Hasegawa 1/32 Fw190D-9

[JKim]

Addons: Aires resin cockpit set, Quickboost resin radiator cowling, Quickboost resin gun cowling, Quickboost 190A gun barrels, Eduard brass flaps, Eagle Editions early D-9 resin tail wheel, HGW fabric seat belts and Henri Daehne's VS111 resin prop set.

Following last year's D-9 flown by Hans Dortenmann, I am going to do another well-known Dora, the colorful Red 1 of the JV44 Galland's Circus squadron, formed to protect the Me 262 during take-off and landings, where they were most vulnerable. To ensure quick recognition from ground defense, the JV44 Doras were painted with gaudy red and white stripes on the bottom.

There are four positively identified JV44 Doras according to Jerry Crandall's second Dora volume. I will be modeling Lt. Heinz "Heino" Sachsenberg's Red 1.

Lt. Karl-Heinz Hoffmann (Red 4), Oblt. Klaus Faber (Red 13), Lt. Heinz Sachsenberg (Red 1) and Hptm. Waldemar Wübke (Red 3)

 

[JKim]

Since I've already done a couple of sprue tours on the Hasegawa 1/32 D-9 kit, I'll skip that and share some of the aftermarket parts that I'll be using.

First up is the Quickboost 190A series Gun Barrel set in resin. I like modeling my Doras without the leather/fabric boot over the wing gun mounts that the kit shows. I could find no wartime documentation that these boots were used on Doras and I think it is erroneously based on a restored Dora that had a piece of leather placed in the absence of the wing guns.

I've used these before and had a problem with the gun barrels being warped. Looks like they did it again! Whatever... I just need the mounting bases for the gun barrels. I'll use brass tubing for the actual barrels.

The Hasegawa radiator cowling is a bit squarish in profile. Both Eagle Editions and Quickboost offer corrected radiator cowlings that better represent the airfoil profile of the actual D-9 cowling. I used the Eagle Editions cowling on Black 1 so I thought I'd try the Quickboost one this time.

The casting looks very nice, smooth and bubble-free. The attachment to the casting block is a thin ring around the base of the cowling so it should be fairly easy to remove and trim. The big question is... will it fit. Resin parts have a tendency to shrink over time and I've had more of my share of under-sized resin.

I wasn't planning on using a resin gun cowling but this one was available at the same retailer for a pittance so I picked it up too. The Hasegawa gun cowling features very exaggerated curvatures around the nose gun barrels.

In the past, I've addressed the issue by filling in the excess cleavage with putty but I thought this might save me some time and effort. Red 1 is documented to have a late 3-piece cowling with no bumps or flares. I'll have to fill in some panel lines and remove the circular bump.

You can see the differences between the Eagle Editions cowling (top), the kit cowling (middle) and the Quickboost cowling (bottom). The Eagle Editions cowling was a horrible fit... undersized and warped... so it has served as a reference for my modifications to the kit cowling.

Here are the Eduard brass flaps. Interestingly, this set is not brass-colored like the previous set I used.

Last time I received two left flaps so I made sure that I had a matching pair.

I plan on using masks for the big markings on Red 1. The Eagle Editions decal set will serve as back-up for the crosses and also provide the necessary stenciling.

This Montex mask set was actually purchased for my previous Black 1 build. Black 1 and Red 1 featured the same sized fuselage and wing crosses according to my Dora references. It provides a mask for all of the large markings on Red 1 including the slogan painted on the port side below the canopy which read, "Verkaaft's mei Gwand 'I foarhr in himmel!", which is translate as "Well my clothes I'm going to heaven!".

I have doubts about the slogan as a mask, given it's size and complexity so the Eagle Editions decal version will most likely be used.

 

[fubar57]

Great choice John. Looking forward to it

 

[Wurger]

 

[JKim]

The main difference from the Black 1 build, in terms of components, will be use of this Aires resin cockpit set. On my first Dora build, I used the MDC cockpit (approximately $50). I had trouble getting the tub and rear deck to fit. I ended up binning it and using the kit cockpit tub instead. On my second Dora build, I used the Eagle Editions cockpit (approximately $50). I managed to use most of it, which featured some incredible detail, but again, I could not get the rear deck to fit. Both times, the canopy was shut, obscuring an already limited view. So this time around, I picked up this Aires set for about 1/2 the price.

My strategy for this build is to utilize the kit cockpit tub and rear deck to save on the headaches of fitting resin. From the resin set, I would pluck the individual detail parts such as the instrument panel, control stick, the foot pedals and the seat. The Aires instrument panel is combination of unpainted photoetch and a pre-printed piece of clear acetate for the instrument gauges, which I really prefer over pre-painted instrument panels. At least the ones from Eduard. Those Yahu ones look pretty nice.

Here are some of the smaller resin bits including the control stick, the throttle lever and the Revi 16 gun sight.

The cockpit set includes the coaming over the instrument panel. This would require me to perform some surgery on the kit fuselage but the seam line would be covered by the windscreen part, which reduces some of the risk . I haven't decided whether or not to use this piece, since the added detail under the hood will most likely go unseen.

A comparison of the Eagle Editions seat with molded harnesses that wasn't used on my Black 1 build, the Aires seat and the kit seat.

The cockpit tub and rear deck provide some nice detailing.

The Spidey Sense started tingling when I laid the resin rear deck next to the kit part. It looks significantly shorter. My guess is that it is undersized, which would make me 0-3 for resin rear deck replacements from three manufacturers.

Comparing the resin tub and the kit tub makes think. Here's my thought process now... if I don't use the resin tub, it will simply go to waste, no? Why not graft as much as I can from the resin tub including the side consoles, possibly some of the floor details, the oxygen regulator on rear starboard wall, etc. I guess I should compare the kit side consoles to the resin before I decide.

Finally... the VS111 prop assembly from Henri Daene will be used again.

Henri's stuff is sublime... the pinnacle of resin products and, to me anyway, it exemplifies the crazy passion we modelers possess.

That passion shines through in his instructions, which are so complete and thorough that he gives final dimensions in tenths of a millimeter.

 

[Donivanp]

Looking very much forward to some excellent insight and work on this, Thanks John. Very nice!

 

[le_steph40]

Great choice with great additions John

 

[Wurger]

 

[JKim]

This is my third 1/32 Dora so I know, for the most part, how this thing is going to go together. Two of the few mysteries are the Quickboost radiator cowling and gun cowling, so we'll take a look at those first. The differences between the Quickboost radiator cowling and the kit cowling are pretty subtle but it'll probably be easier to see once we get the piece off of its casting block.

A saw made quick work of separating the cowling from its casting base. Make sure you where a mask when sawing resin to avoid breathing in the fine dust.

Can you see the difference between the two cowlings? The profile of the kit cowling is squarer while the QB cowling has more of a aerodynamic curve to its profile.

Comparing the two in size reveals the all too common problem with resin. The Quickboost cowling is noticeably smaller than the kit cowling in profile... perhaps by a couple millimeters.

Mounting it on the dry fit fuselage components shows the slight step around the entire cowling circumference that would have to be addressed if this were used in the build.

Compare that to the kit parts and how well they fit. Verdict? Undecided at this stage but work would be required to use the Quickboost cowling.

How about the Quickboost gun cowling? Unfortunately, the same issue is found here. The resin gun cowling is a hair smaller in every dimension than the kit cowling.

That leaves noticeable gaps at the back of the cowling, which is troubling, given that this also serves as the junction between the windscreen and fuselage.

It also leaves a gap at the front, shown here with the undersized resin radiator cowling.

Just for curiosity's sake, I pulled out the Eagle Editions gun cowling and tried it on for size. This one was nowhere close to fitting. I couldn't even seat it without major surgery on either the resin piece or the kit fuselage.

Hmmm... three gun cowling options and all of them need some sort of work. At this point, I'm inclined to go with the best-fitting which would be the kit gun cowling. I'll need to modify it as I have done previously on my last two Dora builds reduce the exaggerated valleys between the two gun bulges.

 

[Crimea_River]

Should be another good one.

 

[T Bolt]

Good start John

 

[Donivanp]

You got this down.

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys!

You got this down.

I'm definitely familiar with this kit since it is my third time around. But every build has its own challenges especially with new aftermarket components to deal with.

Back to the radiator cowling... based on the criteria I used for the gun cowling selection (fit), I would also choose the kit radiator cowling for this build. But is there any way to modify the kit part? I'm very leery about trying to impart a shape correction to a circular part uniformly... you'd need to spin it on a lathe to get acceptable results.

So I started thinking about this. Would there be a way to mount the cowling so that I could spin it on a drill or Dremel. The problem was that it's hard to mount a donut-shape since there is nothing in the middle of it.


The casting block for the resin radiator cowling suddenly came to mind.

I drilled a hole into the casting block as a mount for a Dremel bit. I have lots of assorted Dremel bit tools that I was able to scrounge as the bit for this mount.

I put my Dremel in a vise and checked the rotation... a bit off-center but I think this is going to work.

I glued the kit cowling onto the casting block using small dots of CA glue. Mounted in the vise, the first sanding attempt ended up with a smear of melted plastic so I stopped and simply held the Dremel in my left hand while my right hand could apply sandpaper with a lighter touch and avoid melting the plastic.

I slowly put more of a curvature to the kit radiator profile, constantly comparing my work to the Quickboost part. Here is the re-shaped part, still attached to the casting block.

The cowling was easily popped off the casting black and put back onto the fuselage for visual inspection.

Compared to the unmodified kit part...

And finally, compared to the undersized Quickboost part...

Based on these pics, I may give the kit cowling another go around on the Dremel but I have answered a couple of the questions that I had prior to this build. I will not be using either the Quickboost radiator cowling or the gun cowling on this build.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Cool. I did the same on the spinners for my Revell Mosquito but used s power drill instead.

 

[turbo]

Good planning John, looking forward to the build

 

[Airframes]

So good work going on here John.

 

[Donivanp]

Nice, and great info for us all.

 

[T Bolt]

Looks like you found a good solution John

 

[JKim]

Yeah, I was pretty pleased at my ingenuity! I gave the cowling a second run on my "handheld lathe". It's hard to get any substantial changes without melting the plastic so it takes a soft touch and lots of time to get even a little contour change.

Having decided to bin the Quickboost gun and radiator cowlings, I turned my attention to the Aires resin cockpit. As you recall, I was already thinking of grafting the details from the resin cockpit tub onto the kit cockpit, fearing that the undersized rear deck piece was indicative of more poor-fitting resin. The resin parts aren't THAT much more detailed than the kit parts so the grafting effort would be a lot of work for not too great a gain.

I decided to dry fit the Aires cockpit tub to see how badly it fit. I was surprised to find that the resin cockpit tub seemed to fit without much modification to the kit fuselage. Although the resin rear deck is smaller than the kit deck in length, you can push the rear deck all the way back into the recess along the top of the fuselage. That provided a definite location for the cockpit rear deck. I removed a couple of locator tabs and trimmed the deck mounting rails to allow the cockpit rear deck to poke up flush against the rear deck and voila, the cockpit tub slid into place nicely. No sidewall detail removal... no thinning of the fuselage side. I didn't even have to remove the casting block.

It's funny. Aires is often maligned by the modeling community as providing great detail but horrible fit. But my experience has shown otherwise. I've used a bunch of Aires stuff and never have I had to throw away or not use any of their stuff. Which is not the case with some other resin brands such as Quickboost, Eagle Editions, Alley Cat to name a few. The Aires instructions are usually horribly vague and you have to spend some time figuring things out with careful dry-fitting but there always seems to be some engineering to the parts that I've discovered (not documented in the instructions) that allow workable fit.

At this point, I am assuming that the Aires cockpit tub is good to go but I have to figure out how the instrument panel fits into the fuselage sides. Dry-fitting is tough because the panel simply rests on the front edge of the sidewalls. I've glued the IP using white glue, which I'll allow to dry. Hopefully, the bond will be strong enough to endure some more dry-fitting.