Hasegawa 1/32 Fw190D-9

Looks great so John!

Thanks gents! Round 1 of the salt fading stage. I used a light green for this.





I've also added some very minor chipping using a sponge along the wing roots and also on the front fuselage.

One step forward... two steps back. I had an issue with the flat coat over the salt fade. The finish started developing a "dusty" or slightly cloudy look with every pass of the airbrush. Not sure what was happening but probably something to do with the salt residue and the flat mixture. So I gave the model an emergency gloss coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss thinned with Tamiya Acrylic thinner instead of the usual iso alcohol to "bite" through the latest flat coat into the salt fade layer) in hopes of getting rid of the cloudy look.

This morning I inspected the model and thankfully that dusty look was gone with the exception of some areas around the engine cowling. I re-established the RLM 83 Dark Green in that area and also the engine exhaust staining and gave the model a careful coat of 1/2 gloss and 1/2 flat. Again, no cloudy finish developed but I noticed that the salt fade effects had been completely obliterated by the multiple clear coats.

So if feels like I've moved back three steps in this build. I'm going to establish one more (very gradual) salt fade layer and evaluate whether I can increase the flat factor a notch without incurring that cloudy look.




In the meantime, I'm getting all of the fiddly bits ready for final assembly. The spring tensioner on the aerial has been fabricated using fine electrical wire wrapped around the smallest micro drill bit I have.

This is really coming together beautifully

Thanks for the comments! Round 2 of salt fading is complete. Which puts me back to where I was, essentially. I don't want a repeat of flat coat fiasco so I'm going to got with this finish.




That pretty much ends the airbrush work on this model so off comes the masking on the clear parts.




The exhaust pipes get cemented into position.


Next comes the landing gear... starting with the tail wheel. There is a brass tubing axle that allows the tail wheel to spin freely. I'll leave it that way so that flat spot can find the right position once the main gear and wheels are in place.


The main landing gear components are ready to be installed.


The peg/hole arrangement is a very tight affair. I press the legs in partially, seep Tamiya Extra Thin cement into the join and then push them in all of the way.


The actuating arms are cemented in a similar way.


The wheels are glued on with Tamiya Extra Thin cement. As the glue stiffens, I set the model on its legs for the first time and make sure the flat spots on the three tires are in contact with the table surface. The perspective makes the legs look funky but I've verified that they are at the correct angle.


The landing gear covers are glued into place. It was a while ago but the gap between the cover and the bottom of the wing has been eliminated with a shim... can't even tell right?




The Eduard brass flaps are secured using JB Kwik Weld epoxy. This is a tenuous connection and I wanted to make it as strong as possible.


The finish line for Red 1 is clearly within sight now!

Great work so far John!

Top notch work John! If I can get the realistic finishes you manage to achieve to look even half as good I would be happy. You always do such nice clean work.

As always I am in awe of your airbrush work John

Yep, pretty nice.

WOW! !

What an amazing build, the weathering is incredible.

Very well done,

Cheers Greg

Great work so far John!

Thanks guys! Painting and weathering is one of my favorite stages in a build. I highly recommend experimenting with thinner/paint ratios to get a better finish. Depending on the paint and situation, I am using thinner to paint ratios of 3:1 or 4:1 for camo painting using Tamiya and Mr Hobby acrylics. For post-shading, weathering effects and paint repair, I am going as much as 8:1. In addition to providing a grain-free paint finish, the thinner paint gives the modeler much more control to modulate any pre-shade effects. The trade-offs are the added time one must take to establish a color and a more delicate finish that needs to be protected with clear coats to prevent scratches.

Red 1 is nearing completion and I am adding the final bits and pieces to her. For example, the brass tubing wing guns...



The wing tip lights...


During this process, I noticed a black blob on one of the underwing crosses. It's hard to tell exactly what happened here but it appears to have bubbled up from underneath the black paint.


Luckily, whatever it was did not bond through to the plastic. I was able to flick most of it away using the tip of the x-acto. It was sticky enough to pull the paint of though. The scarred area was smoothed down using Micromesh.


The area is masked off and repaired with the airbrush. For these small repairs, I am using a very thin mix of paint and I'll be making essentially a spot repair requiring very little masking due to the controlled spray pattern.


All done! I'm not sure what caused that blob... either a blob of glue or filler?


With that fixed, the attachment of the little things continued... the IFF antenna, which was fabricated with a piece of thin brass tubing.


The boarding ladder is inserted into place. I punched a couple of "bolts" on the bottom of the ladder. The FuG whip antenna, which is almost out of the frame, has also been glued into place.


So here are some shots of Red 1 in the just-about-finished state. The Henri Daehne prop will be removable AND the spinner is detachable via magnets. The canopy is yet to be permanently attached and the aerial has not been done. But Red 1 is ESSENTIALLY finished.









It's winter and rain is coming so I don't know when I'll be able to get some glamour shots of Red 1 with my 5D MkIV. I like to use ambient outdoor lighting on my final build pics.

Wonderful. Another drawback of high thinner ratios is increased risk of paint lifting with masks.

If I may John, it looks like one flap is opened more than the other. Sorry but just finished judging GB 39 and my critical eye is still open!

Sigh, going to buy the 1/72 version of this at MRC easy models................Just great work. Appreciate you and many others who do an outstanding job on these kits and take the time to share. Thank you

I'll double check the flaps Andy... they may have drifted as the epoxy cured. Hopefully, they are straight.... I don't know how much wriggle room I have if he epoxy is cured. Were the flaps always engaged at the same angle? I may also replace the Morane whip antenna with something a bit thinner. The smaller IFF antenna on the rear fuselage bottom has broken off due to handling and that needs to be fixed too.

Flaps always deployed at the same angle John. Otherwise you would get some pretty entertaining landings or takeoffs

Fantastic!!

Stunning as always!