FW 190 D-9 - I./JG2 - Hasegawa - 1/32

[Furie]

Hi guys,

Well, after a P-39 that gave me quite a few headaches, here’s my new project: a FW 190 D-9.

 

 

 

I’ve gone with the Hasegawa kit and added a few goodies to it:

 

The Quickboost correct cowling, air intake, exhausts, propeller, early gun cover, instrument panel cover, and REVI 16B gunsight :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve also picked up the late-version Type 2 wheels from ResKit :

 

 

The updated interior 3D decals from Red Fox Studio :

 

 

Eduard mask for canopy :

 

 

HGW Models stencils :

 

 

I’m planning to start work on this new long-nosed beauty next week, beginning with a full rivet job.

See you soon, buddies!

Edited June 17 by Furie

[Thunnus]

Ooooh... I love the Dora so I'm very much looking forward to your take on this kit, Denis!  I like your aftermarket list so far... please report on the fit of the cowling parts!

 

 

[scvrobeson]

Right into the next project!  Looks like a helpful batch of aftermarket bits, this build should be a much less challenging assembly than the P-39. Have fun!

 

 

Matt 

[jimvit]

It's Christmas come early, my dear Denis.

And enjoy! 

[Mal_Belford]

Oh a Dora.

 

And shovel blades sweet

 

 

Ill keep an eye on this Denis.

[LSP_Kevin]

Looking forward to this one, Denis!

 

Kev

[alaninaustria]

Oh very nice! I am awaiting your magic with this kit!

Cheers

Alan

[Troy Molitor]

Go Denis go!  

[PEYSSON Gilles]

Hi, Denis
I'll take a chair so I can follow your Dora 🙂

 

Gilles

 

 

[Furie]

Thanks for the comments, John, Matt, Jean-Marc, Mal, Kev, Alan, Troy and Gilles.

 

Yeah, it's true, I kind of went overboard with the aftermarket goodies because I really want this D-9 to look its absolute best, or at least I'm going to give it my best shot!

 

So, first things first, I'm adding the missing rivet lines.

I'll try to keep them subtle but still visible, always with the goal of giving this D-9 a bit more depth and visual interest.

I settled on a 1.25 mm spacing between each rivet.

The plastic is actually very pleasant to work with, so apart from the sheer number of rivets that need to be added, the job is going pretty smoothly with no real issues.

 

 

 

 

 

[Thunnus]

Great work so far, Denis!  I know riveting can be a dreary process so it's good to get over that hurdle early.  I think I've riveted enough Hasegawa 190 kits that I should be able do it from memory!

 

If I may offer a theory for consideration.  I personally do not believe that the small rectangular panel on the upper wings is correct for the D-9.

 

 

For many years, the US examples of the D-9 (601088) and the D-13 (836017) were displayed with their wings swapped. Model companies producing the D-9 as a model most likely referred to the US example.  The mistake was eventually recognized and corrected when the D-13 underwent its most recent restoration which was completed in 2007.  The Hasegawa kit was released in 2003, making it most likely that it referenced a D-9 with D-13 wings.

 

In Volume 2 of Crandall's Dora books, there is a photo of the unrestored wing of 601088 and it lacks that small panel.

  

 

 

Upper wing photos of D-9's are hard to come by but the few I've found support this idea that this panel was not present on D-9's.

 

 

 

 

It's my opinion that the panel should be removed on any D-9 build unless there is evidence otherwise.

 

[Dpgsbody55]

Impressive work so far, Denis.  

 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Furie]

Thanks for your messages, John and Michael.

 

And a huge thank you to you, John, for your incredibly interesting post.

 

So, I've just spent the last two hours going through all my books and checking every wing photo of D-9s I could find on the internet.

1 - It's extremely difficult to find a photo that clearly shows the upper surface of a D-9 wing.

2 - The few photos that do exist are generally poor quality and don't allow any firm conclusions to be drawn.

3 - Every single 3D drawing in my references shows this small access panel... (Model-Art, Aero Detail, Monogram Close-Up, Nowarra, TopDrawings, Special Drawings, Walk Around, and the Polish FW 190 D-9 series).

4 - It's more than likely that all these books simply copied each other, and in doing so kept reproducing the same mistake...

5 - The only drawing where this small panel does not appear is in J. Crandall's Dora of the Galland Circus.

6- Fw 190D-9 wing upper surface colours - Aircraft WWII - Britmodeller.com

 

Attached is everything interesting I managed to find, including an excerpt from the Crandall book and, as a bonus, a list of the D-9 production facilities, although you may already know that one.

 

But are we sure that's actually a D-9 wing?

 

 

 

 

I'll keep looking into it, and if I can't find anything conclusive, I'll go ahead and remove that little access panel.

Thanks again for your help, John!

Edited June 25 by Furie

[Antonio Argudo]

I had a conversation with Jerry Crandall about this rectangle plate back in the day, it only exists in the FW-190D9 which was at the USAF Museum at Wright Patterson, Ohio at that time  when Hasegawa visited that Museum for taking measurements and reference photographs for their model kit, they just simply repeated what they saw, that's the explanation  about that rectangle, it was a post war added by the restauration Museum, for what?  we don't know, maybe some damage  reinforcement or something,  so as the  wonderful photograph evidence as John posted, that was not present on ww2 production, here you can see from the squadron signal  publication walkaround book the culprit rectangle 😉, cheers

 

Edited June 25 by Antonio Argudo

[Uncarina]

I love everything about this build Denis! The subject aircraft, the attention to detail, the scholarly references, it’s all good and I’m taking notes.

 

Cheers,  Tom