1/48 Tamiya Fw190 A-8/R2

[rowmk9]

My SR-71 build has been troubling me of late, and whilst I'm waiting to order some more filler I wanted to crack on with a kit that with luck should need very little - if any!

Here is Tamiya's Focke-Wulf 190 A-8/R2 kit and I'm hoping to have a bit of fun with this one. In terms of accuracy it has been edged by the Eduard kit but it is my understanding that it is still the easier to build, due to the simplified construction.

I'm very tempted to model one with the additional bulletproof glass on the canopy. It makes the 190 look mean and ready to take on some Boeings.

Will post sprue pics when I get stuck into the kit tomorrow

Edited May 18, 2011 by rowmk9

[Jasonb13]

Looks nice Rowan, sorry to hear about the problems with the SR-71!

J.

[jacksdad]

A Sturm Wurger!!

[rowmk9]

I'm trying to put the SR-71 to the back of my mind for now Jason, it's in the naughty corner!

Indeed Jacksdad, I will be building a full beans Sturmbock variant of the Fw 190. I've settled on Wilhem Moritz's machine from IV/JG3 in August 1944. By pure coincidence it is the same unit as the Fw 190D-9 I just built.

Here's a nice profile from the side of the tatty looking box

The mottle is fairly small and in a tight pattern so this will challenge my cheapo airbrush to the max. I'll give it a go though!

Here are some not-so-great shots of the sprues.

As you can see, there is a fair amount of stores that wont be used (so thats something for the spares pile )

Edited May 9, 2011 by rowmk9

[jacksdad]

Are you going to go to town on the weathering?

All Sturmgruppe aircraft to a hell of pounding, as you can imagine.

Steve

[rowmk9]

Are you going to go to town on the weathering?

All Sturmgruppe aircraft to a hell of pounding, as you can imagine.

Steve

Well I tend to overdo my weathering anyway so yes is the answer to your question!

There's probably some pcitures of the aircraft in question, so I'll have a look through my books and the interweb and see if I can get a look at the real thing.

[jacksdad]

Any help?

Steve

[rowmk9]

Ooh thanks very much indeed! the bottom one in particular is the aircraft in the exact scheme I'll be doing.

[rowmk9]

I've made a start on her today.

The cockpit went together very quickly and was a simple affair. RLM66 all around then highlighted with grey. Then it was picking out the details and placing on the instrument panel decal. I did put in some very rudimentary masking tape seatbelts, so that is I suppose the only bit of 'extra' I've added. The kit does come with a seatbelt decal so it's not like there isn't an option to add one,

And the fuselage halves together

And here the extra armour plating is placed on. Tamiya supply a self adhesive sticker to represent this. I think that under some paint it might do the trick quite well

And the engine drybrushed and awaiting some dirtying up.

[Jasonb13]

Great start Rowan, it's looking nice! I'll have to make myself a FW190 one of these days!

J.

[Moofles]

looking damn good there, will you be using the pilot, or will you have the pit open to display?

[rowmk9]

The pilot is having the afternoon off for this one. I'm undecided if I'll have the canopy open or closed yet

[rowmk9]

Great start Rowan, it's looking nice! I'll have to make myself a FW190 one of these days!

J.

yeah go for it Jason, I should be running a GB on the type sometime next year

[_H_]

Nice work Rowan. Once again I'm really looking forward to seeing this one come together.

I may well have some photo's in my Sturmgruppe book at home. I'll have a look later.

Howard

[rowmk9]

Thanks for the comments guys

A fair amount of progress with it today.

Wings are on, as is the cowling and gun cowl. the fit around the wing joint is actually not that great. Having bought some new filler I've done my usual hodge podge job at trying to fix it. It's difficult to get in against the joint with the 20mm cannon in the way.

Silver applied to areas that will have some masking fluid dabbed on with a sponge to produce scratches.

Preshading around panel lines

RLM04 yellow on the cowling. I'll mask this off and start painting the RLM76. The paint scheme is typical mid-war Luftwaffe, RLM74/75/76. No confusion like the last Focke Wulf I built!

[Jasonb13]

Great work Rowan, you're flying through it! I wish I had the time / tools / skills to do such a good job so quickly...

J.

[FalkeEins]

here's a better view of the pic in post #7. With the kit decals you could also do Moritz's earlier Sturmjäger (July 44) with the black cowl and rear fuselage band..

[rowmk9]

Ok so a fair bit of progress so far. I would have updated yesterday but I was out in the evening. I've sprayed the camo colours on now and the mottling. I do feel that I could have done better with a better airbrush. Something to save up for perhaps...

Anyway, here is the photo proof!

underside RLM 76 done and RLM 75 applied to the wings and tail only. I do the upper fuselage later along with the mottle pattern.

RLM 74 applied and masking removed

Upper fuselage camo and mottle applied. notice how the masking fluid has been removed (via a pencil eraser) and the underlying silver is revealed. There is more masking fluid yet to be removed, but don't worry it wont look too scratched.

the other side. The front part of the canopy has quite obviously been put in place. Tamiya provide masks for both the smaller and larger side window type, depending on how much armoured glass the aircraft has, which is a nice touch. This aircraft has the added armour.

As can be seen, I stuck with the kit scheme as although Moritz's Black nosed 190 is possible from the box, I had already commited to painting the underside cowl yellow and didn't fancy undoing all that work. I see Moritz's other 190 is the option on the Eduard Weekend Edition of the A-8/R2 so maybe one day I'd do a comparison.

Next up, masking the area where the fuselage balkenkreuz's go, because they are the white outline type but infilled with RLM 74.

Edited May 11, 2011 by rowmk9

[rowmk9]

The build continues...

I tried something new and it didn't work out too well. Luckily it was easily fixable.

First the blue-tac 'masking' went on where the balkenkreuz would go

then a touch of assistance from Chloe to put the masking tape around the blue tac and a trip to the paintshop.

It sort of looked ok before the decal went on but I did have some RLM 74 in the wrong place so it had to be remedied.

A little touch up here, a little respray there...

and the result, after a bit of fiddling was quite pleasing.

And the current state of the model, with most of the decals in place. I've added a few more scratches on the airframe after studying the photograph a little closer. Also I'll need to add a few RLM 74 mottle patches near the gun cowl and armour to finish that bit. I toned down the other mottles by misting over RLM 76 and will do the same with the new mottling when I get round to it.

[Jasonb13]

That's looking excellent Rowan, great paint job! Can't believe it's only taken you 6 days, very very impressive!

J.

[rowmk9]

Thanks Jason! I've had the week off so I've had alot of time to focus on it

Anyway, for this post I'll concentrate on the canopy as this Focke Wulf 190 has the extra armoured glass and the rear part is heavily paint chipped, it is quite eye catching in the photograph and a focal point of the entire model.

So, on with the Tamiya supplied masks (they were outlined on the sheet but I had to cut them to the correct shape with a knife.

Then the internal colour of RLM 66 was painted on. The paint had to be quite 'dry' for this as it was going onto bare plastic and has no primer to bite into.

Then the silver layer was painted.

Then art masking fluid was dabbed lightly on with a bit of sponge making sure to get the edges as much as possible. Then this was covered in the top coat of RLM 74

Then I took a pencil rubber and lightly rubbed off the masking fluid to reveal the paint chips.

...and finally the armoured glass and headrest was added to complete it.

And here's a pic of how the model looks with it the canopy in place. To be fair I've done quite alot on the model too and it is almost finished. Should be done by Sunday evening I suspect as the biggest bit left to do is the drop tank.

Edited May 14, 2011 by rowmk9

[Jasonb13]

Now that's nice Rowan! Love the chipping effect, and like you say, with the way the canopy is on the Fw190, it's a real focal point. What masking fluid are you using?

J.

[rowmk9]

Thanks!

I use this stuff though humbrol maskol might work as well. I got it in a local art shop.

A strong whiff of ammonia greets you everytime you open the bottle. Lovely stuff...

[Jasonb13]

Quick repsonse, thanks! I'll have to keep an eye out for it if I'm ever doing chipping. Would it work for masking canopies as well ( instead of tape )? I use some of Winsor & Newton's stuff already, their Acrylic Flow Improver works well with Revell's Aqua Colour paints and their Matt UV Varnish does exactly what it says on the bottle!

You gotta love the chemicals we get in modelling. I was putting on some superglue to hold the canopies open on my A-10 when my left eye started watering and stinging a lot. It took me a minute to realise that I was focusing so much on the brush with the glue on it that I hadn't realised I was holding the open superglue bottle in my other hand about 2 inches under my eye!

J.

[rowmk9]

that was clever! I've lost count of the number of times I've done silly things when modelling. I really should invest in some superglue debonder sometime....

I think the fluid would work for masking canopies but only if there was a definate ridge for the fluid to pool in. It dries clear so it would take a brave pill to go at a canopy with paint afterwards. It might also leave a jagged edge to the outline. It can be useful for difficult shapes/areas to mask with. I use it in conjunction with masking tape, filling in the areas that the tape struggles with.

Edited May 14, 2011 by rowmk9