Eagle Head. Horst Hannig's Fw-190A-4 - Paint job

[MDuv]

My first post here, I havnt found an introduce yourself forum. so I'll do this preambule here.

Mathieu, 38 from Belgium.
I have been modeling since childhood. and been mainly busy on large scale since i have been able to self finance my hobby.
I have been consulting silently the forum for years, as it is a wonderful source of inspiration and references. So why not share for a change ?

For this first wip, I would like to share this Hasegawa A5 that will be back dated to A4 Standard.
There is a lot of inspiring Focke Wulf at the moment in the WIP section, so i'll join the band.

 

I will be busy with: the fuselage length, panel modification (hope i have got them all), cockpit mods and, the subject being an Early A4, the fuselage vents behind the engine.

To achieve these tasks, my modeling buddy will be of great help on many chapters of this build:
The great Silouhette Cameo will be cutting plastic, vynil templates and masks.

 

Straight to the kit, here is the chosen subject :
Horst Hannig's Bird when serving with JG 2. it appears it is in this plane he met his end during the spring 43.
Unlike other JG2 Eagle heads, this one is more cartoonesk and less angular, hence the choice for this particular bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some plastic: 
As a bit of warning, I apologize for the quality and lighting of the pics posted below. they are quick snaps with the phone, I'll get the lightbox and numeric out for a global photoshoot once all the major scratch is done before the paint begins on the interior.

I begin by marking the areas to be worked on: panels and material removing. I hope I dont forget any.

 

Then onto the first cuts, there's no coming back now...
The engine extension has to be the most visual difference between early birds and the later A5, so it seems to be a good point of entry into the subject.

 

 

The undesired panels are filled with thick mr surfacer applied with a brush and sanded smooth after a good cure time.

During this interlude, I spend a lot of time getting every panel of the kit imported into a usable cut file for the silouhette. This was a time consuming job, but this will be very handy on several chapters of the build.
The first of them behing scribing the new panel lines. The template created serve for some light pass of the scribing needles, once the plastic is marked enough, a few more heavy passes in the trench will give the desired depth.

 

 

 

The result after removing the template, with a wash to check the work.

 

 

 

 

The next job will be to convert the engine aeration vents to the early type.
Scrapping and sanding the kit's vents are first done. Then the part is removed in order to be modified. The idea is to use the original part as a former for an added over plastic sheet.

 

The new sheet itself is created on the computer and cut on thin plastic card. A long process of trials and errors happened before finaly getting to this solution. I will spare you the pics, but there was no way i could achieve modding the stock parts by hand with that precision and symetry.

 

 

The stock parts are drilled roughly to leave room for the vents:

 

Then the card is forced the conform on the kit part and glued progressively with tamiya thin:
 

The finished product, ready to be rebonded with the kit:

 

 

Both parts are back on flush with the surounding panels (the original part behing reglued with a slight offset, I trim the thickness of the added panel at the center to get the same global width), and the join is reinforced from the back with thin strips and CA glue. The grill still needs cleanup and sanding in the below pic to get a total blending.

Last motivational picture. All in all the work so far was easier than expected. I was very afraid with the grills mod, but should not have been in the end.
Next chapter will be on the cockpit mods.


Comments and critiques are very welcome.
Mathieu.

Edited May 7, 2021 by MDuv

[LSP_Kevin]

Welcome aboard, Mathieu!

 

 

Very nice work indeed on your 190!

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Welcome to the forums Mathieu!    Really great introduction btw.............................I personally think the Silhouette cutter is one of the biggest boons to our hobby in a LONG time.

 

Looking forward to more!

[Shiba]

Wow  You nicely depicted aeration vents in a way I ever couldn't think of

  Mathieu,

Following  with big interest.

 

Matsu

Edited March 21, 2021 by Shiba

[Antonio Argudo]

really cool  Eagle project Mathieu  , great precision and skills you have my friend! cheers

 

Antonio

[MDuv]

Hello gentlemen, time for an update.

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

@Brian, Yes the cutter took advanced scratch modeling, that were reserved to the elite modelers among us, to the reach of poeple like me. once you have learned the basics, you can cut almost everything thin, plastic, polypropylene, vynil,...
Cant wait to practice the next big evolution: 3D printing.

Back to the model.

With the basic fuselage now done, the next focus point is the cockpit.
After sutdying references, my understanding is that with the A5 boxing, hasegawa gives us a melting pot of inaccurate A5 parts (dashboard) and the later A8 consoles and cockpit arrangement.

First job is to cut (again) the consoles.

 

They were cleaned and covered with  a vynile to mark the spot for details to be added.

 

 

And the detail was added on the marked spots. They are a mix of vynile (thickness is great and it wont move unless you want it to) polypropylene sheet and plastic card.

 

Next come the dashboard, I thought i would get away of this step with the Yahu IP for the A5, but after looking closer, they are too different and i could not live with it.
So back to the computer to draw it on the software. Same technique than before, its cut out of polypropylene in different layers, and assembled. Polyprop has approx the same thickness as PE Sheet and allow very precise cut. it wont bend like PE so if you want to, better add dot lines to fragilise the bending axis.

A few tricks later (and the help of Airscale's marvelous placards and bezels) here's the result. the upper part with the clock is from the original IP, sanded from the botton to get a paper thin part, the ammo counter is PE from eduard.

 

 

 

Here is the almost finished cockpit painted with gunze RLM66 enlighted and faded. scratches are made with AK Alu wax (same as rubnbuff). Again Airscale's stuff is giving life to the whole thing. 

 

 

 

 

 

And a final shot in situ, hard to get a clear picture...

 

Next on the punch list is the motorisation.

Mathieu

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by MDuv

[Citadelgrad]

WOW.  That interior looks amazing. 

[Reuben L. Hernandez]

Great looking build so far and great modeling skills. Keep up the great work.

[MikeMaben]

Wow, I missed this one earlier, nice work Mat

Which blade are you using to cut the plastic sheet ??

 

 

[Jaro]

Great cockpit! The IP is fantastic.

[scvrobeson]

Great work!  It's so cool to see the plotting machine being used this way to create the conversion parts, and the template parts.  That's definitely something to keep in mind for future projects.

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[mywifehatesmodels]

I'm not sure how I missed this thread before, but I'm glad I found it! Amazing work, so far!

 

I did an A-2 by using the Montex Conversion and it was great, but your work here (the hard way!) is certainly paying off and will probably look even better. I've always wanted to do Hannig's plane, too. However, as you stated, the eagles are different, being more rounded and less angular than what you normally see in that unit. I have a set of 1/48 decals for it (Superscale, if I recall?), but alas, none in 1/32 and I haven't mustered the ambition to make my own decals or masks for it. So, I will have to live vicariously through your build, as my remaining Montex conversion is also destined to be a different A-4. 

 

Keep up the great work. I'm looking forward to more!

 

John

[MDuv]

Hi guys, 
Thank you  @Citadelgrad @Reuben L. Hernandez @Jaro for your very kind words, mojo booster !

@Antonio Argudo thank you for your encouragements and advices my friend! 

@MikeMaben thanks for your kind words, I am using the stock autoblade to cut everything. i just increase force, penetration and the number of passes with thicker material. I am aware of custom blades for that kind of work, but never gave them a try.

@scvrobeson Thanks for the encouragements ! Indeed I used the cutter mainly forcutting masks for markings, but this project is definetly one  step further. And there is still more to come with the silouhette but thats for a next chapter of this build.

@mywifehatesmodels, John, thanks for the kind words, your recent Focke's are defintely of great inspiration !
I did consider the montex conversion for the build, but would have ended up replacing and improving almost every parts, so better start fresh.
As for the Hannig's markings, i can with pleasure mail you some vynile if you are interested.
 

[MDuv]

So again time for a short update.

The front part: Engine, cowling and... motor.

For my recent builds, i like to adapt micro DC motors to the airframe. 
First reason for this, is the coolness factor. My favorite display option for a 1/32 model is wheel down, open canopy, and pilot in the seat starting up the engine. 
Second reason are the technical challenges in order to hide a DC motor, battery and switch into the model. The path is as important as the destination itself they says..

So let the pic talks.
The new vent was given a coat of alu, just to check the allignment and blending. 

 

 

Then the upper deck space is drilled to allow the fitting of a microswitch. The larger rectangular in front of the switch will be fitted with the CR123 Battery. You can already see the neodyme magnet at the rear that will allow the cover to be removed. another one is hidden in the rectangular slot in front of the battery hole.

 

The upper cowling is accordingly modified with magnets to allow a glue less fitting.

 

Test of the assembly, good enough.

 

 

The engine is the painted and  given a bit of detailling, didnt went too mad as not many remain visible after assembly.

 

.

 

 

 

 

The parts ready for gluing, the motor comes of eBay, usually sold in micro electronics e-shops. I buy them by 20 at a ridiculous low price ( less than 1$ each i think)

 
And the close this chapter, the propeller blades and spinner are cleaned and painted, however I forgot to take pic of the spinner .
They are forst coated with alu paint, then sprayed with heavily thinned black, followed with a mix 50/50 of dark green and black. then spattered with a mix of dark grey and black. Once dry, each blade is gently sponge sanded on the high wear areas until the nmf undercoat begins to appear.
 

 

For the next update I will be busy with assembling the engine parts, wiring and tuning the motor.
Cheers.

Mathieu

Edited May 7, 2021 by MDuv

[wingman777]

Looking good