Butcher Bird - Focke Wulf's FW-190A4 - FINISHED

[Dpgsbody55]

Please welcome the latest addition to the LSP Zoo.  Presenting Zoukei Mura's Focke Wulf FW-190A4, also known as the Butcher Bird or Wurger in German, this species being an aggressive hunting bird known for impaling their prey and tearing them apart.  A very appropriate name for this fighter launched on an unsuspecting RAF in August 1941.

 

 

I bought this model when it first came out, being the launch version of Z-M's FW-190 range.  As such, it came with a scale figure of Siegfried Schnell, a Luftwaffe ace who's plane features in the decals supplied with this kit.  I also bought a set of brass gun barrels as well as some Z-M/Eduard photo etch to help with additional detail.

 

 

Construction has started, beginning with the engine.  Here's the cylinder rows painted in lacquer flat aluminium for the cylinders themselves, and the molded on cooling tins have been painted in a shinier stainless steel.  The fins have been picked out with a black wash.  The black dot of the crank bearing is just my way of identifying front row from the back row.

 

 

I've also been painting a few more engine bits.  One of the nice things about Z-M kits is that parts for an assembly such as engine, cockpit or wings etc are all on one sprue.  Very thoughtful.

 

 

Here' the rows of cylinders have been glued together, and the cylinder head cooling tins have been added to the back row, along with the push rods.  I used Tamiya LP62 titanium gold for the push rod tubes, which it appears were brass or brass plating on the real thing.  The cross tubes are curious, and I'd love to know what purpose they had, if anyone knows.

 

 

Assembly continues with the addition of the inlet manifolds on the supercharger housing,

 

 

, followed by the two brackets (parts E17) on the back of the lower rear cylinders and the first of the exhaust pipes and the back cover of the supercharger back cover and ancilliary drive.  The six lower cylinders have their exhausts attached here, the exhausts being painted flat black.  I've added a little weathering here in the form of some heat discolouring where the exhausts attach to the heads.  Not sure how that's going to turn out, but worth a shot.

 

 

That's all the progress so far.  I started this on Monday, so I think I've made passable progress up to now.  The next step is to finish the exhausts, then move to the front of the engines where the cylinder head cooling tins will be attached followed by supercharger intakes, reduction gear, ignition system, prop shaft and fan, then back to the rear of the engine for the last of the ancilliaries.  That should finish the engine, which will be the subject of the next update.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

[Dpgsbody55]

The engine is now finished and looking reasonably good.  The top exhausts are now put in place, along with the engine mount bracket.  I did the in reverse of the instructions, putting the bracket on first, then the exhausts.  This means no fiddling trying to get the bracket in place inside the exhausts.  That could have been messy as the ends of the exhausts glue to the bracket.

 

 

Attention now goes to the front of the engine.  Here we have the ignition system attached to the reduction gear case, with the prop shaft going through, but not glued to, the engine cooling fan. 

 

 

In the next photo, the cylinder head cooling ducts have been added to the front row of cylinders, and the push rod assembly attached.  The instructions would have you put this on the back of the reduction gear housing then attaching that assembly to the front of the engine, but I tested that and found it a bit clumsy.  My method also allows a little touch up if you apply a little too much glue as well as allowing time for the prop shaft retainer to dry in place and make sure it still spins.  I also found it easier doing it this way in that it allows better checking of the parts alignment tabs as you go, so you don't get an upside down engine .  Incidentally, the prop shaft is a rather loose fit.  Also attached now are the supercharger intakes, one of which is visible here.

 

 

Here's a couple of views with the front of the engine now complete.  I opted not to put spark plug leads onto this as I felt that trying to attach wire to the ignition harness would be far too fiddly for my aged eyes and increasingly fumbly fingers, and something would have been broken.

 

 

 

The last part of the engine was to finish off the accessories at the back of the engine.  This includes parts for the flywheel starter in the middle, the "Kommandogerat" immediately to the right of the starter, this being an early analogue computer which reduced the pilot's workload in controlling prop pitch, supercharging switching, ignition timing and fuel flow (rich or lean) amoung other things.  Also attached were the starter crank link, fuel injector controller and fuel pump, generator and oil filter.

 

 

Some views of the now complete engine.  Z-M thoughtfully supply parts to build an engine stand , which is great as this won't be getting touched again until it comes time to mount the engine to the fuselage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here, I'll be starting work of the cockpit, or Fuhrerraum as it's referred to in the instructions.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited July 11 by Dpgsbody55

[Granger Davis]

Can't wait to see more!

[Dpgsbody55]

36 minutes ago, Granger Davis said:

Can't wait to see more!

 

Thanks.  Just done an update showing the complete engine.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

I've started work on the cockpit now.  The first step was to paint everything in either RLM66 black grey, or RLM02 green/grey.  Some parts like the cockpit floor and fuselage sides were painted in both.  

 

The first parts attached were the luggage compartment (the khaki bit) and a locker in front of that, attached to the cockpit floor.  Then, the pilot's toe board was glued in place followed by the throttle lever.

 

 

I'm using the Z-M/Eduard etch set on this kit, which follows the usual Eduard assembly pattern.  File off all the detail then attach their etch bits.  This applies to the cockpit sides and instrument panel.  The right side console was the most straight forward except that the kit plastic has this in two parts.  The left side is a little more complicated in that some of the kit detail needs to be retained as it pokes through three holes in the Eduard part.  The instrument panel is more complex still, as you glue on the instruments, then glue on the panel over the top.  Next, three knobs and levers are added so placing the Eduard etch bits correctly is critical as the knobs and lever go through and are glued to the plastic backing.  

 

The next thing is to paint the rib at the back of the cockpit which has the canopy combing behind.  There's a blue oxygen system doofer on the right side which needs careful painting, and a decal.  There's more decals to go in on the instrument panel and the combing, as that part has a hatch through to the luggage compartment.

 

Then you have to attach these four parts to the floor, and again, placement is critical to ensure correct alignment of this and future parts.  I used a fuselage side for this, but bear in mind that it literally is just a side, not half of a fuselage.  There's five parts to the fuselage - left side, right side, lower rear, lower front and top.  That those bits are in the future.  For now, assembling four parts at once is the task, so I put the back wall on first as it has some support from the khaki luggage compartment below.  Paint was then removed from the floor to console and console to rear wall joints.  Then I wiggled the right side into place.  This has a peg the goes into the floor and an almost mortise and tenon type joint to the rear wall.  Tamiya thin glue was applied to the floor joint and rear wall joint.  The left console went on next, and was similar to the right console, except for wiggling around the throttle lever then thing glue applied.  Lastly the instrument panel was placed and glued with more thin cement.  Then the assembly was placed into the right fuselage piece to check alignment.  The kit provides a supplementary instruction page here so pay extra attention to that.

 

As I'm getting forgetful in my dotage, I forgot to take pictures of the individual parts.  So here's a few of the cockpit assembly as I've confusingly described it above.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the fuselage sides, with the upper part of the instrument panel, yet to be attached.  The black grey part is the cockpit area, and the rest is the fuselage which will have all the ribs attached as well as other bits.  I've also shown the upper instrument panel, which needs a little more work, but goes in later.

 

 

That's it for the moment.  My next job is to build up the seat belts, fit them to the seat and add the control column.  That and more will be for next time, and the seat belts will be a problem as there's NO room between the console sides and the seat.  Head scratching needed.  Just hope I don't go through to the empty space inside. 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Furie]

Zoukei-Mura: why make it simple when you can make it complicated? 

Keep up the great work, Michael.

Your cockpit looks superb, and I can't wait to see the rest of the build!

[Dpgsbody55]

7 hours ago, Furie said:

Zoukei-Mura: why make it simple when you can make it complicated? 

Keep up the great work, Michael.

Your cockpit looks superb, and I can't wait to see the rest of the build!

 

Thank you, Denis.  This is another enjoyable Z-M build.  Their kits do look complex, but they're actually very easy to build, and I like to see a little more of the way the plane is built.  And they're very reasonably priced too.

 

There's more to go on the cockpit and I'm still looking at the seat belts, but after a bit of research, I may have found the answer.  Now to try it out, so I'll show the results soon.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Furie]

Quote

and the seat belts will be a problem as there's NO room between the console sides and the seat.

 

What if you took advantage of the plastic's flexibility?

Since those seat belts are pretty thin, maybe you could use them to help hold everything in place once they're glued.

If that doesn't work, you could always cut off the lower part of the belts—the section that won't be visible once the seat is installed—and keep only the part that hangs over the top of the seat.

Edited July 18 by Furie

[Dpgsbody55]

Cockpit work continues, but it's still not finished.  Here's what I have so far.

 

First of all, the seat, which has been the biggest hold up.  If you follow the instructions for the Z-M etch set, the belts will look like this.

 

 

But they won't fit as the thickness of the folded belt with the attachment buckle won't allow the seat to go in place.  After a bit of research, I found that on the real thing, they fit on the inside of the tab on the seat shown by my arrow.  So I gave that a try, but my cold fumble fingers and a small seat part meant that I couldn't make that work.  Insufficient hands...    The only alternative was to remove the attachment buckle and glue the single thickness of the belt to the outside of the seat, after shaping the belts to sit properly.  Great minds think alike, Denis.  Thanks for your input above.

 

 

I let this dry for twenty four hours, then slid it carefully into place, using two strips of paper to act as a slide.  It's a tight fit, but it worked.  You'd never be able to see the missing buckles anyway.  While the lap belts were drying in place, I built up the shoulder harnesses.  They're supposed to attach via a tiny half circle of metal from the etch set, glued to the back wall of the cockpit, but this looked very fragile, so I drilled a couple of holes in the back wall and made a loop mount for each belt from 0.3mm wire and poked this and the encaptured belts through each hole.  Then the now painted and decal'd control column was set in place.

 

 

The next job was to put the canopy release crank onto the canopy rails and slide this into place, then attach the back bulkhead.  This is another critical job and the fuselage side was used for alignment.  The canopy rails engage with the instrument panel, so once the rails are in place, the top instrument panel can be added.  There is what maybe a radio to go on the back of the rear cockpit bulkhead, then the rudder pedals can be added.  I used the kit pedals as the etch bits looked like a pfaff and they're hard to see when the fuselage is built up.  These were painted in RLM66 then scratched up with some flat aluminium, as the cockpit floor had been so treated before the seat went in.  I also added some straps for the rudder pedals by using the straps cut off the etch pedals.

 

 

After that, I added the elevator control rod.

 

 

 

What's left to be done is the rudder control rods, inner wing gun magazines, front wall and machine gun platform above the rudder pedals and the fuel tanks below the cockpit floor.  That's for next time, after which I can get on with the fuselage and tail assembly.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited July 21 by Dpgsbody55

[Dpgsbody55]

I had plenty of time at the modelling desk yesterday, mostly due to a very wintery and wet day, and the cockpit is now done.  Most of the remaining bits were partially or fully painted already, which makes life easier.

 

First to go on was the rudder pedal rods, and care is needed here as they break very easily.  They're painted RLM66 close to the pedals, then RLM02 along the rest of the rods.  They're also a tight fit as they pass through the back wall of the cockpit, so be sure to clean up the rods where they're removed from the sprue.  This was followed by the inner wing gun magazines which need a decal on each one.  These may well be seen, so worth doing.  Then the front wall of the cockpit can go on along with the machine gun base.  I glued these two parts together before gluing them both to the cockpit assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing left was the fuel tanks.  I think these won't be seen once the model is finished, but I'm not entirely certain.  I'd already assembled them and daubed some flat black on them, so I quickly painted the retaining straps that might be seen and stuck them place.  The front tank is a friction fit, but the back tank needs glue.

 

 

So that part is done and now I can get on with the fuselage.  And I've already started this too.  Before gluing this in place, I've cleaned out all the paint where the ribs will be mounted.

 

 

I think the ribs will be needed to hold the fuselage together securely as there's four parts to the fuselage.   At least this should remove the need to fill and file the seem down the middle of most models.  Then the tail needs to be built up.  The way that Z-M have done this makes me wonder how easy it might be for them to do a D-9.  All they'd need is a new engine and cowlings, plus the plug that went between the fuselage and tail.  Could this be the start of ten pages of speculation elsewhere on these forums????  

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

More fuselage in this update.  All of it, in fact.

 

The first job after I'd got the right side set in place was to attach the lower rear fuselage panel.  This was attached with polystyrene glue to the rear wall of the cockpit, but due to a slight outward bend on the right side piece, I used extra thin glue on the side to bottom panel joint but only where it touched.  The rest was glued as I attached more interior bits.  It's important to carefully align each section of the fuselage here as this affects future sections of the model.

 

 

I decided to paint the interior frames, even though they won't be seen.  Even leaving the left side hatch open would leave me peering inside with a torch, so that will be closed up too.  At least I can still see them when I look back lovingly on these pictures...    Just like Z-M's "Old Man", I like to see how the real thing was built.  It's not to everyone's tastes, but I'm with this approach.  Even if you don't agree with me, on this model I'd suggest that the frames still need to go in to add strength to the joins between each of the fuselage sides, and shouldn't take more than an extra five minutes work.  The only bits that took some time were the oxygen bottles and the fourth frame which has a canvas screen across the empty space of the frame.  All the RLM02 grey had been airbrushed when I did all the cockpit and related parts.  So each frame was glued in place with polystyrene glue fro strength and the right and lower fuselage sides were glued with extra thin as I went to correct the slight bend, plus avoid having to clean up a mess when it was all done.  There's no gap visible here.

 

 

The next part was the left side of the fuselage.  I put the access panel in first using extra thin glue, then put polystyrene glue on ll the frames and around the cockpit where the side attaches.  This was then securely taped into place after being very careful with correct placement of the part, and left to dry.  After that, extra thin glue was drizzled into the joint between the lower side and left side panel.

 

 

Once set, the tape came off and the top side of the fuselage was attached again using polystyrene on the interior frames and extra thin on the exterior joint.  There was a slight gap on the left side to lower side, so this was filled with more extra thin and tape to pull the parts together.

 

Then I got on with the tail.  This is not as complex as it might appear, with five parts plus the tail wheel.  A little paint and care gets the job done in less than an hour.  This picture shows the complete fuselage, and the completed left side of the tail, right side tail and the leading edge of the tail.

 

 

So now we have the complete engine, fuselage and tail.  I haven't yet added the tail plane and rudder, as I'll do that after the wings are in place.  After I took this picture, I attached the tail unit, but Imageshack decided to have a nap, so this is where I leave this update.  I used polystyrene glue on the inside of the tail unit and tape to pull the parts together.

 

 

So that's the fuselage.  Next, wingage.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

[Dpgsbody55]

So, fuselage done, now on with the wings.  Here's the start of the wings, being the left and right halves of the inner wings, centre of the main wing spar, brass gun barrels and pitot, plus all the junk I had to cut off the inner wing pieces.

 

 

Inner wings put together with the wheel wells attached and undercarriage up locks attached.  This needs to be painted before any more work can be done.

 

 

The inner wings are now done, and the guns added.  Brass barrels have been attached.  This was all fairly simple and straight forward, with the only fiddly bits being the two compressed air bottles in the outer gun bays.  These just needed patience, perseverance and some 1mm masking tape.

 

 

A close up of the guns.  The outer guns are only visible from beneath the wings, and I may display the completed model with these hatches open.

 

 

The outer panels can go on next, starting with the lower set.  Be very careful to set these in the right place as they also locate the top wings.

 

 

Top wings now in place.  The ailerons and flaps are supposed to be attached before putting the wings onto the fuselage.  I put the ailerons in place, but not the flaps as I haven't yet decided whether my plane will have flaps up or down.  Usually, I build my models with closed flaps, but given the level of detail afforded by the inner wing parts, I may go with the flaps down this time.  Also note the rear wing fillets have been attached to the fuselage.  All that is left to be done is to paint the gun bay wall before attaching the wings.

 

 

The wings are now on.  These are glued to the firewall at the front, and the rear wing spar locks onto the fuselage beneath the wing fillets.

 

 

The view from beneath, showing my partially painted fuel tanks.  These won't be seen anyway, but it was fun painting them for the earlier pictures.

 

 

The lower fuselage/wing centre panel now attached.  This glues long the sides, but I've used extra thin along the front and back edges.  Careful how much pressure you apply here as it's possible to push this panel in too far.

 

 

This is the only place where there any sort of gap in the wing/fuselage joint.  A few dabs of Mr Surfacer should fix this and this enlargement makes it look much worse than it is.

 

 

So this gap will get filled before any more work is done.  My next update will have this looking more like a plane.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Erwin]

Good work on a ,what looks to me a very complex kit.

[Dpgsbody55]

 

13 hours ago, Erwin said:

Good work on a ,what looks to me a very complex kit.

 

While it's not one you could put together in a weekend, it's actually a fairly easy build.  Z-M have designed this kit very well.  The only reason it took as many days between updates is that I ran out of RLM02 paint and had to wait until Monday to get some.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

Further progress on this model, starting with the tail.  The tail planes interlock when assembled, like may other models, but I've not seen this feature done quite so well as this model.  The interlocking tabs are inside the halves of the tail surfaces.

 

 

Fit them together and they look like this.  Entirely self supporting, so no issues with odd angles or weird dihedral.

 

 

So I applied glue to the interlocking part, then slid one half in place, followed by the other half.  Thanks to the ribs cast inside the tail unit, you can't stuff up the position of the pieces.  Just for extra security, I ran a line of extra thin glue around the exterior joint.  Joint?  What joint??  Again, no need for any kind of filler.

 

 

Here's the whole model.  After I took this, the elevators and rudder were attached.

 

 

The next job was to add the ammo boxes which I think are for the MG17 machine guns.  Then the engine mounts can be attached and left to dry.  The brace piece in front of the ammo boxes is a bit of a vague fit in that it's not clear where they attach to the middle engine mounts.  I put the top of this piece in place, then figured it out and applied glue.  The instructions were confusing here.  Also, be careful with those two sticky uppy things (getting technical here).  They're the latches for the gun cowling.

 

 

Once the mounts were dry, it was time to put the engine in place after first fitting pipe, which I suspect is related to the gun synchronization.  I've seen other people's comments that engine attachment was confusing and led to errors, but I thought it was straight forward.  Only the right mount needed a little help to get it in place properly.

 

 

I also brush painted the exterior colour in the area immediately behind the exhausts before attaching the engine.  

 

 

Here's a few more pictures of the model as it is now.  One thing to be careful of is that one of the exhaust pipes is positioned lower than the other three, so be careful how you place the model at this point.  I'm using either a tape roll or a spare sprue to keep it off the desk.

 

 

 

 

That's all for now.  MG17 guns and cowlings next.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael