Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 Big Tail by Ian Robertson (Hasegawa 1/32)

Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Big-Tail
Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9

by Ian Robertson

"Big Tail" Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9

Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 is available online from Squadron.com

Introduction

Here is the Revell 1/32 Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 with rare late style Ta 152 tail. Only two such aircraft are known from photographs - “Brown 4” from JG26 (W.Nr. 500647), and “Black 6” from JG2 (W.Nr. 500645).

My model uses EagleCals decals (EC#58) to portray the latter aircraft.

Accessories Used

The following accessories were used on my model:

·        Moskit hollow metal exhausts

- prominently featured, their thin design and realistic appearance are a great enhancement to the finished model.

·        MDC main wheels and tail wheel

- superb detail, particularly on the tail wheel (the kit’s tail wheel is unimpressive). Brake lines are included for the main undercarriage.

·        Eagle Editions resin seat with molded seatbelts (from their Fw.190D-9 cockpit set)

- a noticeable improvement to the kit seat.

·        EagleCals decals #58

- EagleCals are among the best aftermarket decals available.

Construction

The Revell kit is a reboxing of the new-tool Hasegawa 1/32 Fw.190D-9 kit, with the additional option of a square Ta.152 tail which plugs directly into the fuselage. Three aircraft are represented on the kit decals - both known Fw190D-9s with the square tail, plus “Blue 10”, an aircraft with a standard tail. The kit also supplies both flat and blown canopies.

There are already a number of articles on HyperScale that describe the basic design and construction of the Hasegawa/Revell 1/32 Fw.190D-9.

Rather than repeat these reviews, I will describe a few of the major steps in the construction of my model, including the modifications and corrections I made.

1) Rivet Detail

Having seen a number of inspiring examples of home-made rivet detail on large scale models, I decided to give it a whirl. Using the Squadron “Walk Around” reference and the kit’s box art as guides, I used Hasegawa’s rivet scriber (HSGTL11) and rivet gauge (HSGTL12) to create thousands of rivets on the fuselage, tail and wings.

Tamiya tape was used to guide the placement of the template on the model. Once the rivets were in place, I gently polished the model’s surfaces with a Micromesh sanding cloth. This was done to help mute the appearance of the rivets, since I did not want my model to appear dimpled like a golf ball. Although the rivets are difficult to discern in my photographs of the completed model, they are visible when viewed up close and from certain angles.

2) Cockpit

I found the kit’s cockpit to be quite acceptable, particularly given that much of it remains in shadow on the completed model, even with the canopy open. For those inclined, MDC and Eagle Editions offer resin replacement cockpits that are much more richly detailed. I opted to replace the kit’s seat with a spare seat from the Eagle Editions cockpit set. This minor addition greatly enhanced the appearance of the cockpit, since the seat is the most prominent part of the cockpit. Support rails for the seat were made from Evergreen styrene. The cockpit was painted RLM66 using Polly Scale acrylic. A wash of reddish-brown enamel was used to flush out details in the cockpit, and SnJ polishing powder was used sparingly to simulate worn surfaces on the floor panels. Silver-colored pencil was also used to highlight detail in the cockpit.

The photograph below shows a cockpit that I am currently working on for the Hasegawa 1/32 Fw190A-8. I have included it here because it incorporates the same basic changes I made to the Dora cockpit. The dials on the instrument panel were added individually by punching them out from the kit’s decal sheet.

Note that the placement of the gun sight on the model is incorrect because it interrupts the padding that extends across the front of the coaming above the instrument panel. I repositioned the gun sight further back and added a strip of styrene rod to fill the gap in the padding. Both MDC and Eagle Parts correct this mistake in their cockpit sets as well.

3) Gun Cowl Modification

The shape of the kit’s gun cowling has been criticized for having too much “cleavage” between the bulges. Eagle Editions makes a very nice resin correction set to solve this inaccuracy; however, I opted to make the correction myself. The steps I took are shown below.

4) Wheel Wells

An important feature of the Fw190D series is that the engine plumbing is visible inside the wheel wells. This detail, which is missing from the 1/48 scale options of the Dora, is represented by a simple yet effective assembly that plugs directly into the fuselage prior to gluing the fuselage halves together.

5) Dropped Flaps

Revell provides an option for dropped flaps, which were common on parked Fw.190’s. However, the locating tabs on the kit parts force the flaps to droop at an angle of about 90 degrees, which is incorrect. At most the angle should be 60 degrees, so you will have to make the adjustment. I opted to drop the flaps considerably less than the maximum.

Painting and Markings

Painting began by preshading the panel lines in black.

The yellow and white fuselage bands were then painted and masked with Tamiya tape until all other painting was complete.

As with most late war Doras, “Black 6” had an interesting and unorthodox camouflage scheme. According to the EagleCals instructions, the upper surfaces were a combination of RLM75 (gray-violet) and RLM83 (dark green), with RLM81 (brown-violet) around the cockpit and wing roots. The written description in the decal instructions indicate that both wing roots were RLM81, whereas the diagram shows only the port wing root in that color. I opted to follow the written instructions. I used Polly Scale acrylics for the RLM75 and 83, and Aeromaster acrylic for the RLM81. The camouflage was sprayed freehand with an Iwata HP-C airbrush.

The fuselage sides on this aircraft were a greenish version of RLM76. This greenish color, which is common on late war Fw.190D-9s, has been erroneously described as RLM 84 (a designation that never really existed). Based on the advice of Jerry Crandall (of Eagle Editions) in a discussion thread on Plane Talking, I used Tamiya’s Japanese Army Grey (XF-14) with a touch of white to approximate the greenish RLM76 color. Light mottles of RLM83 were applied to the tail, some of which covered a portion of the work number. Very thin washes of Model Master burnt umber + raw sienna were brushed over the model’s upper surfaces to help diffuse the colors and create a slightly weathered appearance. Exhaust stains were applied by spraying highly thinned black paint.

The underside of the wings were predominantly natural metal, with the leading edge and gear doors (provisionally) RLM75. I painted the ailerons in the greenish RLM76. For the natural metal finish I used Alclad II metalizers over Tamiya gray surface primer. The primer was polished smooth prior to applying the metalizer. A number of shades of Alclad II (aluminum, semi-matte aluminum, and polished aluminum) were used to create variability in the natural metal finish.

I painted the interior of the wheels wells, flaps, and landing gear covers RLM02 (interior gray). However, in a recent article in Scale Aircraft Modeling magazine (April 2004), Michael Ullmann suggests that the interior surfaces of Doras should be left in natural metal finish, except for the gear legs, wheel rims, and other areas subject to corrosion. Rather than repaint the areas that should have been natural metal, I decided to rub SnJ polishing powder onto them with a cotton swab. The surfaces now appear as weathered natural metal. The undercarriage legs were left RLM02, and the wheel rims were painted black.

The tires were painted in various shades of dark sandy-gray and scale black, followed by an application of light brown on the sides to simulate a muddy, weathered appearance.

A coat of Future floor wax was added to the model prior to decal application. The EagleCals decals were of the highest quality, although I messed up the spinner’s spiral and used the kit’s decal instead. In comparing the two decal sheets, it is worth noting that Revell’s markings for “Black 6” differ substantially from those on the EagleCals sheet. Specifically, Revell’s black 6 and black vertical bar are 4mm shorter in height than those on the EagleCals sheet (i.e., 20% shorter), and the fuselage crosses and work numbers are noticeably larger. Given the detailed analysis of markings provided with the EagleCals decal sheet, I feel more comfortable with their interpretation.

Conclusion

Like the Hasegawa 1/32 Bf 109 series, Hasegawa/Revell’s 1/32 Fw190D-9 offers a large canvas on which to practice and perfect those enigmatic and attractive Luftwaffe camouflage schemes. The Revell Dora is superbly detailed, well engineered, easy to build, relatively inexpensive, and a leap in quality over those older 1/32 kits from the likes of Hasegawa, Revell, and Matchbox. With so many decal options available from manufacturers like EagleCals, Cutting Edge, and Aeromaster, Luftwaffe enthusiasts will have their hands full.

Photography

Images were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 5400 digital camera. The "sharpen edges" tool of Adobe Photoshop was used to restore some of the clarity and crispness lost during image compression.

Additional Images

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images: