1/72 Zevzda fw 190A-4 - JG 54, "Ostfront", March 1943

[klr]

Another outing for the Zvezda kit:

 

 

Having shuffled the parts around from one place to another and then another, some of the main UC parts are missing. No problem, as I want to build this wheels up, I have another in the stash with all parts accounted for.

 

 

I won't be building either of the OOB schemes. My plan is for a I/JG 54 machine in green/brown upper camouflage with temporary winter white disruptive camouflage.

 

 

First step: Cut out the stand slot, and tweak it to fit an old-style Airfix stand:

 

Next, join the fuselage halves together, remove the lowered tail wheel, and replace it with a spare, probably from Airfix:

 

The tail planes were probably only dry-fitted at this point. Theoretically, this is a snap-together kit, but I won't be taking any chances by not using glue.

 

At this point, I have assembled the wings and added the cockpit "tub". Note the inboard port cannon was broken off at some point, and I have drilled out a replacement hole.

 

More to come soon (promise!)

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome to the build klr, sounds like a great scheme. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. 

[Marklo]

Welcome again Kir. Looks suspiciously like my MrCraft kits particularly the split line on the wings, but they both built up pretty well.

[klr]

23 hours ago, Marklo said:

Welcome again Kir. Looks suspiciously like my MrCraft kits particularly the split line on the wings, but they both built up pretty well.

I'd say the resemblance is purely coincidental ... or convergent evolution. In plain English, both companies arrived at the same solution. Would Zvezda copy from Mistercaft? Who knows?

 

Anyway, time for some updates:

 

While there are instrument panel decals (which I used), not much detail will be visible once enclosed in the fuselage:

 

While the assembly looks clean, some of the joins need cleaning up.

 

... although it looks a lot better viewed from the top:

 

I did add the support behind the headrest, although it should have been wider. It will do ...

 

Then it was on to painting the undersides, and cleaning up the various join imperfections. For RLM 76, I am using the very slow-drying XtraColor X208 gloss, so it has taken couple of days to get to this point.

 

 

 

[klr]

The aircraft I am basing this subject on was flown by Walter Nowotny in early 1943, soon after JG 54 converted from the Bf 109F. His aircraft belonged to 1/JG 54 - "white 10". Since I didn't have suitable serials to hand, I used spares from the Airfix Fw 190D that I am also building. These are yellow, meaning this aircraft would be from 3/JG 54, but still in the 1st Gruppe. Note that the centre of the upper wing crosses was painted in the standard RLM 74/RLM 75, at least according to the Eduard instructions I am (mostly) following. So this would be a temporary winter scheme applied on top of a temporary summer scheme, over the original "factory" finish. The yellow fuselage band was painted in gloss yellow - much easier to use than Hu 154, and easy to apply the decal to. I will overpaint the visible areas with Hu 154.

 

 

... and by sometime yesterday, I had reached this point. Naturally, we can't be sure what the exact scheme was, given how it was applied in stages, much of it in the field. It's also likely that every aircraft was different. The green and brown colours used in these Eastern front schemes are poorly documented IMHO. For the brown, I used Hu 119 (Hu 118 would probably have done as well). For the green, I used Hu 105, which I was already using for RLM 82 on my Airfix Fw 190 D-9. The colour as applied is a bit lighter than the photograph suggests. It's possible it should be lighter still. The white is Revell 05, which is quite coarse even after substantial thinning. I've actually been sanding down some of the white areas.

 

 

[mick]

great camo work

[Marklo]

Looks really great.

[klr]

Finished. The yellow theatre markings were actually the biggest hurdle towards the end, specifically the aft fuselage band and lower rudder. They looked downright ugly. I sanded them down and applied a new coat of Hu 69 gloss, giving that just enough time to dry before applying a matt varnish. "Waiting for paint to dry (enough)" was literally the case here.

 

 

 

Gallery pics here:

 

[81-er]

You managed to finish a great trio, but this is definitely the most interesting scheme

 

James

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Cannot express exactly how much I like this scheme. I think I know what my next FW build will be.