1/48 Tamiya Fw.190D-9

by David Roach

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Without knowing it at the time, a visit to “Kaiser Ralph’s” home in Brisbane led to the building of Tamiya’s 1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw.190D-9 in the scheme and markings of Oblt. Hans Dortenmann – “Black 1”.

 

American author and historian, Jerry Crandall had recently published his wonderful 350-page reference book on the Focke-Wulf 190 “Dora” – the long-nose version. The book is literally full of photographs and aircraft profiles and it wasn’t until I received my own copy a month ago that I came across the version I knew I would like to represent.

 

With that, I cleared my workbench down and ripped into the kit. This article describes the build from “go to whoa”.

 

I chose Tamiya’s 1/48 Fw.190D-9 kit, as it would be the most straightforward build as an out-of-the-box model.

 

Construction

 

I commenced by gluing in the main wheel-well and sandwiching it between the lower and upper wing sections, putting these aside to set. I then cleaned and painted the cockpit components. I used Tamiya German Grey as RLM66 Black-Grey. Instrument details were picked out using Vallejo Acrylics of different colours and a black watercolour wash added.

 

To beef up the cockpit interior, I fashioned seatbelts using lead-foil and wire. These were primed and painted Vallejo Buff and a watercolour wash added. In the rear fuselage I drilled out the aircraft jack/trestle points and inserted a piece of brass tube. I then mated the fuselage halves inserting the cockpit tub up through the bottom opening.

 

Moving back to the wing, I cleaned up the leading and trailing edges and glued this sub-section to the fuselage. The tailplanes were then glued and the model prepped for painting.

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Preparation

 

At this stage, I cut off the undercarriage indicator posts from the top wing and drilled holes which would later take a more appropriate replacement. In the upper and lower rear fuselage I drilled holes for later aerials and antenna. The aerial post on top of the fin was also removed to avoid damage. This was later glued back in place.

 

Painting

 

This kit was the second serious attempt at pre-shading and thanks again to assistance from “Kaiser Ralph”, I managed to successfully apply this stage which involved spraying Tamiya Acrylic Nato Black along major panel lines and recesses.

 

After a visual inspection and a little bit of light sanding, I was ready to lay down the first of the four major RLM colours – Gunze Acrylic RLM76 Light Blue. This was sprayed on all lower wing and fuselage surfaces before allowing a short drying time and putting down a coat of “Passt” Clear Gloss Acrylic medium.

 

I prefer to intersperse some of my colour coats with “Passt” to enhance the drying time and to allow me to handle and mask the model in preparation for the next colour – in this case, I elected to spray the tailplane its distinctive RLM04 Yellow; this was also applied to the lower cowl section. I then took some Tamiya Acrylic White, then Black and applied the dual-coloured tail band. These areas were then sprayed with “Passt” and masked off.

 

Gunze RLM75 Grey-Violet and RLM83 Dark Green were applied to the upper wings and fuselage – once this was down I oversprayed the Grey with RLM82 Bright Green, being how the original scheme was applied. Finally, I sprayed a mottle of RLM83 along the fuselage sides. 

Decal Preparation and Application

 

Decals and stencilling data were sourced from various sheets which included Sky Models, Aeromaster and Cutting Edge.

 

The Sky Models sheet provided the Werke Nummer and major stencils whilst National Markings are from Aeromaster. Sundry markings courtesy of the third source

 

In preparation for decalling, I applied a few coats of “Passt” gloss and experienced no silvering - the modeller’s curse!  

 

Weathering

 

The decals “cured” overnight and I began applying the watercolour wash which consisted of a variety of shades including Black and Burnt Umber from Maries. Panel lines and decals received the same application of the wash which was then carefully streaked using damp brushes in a rearward motion, to replicate the airflow effect of the elements. The entire model then received a coat of Polly S Acrylic Matt Clear to provide an overall even sheen and to seal both the decals and the watercolours.

 

Finals

 

The last stages of construction now involved attaching the undercarriage, cockpit windscreen and canopy and all the “fiddly bits”. I used 19g hypodermic needles for the two inboard wing cannon and a piece of brass tubing with brass wire for the pitot tube.

 

The antenna wire was fashioned from a combination of nylon thread and stretch elastic. The FuG 16 antenna (lower fuselage) is a piece of brass rod.

 

The centre-line drop tank attachment points seemed incorrect and so I shaved these off and repositioned them to suit the ETC rack sway braces

 

Display Base

 

This simple black plastic base from Eduard provides a suitable stand for the ‘190’ and I transformed it simply by spraying an overall coat of Gunze RLM83 Dark Green (because that what was in the gun at the time) applying a few chosen, masked sections and brush painting on a few different shades of Vallejo browns and then a random spray of different browns and yellows along the length of the base.

 

Oil spills were provided using Citadel Black Ink.

David

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Photos and text © by David Roach