Border 1/35 Fw 190A-6 Nowotny Double Chevron

[Jaro]

Great progress. Respect fot your attention to details

 

6 hours ago, Thunnus said:

The brass prevents me from adding rivet detail to match the rest of the model so preferrably, I'd like to use sheet styrene.

 

That would be an option, but then the element would probably be thicker. Now, when the brass is used, the fine edges match the scale perfectly (to my eye). Keep going!!!

[Scale32]

Man I love the way nothing phases you John……… I would’ve just changed the paint scheme or just left it alone! 
 

Great attention to detail.

 

Cheers Bevan 

[alaninaustria]

Awesome fabrication. Have you considered making a small tower of sculp and placing the brass “master” on top and using a vac-former to replicate the part in styrene? That method has helped me in the past to create exactly what you are doing here - in styrene. 

Beautiful work as always John, a pleasure to see her come together!

Cheers

Alan

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  Appreciate the support and comments!

 

13 hours ago, Jaro said:

Great progress. Respect fot your attention to details

 

 

That would be an option, but then the element would probably be thicker. Now, when the brass is used, the fine edges match the scale perfectly (to my eye). Keep going!!!

True, but I don't think it would hurt to have a bit thicker doors that match the main gear covers. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Scale32 said:

Man I love the way nothing phases you John……… I would’ve just changed the paint scheme or just left it alone! 
 

Great attention to detail.

 

Cheers Bevan 

Thank you!  Obviously, I REALLY want to do this scheme so I'm trying to match as many features that are visible on the photos of Double Chevron.

 

 

12 hours ago, alaninaustria said:

Awesome fabrication. Have you considered making a small tower of sculp and placing the brass “master” on top and using a vac-former to replicate the part in styrene? That method has helped me in the past to create exactly what you are doing here - in styrene. 

Beautiful work as always John, a pleasure to see her come together!

Cheers

Alan

Alas... vacuforming or smash-moulding is not in my repertoire of tricks at this moment!  I have to stick with the tools that I have.  Luckily, I think it is a fairly simple fabrication.  My aim to is replace the stacked Oramask material for thin styrene cut by my Portrait.

 

Since I'm pretty confident that the doors are do-able, I've gone ahead with the surgery on the wheel well openings.  Due to interference from other internal parts, I had to stop short of my planned cuts.  But I think the major visual cues are present and that's about the best I can do.

 

 

The main landing gear covers have been cut along the extension line.

 

 

An example of how well the parts fit on this kit.  Can you tell the difference between the molded panel line and the untreated glue joint?

 

 

The nose ring has some circular fasteners that are quite prominent. The circles are raised as well as the outlines being recessed with two raised bolts.  So I sanded those down to look more aerodynamic.  The nose cowl is comprised of three parts to account for the outer and inner structure.

 

 

I'm trying to figure out the order of construction as it relates to the engine and the multiple panels that cover the engine.  For now, I am gluing the lower engine panels into place as they will not interfere with the fit of the engine. Again, fit along all glue edges is excellent.

 

 

In addition to the Z-shaped frame that serves as the engine mount, there are three circular pipes that glue into the firewall and point forward into the engine compartment.  They do not attach to the engine.  

 

 

Instead, they form the three attachment points for the gun trough part.  Thoughtful engineering on Border's part but a bit tricky to execute since the connection at the firewall is too loose to provide proper positioning without dry-fitting or gluing the gun trough part at the same time.

 

[Thunnus]

Some shots of the engine and guns temporarily mounted in place...

 

 

The detail provided by Border is incredible.  However, there is a limitation to what Border, or any model manufacturer, can do in this area.  The absence of any piping, ducting or wiring between the engine and firewall is conspicuous to me.  In order to help hide this area, I am going to paint the interior surfaces of the lower engine compartment black or a very dark color.

 

Also... the multiple panels that cover the engine fit very well. But they really need glue and I'm seeing signs that they will not sit flush unless they are glued into place.

[JayW]

A little scratch building huh John?  Right when I start wondering "Who are these Border guys?", an error crops up.  No - this kit is extraordinary, and of course in the hands of the master, well it couldn't be in better hands.

[quang]

Such a crisp, precise and impeccably executed rendition of a stock kit.

  

A completely dejected Quang

[scvrobeson]

Dang, that engine and cowling look absolutely fantastic John!  Every update, I'm more and more impressed by your work and ability to improve

 

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

23 hours ago, JayW said:

A little scratch building huh John?  Right when I start wondering "Who are these Border guys?", an error crops up.  No - this kit is extraordinary, and of course in the hands of the master, well it couldn't be in better hands.

Thanks Jay!  A little bit of scratch building is good exercise for me.  I need some practice!  And yes, this is a sneaky good kit.  Because of some of the obvious flubs like the infamous Messerchmitt 190 on the instructions, I've not heard much positive feedback on it.

 

 

18 hours ago, quang said:

Such a crisp, precise and impeccably executed rendition of a stock kit.

  

A completely dejected Quang

Thank you Quang!  Not only for the compliment but for blazing the first trail on this kit.  I was fortunate enough to have a good reference for this build.  And I'm not really adding much... just painting the details that Border has provided.

 

 

4 minutes ago, scvrobeson said:

Dang, that engine and cowling look absolutely fantastic John!  Every update, I'm more and more impressed by your work and ability to improve

 

 

 

Matt 

Thanks Matt!  Not sure how much of the engine will be visible since I'd rather have tight-fitting cowls than showing off the interior details.

 

I chose to follow the instructions and glue the engine into place after the attaching the lower engine cowling parts.  First, I glued the attachment truss to the firewall.  Although the frame is thin and a bit rickety, once the four glue points are attached to the engine, the truss should gain rigidity.

 

 

The bottom attachment is secured first since it is unreachable from the outside.  Both glue surfaces (pin and hole) for the bottom attachment were softened with Tamiya Extra Thin before the engine was slid into place.  The other three attachment pins were then nudged into their respective holes and Tamiya Extra Thin was seeped into the connections.

 

 

The nose ring cowling was then pushed into position and the three circular pipes are attached to the firewall with Tamiya Extra Thin.

 

 

While the glue on the pipes was still soft, the gun trough plate was placed into position.  The front edge is held by the lip on the nose ring cowling and the rear edge by the the three pipes. No glue is being used for the gun trough plate and nose ring yet as I'm still trying to accommodate some removable panels but the parts are kept in this position so that the three pipes will set in the correct orientation.

 

 

I've gone ahead and glued the exhaust baffle plates on both sides as I am not planning to have those removable.

 

 

Both engine side cowlings fit very well and may be candidates to be left unglued and thus, removable.

 

 

But you can see here that some joints need a little bit of pressure to close properly.

 

[quang]

11 minutes ago, Thunnus said:

I was fortunate enough to have a good reference for this build.  And I'm not really adding much... just painting the details that Border has provided.

I can’t for the life of me have your kind of patience 

[Thunnus]

16 hours ago, quang said:

I can’t for the life of me have your kind of patience 

I definitely can count patience as one of my modeling virtues!  That's why I like to work on multiple kits at the same time... it helps to have something else to jump on when I hit a stall point.

 

Back to the Border 190A build, I have gone ahead and glued the nose ring cowling and the top gun trough part into place.  The gun trough part was a candidate to be removable but it just would not seat properly without glue.

 

 

The remaining three panels (gun cover + two side engine cowlings) are pressed into position to see how things stay in place without glue.  There are gaps but at this point, they are small enough for me to overlook.

 

 

Based on my previous dry-fitting, the cowling guns may interfere with the fitment of the gun cover so I'll have to keep an eye on that.  If can't replicate the fit you see here with the guns in place, I may have to glue the gun cover down.

 

[scvrobeson]

I really hope that everything fits well enough that you can display some of your work. I know you like showing the lines of the plane by having everything closed, but you've done such a brilliant job on the engine and guns, it'd be a shame to seal them away forever

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Thanks Matt!  I think I'll have the gun cover and the two side engine cowlings removable, based on the fit so far.

 

I got some really thin sheet styrene... 0.010"... so that I can work on a final version of the inner gear doors.  I decided to use a layered approach.  The overall door outline was cut from brass sheet using scissors per the previous update.  But I used the Silhouette Portrait to cut the inner raised detail shapes that I had previously printed on the adhesive vinyl material. No problem cutting this plastic using the standard Autoblade.  If anyone is interested in settings, I can dig those up.

 

 

I also added a thin sheet on the outside of the doors so that I could put some rivet detail.  These three layers were sandwiched together using thin CA glue.

 

 

Here's what the doors look like under a coat of primer.

 

 

I still need to work out the attachment points as well as the long door actuators but I think this will be a reasonable facsimile of the inner gear doors.

 

[Gazzas]

Splendid doors.

[mc65]

Master.