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

[Crimea_River]

The ejector chutes weren't that hard to do. I struggle with the type of parts like I had the machine made for me.

Wojtek, very nice work. Could you post a description on how you achieved such clean cuts?

 

[JKim]

Wow... wonderful work on the gear doors, Andy! Version 1 looks perfectly fine to me! And it's great to see the digital cutter in action!

 

[Wurger]

The base of the doors consist of two parts Andy. The outer one and the inner part. Unfortunately no pics my frined but this is the same way used for making the Fw 190A flaps.

For making the outer part :
1. I copied the scale drawings of it and print on adhesive transparent foil.Then stuck it to the plastic sheet and cut it out. So it was easy as the part had no holes..

For making the inner part :
I used the same scale drawings But... I kept in mind the slightly difference in the part dimensions in order to get the proper size of the inner part that had to be a little bit smaller than the outer one.

1. I copied the scale drawings of it and print on adhesive transparent foil.Then I cut it off and sticked to the plastic sheet. Using a needle I marked points where I had to drill a few holes.
2. With my hand drill and two thin drill bits I made these.
3. Using a scalpel I cut out unwanted areas.

4. Then I used files and fine sand paper for making shapes of these holes and also for cleaning all edges of the part.Then I cut down whole part and sanded in order a little bit down to get the piece much thinner. Finaly I got something like the one in the last pic.

5. Having both parts made I put them both togeteher with small amount of a glue. Later the inner side was sanded along the inner edges of holes in order to get the better shape of it that should remind the embossed areas. And finally I added these small details for attaching the legs.

I hope it helped.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much Wojtek. I learned that you started with a thick piece and then sanded it thin after the cuts were made. I've been cutting thin sheets and found there's no good way to file the cut edges smooth without tearing the plastic. Even so, if I made the part that you have shown, I probably would have torn it at step 4 and given up.

 

[Wurger]

I see.

 

[turbo]

Nice work Andy, that's a nifty machine!

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

Back to the well openings for a sec, I did square the fronts off and added the revised center piece. Despite the resulting poor fit, I kept the original gear doors since I will be posing these open anyway and there's not enough difference to notice once they are open.

Here are the ribs now glued in place and a coat of 02 sprayed on. A bit rough looking in these severe close-ups. I'll make a few adjustments, apply some highlights and washes and they should look fine.

The rest is ready for paint so I took the first step of masking the canopy, spraying the frames 66, and applying some preshading with the same paint.

The sliding canopy is just loosely fit right now so as to protect the interior finish from the upcoming camo paint. Should get the yellow cowl and 76 done tomorrow so hopefully you'll see and update shortly.

 

[le_steph40]

Good work Andy

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nicely done on the doors Andy, and good progress all round.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Sprayed the yellow cowl and the 76 today. The preshade does show through but is not picked up well in the photos.

 

[turbo]

Looks good Andy, looking forward to the camo...

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Kirby. Should have an update tomorrow night.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Looking good Andy.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Added 4 placards to each strut. These are aluminum foil made black with a black artist's pen laving a few lines representing lettering.

The tail wheel is painted and installed. A bot of touch up is needed on the tire and a wash will be done as well.

The camo is now on. I had some difficulties with the 75 as it kept clogging my brush despite varying the thinner ration greatly and playing with the pressure. Some of the mottles went apesh!t on me so I had to break out the 76 and redo some of them. I have a feeling that my 75 mix has been sitting too long in a plastic container and that, if there is a shelf life, I may have exceeded it. The 74 was mixed fresh and went on beautifully.

The colours look a bit stark to me at the moment but should subdue once a clear coat and some weathering is done.

The one period picture that I have seen of this particular aircraft confirms the profile's depiction of a very heavily mottled fuselage of 74/75. Not all of the fuselage can be seen in the picture but I trusted the profile further and spaced out the mottles more at the nose.

I'm going to try making some masks for the insignia and suspect that there will be some fidgeting about, both in the software/cutter settings as well as in the application. We'll see how it goes and I'll keep you posted on the progress and show you how I do this, good or bad.

Thanks for checking in. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

[turbo]

Looking good Andy.

I also find that older paints will at some point go "off" and start clogging the airbrush. I suspect this is either 1) the composition of the paint changes with age which interferes with proper thinning, or 2) small particles of dried paint fall off the walls and lid area of the jar and clog the airbrush. I've been meaning to get one of those fine mesh filter things you can stick in the jar to see if it makes any difference.

Looking forward to seeing how the mask manufacturing turns out. Look out Montex and Maketar!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Kirby. I think there's definitely something going on with the paint. I keep my mixes in small sealable plastic tubs and over time the paint seems to thicken up in these. I'll need to watch that or maybe re-use the Tamiya containers like Wayne, though I never make such large enough batches to fill one of those.