1/48 Tamiya FW190D-9 White 11 of IV/JG51

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Very nice Andy. I've never tried an oil wash before. Heard it's one of the best methods for weathering but if I screwed up the underlying coats, it might result in a 400km round-trip to get paints and fix the error. With regards to aluminum foil tape, is it available in Canada?

Geo
 
Thanks guys. Geo, I've not yet done an oil wash like some do, whereby they coat the entire model and then wipe it down. I'm a bit more selective in my approach and dab it directly in the panel lines I want to highlight and let it wick along the recess. As for materials, yes, it was a trial and error process for me and I've had a couple of "episodes" when I tried this with a wash made of lacquer thinner and oils. This stuff is too hot and will eat paint and leave a white blotch. Then I tried acrylics with water cut with dish soap but I find the acrylics dry funny and leave a dark line at the edges. I've now settled on mineral spirits and artist's oils which work nicely and have some far not reacted with Future or other acrylic finishes and almost certainly will be fine with enamels.

Regarding the aluminum foil tape, I don't remember where I got it but the stuff looks like this and should be available at any hardware or big box store. It's used for sealing furnace ducts and should not be confused with everyday "duct tape".



As for progress on the model, I'm getting down to the short strokes now and offer up the following shots. First off, I sprayed on the fairly heavy exhaust staining that is evident in photos. I started with a gray/brown mix holding the airbrush close to the model near the exhaust outlets and moving it farther away as I moved toward the back. Practiced on a sheet of paper before I tried this because this would be the wrong point to mess things up! After the gray/brown mix, I went over it again with black but staying within the brown edges.




Here are the resin Quickboost exhaust stacks all painted up and ready to be installed:



Once again studying a reference pic, it appears that there was a patch applied over the external power receptical on the fuselage cross so I just painted this spot in a reddish brown.



The rest of the pics show the finished tail section, the Eduard replacement tail wheel, and the prop.





Hope to get more done today. Hangover's not that bad!
 
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Into the fiddley bits now.

The kit's FuG 16zy antenna looked like it was on the same stuff as Lance Armstrong so I trimmed the post a bit, lopped off the whip, and replaced it with a curved piece of stretched sprue.




Next, the cannon barrels were installed in the wheel well and I used brass tube for this. First pic is a trial fit, revealing a slight misalignment of the hole in the leading edge and the cannon body on the resin piece. I cheated a bit and drilled a hole slightly off center on the body so that the barrel would be parallel with the aircraft's axis.



After marking, cutting, and painting the brass parts, the barrels were installed. The above antenna can also be seen installed here.



Can't forget the undercarriage indicators!



Still to go are the D/F loop and droopy antenna wire. I want to find a way to make the nylwire have a realistic draped look instead of the kinked and stiff look on some other models I've seen around. Ideas welcome and thanks!
 
A quick question, weren't the weapons alligned so that the rounds would converge at some distance ahead? I'm doubtful that the weapons would be parrallel to the longitudinal axis of the airplane.
 
Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments.

A quick question, weren't the weapons alligned so that the rounds would converge at some distance ahead? I'm doubtful that the weapons would be parrallel to the longitudinal axis of the airplane.

Yes, they would have been set to converge at about 200 meters but such a slight angle to the long axis would not be noticeable to the eye. Works out to only about 0.3 degrees.
 

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