VintageEagle

Hi Peter, many thanks for your kind comments! Cheers, Roger Hi John, thank you very much! I have been a close follower of your Bf 109 and Fw 190 builds. They are among the best I have ever seen. I used a RB riveter wheel (0.75mm) for most rivets, a riveter punch tool for the larger rivets on and around the wing main spar (I think it is a jeweler tool, most likely the one that you also use) and for individual rivets a scribing tool with a pointed metal tip. I'd say 60% of the work was studying photos and documents to figure out the pattern. Cheers, Roger

Finally! Riveting of the wing's upper and lower surfaces is complete. To get the rivet pattern as close to the original as possible, I used photos from actual aircraft, original spare parts manual and even original Focke Wulf riveting instructions. Most of the rivet pattern won't be visible well once the aircraft is painted, but it gives me peace of mind to know that the pattern is close to the original pattern. I added the landing flap indicator hole as well as the control link inspection holes on the upper surface. I still need to install the MG 151 covers on the upper surface, but the two pin holes are already drilled. I also added the rivets to the leading edge, which was a bit a challenge due to the bent surface. Next will be the landing gear bay where I will use a combination of Eduard P/E and Revell parts. I won't use all of Eduard's P/E parts as in my opinion some of them a) don't fit well and b) don't resemble the original parts. One other challenge I have is the cover of the outboard MG 151 canons. They are not moulded into the Revell kit parts, but Revell just asks you to drill a hole into the leading edge (as the wing was made for the original Fw 190 F-8 kit that didn't have these outboard canons). The original covers look like the one in the last photo below. EagleParts offers such covers in 1/32, but they need to be glued on top of the leading edge, while the original cover was flush with the leading edge. I'll therefore try to scribe the panel lines (difficult around a bent surface) and to build the parts myself using a plastic tube and some filler. If that won't give the results I hope for, I'll go with the EagleParts cover and will try to sand it a bit thinner. Still a lot to do, but finally a different task ahead than the hours of riveting and one big step closer to complete assembly to start painting. Cheers, Roger

I have almost completed riveting both wing upper and lower surfaces. Only some details to be done (pictures hopefully in a few days from now). One thing where I am stuck are the leading edges. I have seen photos and manual drawings that show inner ribs (see photo below, the leading edge is in the center in front of the wing). However, the rivets are hard to see on photos and most modelers who have riveted a Fw 190 have not added any rivets to the leading edges. I have added a photo where you can see the rivets below. Does anybody have a better picture of the leading edge (inside and outside where the rivets can be seen)?

Great choice! The 190 is one of my favorite planes and I have studied it in detail for my 1/32 build. I’ll help with information where I can.

Have you 3D printed these parts? Haven't seen any update since last summer. I hope these parts will become available.

OK, thank you. I'd be interested in two Revell 1/32 Fw 190 gears. Just that I understood it correctly: will the landing gear be shipped completely assembled or will only the metal parts and plastic ring be send and the modeller has to do the assembly? Thanks, Roger

Hi Damian, You could use my website/shop for offering the landing gear parts until your own page is ready. https://vintageeagle.com/product-category/all-categories/ Cheers, Roger

Thanks! Where are they available?

Will there also be legs for the Revell 1/32 Fw 190 and Me 262? Where will they be offered for sale?

Hi there, I am an extremely slow builder, but I finally made a little more progress and managed to install the windshield. Some putty was needed but finally all went well. On the real 190 there were some frames on the lower windshield that connected it with the fuselage. I have added self-adhesive paper strips. The advantage is that you get a nice panel line. I’ll add primer over the weekend. Next is riveting of the wings. Cheers, Roger

Great subject. You have to be careful with the canopy/cockpit wall edges. They were different on the trainer and nightfighter. It could be a challenge to modify the Revell kit to become a trainer version.

Are there any new detail sets besides the Eduard P/E parts announced for Jan 2020? Is there an update regarding the metail landing gear?

Thank you for your suggestion. I haven't contacted them, but will check their 190 and contact details. BR, Roger

Hi D.B., Thank you for the pointer. I don't have this book yet in my library and will check it out. I found a photo of an unpainted wing of the Fw 190 replicas in a book, but the resolution is too low to see all details. BR, Roger

Hello everyone, I am looking for good photos that show the rivet pattern on the top and bottom wing surfaces. I have drawings and partial close-ups, but not really a good photo that allows me to check the accuracy of the rivet pattern shown in some drawings. The best photo I could find is a wing shot of the unrestored Fw 190 D-13 wing in one of Jerry Crandall's excellent Fw 190 D books. Can anyone tell me where to find good shots? Thanks! Roger

I’d take at least 4 as well!

A Me 262? There were NMF Me 262s and also a 1/18 kit as a starting point

Beautiful!

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.