Fw190 D9 JV44 Hasegawa 1/32

[mc65]

hi all,

here I am with yet another Fw190D. in recent times we are seeing several of these, and all so beautiful that I am almost ashamed to propose mine.

moreover, I have in mind to make it as red 1 of the jv44, a model seen in all sauces, but I think that once in a lifetime a Fw with a red belly must be made, and here we are.

 

I have had this box for several years, patiently waiting for the right moment to start it, a nice kit in pure Hasegawa style: few parts, excellent fit, few frills.

 

but the frills are not a problem, over the years I have accumulated a fair amount of them!

 

well, it wouldn't be honest to ignore how much I owe to the previous builds of this kit seen here on LSP, especially that of Thunnus, from which I took a number of notes and tried my best to improve the Hasegawa kit.

the first detail I encountered is the gun cowling: the Hasegawa one is wrong, but the Quickboost resin one is very nice.

 

as beautiful as it is shortl and warped, compared to its place on the model!

 

it's not just my problem, given other discussions on the forum... my way to solve the problem was to separate the two cowlings and bring them to the right size with plasticard inserts.

 

since I had the putty open, I made the welds of the gun troughs on the front cowling. there is a nice photo of this detail on the squadron/signal walk around n.10 

 

another detail, also in the nose area, is the radiator cowling, made too square by Hasegawa. here too, I would never have noticed it, without Thunnus' precious suggestion.

not having a lathe, I did my best in a little less than medieval way to correct its curvature.

 

surprisingly, it worked, and now it's definitely more true to life.

 

opening the holes in the front section and thinning the cowl flaps was a job without history, a few minutes well spent improving these parts.

 

 

and that's it for now, see you nextly.

cheers, Paolo.

[monthebiff]

Looking forward to this,  I really  like a JV44 scheme 

 

Regards. Andy 

[Gazzas]

You have my interest!

[Scale32]

1 hour ago, Gazzas said:

You have my interest!

And mine!

 

Cheers Bevan 

[mc65]

thanks, pals, I will try not to disappoint you, but please be lenient!

 

after the first experience with Quickboost resin, I observed the other one with a slightly more critical spirit. to begin with, I opened the otherwise blind duct with cutter drills.

 

but after having observed it with respect to that of the kit and compared both to the photos of the real ...

 

 

...it seems to me better that of the kit, which is in two pieces, but with the gluing line corresponding to that of the real welding, so that it is not a problem at all.

 

mh. it looks like it will be fun to build this kit... let's go on!

cheers, Paolo

 

 

[Thunnus]

It's great to see another Dora build and it looks like you have a lot of interesting aftermarket items that you are adding!  I like the work you did to make the Quickboost gun cowling fit properly!

[mc65]

thank you, John, your recent work is a sure reference, although it is also unattainable, for me!

today, in my best tradition ever, I will show one step forward and two steps back: a friend was puzzled by my welding marks on the front cowling, so I checked it again, and it seems he was right. 

I trusted the caption of this photo, where it talks about welds, but in fact by enlarging a lot what looked like welds are just dirty, I guess. and in addition you can clearly see the rivets that hold the guns channels in position!

 

now to re-engrave the cowling seems suicidal to me, in the meantime I have greatly reduced the welding effect, and then I will decide what to do. 

 

some details of this kit are rendered in a basic way, but with a little patience they can easily be improved, for example the exaust to be hollowed.

 

in order to give more credibility to the engine... which is not there. the solution adopted by hasegawa is very convenient, allowing the exhausts to be glued from the outside, when the painting is finished.

 

while for the part of the engine visible from the gear bay, they have solved it with this module, which to tell the truth does not excite me very much.

 

another thing to rework is the rear wheel, the solution of the kit, altough solid, is unacceptable, from my point of view.

 

apart from the horror of the fork mixed with the wheel, I like to give my models a little life by moving the control surfaces (later we will talk about it) and, in fact, the wheel ... oh well, I'll make it short. the real one is like this:

 

and mine, after some hammering, like this:

 

it won't be an adonis, but I find it definitely better than the original one!

cheers, Paolo.

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

That tail wheel fork is amazing, Paolo!

 

Kev

[Gazzas]

I'll second that tailwheel!

[mc65]

thanks, pals!

 

I put my hands back on the cowling, which is not so simple thanks to its sinuous shapes and to the fact that in the meantime I had glued the air intake of the cockpit ventilation to it.

flattened the welds and re-engraved the panels. it doesn't seem like an excellent job, we'll see under a coat of primer...

 

since I worked on the tailwheel, I also started to take care of the main landing gear beginning from the bay, a nice piece of the kit, which contributes to the solidity of the wing and to its correct dihedral (at least I hope so). only drawback, eight bad extractor marks that I tried to putty and sand before adding the Eduard PE and milling the lightening holes and the part around the retracting block of the gear, made full in the kit, just for a change.

 

for the oleos I wanted to do an experiment, I used a Molotow "liquid chrome" marker. it doesn't look bad.

 

and still in the shoes area, I decided that the wheel hubs, although in resin, seemed too coarse to me, so with a couple of sections of aluminum tubes I redid them.

 

the next job in the lineup concerns the rivets, but first I prefer to do the dirty jobs, such as planing the inside of the wings to house the Eduard flaps, and to do this you need the aforementioned first, ergo let's go with bending machine!

 

it seems I'm proceeding a bit randomly, right? no fear, I have a plan...

cheers, P.

[Thunnus]

Great work so far!  You seem to be comfortable working around metals so I'm guessing we'll be seeing a few more cool enhancements like we are seeing with the tail wheel and main wheel hubs!  Taking notes!

[mc65]

er, ehm, John, actually I would have liked to shorten the main landing gear oleos to emulate a loaded plane, using telescopic antenna sections, which provides good strength and a nice chrome finish, but looking at the loooong legs of this model, I did not have the courage to do it! so, not much more metalwerken around, sorry! 

 

so, small update today tonight now: I was saying about the control surfaces. before starting to rivet, I separated rudder and elevator, they will give some movement to the finished model. the ailerons instead I think I'll leave them neutral, the wing will already have the extended flaps and the lower colorful livery, to make everything rather lively and lovely.

here already separated in a dry test of the fuselage. but how much is elegant, this plane ??

 

and now, way to Rosie the riveter!

 

I also sprayed at a few colors here and there, just to begin to see what we're really talking about. engine compartment,

 

and front cowl parts.

 

what else... the re-engraved upper cowling did not convince me at all, so I made another attempt with adhesive aluminum tape:

 

it seems to me more interesting than some uncertain and badly engraved trenches...

even here we will see after a coat of primer what it will look like.

 

and that's all for today, next steps: rivetsrivetsrivets.

cheers, Paolo

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice work, Paolo!

 

Kev

[Troy Molitor]

Some really nice work going on here.  Thanks for sharing.  Love the aft tail wheel fork.  

[mc65]

thank you, glad you like it so far... for the rest I do not guarantee, however! 

 

full-bodied update today, ready?

to begin, I closed the engine module. I replaced the kit's tubes and added more, as well as electrical wiring and a few bolts here and there. I also cut the ejection ducts of the MG cases, which will be redone with Eduard PE up to the belly of the fuselage. but nothing, it does not convince me very much. however, it is and remains, apart from a few other rounds of filth once in place.

 

I opened the holes corresponding to the expulsion of the shells on the part of the kit, here is a test in place of the whole. it is true that we will not see anything of this area, just as it is true that they have tried too hard to provide this otherwise desolately empty space, but I do not know why, I am not satisfied with it.

 

oh well, I'll like it, I don't have many alternatives! in reality this and other jobs were done as an interval in the riveting work, a via crucis that required frequent pauses.

 

as well as several corrections to putty and sandpaper... but the bulk is done.

 

so now I can install the fixed part of the flaps to the upper surfaces of the wing halves. on these there is, in correspondence with the flaps, a hole that made me waste a lot of time trying to understand its meaning, not being present on the photoetched parts: either I had to plug the hole on the wings, or open it on the photoetched parts.

in the end I got there: it was a mechanical indicator of the extension of the flaps, the pilot could read the value in degrees through a strip that ran under it coherently with the flaps themselves. ergo, I drill holes in the PE.

 

a couple (dozens of) dry tests to check dimensions and position,

 

and away with epoxy and hairpins for curlers!

 

other anti-fatigue things during the riveting were for example the welds to the fork of the wheel, using the black cyan, denser and more visible than the transparent one.

 

and the main landing gear legs

 

here we are almost there, only lining and weathering are missing.

the placards come from an HGW sheet dedicated to the Dora.

 

in parallel I began to think about the cockpit. I have several options for the instrument panel. since the one in the kit has a nice three-dimensionality, I tried to use it, drilling the main instruments.

 

and then insert plasticard discs on which to place some Airscale decals. unfortunately I am not satisfied with the result. not that the idea is wrong, it's my realization that doesn't compete with the cleanliness of the Yahu set.

 

which however is decidedly flat.

and what if I place on it some PE bezels?

 

we are always far from a 100% satisfactory result, but I would say that I give up. having to insert the tube for the flare gun into the panel, and in any case pierce the fuselage, I took the trouble to try to relate them.

 

so in the end what remains of the rich Brengun set? well, actually several little things, one of which is the nice seat, in six comfortable pieces!

 

well, that's almost everything for today... soon propeller HD, a spectacular set.

 

speaking of propeller, studying the spinner, you can see quite well how there was, before the tip was painted yellow, a white spiral on a black background.

 

somehow the spiral can also be seen in the anterior area (points 2 and 3).

evidently the yellow, given without a common background, had a different rendering depending on the underlying colors.

also, there is an ideal continuity with the part in the black zone (1) even if it is interrupted, perhaps for a later retouch.

 

and so far...

what I do not explain is that the spiral is reversed with respect to the direction of rotation of the prop. in all the other photos of spinner with spiral, this follows the direction of the motor: if the propeller rotates clockwise, as in the case of the Dora, the spiral starts from the base and rises to the right until it reaches the top of the spinner. here it is the other way around. ideas?

 

thanks for any idea or suggestion you have about it, I don't explain this oddity.

cheers, P.