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

[JKim]

A bit more minor work on the Dora. This time I spent a session hollowing out the exhaust stacks. I've got a systematic approach to this that starts with drilling some holes using an x-acto knife.

After the holes are drilled, I connect the holes and thus create an oblong opening. This opening is refined by scraping. No power tools are used so it takes some time for each opening.

Sometimes, the knife tip cuts through the thinned walls of the exhaust pipe. I'm getting pretty adept at this so I've greatly reduced the number of "blowouts" that occur. This time... only one and that is the messy one on the left. I've added some scraped styrene softened with Tamiya cement as a filler. This can be trimmed and cleaned once it dries.

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice, been there done that....

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far John!

 

[Crimea_River]

Good thing it's 1/32. Blow outs are more likely at smaller scales.

 

[fubar57]

Great work John.


Geo

 

[JKim]

Some more work on the Dora as I get ready for my Central Asia trip. I've cobbled together the rear engine plumbing that will be visible from the wheel wells. No glue just friction fit the pieces together. This area is well detailed but I will probably add a little more plumbing. I see an ejector pin mark that needs to be eliminated and the ammo chutes need hollowing out.

The prop blades have sink marks on the rear faces that need to be filled in.

I spent a lot of time on the spinner. The kit spinner was pretty basic with a very weak recessed line around the middle of the spinner. I beefed up that line with a scriber and added rivet lines around the middle and at the base of the spinner. I also drilled out a small hole at the tip of the spinner to replace the solid disc that was there.

I used Henri Daehne's beautiful resin replacement for the VS111 as my inspiration for the spinner changes. I was thinking about buying this for my Dora but I've decided I've spent enough on aftermarket. Especially considering the parts that I'm not even using.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far John!

 

[Hartmann52]

Superb work!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Great work John.

 

[Crimea_River]

Echoed.

 

[Catch22]

Great stuff John.

 

[Wayne Little]

Doing great work John..!

 

[Donivanp]

Dang John that's some really GGGGGREAT stuff there.

 

[T Bolt]

Very nice work John

 

[JKim]

With the Ta152H wrapped up, I dug out the Dora again. The whole rivet thing has me paralyzed with procrastination so I pretty much shelved the Dora build while the Ta152H was active. No excuses now so I steeled myself with some resolve and gave riveting another go. Using a set of blueprints as reference, I drew lines onto the starboard wing using a soft lead pencil and then used Radu's Rivet-R tool to place the rivets line by line. Most of the line placement and rivet running was per eyeball and not precisely measured. A bit sloppy but the overall effect is going to be positive, I think. Here's the riveted starboard wing compared to the unriveted port wing.

A jeweler's beading tool was used to make the circular rivets on the leading edge of the wing... very handy tool!

To be continued...

 

[Wayne Little]

Very nice....

 

[rochie]

looks a bit of a ball ache, but the final effect should look very effective John

 

[Wurger]