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Airfix 1/72 FW190-A8 converted to an A6 night fighter - Finished!!!!


Marklo

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8701197-D-9784-463-E-B2-FF-B9-BFD4-FDCEFThis has been sitting in the stash for a while now.  
 

B536-AD88-B835-4-C42-B7-AA-1-AB698-AED67And this is the machine I’ll be building. Two reasons, one I like the scheme, clearly the crew were extremely concerned with being seen at night and blacked out almost all of the camo and secondly, as you may be aware I try to avoid building things with swastikas but I don’t like to leave a model incomplete so if I can find an option without tail markings I’ll usually take it.

Edited by Marklo
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1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Nice choice but one heck of a conversion

Mostly just shortening the nose by removing the wing fillet and then changing the louvres on the side of the engine other than that just a bit of rescribing.

Edited by Marklo
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6 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Mostly just shortening the nose by removing the wing fillet and then changing the louvres on the side of the engine other than that just a bit of rescribing.

I thought the nose gun cover was a different shape too ? Sadly Im isolated from my library at the moment. 

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6 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I thought the nose gun cover was a different shape too ?

Yes the breechblocks were smaller on the earlier marks and hence the panel just forward of the windscreen is different. Afair the earlier marks had MG FFs which were changed to mg 131s on later models. But it’s not too difficult a change.

Edited by Marklo
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On 1/10/2023 at 1:23 AM, Marklo said:

Yes the breechblocks were smaller on the earlier marks and hence the panel just forward of the windscreen is different. Afair the earlier marks had MG FFs which were changed to mg 131s on later models. But it’s not too difficult a change.

Hi,

the way you brush under the carpet all the subtle variations (and the not so subtle ones) between 190s on short and long engine bearers, and the cohorts of ancillary discrepancies, mark you as an inveterate optimist!!!

And I like that.

So all the best for this project.

Remember that the Airfix Focke Wulf curse comes on top of all the above fun things!

 

JR

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2 hours ago, jean said:

the way you brush under the carpet all the subtle variations (and the not so subtle ones) between 190s on short and long engine bearers, and the cohorts of ancillary discrepancies, mark you as an inveterate optimist!!!

I am also armed with my Squadron Signal FW 190 in action and a full set of plans for DLL models in 1/72 1/48 and 1/24 bought from the MAP stand at the model engineering exhibition many years ago.

 

Off the top of my head I’ll have to do a cut and shut on the fuselage to shorten the nose s and remove the fillets added after the A3. Change the breech block covers and rework the wings for the two cannon configuration of the earlier mark. I love this sort of thing  :) 

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2 hours ago, jean said:

Remember that the Airfix Focke Wulf curse comes on top of all the above fun things!

I did build one last year and the big gottya was getting the wings to fit properly. I must revisit my wip thread to see how I did it on that build.

Edited by Marklo
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3 hours ago, Mukund SB said:

I shudder at the thought of having to fill a gap... You make the conversion sound way too easy 🙃

I’m probably going to cut the fuselage halves with a razor saw on the straight sections then either line drill the wing fillet or use my scrollsaw. Hopefully with a little cleanup the resulting pieces should go back together neatly.

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This aircraft was well documented as a hit and run nocturnal raider and is actually an A-4.  It was one of eight aircraft from 7./SKG 10, along with another eight aircraft from 5./SKG 10  that were tasked with attacking installations along the Thames estuary.  This aircraft got lost because of good old British mist, the pilot, Fw. Otto Bechtold jettisoned his bomb after being fired at by AA units.  Running low on fuel and thinking he was over France he fired off some flares for help.  British AA and searchlight units thought he was a Defiant night fighter that was lost so they illuminated his way to West Malling airfield.  On landing it was only when he spoke German to the ground personnel that they realised the truth and he was arrested and made a PoW.

The aircraft was finished in standard camo of 74/75 over 76.  The underside of the engine cowling and the rudder were yellow, the aircraft letter was a white outlined black letter 'H' but as it was a night raider all the lower surfaces and sides were covered with black distemper.  Another problem for you is that this aircraft had faired over drop tanks under each wing just outboard of the u/c leg, the drop tanks themselves had been dropped on crossing the coast of England.

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Thank you @Retired Bob This is what I love about GBs. The discussions, background stories etc. You will never get to hear such interesting snippet of information, all in one place.....

 

Thanks again for sharing. Now when ever I look at @Marklo build, I will be seeing the darkness, mist, cold wind and thinking that went inside the pilot's head.... This gives a new spin to this hobby which I love very much 👍

 

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Great information. I must go looking for those drop tanks and check my references for the A4 to A8 differences. 
 

CF878CB2-11FA-4E36-84CC-2065D7291275.jpgI finished this last week an old vac form with scratch built floats; I have form :) so the drop tanks shouldn’t be too much of a problem, and tbh I love this sort of stuff.

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4-DFC7-B48-3-E2-D-4-C1-A-94-CE-E999310-D
 

A98-A3-B12-548-E-41-B3-8-DD9-3-BC1-CD58-

Thanks for the lead @Retired Bob I managed to find a good colour profile and a photo of the drop tank mountings in seconds. I’m presuming the chalk markings are post war possibly after being captured.

 

I want to get a 1/48 kit for another build and now I’m tempted to build this one in 1/48 and do something else with the Airfix kit, hmm won’t get to my favourite model shop till next week a we’ll just have to be patient :) and I’ll have to see what he has in stock ( one of my New Year’s resolutions was to stop buying stuff off the internet plus kit prices seem to be nuts at the moment)

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9 hours ago, Marklo said:

I managed to find a good colour profile and a photo of the drop tank mountings in seconds. I’m presuming the chalk markings are post war possibly after being captured.

I forgot to mention the date for this raid, the attacking aircraft took off from Amiens in France at around midnight on the 16th April 1943.  During the 17th April, word had spread that an undamaged FW 190 had landed at West Malling airfield and loads of 'interested' visitors all wanted to have a look.  The strict instructions from Air Command were to stop anyone touching the aircraft so those markings "not to touch" and to "keep off" were scratched in the black distemper not long after the aircraft landed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Congratulations on picking (in my opinion) one of the most stubborn models ever :) Good luck with that one! This particular Airfix plane routinely ends up its career as a spray-target with an ultimate fate of meeting Mr.Trashcan.

 

... and I still keep trying

Edited by Casey
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  • Marklo changed the title to Airfix 1/72 FW190-A8 converted to an A6 night fighter
  • 3 weeks later...
4 hours ago, Marklo said:

 I’m starting to come to the conclusion that I don’t like modern Airfix engineering. As you can see yet again I’m having to beat the kit into submission, hmmmm.

I'll stick with Eduard. :hmmm:

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