Fw190D-9 - Hasegawa 1/32

[BlackDog]

Chris, Rato,

 

I will leave the crosses like this for now. If I really need to enhance them I will do it later, but until wash and pastels are applied no need to touch them, I agree.

 

Here is another picture :

 

 

I tried a very light panel lines post-shading on RLM 76 undersurfaces (brown + black heavily thinned) but I got a poor result : I did fix all this by airbrushing a light mist of RLM 76 on some spots (I still left a few stains of post-shading here and there), and while I was there I also did lighten a few panel centers on a random pattern.

 

I also did enhance the weathering of the yellow engine cowls, result seems better now.

 

And I almost forgot : I painted (masks) the two nationality crosses under the wing, in a dark grey color simulating faded/weathered paint (this aircraft spent 7 months outside among dirt, rain, snow, cold, + many many flights).

[Tony O]

Hi

I've been following your build and it just gets better!

A full article is a must.

 

I was interested in the idea of the blades being wooden and dispalying something of the grain under the 70 colour and whilst I agree that the core was wooden (VS9-10-11- VDM 111 etc), I always thought/assumed that they were coated or laminated with a sheathing material.

I presume this was to make the blade more durable and less prone to damage?

Can anyone shed more light on this one/

 

This isn't meant as a criticism of your superb work, but it got me wondering.

cheers

Tony

[alaninaustria]

That Dora is coming along nicely Chris! As for the props, I believe them to be built out of laminated wood, and in the finishing of them they recieved a thin metal errosion strip on the leading edge. This is such a fine detail, that you would only notice it up close. I have seen it with a curved wave pattern and a straight strip, but then again maybe I was just seeing things!

Cheers

Alan

[BlackDog]

Tony, Alan,

 

this is quite interesting (info about props). Do you have any additional info, links or even pictures that could help recreating the visual effect of a "worn" blade on a D9 ? I can still make changes to the paint with no problem...

[alaninaustria]

Well, from experience as a former float pilot I can tell you that most props that are exposed to the elements will with time show a worn leading edge and the underlying material will become visible. For instance with the props on the Dora I would suggest that a fine grit sanding of the leading edge (closer to the tips ofcourse due to the exposure of the tips and that they have a higher rotational speed, and a little on the face (forward and rear of the blade), gradually reducing the "effect" as you get closer to the root mounting of the propellor blade. I am sorry I don't have any pics, but with my description I hope that you will be able to weather the blades... it is just a very, very fine subtle errosion of the blades....

Cheers

Alan

[BlackDog]

Well, from experience as a former float pilot I can tell you that most props that are exposed to the elements will with time show a worn leading edge and the underlying material will become visible. For instance with the props on the Dora I would suggest that a fine grit sanding of the leading edge (closer to the tips ofcourse due to the exposure of the tips and that they have a higher rotational speed, and a little on the face (forward and rear of the blade), gradually reducing the "effect" as you get closer to the root mounting of the propellor blade. I am sorry I don't have any pics, but with my description I hope that you will be able to weather the blades... it is just a very, very fine subtle errosion of the blades....

Cheers

Alan

Alan,

 

thanks for your input

 

I think I know how a propeller blade show wear after some time (more on leading edge and tips). But I would like to know how a D-9 prop would be like, after reading the facts above (metal leading edge, sheathing material).

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[BlackDog]

Hi all,

 

Here are the results of a first try of pastel weathering on undersurfaces : I wanted to enhance a bit the visibility of rivets lines, and I did not want to try a wash as I do NOT want to first put a protective gloss coat to reduce thickness of paint+gloss on top of very fine rivets engraving.

 

Here is the wing before this weathering :

 

 

I did collect some dark gray pastel dust by rubbing a dry pastel chalk on a coarse grit sand paper. This powder was applied with a brush on wing surfaces without putting pressure, just to put powder inside engraving.

 

Most powder was tehn removed with a vacuum cleaner, left over was softly wiped with a soft dry cloth following air flow, without applying pressure, until the wanted effect was reached.

 

I am not sure that picture allows to see well the resulting effect but I think it is ok. I will simply use a fine clean brush inside some panel lines to remove some more powder and reduce line contrast.

[BlackDog]

I was a bit afraid that a flat coat would remove all or some of the pastel. But answer is no :

 

 

Acrylic clear flat from Aircraft Colors.

 

It's ok now, all undersurfaces are protected from any problem. I will do a final weathering of the belly at the end : a few oil and various fluids stains and streaks (now I need to find some docs about that), and guns stains.

[bigern007]

Oil stains and streaks.

 

I have had very good results with this SIMPLE method.

 

With an eyebrow pencil{I think you can still buy them],start a thin line at the source of your leak then with a finger drag the stain along the surface as far as you want ,.conforming to the air flow.

 

The oily pencil line drags well leavig a realistic oil streak.

 

Different colored pencils are available..........practice practice,,,practice.............Ernie

[MikeMaben]

Hey Chris, very nice work so far. Looking at lottsa pics of the backside of D9 blades, they look worn but not worn through to the wood. I think the wood had a higher adhesion factor than metal and the paint just stuck to it better. In the pics it looks like the paint took a beating but didn't really wear through to the wood. Here's a couple pics that might be helpful, one shows a chronology of the manufacturing process. There appears to be something attached to the leading edge but can't tell if it's metal. I kinda doubt it because in the other pic the broken blade looks rather clean. If it had had a metal leading edge strip, I think there would be signs of it on the remaining portion of the blade. I could be wrong though.

Also, just an FYI, some D9 blades were painted black and some dark blue.

Mike

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[Coolie]

Looks really good mate, looking forward to the end result...article on its way maybe?

 

Cool photos mike...I would think that the preparation and soak with wood would mean that it wouldnt weather as much...bit more forgiving...

[Jerry Crandall]

Hi All,

The VS 111 prop was laminated wood then covered with a cloth material then painted 70 Black- Green as directed by factory documents. So you would never see wood under the paint. Metal and wooden props were both specified to be painted 70 . The step that is missing from that photo is the cloth covering. There is a photo of some Dora a/c taken in the Focke- Wulf prototype shop at Adelheide, Germany with one equipped with a cloth covered unpainted prop. This is where the story of some Dora a/c having blue-gray props. There is another photo of an unpainted prop in the Squadron walk-around book on the Dora. I've seen that one in person a few years ago.

Cheers, Jerry

[Tony O]

Hi Jerry

Your info on the cloth coating was what I was thinking of and I'm almost sure I've seen images of a shattered blad which seemed to have a 'tattered' appearence as if the laminate ( I now know is cloth) had torn/ripped. Its great stuff and thanks for the info.

 

Mike,

The wooden blades look superb thanks for the image.

 

All

As for prop wear, I have a few images of Bf109 metal blades which exhibit a large amount of erosion on the rear face of the blade but little or non on the face. Presumably due to the airflow and vortices around the blade profile?

 

It still surprises me that wooden blades were being mass produced at this stage, the time/work/unit cost surely must have been that much higher to produce than an alloy blade. Its long been regarded that the wooden airframe components of other aircraft were neither more economical or aeordynamically more efficient than the metal version and that the only advantage was the abundance of skilled craftsmen to make these items. I can't see many bespoke propeller carvers kicking around Germany in 1944, surely they'd all have ended up in the Wermacht!

On second thoughts maybe the profile required to convert the torque into propulsion was beyond alloy blade profile technology of the day. This might be explained in part by the use of five blade units on Griffons?

Interesting stuff.

[BlackDog]

Nice method, Ernie,

 

 

I will try to steal an eyebrow pencil from my wife and see if I can do something with that

 

Chris

[Sav]

Hi Blackdog,

 

I use pastel's for weathering all the time, it's a safe way to do the job if you know what i mean. You can mix the powder with with water in an egg cup, then apply a drop of washing up liquid to break the surface tension and then just paint it on. The result is a right old merry mess, but you can then start to wash/wipe it of with damp kitchen towel. It's a very good method for panel line's and the like. Also scrape the pastel stick with a scalpel blade, this way you can get as much dust as you need and you can mix the colours together as they act in a similar way to watercolour paint.

 

The 190's looking superb, i like it load's.

 

Sav.