**** DONE: 1/32 Fw 190D-9 - Allied Advance and Defense of the Reich WWII.

[JKim]

Username: JKim
First name: John
Category: Advanced
Scale: 1/32
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Model Type: Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 "Rudel"
Aftermarket addons: MDC Resin Cockpit, Eagle Parts 3-piece Gun Cowling, Eagle Parts Radiator Cowling Ring, Eagle Cal "Yellow Tailed D-9s" Decal Sheet, maybe more...

I won't be jumping on this one right away but I wanted to establish the post in case I run into a break in my current Ta 152 build. I am a huge DORA fan and love the funky, hodge-podge aspect of late war Dora's. I've built up quite a collection of AM bits already and may even add some more. Right now I'm eyeing the Black Dog resin tail wheel set and also considering one of Henri Daehne's beautiful props...

 

[JKim]

The kit I'll be working with is the "Rudel" boxing of the newest tool 1/32 Hasegawa 190D-9. This scheme is actually quite appealing to me... I think I'd have considered doing it if I had not shelled out for the Eagle Cal sheet.

This will be a full meal sort of deal with lots of aftermarket stuff thrown into the mix. Most significantly is the MDC cockpit. There are some choices in this department with aftermarket resin sets from MDC, Eagle Parts, Aires and Cutting Edge as well as an Eduard photo-etch set. I chose the MDC set because it comes with a set of instrument decals and offers the choice of pre-made photoetched belts or crafting your own belt using individual buckle pieces. I'll go into each AM set in separate posts.

On to the Hasegaw frets... the main fuselage is sans tail. This is because Hasegawa also released a "big tail" version of the Dora that was fitted with the large surface Ta-152 tail unit. The kit gives you a choice of open or closed cowling flaps.

Molding quality looks excellent... sharp and refined. The instrument panel dials are nicely detailed but I've grown not to like this approach to IP's. The raised molding allows for detailed painting but the look is quite different from real instruments that are behind flat glass dials. I prefer Eduard photoetch or applying punched decals into recessed instrument faces.

The Hasegawa gun cowling has been criticized as inaccurate. This is one Dora feature that is apparently hard to get right. Hasegawa's rendition, like Tamiya's 1/48 Dora, falls into the "voluptuous" category featuring an exaggerated "cleavage" between the two gun housings. On the other extreme is Hobby Boss's 1/48 190D series which you might call "flat chested". I'll be replacing this with the Eagle Parts corrected resin piece.

Scribing is recessed and very crisp. Something new that I am going to attempt for the first time is to give this Dora a rivet job. I picked up a riveting tool (Radu) and am eager to try it out. I considered it for the Ta 152 but I thought it'd be easier on a bigger scale aircraft like the Dora.

This fret holds a combination of cockpit details and various control surfaces and miscellaneous parts.

The cockpit detail is nice but not the most detailed. The seat has a nice pad but no seatbelts. The MDC cockpit should provide all of the missing details... assuming it FITS!

I've seen criticisms of the tail wheel unit online and there are a few aftermarket options available. Hmmm... I think it looks fine. Ideally, you'd like to have a separate wheel but I think it'll look pretty good after careful cleanup and painting.

The landing gear covers has good detail on the inside. I haven't noticed any sink marks or ejector pin marks in obviously visible areas. It looks like the landing flaps might have a few subtle pin marks that might need to scrubbed up if the flaps are to positioned down.

The wing sprue... nothing out of the ordinary except the blank panels in the middle of the wing bottom. Perhaps something to do with the bomb-carrying option of the Rudel 190? Flaps are separate but the other control surfaces are molded in place.

A couple of smaller sprues... the tail unit and one holding the wheel well details. Similar to the Zoukei-Mura kit, the wheel well is integrated into a wing spar. The molded details are nice and sharp.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nice one John.

 

[Crimea_River]

Man, you really churn 'em out!

 

[Wayne Little]

Dora's are the best....next to Ta152's......if I have time will join you with a Rocket armed D-9 from JG26....

 

[JKim]

Dora's are the best....next to Ta152's......if I have time will join you with a Rocket armed D-9 from JG26....

Exactly... that's why I'm doing both! Looking forward to your JG26 Dora! And Andy's Ta 152!

 

[Crimea_River]

Exactly... that's why I'm doing both! Looking forward to your JG26 Dora! And Andy's Ta 152!

Ha! Don't hold your breath my friend! Will try if my Tempest goes quickly. And I still have 146 hours of squiggle camo to do on my unfinished Ju88.

 

[JKim]

Continuing on the sprue tour... this one has the drop tank, wheels and landing gear.

Lots of good detail on the drop tank... even on the filler cap.

The great majority of kits that I build do not include a pilot figure. I remember when I was a kid, ALL of the kits came with one. This one looks very nicely molded... I may take a crack at painting him even if I don't put him in the cockpit.

Hasegawa molding falls one short of the best of the best (i.e. Tamiya and Eduard)... the exhaust pipes ends and machine gun barrels are molded solid. Leaves more modeling fun for me.

This sprue will likely go unused as it holds the bombs that were specifically used by Rudel's aircraft.

The clear parts look good. A few parts were loose in the kit including the windscreen.

The kit provided decal sheet provides full stenciling, instrument panel decals and the spinner spiral.

Typical Hasegawa instructions with coded color callouts. Nothing unusual here.

Next will take a look at the aftermarket stuff...

 

[JKim]

Here's a look at the assortment of aftermarket goodies that I have assembled so far.

First up is the MDC Langnasen Cockpit set. Comprised primarily of resin, this set also features photoech and decals. The resin pieces are in a medium gray color and seem to be very crisply cast. There is some warpage on some of the parts, most notably The rear cockpit shelf, which is bent like a banana. I'm sure a little hot water bath will straighten that out.

Heres' a closer view of the cockpit tub. Details have that crisper-than-anything-you-could-do-with-styrene look that makes resin so appealing. One of the tub walls is warped and will need to be straightened.

The instrument panel gauges are represented by decals which need to be applied individually. Time-consuming but the result should be worthwhile. I like the fact that MDC supplies multiple decals for each instrument face, great for the spares box.

The photoetch fret includes two different foot pedals, a set of complete harnesses and individual buckles if you feel like making your own... all nice options.

The instructions are well detailed and should make assembly easier. As with any resin set, the issue of fit is always present and I'm sure some surgery will be required to make things go together. Hopefully, none of the pieces have experienced the shrinkage that resin parts often undergo.

Here are some comparisons between the resin and the kit parts.

Next up is a pair of resin parts from Eagle Parts. To address the inaccurate and exaggerated shape of the Hasegawa gun cowling, Eagle Parts have crafted two replacement cowlings. My Yellow 11 has the later 3-piece cowling. Eagle Parts also offers a 5-piece cowling that was used on some earlier 190D-9's.

The shape differences between the two cowlings is readily apparent when you stack the two together. While the shape correction is a big plus, it's disappointing to see that the scribing on the Eagle Parts cowling is a bit soft compared to the MDC casting. In fact, it's even softer than the Hasegawa part.

I picked up a Eagle Parts radiator cowling ring at the same time. The benefit of the part was a mystery to me at the time but now that I compare it to the kit part, I can see a subtle shape difference between the two. The Eagle Parts piece has a sharper lip is not as rounded as the Hasegawa part.

 

[fubar57]

Love the MDC stuff. You could swap the kit rear decking for the warped MDC part with a little surgery?


Geo

 

[le_steph40]

good choice John

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys!

Love the MDC stuff. You could swap the kit rear decking for the warped MDC part with a little surgery?


Geo

I thought about that too but given that they look pretty identical in terms of detail, I'll only resort to the kit rear deck if the MDC part isn't right size-wise. I'm sure it'll be pretty easy to massage the warped resin back to shape using hot water.

Before embarking on the wing/fuselage attachment on the Ta152H, I thought I'd take a look at the MDC cockpit for the Dora and maybe do some minor work. Looking at the photoetched sprue, I decided to craft my own seatbelts using foil from a bottle of wine and the supplied buckles. I only managed to complete the shoulder harnesses at this time. A little touch I added was some stitching detail using a serrated tool that came with the HGW fabric seatbelts that I used on my Revell 109G-10 a while back. I have to be careful with these now as the stitching effect has weakened the belts somewhat. Time consuming but I think these will sit a lot more naturally than the stiff PE belts. I'll work on the lap belts next.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Those look great John.

 

[JKim]

I made up the lap belts but have not yet attached the padding. I'm not sure whether to paint them now or attach them to the seat and paint them later since gluing is more difficult with paint on the seat.

I hollowed out the optical element of the Revi gunsight. I'll paint this and then add a drop of Future to simulate the glass. Reflector glass will be added too.

I added a wire to the control stick.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nice work on the harness belts john, and I agree, PE belts are a pain, and are difficult to get to a realistic, draped effect.

 

[Crimea_River]

Liking those belts. I dare you to do that in 1/48!

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys!

Liking those belts. I dare you to do that in 1/48!

One of the perks of working in a bigger scale! I couldn't imagine trying to do this at 1/48.

Ran into AM problems already! The MDC resin doesn't react well to the hot water massage. I've cracked the rear cockpit plate in half already and cannot get the cockpit tub wall straight despite multiple attempts. I will most likely have to salvage the kit's cockpit plate per Geo's suggestion. As for the cockpit wall... it might be easier to remove the bent wall and replace with sheet styrene.