**** DONE: GB-36 1/48 FW190A-5 - Axis Manufactured Aircraft of WWII

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Mulling the cable issue, it occurred to me that I recalled reading that the cables attached to the inner gear door struts actually held the doors closed when the gear was down and locked. The doors, which were spring-loaded opened as the gear retracted and then closed again when the retracting wheels struck the pad that you see on the strut (see diagram from the manual below).



Apparently, this system was a bit of a maintenance issue which led to the cables being disconnected so that the door movement was simply controlled by the wheel striking the pad on retraction or the door when the gear was put down. Later, the doors were discarded altogether and the opening made smaller on later versions. This explains why one can find pictures of 190's on the ground with the inner doors either down or retracted.

So what does this mean? It means that if the doors were down when the aircraft was on the ground, the cable would have been disconnected which, cocky or not, saves me the step of adding it. However the tail wheel cable, attached to the starboard side only, would still be there and I'll go ahead and add that.
 
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Thanks again.

On to the fiddly bits. The boarding step was painted white, masked, red stripes painted and installed. The step was tapered before painting as the kit part was incorrectly moulded as a straight piece.



The next thing I was going to do was to ad the D/F loop but.......wait a sec......the A-5 didn't have one! Yet another cock-up by Dragon calling this thing an A-5 when in reality it's a mongrel. I really should have studied this model better before getting the painting done. Anyway, nothing to do now but cut the damned thing off and smooth the damaged area:



Recribed, repainted and reweathered:



The pitot tube and mast were added using brass tube to replace the sketchy kit part. Yes, I'll deal with the tape glue residue.



Thanks for checking on me.
 
Very nice Andy! I like the mods to the landing gear! Just a note... the boarding step retracts into the body so there should be a recess there, not a protrusion.
 
Thanks guys.

You're right John. I forgot that it was just the 2 rods that telescoped into the fuselage. Somehow my mind thought there was a brace part way up. Easy fix.
 
Moving along, I added the IFF antenna which is simply a strip cut from styrene card. I also lightly scribed the square panel into the paint at its base.



Some weathering was done on the yellow cowl and its edges using black pastel dust.



The prop has been roughed up and put into place. Silver and green pencil crayons were used and then some grey pastel dust swiped across the blades in the direction of the airflow.



The back of the blades got the same treatment, though much more silver was applied on the tips. Painting the insides of the exhaust stubs black is on my punch list. Some black pastel has been applied to the points where the blackmen's grubby hands messed up the finish.



The canopy is now stuck on. Some fine adjustments were needed and the fit is about an 8 out of 10. I might try pulling the lower front corner of the sliding canopy out but will need to break the CA bond there. But then, how do I pull it out.....



A fair amount of crayon work was done on the walk zones but it doesn't show well in the pics. *I didn't want to overdo the weathering as I don't think this aircraft was in service too long.



Left and right wingtip lights have been put in. First I stretch clear sprue then cut it in the middle. I then slowly advance the end toward the candle flame until a round bulb forms. Then the bit behind the bulb is painted and, once dry, the bulb is cut with a bit of a stem on it and inserted into the hole and glued with clear parts cement.



Pitot tube and mast painted.



This particular A-5 had the Y-Gerät installed (initially added for leaders' aircraft but later made standard) and was therefore given the designation A-5Y. The mast is the kit-supplied PE part which is thicker than the usual PE so did the job. The flexible part is stretched sprue.



So, this brings me to where I wait for the resin wheels to show up. After those are installed, I'll add the antenna wire and the gear down indicators.

Thanks again for looking in.
 
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Thanks all. Terry, those nav lamps aren't quite correct as they should be tear drop shaped on the earlier 190s. The later ones got something more like what I did but I like how these look. Just don't tell anyone...
 
Send maple syrup, and I promise I won't tell anyone !
Had I thought about it, I could have used that technique on the 'Emil', as the lamps are similar - smaller, and not the same as the 'F' onwards.
 
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