VintageEagle

Thanks Jack for your recommendations. I tried a hot water bath last night and it did indeed work. I only needed the windshield ca 0.5-1.0mm wider at the base and I am glad that it worked. I guess if I had to stretch/deform it more, a hot water bath would not have been the solution, but the epoxy you recommended. Cheers Roger

Hello, the windshield of my Revell 1/32 Fw 190 is slightly less wide that the fuselage. If I stretch it by hand, it fits, but I don’t want to use CA glue and fear that it will either not stay in place or snap back later. Is there a good way to slightly bend/stretch clear parts? Warm water bath? Cheers Roger

Finally, the cockpit has been married with the fuselage :-) The cover above the upper instrument panel was a bit tricky as it is not wide enough to fit into the slots on each fuselage side. I first tried to force it into place, but that did not really work and I then found out, the windshield would not have space anyways like that. The best way was to glue the front face to the backside of the gun compartment. It took me some glue and patience, but it did work finally. I'll be faster and more accurate with my 2nd Fw 190 that I am building. The rear part of the cockpit tub was a bit too short. I had another Eduard cockpit I used for test fitting and that one was a bit longer. I assume it is due to shrinking of the resin parts over time. Anyways, the good thing is that the gap in the rear will be completely covered by the canopy and not visible at all. I then started experimenting for the next part I am focusing on: the rudder. I was not happy with the way how Revell moulded the rudder and I sanded it to get a smooth surface. To add texture I used my Cricut machine to create masks. I tested it on a spare 190 fuselage. I applied the masks, then a layer of Mr. Surfacer, I then removed the masks and sanded the surface smooth. The original 190 rudder has some textile strips that were glued over the ribs. The surface is also a bit irregular along narrow stripes underneath the fabric covering (maybe glue?). I tested how 1) leaving the surface, 2) adding a decal stripe for some contour and 3) adding first a thin irregular line of putty (first masked the thin line, then added the putty) and on top of it a stripe of decals. I quite like the result and will go for it. The only thing I will do differently is to use a slightly thinner layer of Mr. Surfacer. Below are some photos I took with my smart phone. No fancy background. Cheers, Roger

Thank you Antonio for these excellent photos. In these photos, the material looks slightly darker than the color I used. I may repaint it, but on the photos I took the color looks more brighter and more yellowish than in reality (probably due to the blue background). The Ta 152 cockpit had a relatively bright color (see below) Cheers, Roger I assume that the original color turned darker over time and that it was more of a linen color originally.

D.B., Thank you I will try my best not to breach the rules! Cheers, Roger

Finally, I completed the last part before I can close the fuselage and move on: the cover above the instrument panel. When I looked at wartime photos, I noticed that there are six nuts (2x3) visible on the top of the cover near the opening for the Revi 16B gunsight. These are not present on the Eduard cover. Therefore, I added them using Archer rivets. I used them for the first time and I must say they are great and it worked without a problem. I had to repeat the first attempt, but it was my own fault. After I painted the rivets, I applied tape on top of it when masking the leather frame. When I removed the tape, the rivets stuck to it and I had to start over again. But next time, I was more careful and it worked perfectly. I highlighted the nuts with a thin brush and used a dark grey wash. Fw 190 D-11 cockpit where nuts can be seen on both side of the Revi 16B Eduard part with Archer rivets on the left side and Revel part on the right side Completed cover Other side (slightly out of focus, but I am using an iPhone for the photos as I don't have a camera with a macro lens) Next step was to paint the leather (on later versions it was a synthetic material and not leather). I checked many references to decide what color to use. I found brown, black, dark grey, greenish grey, light grey and beige. The Ta 152 H that still exists today for example has a beige material. I found a photo of a Fw 190 A-8 that also had a very lightly colored material. The first aircraft I will complete is the Fw 190 A-8. I found a color photo of an aircraft that was only few aircraft apart from the subject that I plan to build and that one had a beige material: Therefore, I decided to paint it beige as well. It gives a bit of contrast and looks quite attractive. Finally, I painted the inside of the fuselage around the cockpit (RLM 66), exhaust area (black) and tail wheel (bare metal): That's it for now. I have some respect of the next step: joining the fuselage and cockpit. I don't know if it is better to attach cockpit and cover to one side first and then joining the fuselage. Or joining the fuselage first and then adding the cockpit from below. I'll see and then can only hope that I don't do a big mistake that will evaporate all my motivation on this build.

Have you ever received 3D printed test parts? Would be excellent timing with the release of Revell’s 262a-1a last week.

Hello Chris, White 4 of III./EJG 2 was not Schreiber's aircraft. It had the serial number 170061. You are right that Revell got the serial number wrong. Cheers, Roger PS: I was informed today by the online store in Germany where I have preordered two kits that they expect deliveries from Revell this week and will start shipping orders by beginning of next week.

I assume it’s because it is a new kit. I am almost certain that the two-seater started with the same price two or three years ago.

It’s now available as of today from Revell Germany. And most likely also from other online shops. https://www.revell.de/produkte/produktneuheiten/me262-a-1-jetfighter.html

No, not if you are interested in details. The instrument panel is different as well as some of the side console devices.

It’s due this week according to Revell and I assume the online shop above indicates that it is available already to have some competitive advantage vs other shops. I assume that’s the reason why it says delivery time 6-10 days and not 1-3 days.

Not the cockpit unfortunately. I was hoping for a resin upgrade, but I think Eduard has PE parts only (cockpit and fuselage).

Revell’s Me 262 A-1a will become available later this week and I was wondering if any company has announced some aftermarket parts already. Especially cockpit upgrades.

Hello Sophie, have you glued the cockpit (and the cover underneath the windshield) to one fuselage half first and then to the other when you closed the fuselage? Or have you first closed the fuselage and then glued the cockpit into place from below? I am at this step now and not sure what the best way is. I also have the Eduard cockpit. Cheers, Roger

Hi Radu, Sorry for my misinformation and thank you for correcting me! I never noticed it on the real aircraft and just assumed that there is no such "step". I should have checked my references first before posting. I am glad that no correction is required on the kit parts. Cheers, Roger

The aft part of the canopy has a distinctive step that was not present in the original. However, looking at the sprue shot, it seems that this "step" is moulded into the separate rear canopy part and not the fuselage. It should therefore be relatively easy to sand it off.

There are some new photos incl. a sprue photo published by Revell here: https://www.revell.de/produkte-revell/produktvorschau/me262-a-1-jetfighter.html The fuselage is a completely new part. See the comparison below (first the A-1, then the B-1):

Revell has updated their page today and the Me 262 now appears under the "Preview" section. The indicated delivery week is week 29, which corresponds to 15 to 20 July. There are also some new photos. It can now be preordered via the Revell page: https://www.revell.de/produkte-revell/produktvorschau/me262-a-1-jetfighter.html

I thought that anodizing can only be done with aluminium and not steel, but I am not expert. I continued to paint the fuselage inside. I left the inside bare metal. And I painted one fork in RLM 02 (looks darker in the photo than it actually does; this is for my Fw 190 A-8) and will paint another one in dark brown (this is for my Fw 190 F-8 White 48). Here is a comparison of the new position of the tail wheel assembly with is slightly more up in the fuselage. The difference is not huge, but it corresponds much better with most wartime photos I have seen of Fw 190s.

D.B. Thank you. I am not sure that I have seen a landing gear painted RLM 66 before, but it may well be. I I checked photos of the NASM's Ta 152 and it too seems to have a fork that has a dark brown metallic finish (it may be rust, but I don't think so): Here is photo of Fw 190 F-8 Green 5 at Ansbach (Source: private collection). It too had a very dark fork. It looks almost black. It was definately not RLM 02 nor lightgrey as found on other aircraft. I have yet to see a fork in RLM 66. Jerry Crandall wrote me today that he once owned an original fork that had no signs of paint, but had a dark bronze metal finish. I therefore tend to believe that the fork of 'White 48' was most likely also dark brown.

I found another photo of Yellow 8 at Ansbach, this time in color. Even though it is not very sharp, the color of the fork appears to be RLM 02 in this shot. So maybe it only looked dark in the b/w photo as it was in the shadow underneath the fuselage. (Source:criticalpast.com)

Here are some more photos. First, a photo of the tail wheel of 'White 48' when it was at Namur. You can see the very dark color. Compare it to the black boots of the solider. (Source: Hideki Noro, LO+ST).: Another example of this dark tail wheel fork can be found on Fw 190 A-8 Yellow 8 captured at Ansbach (Source: http://www.354thpmfg.com/galleries_wwlouie_pt5.html): Then the photo of the recovered Fw 190 D-9 tail wheel fork from lake Schwerin (Source: http://www.daedalus-berlin.de/Fw190D9_fahrwerk.htm): And another example of such a dark brownish finish can be found on the Fw 190 at the Belgrad museum (unfortunately, I could only find a low quality shot; Source: http://axis.classicwings.com): I tend to believe that these dark looking forks were not painted, but had this dark brown metallic surface finish. I assume that it was some kind of protective layer that was electrochemically created, but I am not an expert on surface treatment technologies in WWII. Any thoughts?

OK, the cockpit side walls are painted, but I am struggling a bit with the tail wheel. I studied different wartime b/w and color photos and found that there were tail wheel forks painted in RLM 02, lightgrey and a very dark looking color, which may not have been paint but the surface of the cast metal. Here’s an example of the fork of the Fw 190 D-9 that was recovered from lake Schwerin: http://www.daedalus-berlin.de/Fw190D9_fahrwerk.htm White 48 at Lippstadt had such a dark fork and I am not sure what color I should use. Is there a Fw 190 expert who knows the answer? Also, I believe the inside of the fuselage at the tail wheel was left bare metal, but it us very hard to find good wartime reference material. Can anyone help? Roger

Time flies. I cannot believe that I started this build in 2017. Anyways, the fuselage halves are finally complete. I have summarized below all the changes I made. One thing that took me a while to figure out was the correct position of the tail wheel. Built out of the box, it extends too far out of the fuselage. On 90%+ photos I have seen of wartime Fw 190 the tail wheel does not extend as much and therefore I have decided to reposition it. I finally decided to add a new pin-hole to have the required strength of the assembly. Also, on the Revell kit the fuselage near the tail wheel has a fictitious shape that I filled with CA and sanded smooth. But now everything is ready to add paint to the inside to then finally add the cockpit and close the fuselage halves.