Fw190 D9 JV44 Hasegawa 1/32

[MikeMaben]

Just looks like shadows to me Paolo .   

[mc65]

Mike, I'm not so sure: more than shadows they should be highlights, but I don't see how they could be! 

 

well, the long summer break made me lose the usual feeling with the work table, and I see that it takes me a while to get my hand back, I feel rather awkward, and objectively the work is progressing slowly and messy.

for example, the propeller.

the HD resin set is something simply gorgeous: perfect lines, micron tolerances, clear and comprehensive instructions. a high quality product, in short. sold to anyone who decides to do so, even to a clumsy as I am.

let's see: as for the Bf109 G10, the idea of closing the hub details under the spinner did not appeal to me, so here too the magnet trick, with the bonus of not having the gun through the hub and spinner, therefore much simpler. hole to size, magnet, PE bolt, easy easy.

 

then light layer of Alclad after protecting the contact areas with Maskol.

 

all very nice, except that the tolerances are such that even a layer of Alclad creates sufficient thickness to produce difficulties in inserting and then turning the ring nuts in the hub.

it will end, we will see later, with after assembling retouching. but above all, in the instructions it was well specified to leave 0.2mm below the spinner's base ring. did I take it into account? obviously not. and those two tenths were used to make the spinner sit well on its base plate, damn me.

furthermorer, it was also indicated to reduce the internal thickness of the spinner, since the counterweights fit there very tight, and I first painted and then checked the hub-spinner fit.

alright. after a lot of scraping with various drills risking damage, I solved it by gluing a 0.2 mm copper wire along the circumference.

 

getting the right height of the countermagnet in the spinner required a million tests and different thicknesses, but in the end...

 

then assembled everything with a certain attention and fibrillation with respect to the correct angles and the intrinsic fragility of the rear plate (there is a clear warning about that in the instructions) I gave a coat of hairspray and salt, and a layer of RLM 70. fast brutal scratching, and here we are.

 

here at home after a round of black oil. the finesse of the Hasegawa mold is best appreciated in the annular radiator, simply painted with a coat of Alclad and an oil wash.

 

while waiting for the various drying phases of hub's glue and colors, I alternated starting the cockpit, deciding to use the tin tub by adding only a few details of the Brengun PE set and counting on the painting (and on the poor visibility of the whole once closed in the fuselage).

 

ditto for the semi-fuselages, in which few details will go.

 

and that's all for today, next the propeller blades and the end of the cockpit.

cheers, Paolo

 

[Scale32]

Most impressive!

 

Cheers Bevan 

[mc65]

thank you for interest and comment!

 

well, little updating.

carrying on the work of the previous sessions, I was stubborn to try to understand the issue of the spiral on the spinner, but let's go in order: the cockpit is practically complete. I added the throttle lever and its clutch, the landing gear lever, the headphone socket cable, and painted the last lights and controls. I positioned the cloche fully forward, wanting to place the elevators oriented downwards.

 

test in situ with respect to the other components. the gunsight's position did not convince me, so I changed it slightly.

 

now it sits a little lower and forward, so you have continuous glareshield padding.

 

I then painted and positioned the blades on the hub. various retouching and oil weathering are still missing, but we're almost there.

 

ditto for the main landing gerar's legs, here is missing only a little black oil and some dust.

 

while I'm a little behind with the actuator arms and related electrical contacts.

 

what else... despite having a Black Dog resin set and HGW decals to improve the control surfaces, I'm deciding to keep the kit's ones, which I find more than honest. after separating them from the fixed parts, I limited myself to adding the missing thickness with Magic sculpt. we will then see if we like them or if they need to be implemented/replaced.

 

and we come to the issue of the spiral...

this is a good photo of the Red 1. you can see something on the spinner, apparently a left-handed spiral. the front cowling without spots is also clearly visible, as was customary for engines complete with fully cowlings that arrived already painted from the factory with only the two lower and upper colors, without further stains.

but you can see very well how the cowl flaps instead have paint dots, as well as the rest of the power egg, but you understand much less the latter because of the exhaust fumes.

my hypothesis is that the cowl flaps come from another aircraft, or that the front annular cowling has been replaced on an engine unit that had been camouflaged in the flying group. it must be said that the Fw of the JV44 were all obtained from other groups, often machines that had already undergone several major maintenance interventions. the Red 1 was no exception: the spiral on the spinner, the tail two-color band on the tail obliterated, the right wing tip replaced, as well as the various scattered patches suggest more alterations and color retouches.

 

and here another photo, also attributed to the Red 1 at the end of his life as an airplane, close to being transformed into pots and cutlery.

now apart from the caption, nothing tells us that it is actually the same machine, if not the clean annular cowling in contrast with the cowl flaps, and the pattern of the spots on the cowl flaps themselves.

after a series of comparisons between the two, playing with the contrast and brightness of the images, I am convinced that yes, it can actually be him, and here the shroud of the right-handed spiral is quite evident, as is normal.

 

all this blablabla just to say that I have resolved to put aside the anomalous spiral and to reproduce a canonical one, and here it is.

under the yellow it is relatively easy to make it stand out to the eye (less easy to photograph it).

 

while to make it see-not see on the black part it's a little less simple. in the end I opted for black pigments.

 

not that it's that visible, actually... sigh.

 

well, if you've made it this far without a headache you're migraine-proof, I'd say!

next steps, closing wing and fuselage, hope soon.

bye bye, Paolo

 

 

 

[Scale32]

Nice attention to detail Paolo, it's the little things that add spice to a build.

 

Cheers Bevan 

[Gazzas]

I can't think of enough nice words for these updates...  just awesome detailing.  I feel so inadequate.

[mc65]

thank you all!

 

Bevan, as they say "the devil is in the details"!

I'm just curious if all these little improvements when put together will result in something resembling a Dora...

 

well, I closed the two main subparts, finally.

the trailing edge of the wing floats a little, thanks to the photoetched insert of the flaps. if on the one hand this makes the whole less solid, on the other hand it will allow me to play better with the junction with the Karman of the fuselage.

the two butts that sprout in correspondence with the cannons are what they seem: two pieces of tube to center and protect the wires which, inserted into the resin bases of the cannons, will provide support for the brass barrels.

 

and the looooooong fuselage. it did not present any alignment problems of the two half-shells, previously gluing the right and left parts of the tail to the respective half-fuselages, instead of creating a separate plug to be then glued to the assembled fuselage, as suggested by the instructions.

here the only changes made, in addition to the separate rudder, were the tube passing through the reear fuselage to insert the lifting shaft, abnormally wide, at least compared to the standard 190, and the enlargement of the slots in which the elevators moved.

 

ah, and the replacement of the two front pins by also inserting reinforcements at the rear.

this actually wasn't a choice: I broke one of the originals in styrene. however, I decided to keep the system foreseen by Hasegawa to install the front part (cowl flaps-radiator-front cowl-propeller) for the convenience, given the particular coloring, of being able to proceed separately until the end of the painting.

 

and finally... ta-daaah!

the dry test of the parts was perfect, before I went to worsen flaps and landing gear bays... now there is a bit of putty and sandpaper to work on, but little stuff.

 

yes, I believe I can (butter)fly!

 

and now the doubt of the day.

the Hasegawa kit provides two options for sliding the cockpit: early or late. the red 1 had a late, so little doubt about it. pity that the slide actually had two very different shapes, from open to closed: as the fuselage section was reduced towards the tail, the transparent part tightened coherently with the fuselage, thanks to a hinge on its top. hell of Kurt Tank! moreover, it was also equipped with an explosive charge to get rid of it quickly in case of a parachute jump, but that's another story...

so all this talk? so I have an alternative! the Revell 190 kit provides early or late options, but also open or closed! There is a small difference in the top hinge, but if I wanted to make it open, I wouldn't have big problems!

 

and both talk well with Hasegawa parties!

 

 

while waiting to decide, I prepare the plane for the paint department with the hood closed in place, and I prepare the other side as well.

 

now it's not long before the phase where I usually ruin everything with colors... too bad! 

cheers, Paolo

 

 

[Landrotten Highlander]

8 hours ago, mc65 said:

yes, I believe I can (butter)fly!

Actually a moth.  Butterflies sit with their wings closed, moths with their wings open.

Anyway, beautiful specimen (both the moth and the model)

[Thunnus]

Your Dora is looking good, Paolo!  It looks like the Revell canopy is a drop-in fit on the Hasegawa kit so that is a great alternative to address the open canopy issue.  Just an FYI... that is an early style canopy on top of a late style headrest armor.

 

And I would double check your clearance between the gunsight and windscreen... it can be a tight fit in my experience.

 

[mc65]

woops!

John, you're right, I was so happy about the opportunity given by the Revell canopies, that I posted the wrong photo!

here is the two late style ones some steps ahead, the temporarily installed one Hase, and the Revell in the background.

 

some steps, I said... well, let's proceed in order.
after gluing wing and fuselage, I encountered some fit issue, not recordered precedently.

obviously the cause lies in my interventions in the flaps and undercarriage areas. for example, the central part of the landing gear bay previously fell into place with a touching "click".

before... now, after a series of curses I had to detach it from the rear contact point and saw it at a seam front.

 

to then reduce the internal thickness and remove just over a tenth in length to make it go in its place.

 

oh, much better now.

 

on the top seam there are a couple of imperfect spots, nothing that a little putty and abrasives can't fix.

having the burrs in hand to work on the Karman, I couldn't resist just sketching out the air intake: above there will be a nice "nicht betreten" stencil, how can I resist??

 

after a bit of work with burrs and sandpaper, I fixed the wing-fuselage contact line, facilitated by the fact that in this area there are the doors for the wing cannons and the coupling plates which make the junction easier to manage.

a coat of primer to check the goodness of the bodywork, and onother one of Alclad, only in the areas where there will be some scratches.

 

another photo that adds nothing, if not confirmation of the elegance of the lines of this aircraft, before I go to devastate it with paints.

 

here, in fact, goodbye to cleanliness and elegance. more than a classic preshading, I wanted to try a random one, made with black sprayed through a cooker hood sponge.

 

on the belly even more heavily, considering the color that will go there.

 

then hairspray and salt in preparation for the final colours.

I'll close it for today with a shot of the quality control inspector making his tour. oh, he's got eyes everywhere, this one!

 

cheers, Paolo

 

 

 

[Gazzas]

Beautiful work, Paolo!

[mc65]

thanks, Gazzas!

 

as always, in the painting phase I manage to make some mess.

generally speaking 

1) I'm not good with colors

2) I'm not good with preshading

3) I am mentally confused, if not disturbed

and in fact... let's start from the beginning: trying to figure out what was the best order to paint this thing (below first, top first, wing first, etc.) I started without any logic, i.e. testing the preshading on the wing with lighter green, the RLM 82.

 

little childhood memory about this colour: the Dora I did in middle school came back to my mind, an Airfix 1/72, for which I got the colors indicated, and which I painted with a lot of perplexity... but what kind of color is it??

oh well, let's say it can work.

 

so let's go with the fuselage, which is the most uncomfortable to mask and paint.

 

trying to interpret the available photos and crossing the known data, I made a whole mental movie to differentiate the light blue on the fuselage: the difference in color tone between the front cowling and the rest of the power egg is evident, indicating a possible cannibalization of the former.

then we know that tail and rudder were supplied by subcontractors who supplied them painted with a lighter shade than the normal RLM 76, with scattered patches of 75; and finally that the red 1 came from JG2, so it had a nice yellow-white-yellow band at the tail which most likely was covered following a rather extensive maintenance operation before being given to the JV44.

this last thing in the photos does not appear as a discontinuity of any kind, but we are talking about b/w photos from almost 80 years ago, to whom do I wrong if I paint this area a little bit different?

in short, a lot of self brainstorming to get here:

 

in the end, with all the stains above, how much will we ever understand? but, doesn't it look a bit dark, that 76?

and indeed it is a 78. 

after a moment of bewilderment and a handful of sedatives, I stripped the paint off the fuselage down to the layer of Alclad with very fine abrasive pads and body shop paste.

 

and tried to get some semblance of preshading. holy patience.

 

this time, before doing further abominations, I did some tests, also considering the reliability of the AK real colors.

 

because I'm quite perplexed about AKs, an example for all. a RLM 02 Gunze compared with the AK interpretation:

 

so with an eye to the reasoning above and one to the color rendering of the various paints available, I gave birth to this masterpiece. 

meh. luckily it's just a hobby. sometimes I wonder what philately must be like, maybe I should give it a try.

 

to stay brainstorming, I received this photo from a friend, which I can't explain: it doesn't appear to be any of the known JV44 aircraft. the absence of the mgs in the fuselage suggests a D11, but in this case the external wing cannons are missing. also the engine air intake seems to have a bizarre shape. any ideas?

the landing gear leg in the foreground is also interesting: apart from the area of the stencils left in the original color, the compression of the shock absorber is clearly evident thanks to the offset of the white band on the door.

 

cheers, Paolo

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by mc65

[Jim Barry]

This is SO good.

[Gazzas]

Interesting, informative, and entertaining, Paolo.

[Greif8]

Beautiful and highly skilled work as always Paolo.  Your build is fantastic.

 

Ernest