k5054nz]

Hear hear, very nice indeed!

[georgeusa]

Wonderful work on the cockpit.  It looks so much better than can be done with the kit cockpit and attempting to enhance it.  Looks great.

[Troy Smith]

On 20/11/2022 at 19:33, Bonkin said:

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.

 

FWIW,  that would be RLM 02 Grau.  It's not green.   It's been described as an olive grey,  but your mix look OK on the photos.  

if you want to go further

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235072075-best-rlm-02/

 

The instrument panel look great.

 

cheers

T

[mick]

great work 

[Ratch]

8 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

that would be RLM 02 Grau. 

Would RLM 66 be a possibility for the office?

[Troy Smith]

25 minutes ago, Ratch said:

Would RLM 66 be a possibility for the office?

Yes, note @Bonkin has done the cockpit in dark grey (eg RLM66) and the rest in 02.