VintageEagle

Small update, pending the move to the new house and therefore of a forced abstinence from modeling for a couple of months, I am trying to carry on and so yesterday after almost a year of stop and waiting to complete other models already started, I resumed the project of the two 109s in MTO.
I finally completed the cockpit of the F-4, closed the fuselage and attached the wings.
I'm ready for the primer on both 109s and then finally the fun part begins ..... the painting!
Dont see much after closing the fuselages but I enjoyed painting it and trying new techniques!
 
Sebastiano
   

 
 

Thanks Kevin!  Some of the "look" is due to unintended staining after the wash.  Since the HGW belts are fabric and somewhat absorbent, you really have to douse them with clear to make them non-absorbent but then you will lose the very subtle stitching details.  So I have learned to utilize this staining as part of the weathering process.
 
 
 
Thanks Mark!  I don't know about talent but I am passionate about this hobby.  I think the passion helps fuel the hours that I spend on my modeling bench obsessing over very small details.
 
 
 
Thanks Pete!  Yeah, the HGW belts are the best available, IMO.
 
 
 
Got it!  That one should be easy to add!  Thanks Johnie!
 
 
 
Thanks!  Are we sure about that?  FWIW, I am planning on painting the wheel wells a combination of metal shades and RLM 02.
 
The cockpit side walls aka "tube" have been glued into place. The fit wasn't the greatest here and I had to force some light contact areas together with CA glue.  The important thing is to not overlay force it into a shape that will throw off the fit of the fuselage halves.



 
 
The undersides of this assembly will be visible through the wheel wells.  I'm going to be painting the wheel wells in a combination of metal and RLM 02 Gray Green, some of which is already painted.

 
 
There is going to be some wiring work in this area so in preparation of that, I thought I'd try to create some lengths of bundled wiring.  I did this on my Trumpeter 262 build and since I used the Aires resin wheel well set, I'm going to use those details and photos of preserved 262's as references.  This upcoming work is not meant to be exact and complete... just want to add some complexity/business to the wheel well area. I'm going to test a 10-strand wiring bundle for starters.  I can add or delete if I need to but I want to see how it looks.  The wire is fine gauge copper wire that I stripped from a short length of Monster speaker cables.

 
 
The wiring is bundled using thin strips of aluminum tape.

 
 
The nice thing about making pre-bundled sets of wiring is that I can paint them separately with an airbrush and place them where needed.

 
 
This is the area where most of the wiring work will be done.  So I'm going to double check the fit of the cockpit tub and make sure I can do the wiring work on the fuselage sides without getting in the way of the fit of the cockpit tub.  Note the empty space between the cockpit and gun station bulkheads.  This is where a large fuel tank resides and could be a good place to add weights.

 
 
With the cockpit tub taped into place, the wing bottoms are attached and we can see that it all looks pretty good from up top.

 


 
 
Let's add the radar operator's instrument panel and radar box and check out the view into the cockpit from the light box.











 
 
Since I am going to rivet the model, this might be my next step since I don't want to damage any wiring work on the fuselage sides.
 
 

Hi John,
 
I am excited about your latest project. I have this one also, but haven't found the time yet to work on it. In the past few months my focus has turned to finishing my Captured Eagles Vol. 2 book. Anyways, what I never liked about both Revell's and Eduard's panels is that they are based on Me 262 A-1a panels and more specifically: early-production panel with color coding of a JG 7 aircraft. Most won't bother as the differences are not huge, but I always hoped that there would be a nice and correct aftermarket panel. 
 
 There was an attempt by a forum member to 3D print such parts, but I think in the end the resolution was not high enough: 
 
 
Instrument colors:
The red and white colors around the instrument dials was a typical feature of some JG 7 aircraft. Messerschmitt prepared a document with illustrations of how JG 7 has color-coded their instruments in a technical report from 1945 (I have a copy of that report that I copied at the NASM archives in Washington). I have only seen this type of color coding in cockpits of some JG 7 aircraft. Otherwise, the fuel related gauges were yellow in almost all late war production Me 262, but the temperature and rpm indicators had simple red lines on the respective limits.
 
Instruments:
Late war production models had a number of instruments missing. This was the result of an "Entfeinerung" effort towards the end of 1944, where as many parts as possible were removed in order to use less resources and a lower variety of different components. The jet engine differential pressure gauges, indicator for pitot tube heating in the blind flying panel and others were no longer installed. Careful study of the wartime photo of the Me 262 B panel (e.g. published in Smith/Creek's 4 volume book series; see below) helps determine which ones exactly. In the B-panel below there was just one fuel pressure gauge (yellow ring) and one oil pressure gauge (red-brown ring). The instrument to the right is a small voltage indicator that was inserted from behind. Then there is the auxiliary t&b indicator on the left of the temperature indicators. The temperature indicators have an unusually bright ring. I suspect it was white.
 
In addition, except for some early production Me 262s, the electrical indicators for the 4 MK 108 underneath the SZKK2 were never installed. The Me 262 B had a large repeater compass and not the small one of the A-1a. There, Eduard used the correct compass, but an incorrect shape of the blind flying panel. Eduard's panel is the one that was used in the Me 262 A-1 equipped as a bad weather fighter (FuG 125, autopilot) as documented by a wartime drawing and also a panel that was brought to the US. The nightfighter blind flying panel was made out of metal sheet (and not wood like in the bad weather fighter) and had a different shape. The lower edge consisted of straight lines and not a curved one. The nightfighter also had an additional 80mm instrument in a simple auxiliary panel attached to the lower edge of the main panel. I believe it was a double manifold pressure gauge to indicate the pressure difference of the two jet exhausts. The same instrument was used in the Ar 234 for example so that the pilot could easily determine if both engines had the same thrust. In the panel below there was a rectangular, late production rate of climb indicator, but the round one was more common.
 
But as I said at the beginning, most will not bother as the differences are small and a lot of effort would be involved to correct every detail. 
 
I am looking forward to your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger
 

 
 
 
 

Hi John,
 
I am excited about your latest project. I have this one also, but haven't found the time yet to work on it. In the past few months my focus has turned to finishing my Captured Eagles Vol. 2 book. Anyways, what I never liked about both Revell's and Eduard's panels is that they are based on Me 262 A-1a panels and more specifically: early-production panel with color coding of a JG 7 aircraft. Most won't bother as the differences are not huge, but I always hoped that there would be a nice and correct aftermarket panel. 
 
 There was an attempt by a forum member to 3D print such parts, but I think in the end the resolution was not high enough: 
 
 
Instrument colors:
The red and white colors around the instrument dials was a typical feature of some JG 7 aircraft. Messerschmitt prepared a document with illustrations of how JG 7 has color-coded their instruments in a technical report from 1945 (I have a copy of that report that I copied at the NASM archives in Washington). I have only seen this type of color coding in cockpits of some JG 7 aircraft. Otherwise, the fuel related gauges were yellow in almost all late war production Me 262, but the temperature and rpm indicators had simple red lines on the respective limits.
 
Instruments:
Late war production models had a number of instruments missing. This was the result of an "Entfeinerung" effort towards the end of 1944, where as many parts as possible were removed in order to use less resources and a lower variety of different components. The jet engine differential pressure gauges, indicator for pitot tube heating in the blind flying panel and others were no longer installed. Careful study of the wartime photo of the Me 262 B panel (e.g. published in Smith/Creek's 4 volume book series; see below) helps determine which ones exactly. In the B-panel below there was just one fuel pressure gauge (yellow ring) and one oil pressure gauge (red-brown ring). The instrument to the right is a small voltage indicator that was inserted from behind. Then there is the auxiliary t&b indicator on the left of the temperature indicators. The temperature indicators have an unusually bright ring. I suspect it was white.
 
In addition, except for some early production Me 262s, the electrical indicators for the 4 MK 108 underneath the SZKK2 were never installed. The Me 262 B had a large repeater compass and not the small one of the A-1a. There, Eduard used the correct compass, but an incorrect shape of the blind flying panel. Eduard's panel is the one that was used in the Me 262 A-1 equipped as a bad weather fighter (FuG 125, autopilot) as documented by a wartime drawing and also a panel that was brought to the US. The nightfighter blind flying panel was made out of metal sheet (and not wood like in the bad weather fighter) and had a different shape. The lower edge consisted of straight lines and not a curved one. The nightfighter also had an additional 80mm instrument in a simple auxiliary panel attached to the lower edge of the main panel. I believe it was a double manifold pressure gauge to indicate the pressure difference of the two jet exhausts. The same instrument was used in the Ar 234 for example so that the pilot could easily determine if both engines had the same thrust. In the panel below there was a rectangular, late production rate of climb indicator, but the round one was more common.
 
But as I said at the beginning, most will not bother as the differences are small and a lot of effort would be involved to correct every detail. 
 
I am looking forward to your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger
 

 
 
 
 

Hi John,
 
I am excited about your latest project. I have this one also, but haven't found the time yet to work on it. In the past few months my focus has turned to finishing my Captured Eagles Vol. 2 book. Anyways, what I never liked about both Revell's and Eduard's panels is that they are based on Me 262 A-1a panels and more specifically: early-production panel with color coding of a JG 7 aircraft. Most won't bother as the differences are not huge, but I always hoped that there would be a nice and correct aftermarket panel. 
 
 There was an attempt by a forum member to 3D print such parts, but I think in the end the resolution was not high enough: 
 
 
Instrument colors:
The red and white colors around the instrument dials was a typical feature of some JG 7 aircraft. Messerschmitt prepared a document with illustrations of how JG 7 has color-coded their instruments in a technical report from 1945 (I have a copy of that report that I copied at the NASM archives in Washington). I have only seen this type of color coding in cockpits of some JG 7 aircraft. Otherwise, the fuel related gauges were yellow in almost all late war production Me 262, but the temperature and rpm indicators had simple red lines on the respective limits.
 
Instruments:
Late war production models had a number of instruments missing. This was the result of an "Entfeinerung" effort towards the end of 1944, where as many parts as possible were removed in order to use less resources and a lower variety of different components. The jet engine differential pressure gauges, indicator for pitot tube heating in the blind flying panel and others were no longer installed. Careful study of the wartime photo of the Me 262 B panel (e.g. published in Smith/Creek's 4 volume book series; see below) helps determine which ones exactly. In the B-panel below there was just one fuel pressure gauge (yellow ring) and one oil pressure gauge (red-brown ring). The instrument to the right is a small voltage indicator that was inserted from behind. Then there is the auxiliary t&b indicator on the left of the temperature indicators. The temperature indicators have an unusually bright ring. I suspect it was white.
 
In addition, except for some early production Me 262s, the electrical indicators for the 4 MK 108 underneath the SZKK2 were never installed. The Me 262 B had a large repeater compass and not the small one of the A-1a. There, Eduard used the correct compass, but an incorrect shape of the blind flying panel. Eduard's panel is the one that was used in the Me 262 A-1 equipped as a bad weather fighter (FuG 125, autopilot) as documented by a wartime drawing and also a panel that was brought to the US. The nightfighter blind flying panel was made out of metal sheet (and not wood like in the bad weather fighter) and had a different shape. The lower edge consisted of straight lines and not a curved one. The nightfighter also had an additional 80mm instrument in a simple auxiliary panel attached to the lower edge of the main panel. I believe it was a double manifold pressure gauge to indicate the pressure difference of the two jet exhausts. The same instrument was used in the Ar 234 for example so that the pilot could easily determine if both engines had the same thrust. In the panel below there was a rectangular, late production rate of climb indicator, but the round one was more common.
 
But as I said at the beginning, most will not bother as the differences are small and a lot of effort would be involved to correct every detail. 
 
I am looking forward to your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger
 

 
 
 
 

Hi John,
 
I am excited about your latest project. I have this one also, but haven't found the time yet to work on it. In the past few months my focus has turned to finishing my Captured Eagles Vol. 2 book. Anyways, what I never liked about both Revell's and Eduard's panels is that they are based on Me 262 A-1a panels and more specifically: early-production panel with color coding of a JG 7 aircraft. Most won't bother as the differences are not huge, but I always hoped that there would be a nice and correct aftermarket panel. 
 
 There was an attempt by a forum member to 3D print such parts, but I think in the end the resolution was not high enough: 
 
 
Instrument colors:
The red and white colors around the instrument dials was a typical feature of some JG 7 aircraft. Messerschmitt prepared a document with illustrations of how JG 7 has color-coded their instruments in a technical report from 1945 (I have a copy of that report that I copied at the NASM archives in Washington). I have only seen this type of color coding in cockpits of some JG 7 aircraft. Otherwise, the fuel related gauges were yellow in almost all late war production Me 262, but the temperature and rpm indicators had simple red lines on the respective limits.
 
Instruments:
Late war production models had a number of instruments missing. This was the result of an "Entfeinerung" effort towards the end of 1944, where as many parts as possible were removed in order to use less resources and a lower variety of different components. The jet engine differential pressure gauges, indicator for pitot tube heating in the blind flying panel and others were no longer installed. Careful study of the wartime photo of the Me 262 B panel (e.g. published in Smith/Creek's 4 volume book series; see below) helps determine which ones exactly. In the B-panel below there was just one fuel pressure gauge (yellow ring) and one oil pressure gauge (red-brown ring). The instrument to the right is a small voltage indicator that was inserted from behind. Then there is the auxiliary t&b indicator on the left of the temperature indicators. The temperature indicators have an unusually bright ring. I suspect it was white.
 
In addition, except for some early production Me 262s, the electrical indicators for the 4 MK 108 underneath the SZKK2 were never installed. The Me 262 B had a large repeater compass and not the small one of the A-1a. There, Eduard used the correct compass, but an incorrect shape of the blind flying panel. Eduard's panel is the one that was used in the Me 262 A-1 equipped as a bad weather fighter (FuG 125, autopilot) as documented by a wartime drawing and also a panel that was brought to the US. The nightfighter blind flying panel was made out of metal sheet (and not wood like in the bad weather fighter) and had a different shape. The lower edge consisted of straight lines and not a curved one. The nightfighter also had an additional 80mm instrument in a simple auxiliary panel attached to the lower edge of the main panel. I believe it was a double manifold pressure gauge to indicate the pressure difference of the two jet exhausts. The same instrument was used in the Ar 234 for example so that the pilot could easily determine if both engines had the same thrust. In the panel below there was a rectangular, late production rate of climb indicator, but the round one was more common.
 
But as I said at the beginning, most will not bother as the differences are small and a lot of effort would be involved to correct every detail. 
 
I am looking forward to your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger
 

 
 
 
 

Hi John,
 
I am excited about your latest project. I have this one also, but haven't found the time yet to work on it. In the past few months my focus has turned to finishing my Captured Eagles Vol. 2 book. Anyways, what I never liked about both Revell's and Eduard's panels is that they are based on Me 262 A-1a panels and more specifically: early-production panel with color coding of a JG 7 aircraft. Most won't bother as the differences are not huge, but I always hoped that there would be a nice and correct aftermarket panel. 
 
 There was an attempt by a forum member to 3D print such parts, but I think in the end the resolution was not high enough: 
 
 
Instrument colors:
The red and white colors around the instrument dials was a typical feature of some JG 7 aircraft. Messerschmitt prepared a document with illustrations of how JG 7 has color-coded their instruments in a technical report from 1945 (I have a copy of that report that I copied at the NASM archives in Washington). I have only seen this type of color coding in cockpits of some JG 7 aircraft. Otherwise, the fuel related gauges were yellow in almost all late war production Me 262, but the temperature and rpm indicators had simple red lines on the respective limits.
 
Instruments:
Late war production models had a number of instruments missing. This was the result of an "Entfeinerung" effort towards the end of 1944, where as many parts as possible were removed in order to use less resources and a lower variety of different components. The jet engine differential pressure gauges, indicator for pitot tube heating in the blind flying panel and others were no longer installed. Careful study of the wartime photo of the Me 262 B panel (e.g. published in Smith/Creek's 4 volume book series; see below) helps determine which ones exactly. In the B-panel below there was just one fuel pressure gauge (yellow ring) and one oil pressure gauge (red-brown ring). The instrument to the right is a small voltage indicator that was inserted from behind. Then there is the auxiliary t&b indicator on the left of the temperature indicators. The temperature indicators have an unusually bright ring. I suspect it was white.
 
In addition, except for some early production Me 262s, the electrical indicators for the 4 MK 108 underneath the SZKK2 were never installed. The Me 262 B had a large repeater compass and not the small one of the A-1a. There, Eduard used the correct compass, but an incorrect shape of the blind flying panel. Eduard's panel is the one that was used in the Me 262 A-1 equipped as a bad weather fighter (FuG 125, autopilot) as documented by a wartime drawing and also a panel that was brought to the US. The nightfighter blind flying panel was made out of metal sheet (and not wood like in the bad weather fighter) and had a different shape. The lower edge consisted of straight lines and not a curved one. The nightfighter also had an additional 80mm instrument in a simple auxiliary panel attached to the lower edge of the main panel. I believe it was a double manifold pressure gauge to indicate the pressure difference of the two jet exhausts. The same instrument was used in the Ar 234 for example so that the pilot could easily determine if both engines had the same thrust. In the panel below there was a rectangular, late production rate of climb indicator, but the round one was more common.
 
But as I said at the beginning, most will not bother as the differences are small and a lot of effort would be involved to correct every detail. 
 
I am looking forward to your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger
 

 
 
 
 

Hi John,
 
I am excited about your latest project. I have this one also, but haven't found the time yet to work on it. In the past few months my focus has turned to finishing my Captured Eagles Vol. 2 book. Anyways, what I never liked about both Revell's and Eduard's panels is that they are based on Me 262 A-1a panels and more specifically: early-production panel with color coding of a JG 7 aircraft. Most won't bother as the differences are not huge, but I always hoped that there would be a nice and correct aftermarket panel. 
 
 There was an attempt by a forum member to 3D print such parts, but I think in the end the resolution was not high enough: 
 
 
Instrument colors:
The red and white colors around the instrument dials was a typical feature of some JG 7 aircraft. Messerschmitt prepared a document with illustrations of how JG 7 has color-coded their instruments in a technical report from 1945 (I have a copy of that report that I copied at the NASM archives in Washington). I have only seen this type of color coding in cockpits of some JG 7 aircraft. Otherwise, the fuel related gauges were yellow in almost all late war production Me 262, but the temperature and rpm indicators had simple red lines on the respective limits.
 
Instruments:
Late war production models had a number of instruments missing. This was the result of an "Entfeinerung" effort towards the end of 1944, where as many parts as possible were removed in order to use less resources and a lower variety of different components. The jet engine differential pressure gauges, indicator for pitot tube heating in the blind flying panel and others were no longer installed. Careful study of the wartime photo of the Me 262 B panel (e.g. published in Smith/Creek's 4 volume book series; see below) helps determine which ones exactly. In the B-panel below there was just one fuel pressure gauge (yellow ring) and one oil pressure gauge (red-brown ring). The instrument to the right is a small voltage indicator that was inserted from behind. Then there is the auxiliary t&b indicator on the left of the temperature indicators. The temperature indicators have an unusually bright ring. I suspect it was white.
 
In addition, except for some early production Me 262s, the electrical indicators for the 4 MK 108 underneath the SZKK2 were never installed. The Me 262 B had a large repeater compass and not the small one of the A-1a. There, Eduard used the correct compass, but an incorrect shape of the blind flying panel. Eduard's panel is the one that was used in the Me 262 A-1 equipped as a bad weather fighter (FuG 125, autopilot) as documented by a wartime drawing and also a panel that was brought to the US. The nightfighter blind flying panel was made out of metal sheet (and not wood like in the bad weather fighter) and had a different shape. The lower edge consisted of straight lines and not a curved one. The nightfighter also had an additional 80mm instrument in a simple auxiliary panel attached to the lower edge of the main panel. I believe it was a double manifold pressure gauge to indicate the pressure difference of the two jet exhausts. The same instrument was used in the Ar 234 for example so that the pilot could easily determine if both engines had the same thrust. In the panel below there was a rectangular, late production rate of climb indicator, but the round one was more common.
 
But as I said at the beginning, most will not bother as the differences are small and a lot of effort would be involved to correct every detail. 
 
I am looking forward to your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger
 

 
 
 
 

The aftermarket list is relatively short for this build.  First up are brass versions of the Neptun radar array by Master Model.  Since the radar array is stuck onto the nose, it will be very prominent.  There is a lot of benefit in getting these to look right.

 
 
I picked up a set of resin wheels from Barracuda.  If you look closely at the photos of the kit tires, you'll notice that the tread pattern does cover the entire contact surface. These replacements will address that deficiency and also add some nice detail in the form of the brake line fittings.

 
 
My preferred approach to the seat harnesses are the HGW fabric belts.  

 
 
Eduard offers a few photoetch sets for the Revel 262 kit.  I normally perform a level of effort/worth the benefit analysis of the photoetch and will probably not be using everything from these sets.



 
 
And of course, I can't go without having a set of trusty Eduard masks to speed up the canopy masking process.  This canopy has lots of frames so it will be a great time-saver!

 

Hi John, I have continued to work on Vol 2 and have just finished another article. I think I have completed all longer articles that required considerable amount of research and will just have shorter descriptions for the remaining photos. There is still a lot of work with layout etc., but the closer it gets the more motivated I get to finish it. I sometimes think it would have been much easier and faster to publish it without text and that most people are mainly interested in the photos anyways, but it's also a personal interest to find out as much as I can about a particular aircraft. Knowing the story makes the photo much more interesting to me. Regards, Roger
 
 
Thank you Mike. I also think that RLM 02 was the standard factory callout in Fw 190s, but I have never seen a proof (wartime document). Still, photos of earlier Fw 190 in the production line seem to confirm that the whole wheel bay was painted in RLM 02. But I have seen photos of later production aircraft with at least a bare metal backwall (= main wing spar). I don't know when they started doing this, but the aircraft I plan to build left the factory in summer 1944 (July to August 1944). There is an excellent photo of Fw 190 F-8 Yellow 14 W.Nr. 584592 that seem to show bare metal wheel bays. It is a b/w photo and you cannot be sure, however, but it somehow looks to be more shiny than I would expect from a painted wheel bay and comparing it with the landing flap interior (which was most likely bare metal), it has a very similar shade of grey. W.Nr. 584592 was built only in November 1944 and had lower wing surfaces that were only half painted. I am still debating how I should paint the wheel bay. Cheers, Roger
 
In general, I'll started to assemble the Eduard landing flaps, which went quite well. I will not use their P/E parts for the interior surface of the landing flap bay as the ribs don't have the proper distance compared to the rivet lines on the top of the wing. I'll build them from scratch using plastic sheet. I also rescribed a part of the lower wing surface that Revell got wrong. Once the landing flaps are complete, I can install the landing gear bay and join the wing halves. I'll post photos soon in a bigger update.
 
Cheers,
Roger
 

First off - amazing work!   I’m really enjoying this build.   Secondly - just wondering if Vol 2 is getting any closer?
 
Regards,
 
John

With the Shiden Kai in wait mode as the HGW seatbelts are en route from the Czech Republic, I finally pushed myself to put the white wash finish on the G-14.  I decided to apply chipping fluid (MIG Heavy Chipping) to all of the upper surfaces to try and create wear on the white and that was a mistake.  For some reason the fluid decided to pool into little balls as if I had waxed parts of the 74/75 finish.  I tried dispersing it with water and MIG Scratches Effect fluid but I couldn't get it to level out.  Hairspray and the various chipping fluids tends to evaporate without leaving a physical trace but I now knew that the treated areas were not completely covered.  So after the chipping fluid dried, I pressed on with the white.
 


 
As feared, the chipping didn't work out very well.  Because the white coat is in blotches and not uniform, the chipping aggregated in the dark areas where the white paint is the thinnest.  And so I started to develop a pattern of chipping that followed the edges of the blotches... not a good look. So... avoiding the dark areas and concentrating on just the wing roots, I did as much chipping as I could and then started repairing the other areas.  After the originally chipped areas were repaired, I tested out applying chips with a sponge and got acceptable results.  So that's the direction I'm heading in right now.
 




 
Not what I had envisioned when starting this project but modeling is often an exercise in adaptation.  The chipping will be developed slowly so I'm not worried about the haphazard and incomplete look of it now.

Small update: I applied the same process to the elevators. Designing the vector graphic artwork for the Cricut cutter took most of the time. The elevators were also sanded to have a thin trailing edge. Next, I'll apply a clear coat to seal the decals. Then the trim tabs will be fabricated with thin plastic sheet.
 
I'll then probably return to the wheel bay. I'll do the ailerons later. 
 
First a look at the original:
 

 
Then the different steps and results in 32 times smaller:
 
(1) Masks and Mr Surfacer 500 applied:

 
(2) Masks removed and surface polished:

 
(3) Decal stripes added:

 

 

 

Small update: I applied the same process to the elevators. Designing the vector graphic artwork for the Cricut cutter took most of the time. The elevators were also sanded to have a thin trailing edge. Next, I'll apply a clear coat to seal the decals. Then the trim tabs will be fabricated with thin plastic sheet.
 
I'll then probably return to the wheel bay. I'll do the ailerons later. 
 
First a look at the original:
 

 
Then the different steps and results in 32 times smaller:
 
(1) Masks and Mr Surfacer 500 applied:

 
(2) Masks removed and surface polished:

 
(3) Decal stripes added:

 

 

 

this picture is also interesting, not sure if that is 02 or just a weathered  aluminium 

Thank you Antonio! Great photos. I believe that the landing flap interior was actually bare aluminum. It is just oxydized so that it looks grey. The gear bay covers indeed look to be painted RLM 02. In color footage of the Fw 190s at Ansbach just after the war it looks as if the rear wall of the landing gear bay was left bare metal. I am considering a combination of covers in RLM 02 and back wall in bare metal. If only there was still an unrestored Fw 190 around. I have been trying to find color photos of the unrestored NASM Fw 190, but couldn't find any.
 
Cheers,
 
Roger

I would go for  02,  some unrestored   parts, cheers 

I have been working on the ailerons and have applied a primer coat to the elevators and rudder. I am happy with the effect. It looks much better than the Revell raised details. I'll post photos soon.
 
Next will be the installation of the wheel bay and work on the Eduard landing flap. However, I am not sure about the colors. I have seen a few wartime color shots that suggest that at least some aircraft did not have the wheel bay and interior of the landing flaps painted in RLM 02. For the landing gear wheel bay it may well be that there was a mix of painted parts and unpainted parts. Does anybody have some more reliable information (i.e. based on wartime color photos and or unrestored parts)?
 
Here is a good view of the landing flap interior that seems to be bare metal (or RLM 76?):

 
In the same series of still images there is also a front view where the back wall of the landing gear bay seems to be bare metal too. 
 
Of course the colors also depend on the manufacturer and production year.
 
Cheers,
Roger

Small update: I applied the same process to the elevators. Designing the vector graphic artwork for the Cricut cutter took most of the time. The elevators were also sanded to have a thin trailing edge. Next, I'll apply a clear coat to seal the decals. Then the trim tabs will be fabricated with thin plastic sheet.
 
I'll then probably return to the wheel bay. I'll do the ailerons later. 
 
First a look at the original:
 

 
Then the different steps and results in 32 times smaller:
 
(1) Masks and Mr Surfacer 500 applied:

 
(2) Masks removed and surface polished:

 
(3) Decal stripes added:

 

 

 

Starting preshading:

.

 

And few hours later done:

.

 
 

Hi Tom... I found these on EBay.  Do a search on Galaxy Rivet Tools and you'll find a number of vendors.  The vendors are all from China so shipping may take a bit of time.  Mine took a little over two months between purchase and delivery.
 
After the black base coat, I use the Mr Hobby Kawanishi Cockpit Green C-384 as my primary cockpit color. The cockpit floor and seat have been pre-treated with a metallic color and MIG Scratches Effect fluid so those areas are chipped.  And then it is time to start painting the details by hand.  This part of the build gets very un-structured.  It takes a lot of motivation for me to paint the cockpit details and I'll usually do it in non-sequential order... just attacking whatever piece or part that grabs my attention.  Because of this, I usually don't have lots of in-progress shots until towards the end.



 
Slowly but surely, the cockpit gets painted and after that the big parts are given a clear coat and a dark wash is applied.  Since there are a lot of delicate parts, I have to be very careful during the wash process.  After the wash, a flat coat is put on and final weathering effects are applied like dry-brushing edges and some oil staining.



The cockpit is then partially assembled to see how the various painted components look together.  This dry-fitting exercise has a few missing components, most notably the seat harnesses, which should be arriving this week.  The starboard side...




 
The port side...



 
We can't forget the reality of what happens when both cockpit sidewalls are put into place.

Absolutely gorgeous engine! 

This is the cockpit "module", almost completely assembled and ready to install into the fuselage.  The one small holdup is the one fit that I didn't pre-check three times, and a word to the wise if you are planning on building this kit.  The interface between the tabs on the top of the ammo magazine and the recesses on the bottoms of the MGs is too tight, and does not let the MGs sit level.  Since these protrude out of the cowl their alignment is obviously critical.  This would have been easier to solve if I had known about it before getting to this stage.  Going to fix it tomorrow when I'm fresh (another lesson I've learned).
 

 

 

 

Interesting to hear the time frames involved.  I'm very worried about the abrasive nature of the hairspray technique so I tend to wait longer for the paint to fully cure.  Sometimes I get decent results and sometimes, that topcoat just doesn't want to come off.  24 hours has been on the quick side of things when it comes to chipping so I probably need to make adjustments to my work flow.
 
Since I've started on the engine work, I've decided to complete this stage before I jump back over to the cockpit.  I've kept the components separate to make painting details easier.  Since the restored Shiden Kai's have nice shiny engines that are uniformly metallic, I've taken some liberty with my color choices.  For example the crankcase and ignition ring have been painted in a Green Gray (Tamiya XF-14), which may or may not be a match for the instruction call out of Mitsubishi Green, and the ignition wires in Brown.

 
Once the engine components have been painted, I started gluing the components together.


 
Here is a view of the engine banks from behind. You can see that they are hollow and not represented fully.

 
Once the crankcase assembly is glued onto the engine cylinders, I can complete the wiring attachment.

 
Each of the painted wires is bent and guided into place gently, trying not to put kinks into the wires or scratching off the paint.  A few more wires are added to the top and bottom of the crankcase.  This is not meant to be an accurate representation of the Homare engine but simply trying to create some plausible detail that will look good lurking behind the prop.

 
Here is the engine temporarily mounted on the fuselage.  I'll probably leave the engine detached until the very end so that I won't have to deal with masking off the exhaust tips.

 
The view into the engine compartment with the engine cowling in place.  Although much of the detail is lost, you still get a sense of busy complexity within, which was the goal.

 
A view of the exhaust tips without the engine cowling flaps in place.

 
Some views of the complete engine from my lightbox.  I played around with weathering the engine, especially the crankcase, being the most prominent.  Some of things I did besides the dark pastel wash were chipping with a sponge and flicking AK Engine Grime enamel using a stiff paint brush.  I actually had to dial back some of that splatter by going over the crankcase in the base Grey/Green.


 
The exhaust piping was sprayed using Alclad Steel and Exhaust Manifold and then dry-brushing the ends with a rust color.  As a last touch, the hollow ends were lightly darkened with a thin mixture of Flat Black through the airbrush.




 
The completed radial engine is not quite as hefty as the P&W R2800 from the Tamiya Corsair build but it is a nicely detailed powerplant that Hasegawa has provided.

Thanks guys!
 
Instead of a metallic finish, I elected to paint my landing gear legs a light grey. I don't know why... I just like the look better than what I was getting with a dull aluminum finish.

 
The wheels were painted in a mixture of black and brown and then the contact areas were lightened with a sandy color.  I'll weather these more with pastels.

 
Here's what the gear looks like after the details have been painted and given a dark wash.



 
I filled the joints of the wing inserts with black rubberized CA glue.  I like this as a filler because it is easy to see and it sands a little easier than regular CA glue. You can see where the filler gets really close to some of the raised details.  I'll have be very careful when sanding not to lose this detail.


 
I'm pretty frugal and like to re-use my sandpaper.  I keep the pieces in a small cup.  But when dealing with CA glue that's close to details that you want to avoid, it's essential to use fresh pieces of sandpaper.  The bite of fresh sandpaper is needed to cut down the ridge of CA glue without wearing down the surrounding surface.  Plus it is stiff enough to be able to be made into a narrow sanding tool when folded.  After the CA glue is sanded down, I treat the joints with Mr Surfacer 1000, sand that down and then give it a spray of primer to check my work.


 
It looks ok from this perspective but from certain angles you can see where putty has not been blended in perfectly.  There are also some slight elevation differences between the insert and surrounding wing areas as well a few slightly jagged panel lines.

 
I have the time and inclination to fix these issues so one more round of Mr Surfacer 1000 to see if we can make those imperfections go away.