Zoukei Mura FW-190A-4 JG 54

[Uncarina]

1 minute ago, Dpgsbody55 said:

Enjoying your 190 build a lot.  It's coming along well.  I like Z-M kits a lot.  They may be complicated but they go together very well and surprisingly not taking as long as might be expected.  I also love the way they depict how the aircraft was built.

 

Nice work, as always.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Michael, thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far, and that you’re a fellow Z-M aficionado. I agree completely, they tend to go much faster than expected.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[MikeMaben]

13 hours ago, Uncarina said:

                ...I’m looking to use RLM 71/72/79 with a white mottle on the upper surfaces,

Hey Tom, looks good so far, just checkin' to see what your color source is. 72 is a maritime color,

seems more likely 70/71/79/76. If it's field applied it could be any mix.

[Uncarina]

4 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Hey Tom, looks good so far, just checkin' to see what your color source is. 72 is a maritime color,

seems more likely 70/71/79/76. If it's field applied it could be any mix.

Thanks for keeping me honest Mike, that’s what I meant, 70/71 not 71/72!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Sepp]

Loving this.

 

I swore I wasn't going to buy another kit for a while as I already have enough last well beyond my being able to complete them all ... but, you know how it goes; gonna have to get one of these.

[Uncarina]

9 hours ago, Sepp said:

Loving this.

 

I swore I wasn't going to buy another kit for a while as I already have enough last well beyond my being able to complete them all ... but, you know how it goes; gonna have to get one of these.

Sepp, I know exactly what you mean!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[MikeMaben]

17 hours ago, Sepp said:

                   ... I already have enough last well beyond my being able to complete them all ...

So,  you'll also have abuncha old underwear left behind too.

Which is more important ?, a nice stash or kits or a lifetime supply of underwear ?

 

 

 

[MikeMaben]

18 hours ago, Uncarina said:

Thanks for keeping me honest Mike, that’s what I meant, 70/71 not 71/72!

We all make typos Tom , we also know your honesty is impeccable. 

[dennismcc]

Well what a journey, just read this from the start, Luftwaffe subjects are not my thing but the ZM kits are truly fascinating, I do have some in the stash so looking at this build is a bit of an eye opener.

Keep up the good work

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Uncarina]

4 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Well what a journey, just read this from the start, Luftwaffe subjects are not my thing but the ZM kits are truly fascinating, I do have some in the stash so looking at this build is a bit of an eye opener.

Keep up the good work

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Thank you Dennis, I’m glad this build log is providing some inspiration. I’ve certainly had my share from watching your builds and others!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Uncarina]

4 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Well what a journey, just read this from the start, Luftwaffe subjects are not my thing but the ZM kits are truly fascinating, I do have some in the stash so looking at this build is a bit of an eye opener.

Keep up the good work

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Thank you Dennis, I’m glad this build log is providing some inspiration. I’ve certainly had my share from watching your builds and others!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Biggles87]

You can say that again 

[Uncarina]

And now I come to what has been by far the most difficult part of assembly so far: adding the eleven visible cowling pieces to the airframe. This came as no surprise because I’ve encountered this in previous ZM builds.

 

The main thing to look out for is ensuring the engine assembly is set as far back as possible against the engine bearers. Warning: the following contains explicit references to part numbers. Viewer discretion is advised. To help ensure the correct position, as noted in my previous post, I attached E5 the mount ring to the engine bearers and to do this I slightly enlarged the locating holes, thereby removing any paint that interfered. Then I attached the engine to E5 after doing the same thing. Now I was ready to start adding the cowling pieces.

 

I started by adding the exhaust shields, parts J-1 and J-2. The latter fit flush against the airframe but J-1 didn’t. I found the culprit to be the detail molded on the firewall so I removed this and then it fit nicely.

 

Next in the sequence is adding the oil tank ring F-37 and the supercharger intake covers F-44 and F-47. At this point I dryfit all of the cowling pieces and noted that F-47 would not seat completely against the engine. This is critical to the overall fit since it creates gaps in multiple places. I fixed this by deepening the mounting holes on F-37 and this solved the issue.

 

Next I added the side and lower access panels. ZM nicely has the latches as one piece corresponding to gaps in the adjacent panel but some needed a little sanding to fit. After this everything fell into place.

 

Key takeaways:

1) mount the engine as far back as possible and make sure it is centered;

2) the left side exhaust shield won’t fit until you remove interfering detail from the firewall;

3) deepen the mounting holes on the oil tank ring;

4) check the fit of the panel latches with the adjacent parts beforehand.

 

On to the pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Furie]

Seen from home, everything looks perfect!
I think so, but only you know, that the hardest part is done!
Great build Tom. 
I have a small question: in the photos we see a silver reflection on the surface of the model.
Is it you who painted aluminum or is it the plastic of the model who is like this?

[Uncarina]

3 hours ago, Furie said:

Seen from home, everything looks perfect!
I think so, but only you know, that the hardest part is done!
Great build Tom. 
I have a small question: in the photos we see a silver reflection on the surface of the model.
Is it you who painted aluminum or is it the plastic of the model who is like this?

Thank you as always Denis! I certainly hope the hardest part is behind me, and it looks that way from here. I am a big fan of using Tamiya AS-12 Airframe Silver in all of my aircraft builds as a primer:

1) it has a very good "bite" into the plastic;

2) it shows up flaws readily;

3) it can sneakily double as an underlayer for chipping.

4) it makes my aircraft subject look cool to my eye.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Shoggz]

I’m with you on the AS-12 Tom.. Unfortunately, it seems to have become rarer than rocking horse droppings on this island lately.. None of my sources had any the last time I tried to restock..