Eduard Fw 190 A-7 & Eduard Fw 190 D-9 Diorama

[GTZIM]

This build is going to be quite elaborate and involve 12 kits in total. In addition to the kits, I will be utilizing a plethora of diorama medium / accessories.
 

 

The Fw 190 A-7 will be opened up and in disrepair. It will be nested under a makeshift Luftwaffe canopy with a group of mechanics, tools, and parts including a new engine in a wooden crate. 
 

Makeshift Luftwaffe canopy:
 

 

 

I plan on going with the scheme flown by Rolf Hermichen. Rotenburg, Germany. March 1944 for the A-7. I love how light in color it is. Should hopefully show tons of details with the right weathering techniques. As you can see, I have opted for a plethora of after market parts for the A-7:
 

 

 

 

 

The Fw 190 D-9 will be in complete functioning order. It will be situated in front of the repair area on a dirt airstrip. 

 

Luftwaffe dirt/grass airstrip:

 

 

I plan on going with the D-9 flown by Gunter Syed. Uetersen, Germany. May 1945 

 

 

 

The schemes I chose are primarily on uniqueness. Majority of Fw190 that I see are pretty dark in color, and I thought it would be fun to do a few lighter ones. 
 

All kits pictured are 1/48 and listed below:

 

•Eduard Fw 190 A-7 Kit
•Eduard Brassin Fw 190A-7 Engine and Guns
•Eduard Brassin Fw 190A landing flaps
•Eduard Brassin Fw 190A Wingroot Gun Bays
•Eduard Look Fw 190 A-7
•Eduard Fw 190 D-9 Kit
•Eduard Brassin Fw 190 A-4 engine
•Tamiya Kubelwagen Type 82
•Tamiya German aircraft power supply unit & Kettenkraftrad
•Tamiya German tank crew & field maintenance set
•Tamiya brick wall, sandbag, & barricade set
•ICM Luftwaffe ground personnel
•ICM Luftwaffe pilots & ground personnel
•MiniArt German fuel drums
•MiniArt German Jerry cans
•MiniArt Field workshop
•MiniArt Wooden barrels 

 

This build will likely take me 2 months or so from start to finish. I plan on doing two 12”x12” diorama squares that will come together seamlessly for photos, but still function fine on their own. My display shelf restricts me to the size I have decided to go with.

[mick]

will follow your build

[sandros]

Quite busy project. In 2 months time, I wouldn't open the kits boxes...... BTW, very nice reference photos. Good Luck with this!

[Thom216]

Plenty of goodies going into those! Will be peeking in around the corner!

[Popkaz]

Dude, that is some ambition I wish I had to courage to show. I always wanted to do a diorama one day like you plan to do, and I admire the amount of details and goodies you plan to put in.

 

Don't mind me then, I'll take a seat in the corner and I'll be as quite as told, but can't wait to see the progress

[GTZIM]

9 hours ago, mick said:

will follow your build

 

8 hours ago, sandros said:

Quite busy project. In 2 months time, I wouldn't open the kits boxes...... BTW, very nice reference photos. Good Luck with this!

 

3 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Plenty of goodies going into those! Will be peeking in around the corner!

 

2 hours ago, Popkaz said:

Dude, that is some ambition I wish I had to courage to show. I always wanted to do a diorama one day like you plan to do, and I admire the amount of details and goodies you plan to put in.

 

Don't mind me then, I'll take a seat in the corner and I'll be as quite as told, but can't wait to see the progress

 

Thank you all for showing interest! I hope I’m able to keep you entertained! 

[GTZIM]

Here is the cockpit for the A-7 as well as the fuselage setup to receive some paint in a few days. I have chosen to go the PE route over the decal route. Additionally, I have aftermarket painted resin gauge clusters for this kit. They look very very detailed, and I am excited to use it. I did not prep any engine components for the A-7 as that will all also be aftermarket. I suspect I will be cutting away at the A-7 fuselage in the coming week to get it all to fit right.
 

 

On to the D-9. I have prepped the cockpit, fuselage, and a small section of the engine bay (firewall I believe it's called) for paint. I am going the PE route on this cockpit and will not be using the supplied decals.
 

 

These are both the first Eduard kits I have done. First impressions are, the plastic is not as clean as I would like. I am having to remove excess plastic in some areas that I didn't think I would. Between the two kits, the A-7 kit seems a bit more friendly.

[colin]

You tend to find this on older Eduard kits, especially on the smaller parts. The D9 is not helped, imho, being designed to have the hatches for the guns as being open  

[GTZIM]

20 hours ago, colin said:

You tend to find this on older Eduard kits, especially on the smaller parts. The D9 is not helped, imho, being designed to have the hatches for the guns as being open  

Thanks for pointing that out! I had no idea the D9 was that much older of a kit.

[GTZIM]

Slight change in plans. I might do 1 plane in the tent, and one just outside pulled up to it. Both will be receiving work and be opened up. Seems silly to have all these details sealed away! What do you all think? 
 

Got a few things done last tonight.

 

Opened up the Eduard Brassin Fw 190A-7 Engine aftermarket box and started working on it.

 

Left - Resin part from AM kit. Right - Plastic that came with the kit.. Night and day difference!

 

 

After getting a few things glued up including the engine strut and acouple PE parts:

 

 

Paint applied (XF-22):
 

 

Next thing I did for the A-7 was to cut away some of the fuselage to make room for the Eduard AM engine:
 

 

Lastly for the A-7, I got all of the interior base coated with XF-63 (XF-64 for the cushion):
 

 

Onto the D-9!

 

I did similar work to the D-9. Minus all the additional work to manufacture the engine firewall.

 

Base painted with XF-63:
 

 

All paints used and my painting setup:
 

 

Saturday at some point I will hopefully complete the cockpits for both birds. Stay tuned...

[GTZIM]

Last night I finished the cockpit for the D-9. I was hoping to get to the A-7 as well, but I ran outta time. 

 

D-9 cockpit:

 

To start off, the D-9 kit did not include a cushion for the pilot seat. I guess by this point in the war, comfort was no longer important lol. Anyways, I made one…
 

 

Completed D-9 cockpit:
 

 

 

The cockpit came together on the D-9 relatively well. I do find it interesting that Eduard had some of their cockpit PE parts painted, while others the instructions indicate I need to paint them…

[GTZIM]

I was able to complete the A-7 cockpit this afternoon. Went together similarly to the D-9, except I purchased the Eduard Look painted resin gauge cluster. It is extremely detailed as you can see below. 

I decided to make the A-7 cockpit more worn as the plane will be in need of heavy repair in my diorama. 

 

 

 

 

My next step will be the engine bay for both planes. The D-9 won’t have any engine components exposed as the kit did not come with an engine… But it will have the nose mounted machine gun area opened up. 

[GTZIM]

So over the past week, I got the nose mounted gun bay completed for the D-9. I painted all the metal parts with a range of Alclad paints. 

Photo while still open:
 

 

Photos after the two sections joined together: 

 

 

 

I have to admit… This part was quite challenging as there were several fitting issues.

 

Next up is the A-7 engine!