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Hasegawa Fw190 F-8


Alain Gadbois

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Hi all!

10 days to go so this will be exciting!

 

Y3qnXzD.jpg

 

Got this kit and 2 other Fw 190s as a package deal with no guaranty of the contents. Turns out after inspectionI had 2 complete kits but missing were all the decals and instructions, plus a few parts to complete the third. 

 

C9bcCLu.jpg

 

 

Og5GWbz.jpg

 

 

NqHheUz.jpg

 

As you can see, all the dedicated F-8 parts were present. The fins of the resin 250kg bomb are incredibly thick though, so some thinning is required here.

 

Now I have decided on the aircraft I want to model which is a Hungarian Fw with a very special bomb load:

 

OYQ8QY2.jpg

 

It is a simple kit to put together so it is quite possible to finish it in time, even if I have to make masks to paint the markings!

 

Thanks for watching!

 

Alain

 

 

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Hi!

 

The missing instructions were found on this very website and printed. 

 

I've been cleaning up and gluing various bits, but here is one detail of interest: If you remove the lower part of the landing gear cover, don't follow the Hasegawa instructions, as you will remove about 2mm too much. Cut at the location shown in the photo below, then sand the raised section left on the exterior side. The upper and lower sections overlap in reality.

 

jehE26l.jpg

 

Here is the difference in fin thickness after scraping and sanding quite a bit. Still 3 more to go...(sorry for the slightly out of focus shot)

 

r60SpcJ.jpg

 

The lower wing inserts were carefully glued in place take care to have them flush with the adjoining wing sections. A bit of scraping in places and use of thin shims was required to achieve a pretty good result after a bit of sanding.

I forgot to drill out the locating holes for the bomb racks, as somehow I thought at first they would be somewhere else on the wings...Luckily, you could discern the emplacement by identifying the small circular deformation of the exterior plastic surface.

The wheel wells were glued in place at this point, and I kept a bit of runner to protect the fragile wing leading edge parts. This also keeps the geometry right as these bits are easy to bend when gluing.

 

Kg9XBM8.jpg

 

No decals means I have to make masks. Here is the first attempt while looking at the photos. I will remove the tapes, and go over with a ruler and a circle template for the final cut lines. 

 

Gw6A25T.jpg

 

Bye for now,

 

Alain

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HI all!

This is what the F-8 looked like yesterday afternoon:

 

The SC50 bombs have their extensions added using a 3/32'' brass rod. The large one has its poor molding line puttied and sanded. The fins were thinned after the picture was taken.

 

CKgicUU.jpg

 

A box full of Fw 190! Fuselage halves and other parts primed and ready for RLM 66 and 02, other engine bits painted gray. The fan and the wheels are Nato black. At this point I have only used Tamiya spray cans. Since, the RLM 66 has been airbrushed and I will try to finish the cockpit to close the fuselage ASAP.

 

mAae8Ht.jpg

 

Alain

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Hi all!

 

This is the finished engine. Kits parts with paint and black wash. Should look fine mainly hidden behind the fan! The straight Tamiya spray can silver looked better than many of my airbrushed metallics!

 

Qws1tCJ.jpg

 

I knew the angle of the flaps was off when using the kit parts as molded, so I wanted to show them just a bit down, as seen in quite a few period photos. This would also help hide the rather crude flap details.

One went in fine after the appropriate modifications but the right wing flap would fit correctly and I realized the lower wing had a distinct incurved trailing edge where it meets the flap. I had to detach the wing spar and shim and bend the plastic as much as I dared, but the result isn't perfect...

 

2Zjw4oX.jpg

 

...as you can tell here in this photo. I will rescribe the joint line which will help a lot. Luckily the problem is not too apparent in a normal attitude and the weathering will help to camouflage this additionally.

 

b8QlYF3.jpg

 

Working on the cockpit now and I should be finished with it shortly.

 

By for now!

 

Alain

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Essentially finished cockpit, all hand painted. I added only the throttle lever. The lead foil is for the seat belts.

 

4NcGlHU.jpg

 

MG5zwUZ.jpg

 

Getting on to fit the wings, nose and fuselage together. Seems to be a small fit problem at the engine/wing root joint that will require a bit of filler.

 

More later...

 

Alain

 

 

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Hi all!

The fuselage halves are now assembled as well as the lower wing part. A black wash was applied in the flap area as this will be impossible to do later when the top wings are in place. A bit of red putty to fill in the joint at the back of the cockpit.

 

coEtXzg.jpg

 

There is a noticeable step at the engine fuselage joint that will need to be corrected.

c2UHDoK.jpg

 

Trying to fit the front cowl ring and the fan I realized the engine axis was slightly off. I had to unglue the bottom cowl from the engine and trim around the top edge to tilt the engine a bit so the fan would be free to turn. The fan sits too far forward and I removed a raised disk at the back.

jFOp4vi.jpg

 

After this I had to cut this bit out so the fan would sit correctly.

VxQz5on.jpg

 

The result after all those small but bothersome tweaks. 

G2Hl3QU.jpg

 

 

Bye for now, and many thanks for watching!

 

Alain

 

 

Edited by Alain Gadbois
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On 12/8/2021 at 12:03 AM, Alain Gadbois said:

There is a noticeable step at the engine fuselage joint that will need to be corrected.

c2UHDoK.jpg

 

Trying to fit the front cowl ring and the fan I realized the engine axis was slightly off. I had to unglue the bottom cowl from the engine and trim around the top edge to tilt the engine a bit so the fan would be free to turn. The fan sits too far forward and I removed a raised disk at the back.

jFOp4vi.jpg

 

After this I had to cut this bit out so the fan would sit correctly.

VxQz5on.jpg

 

The result after all those small but bothersome tweaks. 

G2Hl3QU.jpg

 

I'll be interested to see how you fix that step between the cowl and fuselage. This, to me, would be a deal-breaker for this kit. It's inconceivable how something so fundamental as two assemblies, properly assembled, are so grossly mis-aligned. You can't sand the cowling down without completely destroying its shape and building up the fuselage that much, with the molded in hinge in the way is not something to look forward to, or even worse undoable.

 

I had the same problem with the engine being off center, which again is simply unforgivable. There's only one way the engine/cowl assembly can go together per the instructions, which if you follow results in the engine being off center. 

172198936.jpg

 

I didn't go your route to correct mine, I just cut the post off the engine and glued the fan to the engine using the armor ring to center it. Of course I also cut the boss off the back of the fan and notched the engine to get it to sit within the cowling.

 

All things considered, if I ever decide on another FW radial, I'll start with the Revel kit which (having built one) is FAR superior in all aspects to the Hasegawa mess.

 

Sorry, for ranting.

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4 hours ago, Archer Fine Transfers said:

I'll be interested to see how you fix that step between the cowl and fuselage. This, to me, would be a deal-breaker for this kit. It's inconceivable how something so fundamental as two assemblies, properly assembled, are so grossly mis-aligned. You can't sand the cowling down without completely destroying its shape and building up the fuselage that much, with the molded in hinge in the way is not something to look forward to, or even worse undoable.

 

I had the same problem with the engine being off center, which again is simply unforgivable. There's only one way the engine/cowl assembly can go together per the instructions, which if you follow results in the engine being off center. 

172198936.jpg

 

I didn't go your route to correct mine, I just cut the post off the engine and glued the fan to the engine using the armor ring to center it. Of course I also cut the boss off the back of the fan and notched the engine to get it to sit within the cowling.

 

All things considered, if I ever decide on another FW radial, I'll start with the Revel kit which (having built one) is FAR superior in all aspects to the Hasegawa mess.

 

Sorry, for ranting.

 

What is most surprising about all these issues is I had never heard anything about them before starting my kit a couple weeks ago. Sad you had the same issue as me with the engine alignment, at least I know it was not because of me being completely clumsy with such a straightforward assembly!

 

The fix under the engine is quite simple. I glued two small strips of styrene that were sanded to the correct thickness. Then filled in the rest of the gap with epoxy putty.

The thing to note is that on the full size aircraft the cowls, when closed, overlap this lower part where the big gap is noted. So the trick is not to completely fill in but leave a step to show this overlap.

 

Here are the corrections, and the pictures will help make all this easy to see!

 

2Ceq4az.jpg

 

RNg3aKe.jpg

 

The gap is much smaller now.  

deRCfSr.jpg

 

Hope this helps!

 

Alain

Edited by Alain Gadbois
typos!
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