1/48 Hasegawa Fw 190A-4/U-3

[jrallman]

Finally got a box of goodies in from Hannants that I was waiting for to start this bird. Of course, one of the main things that I wanted, that was listed as in stock when I placed the order, was suddenly out of stock when it came to me, which was a Quickboost replacement cowl that has the tropical filters on it. Granted, the Quickboost cowl was for the A-5/A-6, but I figured that would be an easier modification to cut out the opening for the wing a bit further than it would be to have to add the tropical filters by grinding off the bulges on the kit cowl and adding the filters that I saved from the ancient Fujimi A-6~A-9 kit, but alas, it looks like that is what I will have to do. This plane is a rather rare A-4/U-3, which was the precursor to the F-1. Most of these had the MGFF in the wings deleted, but this one did not. It had full gun armament as well as a bomb rack and usually carried 4 50kg bombs on an ER-4 adapter to the ETC 501 rack. The camo is also somewhat interesting. It was originally 74/75/76 but then had 79 overpainted on the top surfaces, wrapping around the leading edge. 78 was overpainted only on the sides of the fuse, while the bottom was left 76. Also, the interior white of the fuse balkenkruz was overpainted in 76, and possibly the wing ones as well, though it is more difficult to see those in the pic I have of this plane. I have about 2 months for this and even at my slow build speed, I figure that should be enough to get it done. I will probably start in on the cockpit this weekend and post some progress at the beginning of next week. Thanks for looking!

Edited January 31, 2008 by jrallman

[The Mikester]

It's about time, hombre!

Here's some additional info from Luftwaffe Colours "Schlachtflieger"

The interior of the Balkankreuz almost appears dirty or toned down with a gray rather than RLM 76. Also note that this was attached to an Erprobungs unit rather than SG 2 or 10 like the decal sheet calls out. Should be a neat project.

[jrallman]

Interesting interpretation of that pic. There is a bit better version of the top pic in the S/S walkaround book. In that one, doing a k value comparison with the RLM 76 sections, the "white" part of the balkankreuz definitely looks to be more similar to 76 than a dirty white. Also, the "E" doesnt match the k values of the white fuse band or the "1" in the S/S book which makes me think that yellow is more likely there as well. I can't see any evidence of yellow under the wing tips but the bottom of the cowl is too dark to be able to tell. The W.Nr. is listed differently as well, but I haven't taken the time to examine that part of the pic closely yet to decide if it is 611 or 614. Of course the S/S book also identifies this bird as SG2 or SG10, so I think I will just make my own judgments from the photographic evidence as far as what markings I go with. Besides, as is usually the case with luftwaffe, who can say for sure? Thanks for that additional references!

[HistnScale]

There is a very good side profile photo of the aircraft on page 16 of "Fw 190 in North Africa" by Arthy & Jessen. The photo shows no indication of yellow or white under the wing tips, however the authors include a C. Sundin profile showing the yellow markings as shown in the previous post. The authors also give a fairly good description of the aircraft and Ekdo 19's short life. The "E" on the tail is a standard marking indication a trials or test unit airframe.

HTH,

Dave

Edited February 2, 2008 by HistnScale

[jrallman]

Finally, some pics for you. I finished the cockpit a while back, but forgot to post pics, so the first ones are the ones I took back then. I have since closed up the fuse, added the wings and wheel wells, done the engine, and now I am working on making the Quickboost cowl (yes, it came in time) to fit the Hasegawa kit (it was designed for the Eduard kit). I will post some pics of what that involves in the next few days. thanks for looking.

[johnsan]

That's a nice looking pit.

Curiosity makes me ask, not being a builder of 48th and hence unfamiliar with Hase's kit. Is there something wrong with Hasegawa's cowl?

[Bugfan]

Looking good there so far Jay, keep the pics coming!!!

Jack aka BUGFAN

[jrallman]

No, nothing wrong with the cowl, though this isnt a Hasegawa kit originally. Their -3 and -4 (same kit, different decals) was originally a Trimaster kit I believe, so there are some fiddly fit issues. But no, the reason I am using a replacement cowl is because the plane I am doing had tropical filters, and the Hase kit does not. I had two options on how to make the trop filters. My first option was to use the trop filters that come with the ancient Fujimi A-6~A-9 kit, cut the cowl bulges off the Hase cowl and add the Fujimi filters. Then the second option recently presented itself. Quickboost recently released a resin -5 cowl with exhaust pipes and trop filters for the Eduard kit. Since the nose extension from the -4 to the -5 was inserted behind the cowl, the -5 cowl would work for a -4 as well. The detail of the cowl, the exhaust pipes and the trop filters was alot better with the resin cowl so I went that route. Either way was going to require surgery and fit issues, so I went with the more detailed option. I will takes pics to show some of the detail of the surgery needed to fit this cowl, nothing too serious though.

[johnsan]

Thanks, that makes sense.

BTW, Trimaster did a F-8 and A-8s of various flavors, but to my knowledge didn't do an A-3 or A-4. At one time, I had several of the A-8 kits before I realized that 48th doesn't give me the fun factor that 72nd provides.

[jrallman]

Perhaps Dragon molds then? I don't recall which company, but I do recall reading in one of the reviews of the new Hase A-8 that the Hase A-3 and A-4 kits were from someone elses molds. Anywho, here are the pics of the cowl process as it currently stands. This first pic I had to use the instructions because I didn't take a pic of the part before I modified it. As you can see, the bottom half of the front cowl ring is molded with the bottom piece of the cowl. However, the Quickboost cowl has the entire front cowl ring molded as part of the piece, except for the little bulge in the 6 o'clock position, so I had to cut the cowl ring off of the bottom cowl piece, but leave the little bulge on. You can see what that looks like installed in the second pic. Then, it became clear that either the Hase cowl is a slightly different shape, or the parts split at the cowl hinge is molded in slightly different places on the two kits, but I had to add some small styrene shims to make the bottom cowl piece fit the resin cowl properly. Once that was done, I attached the cowl to the plane. Looks nice from above, but you can see in the last show that there is a rather nasty join that I will have to fill and sand, but hopefully that won't be too bad, especially since some of it cant be seen because of the trop filters. Thanks for loooking, and I will post more as it progresses.

[jrallman]

Well, I finished cleaning up the nastiness that was the bottom cowl attachment. Lots of filling and sanding there, but it finally flows smoothly. I installed the gunsight and windscreen, masked the canopy and engine and painted the canopy frames RLM 66 and the wheel wells and landing gear bits RLM 02. I am going to do a little detail painting in the wheel wells then mask them off for painting. I plan to paint RLM 74 and RLM 75 first, since this plane was originally in 74/75/76 scheme. Then I will paint the new scheme over that. That way I can selectively remove some of the top layer of paint for weathering to reveal the layer beneath. Hope it works out ok, havent really tried it before. Thanks for looking.

[ThatJeffGuy]

Looking good Jay I don't think I've ever seen that trop filter set-up on a 190. They look like they would add a lot of

drag.

[jrallman]

Looking good Jay B) I don't think I've ever seen that trop filter set-up on a 190. They look like they would add a lot of

drag.

I'm sure they did add some drag, but it probably was negligible compared to the drag added by the rack and 4 bombs that this plane carried. Plus, I am guessing added drag was preferable to a sand clogged engine. This is the first 190 that I have seen these on as well, and I think they look pretty cool. Oh, I also added some detail under the sliding canopy, but since I have already masked and painted it, I guess I will have to wait till it is done before you can see it. I added the support wires to each side of the armor plate and I am running the aerial from the tail through the canopy at the pulley and back into the fuselage.

[jrallman]

Well, in preparation for painting, I have been studying the reference pics I have of this plane carefully, and analyzing them with photoshop as well. After doing so, I have decided on two changes. One, I now believe that there were in fact yellow wing tip on the bottom, and by extension, yellow on the bottom of the cowl. I have circled in the pic below where you can just barely make out a line on the underside of the wing with slightly different K values to the gray there. The rest of the wing bottom is rather uniform in color, which leads me to believe that the wing tips were in fact a different color, and since this was a 74/75/76 plane that was repainted, and the relative k values are close, yellow is the most likely choice. Planes that had yellow tips also have yellow cowl bottoms, so, even though that part of the pic is too dark to make any comparisons, I think that it is reasonable to conclude that it was yellow as well. Two, I believe that the rudder was in fact RLM 76, while the vertical stabilizer was RLM 79. The K value of the vertical stab matches the k values of the parts of the fuse that are of a similar angle to the light source and also RLM 79. However, the entire rudder is noticeably lighter. The k value of the rudder matches the k value of the interior of the fuse cross, which I believe to be RLM 76. Therefore, I plan to paint the entire rudder RLM 76, along with the interior of the fuse crosses. To that end, I have painted the white fuse band, the yellow wing tips and cowl, and the black exhaust panels. I will mask those and then paint the top in RLM 74 and 75. Thanks for looking.

[ThatJeffGuy]

Great analysis Jay :D

Now I know what the filters remind me of.....Imperial Storm Troopers

[jrallman]

I see what you mean!

[jrallman]

I have shot the plane with RLM 74 and 75. Next I will preshade the bottom and shoot the 76. I dont want to preshade the top because if I wear the top coat of paint away over a panel line, I dont want black to show through, I want the 74/75 to show thirough, so I think I may try post shading the top with some Tamiya smoke and maybe some lightened RLM 79 for the panel interiors. we shall see. Thanks for looking.

[Patrick_Nevin]

I have shot the plane with RLM 74 and 75. Next I will preshade the bottom and shoot the 76. I dont want to preshade the top because if I wear the top coat of paint away over a panel line, I dont want black to show through, I want the 74/75 to show thirough, so I think I may try post shading the top with some Tamiya smoke and maybe some lightened RLM 79 for the panel interiors. we shall see. Thanks for looking.

Fine work, sir.

[jrallman]

Thanks! I got most of the painting done now. I ran out of RLM 76 with just the wee bit of the armor cowl ring to do, plus all the landing gear doors. I guess I should pay a bit more attention to my paint levels before starting! Because of that, I have not unmasked the yellow bottom cowl yet, but everything else is good to go. After seeing the very cool way some of the Maltese spitfires looked on this GB with the desert camo showing around the roundel, I decided on a bit of artistic license to do the same with the wing crosses so I cut a template slightly larger than the crosses and used a small blob of blu tac to hold it a little bit off the wing to give a slightly featered edge, like it would have looked if it were done in the field with a spray gun. RLM 78 on the sides, 76 on the bottom and rudder, and 79 on top and wrapping over the leading edge of the wings. I hope it looks right, but if not, no biggie, i can just paint over and use some spare decals for the wing crosses. Thanks for looking.

[ch9862]

Perhaps Dragon molds then?

Yes. Dragon added a new sprue to original Trimaster ones in their A-4 kit, and this is the only sprue in Hase A-3 kit that's not new tool. Hase A-5 is all new tool, I'm assuming their A-8 is too.

Very nice build, I'm wondering how did I miss it earlier. It makes me so want to start a 190 from North Africa. Unfortunately I don't build fast, so I don't see how I could finish it in time .

[jrallman]

well, maybe there will be a 190 GB later on since there is a 109 GB right now.

[jrallman]

Righto, time to post a little progress. I have been busy doing lots of little stuff, so there wasn't a whole lot to show. But then, I kind of made a jump, and forgot to post a pic of the bird decalled up. Instead, here she is in decals but also with a nice wash drying on her at the moment. mmm, dirty! I have also built up the ER-4 rack and the 4 SC50 bombs. Still on track to get it done, I will remove the wash tonight and flat coat. Then I can start weathering and adding all the little bits and details. Thanks for looking.

[jrallman]

Gotta say, Phil's pro modeller wash is fantastic! I have never been able to get a wash to work the way I wanted it to, but this stuff worked well and was quite easy. And I think the results look very nice as well. After wiping the wash, I flat coated the model then added a few bits before I weather. The landing gear covers are on, the pitot tube, and the bomb and rack. However, the arms that hold the ER-4 rack onto the ETC 501 rack don't line up very well with the ER-4 rack, so I think I may cut them off and scratch build some from square styrene rod so that the ER-4 sits straight. Should be pretty quick, throw some paint on and it will be done. Then I will weather and add exhaust and gun stains, add the fine molds gun barrels, the lights, the wheels and finally the rear canopy and aerial wire (which I have run through the pulley at the top of the canopy back into the fuselage) and the prop, and it will be done, just in time for the TRICON model show on sat. If I don't get pics before the show, I will take some afterwards. Thanks for looking!

[WymanV]

That's really sharp! I'm gonna have to look into that stuff...

Ken

[jrallman]

Got it done! Plenty of time left before the model show tomorrow, and she is finished. Re-attached the ER-4 rack so it is straight and level, got all the fiddly bits on, added exhaust and gun stains, some weathering, some light paint chipping, and attached the aerials. It looks very cool sitting on the display next to my late war Dora from the DotR GB. Thanks for following along everyone, and thank you all for a fantastic GB! Now, on we go to the PACAIR 2 GB!