Fw190 D-9 "Red 18" I./Erg. KG (J) Plzeň, Czechoslovakia

[nmayhew]

i started to consider landing gear and how the support strut or whatever it is actually attaches to the well

 

the aires instructions are very vague, and i now realise that you have to cut part of the kit part for it to be replace by RP2 in this pic

 

 

all very confusing!

 

thankfully Mattlow furnished me with lots of helpful pics, so i now have a much better idea of how it all goes together

 

he ALSO helped me with what should be visible through the MG151 chutes - if you leave it then you just have a big hole, which will not look right at all i think

 

i cut a strip of plasticard and started playing around with some shapes - it is very thin so can be bent like PE metal

 

 

first attempt way too big

 

 

these are a bit better (yet to glue them of course)

 

 

after yet more images from Matt, i will have to add some detail inside of the little box which i had planned on adding, basically because it appears there are 2 chutes - or something like that anyway - leading into the actual opening which you can see

not decided exactly on this yet...

[nmayhew]

so...back to fuselage, where i got to work on inserting the cockpit

 

now if it had been just plain old too big or too long etc i would be less frustrated i think, but because i test fitted it all before, i knew it did in fact fit fairly well

 

the ONLY problem was the "lip" just behind the pilots seat, which i hate to say is just moulded wrong by MDC - if that lines up right, the cockpit will be pointing down through the bottom of the plane!

 

cockpit held in place with clamp, then glued in at correct angle

 

 

see how the lip sticks up?

 

 

and here? also see how the actual tub IS lined up correctly with the grooves in the kit side wall?

 

 

compared to Eagle Editions bit:

 

 

 

this lip grew and grew in my mind...so i had to do something!

i cut the kit tub up to try to use that bit on top instead...

 

 

 

and i'm currently waiting for putty to dry!

 

also note there is missing detail too (eagle parts bit shows what MDC missed):

 

 

done for now

 

see ya

[Kahunaminor]

Nick,

 

You are far more patient with the area than I was. I just sort of squared the lip off with a small file and brute forced it with clamps and CA to get mine to a "reasonable" level. I recall now that I used the kit storage cover and shaped it to "almost" fit. It was my first resin pit though. I have the EE pit for my next attempt!

 

The remainder is looking superb and the Aires wheel bays are now becoming a consideration for my next a/c (I see a set of 190A on Ebay for a fair price at the moment). The one thging that annoys me is the fact Aires "assume" you know how to install their stuff. I have a 1/48 F4U-1A cockpit at the moment that tells me bugger all about how to fit it!!!

 

Stay the course and keep the updates coming

[nmayhew]

now, where was i?

 

ah yes, the missing bit MDC don't give you - i can only assume it is because they have just replicated the kit part, except in resin

 

this is what you should have:

 

 

which goes something like this...

 

 

so, to make one from plasticard, first trace the outline

 

 

add some little supporting bits as otherwise it might sag (in retrospect i should have just used a thicker piece of card!! what a doofus!!!)

 

 

and here we have, after much gentle filing and sanding, my effort

 

 

the lines you see are made by a biro pen to recreate the subtle indents in the piece itself

 

it still sags a bit but i am not making it again, so aftermarket guys, rest easy i don't think there is any threat to you here!!!

 

 

more in a bit...

[nmayhew]

next i tried to fix the fact that resin piece covering the instrument panel is too small

 

first i added a couple of small strips of plastic rod to the ends

 

 

this enabled it to fit (just), although i did manage to break of the end of one of the padding pieces

 

 

so i snapped off the other one and bent some lead wire to replace it

 

 

to which i then added a bit of Mr Dissolved Putty (i couldn't do without the stuff) to make the finish look a bit more realistic

 

 

more again in a moment...

[nmayhew]

ok so now for weathering the wheel well

i usually do this after i have painted everything but given the well is quite complicated i thought best do it when i can actually reach everything to do it justice

 

so after alclad primer and a coat of rlm02 (lifecolor) i sprayed some tamiya smoke on the panel lines / joins

 

 

paint the wires yellow (good old humbrol enamel) and the gun stubs black

 

 

 

and here you see why you should trim the bits of resin that fit in the "slots" which i did earlier, as you can see all the way through, and the wiring goes through there

 

 

i also painted the clips that hold the wires in place with rlm66 as i wanted them to stand out a bit

 

 

then gloss coat (alclad's version - not as nice smelling as future but dries mega quick and just refuses to pool and puddle, even if spray carelessly), followed by mig dark wash

 

 

after i went in the gaps with a fine brush dipped in thinner to remove wash where i thought things got just a little too dirty!

 

 

that's it for now, i'm off outside in the garden with the chickens!

[LSP_Kevin]

Looking good Nick! Looks like you're stepping up to the challenges of this build nicely.

 

Kev

[nmayhew]

cheers Kev

 

i got round to putting wheel well in, first supergluing the ends, as both these lined up pretty much perfect (after the extra strip was inserted earlier)

 

 

then the middle section / main bulkhead

 

 

this only required very gentle pressure to push it back in to place (the resin is fairly flexible)

 

finally the front of the wells, where the was quite a gap, but again not a problem as both resin and plastic "give" quite a bit; these were done one by one rather than simultaneously, as i was missing my 3rd and 4th hands!

 

 

and here we are, wheel well inserted

 

 

and from underneath

 

 

now although i test fitted everything as much as possible, we'll see whether all that actually fits inside when it comes to attaching wings to fuselage and adding top of wings to bottom!

[JRutman]

Really starting to shape up Nicky!

[nmayhew]

cheers Jerry

 

now as to everything fitting in, the next picture looks a bit scary, but actually it is possible to push the centre part of the lower wing / wheel well up into bottom of the fuselage / cowl area without too much effort (still not sure how i will glue it, but at least i know it fits!)

 

 

i also used a marker to work out where to sand a little bit from the top of the wheel well resin to ease the fit

 

 

one thing to note, although i don't have a picture for it is that if anyone else plans on using the aires wheel well set AND uses aftermarket barrels, you MUST as far as i can tell insert the barrels in the well BEFORE you put the top part of the wing on

i tried getting them in there with the wing taped together and i couldn't do it - maybe you could force it, but no real reason to push it

this does mean of course that you cannot attach the wing tops to the fuselage before adding the bottom of the wings, which i know some people like to do to avoid sanding or filling that pesky wing root!

 

anyway, now for a part of the build which involved much (often botched) effort for minimal gain: the MG151 chutes

i was not willing to leave them "naked" as i feel the hole is so large that it just makes you look inside it!

 

so here is the plastic card surround to the chute area

 

 

Mattlow helped me out a lot here with pics of what this area looks like on the real thing - my effort ended up being more artistic impression than accurate representation!!

 

MDC's resin 151s - if you are going to have an open gun bay i would not be too pleased at the quality of casting here: each gun had one chute which was cast "bunged up", and a right pain to clean out (actually nearly impossible - you would be better building it yourself)

 

 

the brass barrels that come with them are very nice i might add

 

anyway, the gun stubbs "died for the cause" and were duly chopped so that they would fit

 

 

i sprayed the inside of the plasticard area rlm02, and then painted the stubs black and dry brushed silver, and this is what we have - not great but there you go

 

 

 

next up something i was a bit more pleased with!

 

[nmayhew]

so to the chutes for the cowling MGs...

 

i estimated they should be 8mm tall (i forget the width etc but if anyone is interested i do have the dimensions)

 

i traced out the plans on thin plasticard...

 

 

cut the pieces out using a knife (scissors not accurate enough here i think) and then used my etchmate tool just as if the card was phot etch

 

 

 

i used some thin masking tape to hold it in shape so i could glue it - i think they look quite cool!

 

 

and here is one as it sits on the stubs of the kit chutes

 

 

and...ta daaaa... they fit!!!

 

 

 

ok that's it for the weekend as i am off to Germany on business first thing tomorrow

 

cheers

 

Nick

[nmayhew]

hi again,

 

ok some definite progress over the past day or so...a little frustration and a lot of sanding!

 

so, i glued the MG chutes on, painted the insides black as the plastic was almost see-through white

 

 

 

then i set about attaching the wings to the fuselage - the messy bit with every plane i build it seems!

 

as discussed earlier the big decision is always whether to follow instructions or to attach upper wing halves directly to fuselage...

 

i went for the former after much test fitting, mainly because the top halves did not match up nicely with the bottom halves in terms of panel lines etc - surprisingly this was not me be a muppet! hasegawa / revell are off a bit here: if you match up the locating pins, you really had to stretch and pull to get the wing to line up

this was noticeable in panel lines that wrap around the wing and also more importantly in the holes where the MG151 go through

 

so, here is how i did the wings...i used my clamps and normal glue once i had superglued a small area near the wing root as a point of reference, and left it to set

 

 

no great downward force is needed once the wing was aligned "horizontally", if you see what i mean?

 

 

quite a snug fit as you can see!

 

 

now after doing the same with the other wing, i had a stab at test fitting the assembly on to the fuselage - not a chance!!!

however, i remember JamesH saying this was very tight indeed, and actually it's a relatively simple fix: all you have to do is gently sand the wing root mating surface on the fuselage (both sides of course) until you achieve a snug but not stressed-to-the-point-of-breaking (!!) type fit

 

the result was not great but not terrible either:

 

 

bear in mind that if i had attached the upper wings to fuselage and gone for it that way i would have been screwed, as there is no way you can then make the wings line up

 

more in a moment...

[nmayhew]

here you acn see some of the work that will need doing: the seam looks quite a nice fit (it is) but unfortunately it should not be there full stop!

Hasegawa basically give you a panel line on the gun bay cover that should not be there, so that bit will have to go

 

 

this shot shows some of the unevenness but again, the section in the gun bay cover area will be sanded smooth so no drama

 

 

here is one side after a bit of sanding

 

 

it was difficult to sand in between the fuselage and the gun blister

 

for the other side i came up with the solution of removing the abrasive pad from my 4 way nail file, and using scissors cutting a thin strip from each pad to act as a flexible and much precise file; the sticky back of the pad even helps you grip it! (will try to post a pic of my files later - i forgot at the time )

 

now the "chin" area really caused problems, on reflection because the resin part that represents the engine frame / some structural spar or another, and which sits in the middle of the wheel bay between the MG chutes is just a little too "high" and therefore pushes the chin out away from the bottom of the engine cowling

 

 

 

the second pic is after first bit of sanding - the first one shows a huge chuck of my thumb stuck to the offending join!

seriously, there was enough for Horatio Cane from CSI to pull a full print i left so much skin on there!

still, they say you should put a bit of yourself into every build... :lol:

 

a bit of Mr Dissolved Putty here...

 

 

and here...

 

 

and some more sanding...

 

 

attempts to scribe some sanded panel lines next up - i'll try to post that tomorrow - and if anyone knows how to scribe curves panels on curved surfaces, please do tell!!

 

cheers

 

Nick

[Out2gtcha]

Spot on Nick! Coming along nicely....

 

Brian

[LSP_Ron]

Nice Nick, great thought process on assembly to pull off a great fit. Many expect these multi media kits to just fall together but they don't. They take planing, creative thinking, test fitting and altering of the recommended build sequence and sometimes the parts to make things right. That's the fun with them if you ask me and you seem to have this mastered!!

 

Nice work

 

Ron