Focke Wolfe FW 190A-5
This kit has a reputation for being ''fiddly'', if not difficult. And, it all starts with the construction of the wheel wells. It took me working on this for a couple weeks, off and on, to get the wings closed up.
Cockpit in the fuselage. Took about a day from priming to complete.
Doing a rough test fit of the cowl to the assembled wing/fuselage joint. It's not bad. The cowl is a quickboost resin part. The fuselage took some unconventional thinking to get it aligned properly...then some force and thin superglue.
Lots of parts for an engine that won't be seen (not even including the exhaust). Every part had to be scraped due to flash.
Mounts and engine painted and installed. I could see where the engine mounts would give people some trouble.
Yup, the over complication of the wheel wells, fuselage, firewall and engine make this a bit tricky. There's nothing fatal about the construction, but even as careful as I was, it's still going to need more filler and sanding that I'd like.
Still needs the front part of the cowl installed.
Had to add a piece of card stock to push the nose piece out a bit further. Otherwise, the prop hub sat too far out in front of the cowling. That is a quick boost cowl, so maybe it's just a tiny bit too short. The other option was the kit cowl. Ugh.
the dash, gunfight, and windscreen are installed. Next to mask and start working on the seams.
With the windscreen and dash installed, it's starting to look like a FW.
All masked up and almost ready to prime. I need to scribe a few panel lines first, then it's ready.
Blew up the camo pattern in the instructions 187%, cut them out and put them on the model with Blu tac. Then it was time for RLM74.
Gloss applied.
The instructions want me to paint inside the white crosses in RLM74. I taped them to a business card and masked them.
The paint had a bit of a jagged edge when I pulled up the paint but when I sprayed decal border over the top, it becomes unnoticeable to the naked eye.
So far, I'm pretty pleased with the decals. I'm actually amazed at how well the decals that cover the exhaust area went down. t
Decals are done (see also previous four pictures). It's time to start working on the gear, guns and antennae.
Getting close. Need a little more work on the aerial, some chipping, and the prop installed.
Comments
21 August 2016, 02:46
Michael HickeySeems like you have it by the short and curlies now, looking good, can't wait to see her with a bit of colour. The gills look like there just engraved on the side of the fuselage when they should be open. Or do they give you parts for that area? Have you built a Dragon( Tri-Master ) Fw-190 and is this as troublesome as that kit.
23 August 2016, 07:16
Derek JordanMichael, the ''gills'' you are referring to, would they be open if the aircraft was parked? I'm not very familiar with the 190. That said, there is an option to open them and insert little photo etched pieces into them to simulate the open gill effect you describe. I've never built a 190 before, but I did just get the D-9 from Hobby Boss. In comparison it appears to be very clean and much more simple, like Hobby Boss used the Eduard kit as a lesson in what not to do. If I didn't already have a Stuka going, I would dive into it. I would think in short order I could get it to the point where I have the A-5.
23 August 2016, 18:30
Michael HickeyHi Derek, the "Gills" as far as I know are permanently open and never close. I've lost count on how many Butcher Birds I've built and all the kits I've built had the Gills molded on the side of the fuselage, and all my reference has shown that they don't move. So I would suggest that you use the PE to show them open. The purpose of the Gills is to let heat get away from the engine, as the fan at the front of the engine wasn't efficient enough. The prototype 190 had a much smaller opening at the front of the engine and when it was taken out for its maiden flight the engine caught on fire.
23 August 2016, 22:10
Derek JordanMichael, that's interesting info. Thank you. I can say that I'm now more confused than before. When you mentioned it, I did some googling. I looked at about 4 "real" FW190A models on scale mates and wiki. They were all either museum displayed or what looked like a static display at an airshow. They all had those louvers closed. I felt pretty good about leaving them like that, until you said they're supposed to be open. I'll probably still leave them closed, either way. This model has been a a bit of a headache, and I'm just starting the real body work.
24 August 2016, 03:38
Michael HickeySorry for the confusion Derek. They varied in style on the early Fw's changing style a few times. It was on the A-5 they have a non moving louver, trust me it is supposed to be open but I respect your decision to leave them as they are. I have a few of these kits put away in my stash and was hoping it would be easier than the Dragon kit to build. Eduard should have followed Tamiya's way of doing the cowl as one piece.
24 August 2016, 05:37
Derek JordanThose pictures above are supposedly of the A-5. They are closed, though.
24 August 2016, 13:46
Derek JordanGoogling around for other pictures of the A-5 show plenty of images where those ''gills'' *seem* to be closed on the actual aircraft. Like I said, I don't have any real substantive knowledge of the 190, but from what I can tell these gills seem to be like cowl flaps on many other radial engine aircraft, in that they can be opened under certain conditions, typically those with the engine running at relatively low speed. Either way, I don't think it's an accuracy issue to leave them as molded in the closed position, though I might argue that if they are like cowl flaps, it would be *generally* incorrect to have them open in the parked configuration.
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24 August 2016, 16:32
Trude BarkhornThe "gills" are shutters that open and close to regulate the flow of cooling air over the engine.
26 August 2016, 00:35
Michael HickeyOn the A-2, A-3 & A-4 they were just slits in the side of the fuselage. From the A-5 they have the shutter, I never new that they moved open and closed on all the Fw-190's I've built Tri-Master, Dragon, Tamiya and Pro-Modeller they are all in the open position , and in the photos that I have there all open. I guess you learn something new everyday. Thanks for clearing that up Trude.😄
26 August 2016, 02:13
Michael HickeyLove that nose, and the shading on the underside looks great. Can't wait to see more colour.👍
27 August 2016, 00:02
Michael HickeyGood to see you using home made masks, I do the same when I do my Fw's it gives you a nice tight feathered edge.
27 August 2016, 13:45
Derek JordanMichael, blowing up the instructions as a camo mask is just too easy not to do.
27 August 2016, 18:28
Derek JordanAlso, you might be interested in this link. It shows that the cooling vents turned from slots to louvers between the A-4 and A-5 version.
ipmsstockholm.org/ma..uff_eng_fw190_01.htm
27 August 2016, 20:12
Derek JordanThank you. I will probably be able to start on the decals tonight.
27 August 2016, 21:51
Michael HickeyYou've done a nice job with the decals. And thanks for the link very interesting.👍
28 August 2016, 12:36
Derek JordanThanks Michael. The decals are done on the wings/fuselage. Now, I just need to do all of the gear and antenna.
29 August 2016, 03:59
Derek JordanAlmost finished. I'm still getting some silvering like I did on Eduard's 109. That leads me to believe it's either something I'm doing, or something Eduard is doing. On my end, I bought new microsol/set. I had about 1/4 of a bottle of each left. Maybe it went bad (doubtful, but I don't know what the issue is).
30 August 2016, 23:48
Michael HickeyLooking good, didn't seem to take that long, wish I could build that quick.
31 August 2016, 04:38
Derek JordanThanks Gents. I hate that for the second kit in a row I have had some atypical silvering issues. The common element has been Eduard kits/decals (well, and me). Maybe I'm doing something unusual, but geeze...it's not terrible, but it kills some of my enthusiasm for the rest of the build to throw the final coat of flat on and to find that there is silvering. It hurts even more on this one, as I went out of my way to make sure everything was going down better than usual with Microsol/set. I didn't want a repeat of the 109, but I got it.
1 September 2016, 20:55
Clifford KeeslerIt sure looks good to me. Sorry to hear about the decal problems. I had some minor issues with the decals on my P-51B, but got them sorted out. I have only to add the antenna wire and it will be finished. Pics soon.
1 September 2016, 21:00
Derek JordanMichael, I'm using Aqua gloss, same as I have for almost a year. That's why I'm perplexed. Nothing has changed in my process, at least nothing I can diagnose. The thing that is consistent is both are eduard kits and decals, but I've built a ton of eduard and haven't had trouble before.
2 September 2016, 03:51
Bart GoesaertI'd suggest to try the Daco Decal setting (normally I use medium, you also have soft and strong) ), only thing to keep in mind is that it can react/dissolve vallejo paint. I start with the painted layer, mostly even without a gloss coat, depends on the shininess of the paint. I tend to remove as much of the carrierfilm as possible. I make a base with a few drops of water on the model where the decal should go, then apply the decal and slide it in its place. With a wide flat brush I push the water from under the decal, from the middle to the outside till it's good. then again with the flat brush and a bit of decalsetting, I moisten the decal and apply some force so that it will fit in the raised/recessed details, it takes a few times till it is ok, but I prefer the slow way (see the top decals on my fouga build: Fouga magister Kinetic | Album by Silenoz (1:48)) there it wasn't possible to remove the carrierfilm)
2 September 2016, 07:14
Derek JordanThanks for the tips. I ordered a new batch of microset/sol, as the last two models that had issues with silvering were from those bottles. Maybe that is the problem? Who knows...but I'm getting rid of anything that could be the culprit. I'm still leaning heavily towards the issues being with the kit decals themselves.
2 September 2016, 16:51
Spanjaardtake some big piece of old discarded model, paint it as usual, take some decals from your spare box, that worked ok before and some edudard decal (if any alternative left from the two previous problematic models) and set both decals exactly in the same way, if there is a difference in results, then is the decals.
it is just an idea, and it can give you at least some peace of mind. good luck
3 September 2016, 15:25
