1/32 Revell Fw 190 F-8 & A-8: Working on the wheel wells!

[Shawn M]

nice clean work

[VintageEagle]

Good evening,

 

Thank you all for your kind comments. Visually not a huge update, but I have added a flat coat and a clear coat to the instrument faces. I have also added a bit of more contrast to the leather cushions.

 

I must have used the wrong thinning or wrong distance when applying the flat coat as I got a bit of frosting on the surface. I used ca. 50:50 thinning with Mr. Leveling Thinner. Fortunately, it could be fixed by adding a wet layer of pure Mr. Leveling Thinner. I am quite happy with the result.

 

Next will be adding the missing bits and pieces: control stick, levers, handles, throttle, gunsight, etc. After that I'll paint the inside of the fuselage (both cockpit and tail wheel area) before I either directly join the fuselage halves or first add riveting. But I am not sure if I should not make it too difficult for the first build and leave the riveting for my next build.

 

One thing I noticed with the Eduard cockpit set. The late production headrest of Eduard has a half circle shape like on the early production headrests. White 48, however, had a circular headrest. I will have to fix this one, but that's something I will do last.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2017 by VintageEagle

[Gazzas]

Unbelievably sharp details!

[monthebiff]

Nice work Roger, very nice detail painting indeed. Have you tried fitting the complete cockpit into the fuselage halves yet? I found the foward fuse would not close up when I did which took a while to work  out why but its the lower instrument panel causing it due to being around 5-6mm taller in height. 

 

Hope that helps your build and keep up the great work.

 

Regards. Andy

[nmayhew]

Great build Roger!

 

I reviewed your book waaay back btw - maybe you remember?

 

Anyway, I posted a question about one of the Fw190 decal subjects in another thread on here - I would be grateful for your thoughts if you have a moment?

 

Kind regards

 

Nick

[VintageEagle]

Good evening,

 

Time flies. I spent several evenings on the fantastic RB Productions pilot belts. In my opinion, they look more realistic than the HGW belts, even though those are great too. Only a few remarks for improvement:

 

• Late production belts were of synthetic material and had a greenish color and not the yellow/brownish color of earlier belts. It would be great if Radu would consider adding those colours as well. I'd be his first customer 
• The manual confuses the left and right buckles on the belly belts (at least based on the Luftwaffe cockpit photos I had available as a reference). The "male" buckle would be on the belt without the small brown triangle on top (which in reality would cover the female buckle once the pilot is buckled) and the "female" buckle (that is slightly bent in ca. 45 degree and not 90 degree as per instructions) would be covered by the small brown triangle. The triangle goes up to the point where the buckle is bent by 45 degree. 

 

I only noticed this after I had already started assembling the belts. The "male" and "female" belts are correctly installed on my belts, but I think in my cockpit the left belt should be on the right side and vice versa. A detail that nobody will notice, but I thought it is worth mentioning here. 

 

The stitching of the belts is added by a small saw-tooth edge in the photo etched frame holding the belts. After adding a light brown wash, they are well visible and look very realistic. 

 

The only "accident" happened when I added too much superglue to the left belly belt so that parts of it was pushed outside onto the seat cushion and is now slightly visible. 

 

I have also added some additional small painting details on the consoles. 

 

Nick, thank you very much. I have posted a reply in your thread. Meanwhile, I have checked the original photo and I am pretty certain that the original lower wing panels were left in place.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

 

Edited October 4, 2017 by VintageEagle

[monthebiff]

Nice work on those belts Roger, agree they definately look better than the HGW items.

Keep up the good work.

 

Regards. Andy

[VintageEagle]

It's been a long time since my last update. I have been working slowly but steadily on the cockpit. I decided to two two cockpits simultaneously so that I can learn from the first and improve on the second. This will save time and avoid that I stop this build when something goes wrong as I will still have the 2nd one to complete. 

 

The cockpits are almost done including the upper instrument panels. I only have to add the belts to both. The belts are ready and waiting to be glued in place. I had removed the first belts as I was not completely happy with them (didn't paint the etched parts and they were too shiny; the shoulder belts were a bit too short) and have prepared a set of to new belts for both cockpits.

 

After that, I'll focus on the cover of the upper instrument panel and then will finally be able to move on to the riveting of the fuselage. So, for now a quick teaser of how the cockpits look like (if you look carefully, you will see that they slightly differ from each other, one will be an A-8 and one an F-8 cockpit). The deviation tables on the right console, the control stick & wiring, the knob of the fuel lever, the emergency release handles for the bomb load (one in case of the A-8 and two for the F-8) and (not visible in the following photo yet) the button for the emergency power setting of the engine were built from scratch. The rest is Eduard.

 

More photos to come once the belts are in place and the cockpit complete.

 

Cheers,

Roger

 

Edited February 21, 2018 by VintageEagle

[Shawn M]

gorgeous work

[VintageEagle]

Good evening,

 

OK, I call the cockpits done! Wow, that took me half a year.... But I am quite happy with the result. Now, if only the rest of the plane works out like that I would be happy with my first build in 20 years.

 

As mentioned before, I added the following from scratch:

 

• Deviation tables right console
• Handles for emergency release of bomb load (one handle for the A-8, two for the F-8)
• Emergency power button on upper instrument panel
• Knob on fuel **** lever
• The document strap and rudder pedal straps were made out of paper instead of the etched parts from Eduard
• I used control sticks from Quickboost and the column from Eduard (I drilled a hole into the sticks and glued them onto the columns

 

I used Mr. Color RLM 66 and Tamiya's flat coat as a finish.

 

Now, on to the cover of the upper instrument panel. I'll add some rivets and details. After that, riveting. 

 

All for now.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

 

 

[Gazzas]

Beautiful detail!

 

Gaz

[LSP_Kevin]

Impressive work, Roger!

 

Kev

[VintageEagle]

Thank you Gazzas and Kev!

[VintageEagle]

Good evening,

 

So, next is riveting. I have never done that before. I have a "Rosie the Riveter" tool for applying individual rivets and an RB Productions riveter wheel for applying rivets in a line. I tend towards the RB Productions riveter as it seems to save time with rivets of smaller (and more accurate?) diameter. 

 

Does anybody have any recommendation what not to do and what to do? 

 

Thanks!

 

Roger

[Gazzas]

I'm new to riveting. But I know every time I feel brave enough to go freehand, I regret it. DYMO tape, the kind used in those label makers, makes a nice straight edge that doesn't move, unlike a flexible ruler which seems to migrate. YMMV.

 

Good luck,

 

Gaz