1/32 Revell Fw 190 F-8 & A-8: Working on the wheel wells!

[VintageEagle]

PS: Found this one from a French supplier and ordered it:

 

https://www.decals-virages.com/en/decalcomanie/139-virgin.html?search_query=bmw&results=1

 

Thanks for the advice Mark. I am sure it will look great.

 

Cheers,

Roger

[VintageEagle]

Hi everyone,

 

I was struggling with figuring out the best way to attach wires, cables, etc. inside the wheel well and thought it is best to focus on other parts first before I finish the wheel wells. 

 

I glued, sanded and riveted the elevators. I also designed the serial number on the PC as a vector graphic. The original was handpainted and had some irregularities. Peter from @airscale was so kind to help me get the number printed on a decal sheet. Thank you very much Peter! 

 

I then worked on the rudder. I didn't like the raised ribs on the Revell rudder and removed them. I also made the bulge for the tail light smaller to match it more with the original. I then worked on another vector graphics of the rudder ribs using the original Focke Wulf drawing. I then cut the ribs with my Cricut cutter and used the following process: 

 

1) Applied the ribs to act as a positioning guide for the inner parts

2) Applied the inner parts

3) Removed the ribs

4) Sprayed Mr. Surfacer 500

5) Removed the inner parts --> the ribs now are slightly raised vs. the inner parts

6) Applied strips of black decal sheet to imitate the fabric tape that was applied on the original

 

Next, I'll add a layer of white Mr. Surfacer 1500 and hopefully the effect is as expected. It was a lot of work and I'll have to use a similar approach for the elevator and ailerons as well.

 

That's all for now. Next will be a short update after I have applied paint to the rudder.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

First, a photo of an original rudder where you can see the rib structure and fabric tape:

 

Then, the process to recreate this (to the right the unaltered Revell part for comparison):

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dodgem37]

Good show.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[VintageEagle]

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:

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by VintageEagle

[VintageEagle]

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

[Antonio Argudo]

I would go for  02,  some unrestored   parts, cheers 

Edited July 15, 2020 by Antonio Argudo

[VintageEagle]

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

Edited July 15, 2020 by VintageEagle

[Antonio Argudo]

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

Edited July 15, 2020 by Antonio Argudo

[VintageEagle]

That's a great photo too. Which wreck is this? That looks as if all internal surfaces were painted RLM 02, which I am not sure they would have done. Possibly it is just aging? 

 

 

[fab]

Is it the NL wreck sold on ebay?

 

What becomes this beast? Exported to the States?

 

Amities

 

Fab

[John1]

On 11/25/2018 at 2:51 PM, VintageEagle said:

Thank you John! I have been working on Vol 2 ever since I have published Vol 1. Research and text for about 66% is done, photos for 100% of the book selected, but the pace is slow due to other commitments. Maybe I should focus on writing on Vol 2 rather than working on the Fw 190s. There will be some very rare birds and also some with a very interesting story in Vol. 2. It will come, it's just a matter of time :-) 

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

 

Regards,

 

John

[MikeMaben]

15 hours ago, VintageEagle said:

                    That looks as if all internal surfaces were painted RLM 02,

 

That was the standard factory callout.

If your model is of a very late war a/c that was built in a hurry,

it could have been otherwise.

 

Looking good Roger 

[VintageEagle]

On 7/16/2020 at 12:04 AM, John1 said:

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

 

Regards,

 

John

 

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

 

On 7/16/2020 at 6:38 AM, MikeMaben said:

 

That was the standard factory callout.

If your model is of a very late war a/c that was built in a hurry,

it could have been otherwise.

 

Looking good 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

 

[MikeMaben]

29 minutes ago, VintageEagle said:

 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).  had lower wing surfaces that were only half painted.

 

That's what I meant by late war, when they started leaving whole areas unpaint in the interest of expediency.

That being the case your view could easily be correct. 

[Antonio Argudo]

an interesting wreck but due to its state hard to determinate if it had 02 or just aging and dirt, cheers

http://ww2live.com/es/content/world-war-2-wreck-fw-190-f-3-25-stunning-images

 

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Antonio Argudo